The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to properly consider environmental impacts when it approved a plan by P4 Production LLC, a subsidiary of Bayer AG (formerly Monsanto), to develop the Caldwell Canyon phosphate mine in Idaho in 2019 (GM Aug. 16, 2019), according to Bloomberg Law, citing a lawsuit filed by environmental groups April 27.
The Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project, and WildEarth Guardians said the agency also failed to consider the mine’s impact on greater sage grouse, which has seen a declining population in recent decades. The BLM calculated how much sage grouse habitat the mine would destroy, but it failed to explain how this would affect the bird’s population, the lawsuit said. The agency also failed to study a wide range of alternatives, the environmental groups argue.
“The Bureau of Land Management keeps approving phosphate mine after phosphate mine in this corner of their habitat, without adequate safeguards,” said Erik Molvar, Executive Director for Western Watersheds Project. “To recover sage grouse for the benefit of future generations, this has to stop.”
In addition, plaintiffs said that phosphate from the mine will be used to produce Roundup. It noted the U.S. EPA determined that glyphosate, which is the active ingredient in the product, is likely to adversely affect 93 percent of all threatened and endangered species.