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Judge: Trump's lifting of mining ban in US West was wrong

The federal judge said that the decision to cancel a prior effort to ban mining failed to fully consider how the move would affect greater sage grouse.
Credit: AP
Dan Cepeda/The Casper Star-Tribune via AP, File

BILLINGS, Mont. — A federal judge has overturned a Trump administration action that allowed mining and other development on 10 million acres in parts of western states that are considered important for the survival of a struggling bird species. 

U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill said in Thursday's ruling that the decision under Trump to cancel a prior effort to ban mining failed to fully consider how the move would affect greater sage grouse. 

The wide-ranging, chicken-sized bird has seen a dramatic population drop in recent decades. 

Winmill says the U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management must reconsider whether mining should be allowed.

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