US Government Rejects Utah and Wyoming’s Claims of Environmental Harm from BLM’s Public Lands Rule

The US government has dismissed claims by Utah and Wyoming that implementing the Bureau of Land Management’s public lands rule will cause “irreparable environmental harm” in their states and should be blocked. The Justice Department has dismissed these claims in a court filing on behalf of BLM and the Interior Department, stating that the rule has been in effect for nearly two months and that the states have failed to prove that it will result in imminent irreparable harm to the environment before the case could be heard on the merits. The states claim they lack legal standing to request a court injunction against implementation of the rule.