Post by Poor Richard on Aug 29, 2023 6:45:55 GMT -7
Montana Attorney General Knudsen says Biden admin actions are 'direct attack on rural communities'
Fox News reports "The state of Montana filed a legal motion against the Biden administration over its decision to permit a billionaire-backed organization to lease large swaths of public property for non-agriculture uses.
In a motion for summary judgment filed with the Department of Interior's Office of Hearings and Appeals late last week, Montana alleged a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rule issued in 2022 unlawfully prioritizes non-production "conservation herds" over livestock production and the state's rural ranching communities. In July 2022, BLM granted a request to the American Prairie Reserve (APR) to graze bison across leased federal lands.
"The BLM’s final decision granting a general use permit to graze bison is a direct attack on rural communities — attacks that have become a hallmark of the Biden Administration," Knudsen told Fox News Digital in a statement. "The BLM has bent over backward to circumvent the law and approve APR’s plan to turn hundreds of thousands of acres of productive ranch land into a nature preserve for the wealthy."
"From shutting out Montana ranchers during the comment period, proposing to copy and paste directly from APR’s website, and ignoring federal law and its own regulations, it’s clear Biden’s BLM intended to rubber stamp this proposal from the start — no matter the impact on and opposition from local communities," he continued."
Read the full story here.
In a motion for summary judgment filed with the Department of Interior's Office of Hearings and Appeals late last week, Montana alleged a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rule issued in 2022 unlawfully prioritizes non-production "conservation herds" over livestock production and the state's rural ranching communities. In July 2022, BLM granted a request to the American Prairie Reserve (APR) to graze bison across leased federal lands.
"The BLM’s final decision granting a general use permit to graze bison is a direct attack on rural communities — attacks that have become a hallmark of the Biden Administration," Knudsen told Fox News Digital in a statement. "The BLM has bent over backward to circumvent the law and approve APR’s plan to turn hundreds of thousands of acres of productive ranch land into a nature preserve for the wealthy."
"From shutting out Montana ranchers during the comment period, proposing to copy and paste directly from APR’s website, and ignoring federal law and its own regulations, it’s clear Biden’s BLM intended to rubber stamp this proposal from the start — no matter the impact on and opposition from local communities," he continued."
Read the full story here.