BLM cancels move to restrict mining in environmentally sensitive land in California desert

The federal Bureau of Land Management this week canceled plans, developed under the Obama administration, to remove 1.3 million acres of environmentally sensitive California lands from new mining activity. The Trump Administration’s BLM said Tuesday that after a review of mineral exploration levels and mining data in the California desert, as well as the “expected impacts from future activities,” the agency concluded that mining operations, subject to existing environmental regulations, “do not pose a significant threat to the protection of cultural, biological and scientific values.” “This is a full assault on our public lands,” said Phil Hanceford, conservation director of The Wilderness Society, in Denver. An environmental analysis associated with the proposed withdrawal has also been terminated, the BLM announcement said. “This sets a bad precedent for National Conservation Lands in general, where mining could be allowed in all units,” said Ileene Anderson, a senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity in Los Angeles...more