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For Immediate Release
May, 13 2019, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
Tel: (520) 623.5252,Email:,center@biologicaldiversity.org
Lawsuit Targets Trump Administration Renewal of Oregon Ranchers' Grazing Permit
Conservations groups filed suit today challenging former Interior secretary Ryan Zinke's order to renew grazing permits for Oregon ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. Zinke's January 2019 order, one of his last official acts, came despite the Bureau of Land Management's 2014 decision to cancel the Hammonds' privilege to graze on public lands following a series of arson fires.
PORTLAND, Ore.
Conservations groups filed suit today challenging former Interior secretary Ryan Zinke's order to renew grazing permits for Oregon ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. Zinke's January 2019 order, one of his last official acts, came despite the Bureau of Land Management's 2014 decision to cancel the Hammonds' privilege to graze on public lands following a series of arson fires.
Today's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Portland, Ore., says Zinke's order violates federal rules that require permittees to have a "satisfactory record of performance" in accordance with the terms and conditions of the grazing permit. The permit renewal also waived environmental review, violating federal laws that require such analysis before permits can be issued.
"Secretary Zinke hijacked the public process for political reasons and ordered the local land managers to go against their own judgment and renew the grazing permit for public land permittees who had violated federal regulations," said Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project. "The American public deserves better than management-by-decree, and we're asking the court to order the agency back to the drawing board to ensure the decision complies with federal law."
Zinke said his order was based in part on President Trump's July 2018 pardon of the father and son. The lawsuit says that Zinke misinterpreted the effect of the presidential pardon, which did not change the facts underlying the Hammonds' convictions. The pardon does not negate evidence that the Hammonds' conduct violated federal regulations and the terms of their permit, which makes them ineligible to renew their permit.
"It's appalling to watch the Trump administration make up the rules as they go along," said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. "We've seen this type of lawlessness infect all aspects of public lands management under Trump, and we're going to fight it. The public lands at stake are important sage-grouse habitat, highly vulnerable to invasive species, and are just beginning to recover."
The BLM canceled the Hammonds' grazing permit in 2014 after the agency determined they didn't qualify for a renewal based on a lack of "satisfactory record of performance." Among other things, the permittees were found to have set a series of fires on federal lands without authorization and interfered with firefighters, leading to federal court convictions in 2012.
As an administrative appeal was wending its way through the Interior Department, Zinke ordered the decision be transferred to his jurisdiction. On January 2, during the government shutdown, Zinke reversed the BLM's 2014 decision and decided to renew the Hammonds' grazing permit.
"This was political interference at the highest levels of government," said Judi Brawer, wild places program director at WildEarth Guardians. "There are no legal grounds for renewing the permit without a public environmental review. Letting a Trump appointee arbitrarily determine who does and doesn't get the privilege of grazing on our public lands is an insult to public lands users."
Western Watersheds Project is an environmental conservation group working to protect and restore watersheds and wildlife throughout the American West.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.4 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
WildEarth Guardians works to protect and restore the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers and health of the American West.
At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.
(520) 623-5252LATEST NEWS
Muslim Rights Group Calls for Probe Into GOP Lawmaker's Threat to Omar, Tlaib
Randy Fine "must be investigated by state and federal law enforcement authorities and condemned by both Democratic and Republican Party leadership," said the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
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The country's largest Muslim civil rights group on Thursday called for added protections for U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar after Florida state Sen. Randy Fine issued an apparent threat against the two Muslim lawmakers.
Fine, who has the endorsement of President-elect Donald Trump in his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives, called himself the "Hebrew Hammer" in a post on X on Tuesday and suggested Reps. Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Omar (D-Minn.) should leave office for their own safety.
"Bombs away," he added.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has spoken out previously about anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim statements by Fine (R-19), called the lawmaker an "unhinged anti-Muslim bigot."
His apparent threat of violence "must be investigated by state and federal law enforcement authorities and condemned by both Democratic and Republican Party leadership," said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy executive director of CAIR. "President-elect Donald Trump, in particular, should denounce Mr. Fine's remarks and the Florida Republican Party should expel him."
"We also call on U.S. Capitol Police to step up protection for Representatives Omar and Tlaib to ensure their safety as they come under increasing threats from anti-Muslim and pro-genocide bigots like Randy Fine," said Mitchell.
Fine was held in contempt of court in Florida earlier this year for making obscene gestures and mouthing curse words at a hearing. He is running in a special election set for April 1, 2025, due to Trump's appointment of Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) to be national security adviser.
In 2021, the Florida chapter of CAIR filed an ethics complaint against Fine after he posted on social media calling Palestinian people "animals" and calling for their annihilation with the hashtag "#BlowThemUp."
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But one day after the deal went into effect, an Associated Press correspondent in northern Israel reported that they heard artillery strikes across the border in Lebanon as well as Israeli drones.
On Thursday morning, Israeli tanks hit the southern Lebanese towns of Markaba, Wazzani and Kfarchouba, Khiyam, and Taybe, according to Lebanese state media and security sources, injuring at least two people.
All the areas lie within two kilometers (1.24 miles) of the Lebanon-Israel border.
Hassan Fadlallah, a member of Lebanese Parliament who is part of the Hezbollah March 8 alliance, said Israel had attacked civilians who were "returning to the border villages."
"There are violations today by Israel, even in this form," he told reporters.
Thousands of Lebanese people began returning to their homes in the southern part of the country after the cease-fire deal went into effect, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) should not allow civilians back into southern villages. His order contradicted a statement by Nabih Berri, the speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, who led cease-fire negotiations and said Wednesday that residents could return home.
Israel imposed a last-minute curfew on Wednesday night, prohibiting Lebanese citizens from crossing into the south overnight.
The IDF then accused Hezbollah of violating the cease-fire, announcing on Thursday: "Over the past hour, several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the cease-fire. The IDF opened fire toward them."
Drop Site Newsnoted that the deal bars Hezbollah from carrying out "any operations" against Israel but only prohibits Israel from conducting "offensive" attacks in Lebanon.
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Human rights and press freedom groups on Thursday expressed concern after Pakistani journalist Matiullah Jan's family said he was "abducted," and then a judge placed him in police custody for a terrorism and narcotics case that critics call "bogus."
"Matiullah Jan has been abducted from the parking of PIMS tonight at around 11 by unmarked abductors in an unmarked vehicle alongside Saqib Bashir (who was let go five minutes later)," Jan's son, Abdul Razzaq, said on the journalist's X account, referring to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.
"This follows his courageous coverage of the protests in Islamabad. I demand that my father be let go immediately and his family immediately be informed of his whereabouts," added the son, who later posted a video on social media.
Journalist Asad Toor told the Pakistani newspaper Dawn that he was able to see Jan at the Margalla police station and that "he was fine." When Toor demanded to see the booking document, the first information report (FIR) was about protests by the political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and did not name Jan.
According to Dawn:
It later emerged that the anchor had been booked in a terrorism case, which also included charges of possessing narcotics. The FIR, shared by Toor and also independently verified by Dawn.com, was filed by the Margalla police on the complaint of Superintendent of Police Asif Ali.
Jan was later presented in the Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Court where Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra presided over a request by the police to grant the journalist's 30-day physical remand. However, the judge only granted his physical remand for two days.
The newspaper also noted that Jan's suggestion that his case is based on his work: "This is highly irresponsible. The integrity of institutions is being destroyed. The reason [for the arrest] is as you know that I was [reporting] on the dead bodies."
Pakistani authorities are accused of trying to cover up the deaths of PTI protesters who descended on Islamabad this week demanding fair elections and the release of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has has been behind bars for over a year due to charges that he calls politically motivated.
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"The arbitrary detention of journalist Matiullah Jan in Islamabad on trumped up charges after he was abducted in the late hours of November 27 is an affront on the right to freedom of expression and media freedom," Amnesty's South Asia office said on social media. "The Pakistani authorities must immediately release Mattiullah and drop the politically motivated charges against him. The government should stop targeting journalists for simply doing their job."
The Committee to Protect Journalists' Asia office similarly said on social media that "CPJ expresses grave alarm over reports of the abduction of journalist Matiullah Jan (@Matiullahjan919) in the capital Islamabad following his coverage of protests by supporters of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Authorities must ensure Jan's safety and immediate release."
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Reutershighlighted Thursday that "Jan is known as a critic of the military's heavy influence in Pakistani politics."
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