A federal judge has fully vacated a set of approvals by the Bureau of Land Management authorizing development of the Caldwell Canyon phosphate mine in southeastern Idaho.
Phosphate from the mine was slated to be used by Bayer AG — which in 2018 purchased the pesticide giant Monsanto — in manufacturing glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup brand products. Glyphosate has been found by the Environmental Protection Agency to pose a risk of adversely affecting 93% of the plant and animal species protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Friday’s decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho vacated the BLM’s approvals for the new open-pit phosphate mine; the phosphate use permit; and rights-of-ways for a road, water pipeline, fiber optic line and powerline. It also vacated the agency’s environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act.
The decision follows the court’s ruling in January that the BLM had violated the National Environmental Policy Act and Federal Land Policy Management Act when it approved the phosphate mine without first analyzing and restricting, mitigating or eliminating impacts to greater sage grouse, such as harms to habitat and population connectivity.
