A coalition of environmental groups have sued the Department of the Interior (DOI) in federal court for approving a plan authorizing 6,000 miles of routes for off-road vehicles in California's section of the Mojave Desert, claiming that the dirt routes further imperil the threatened desert tortoise.
In a Thursday complaint filed in Oakland federal court, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and others allege the DOI and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) with their 2019 approval of the roads, which stretch over three million acres of Mojave Desert land, even as the plaintiffs say the desert's tortoise population is declining largely due to off-road vehicles like dune buggies traveling the area.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/green-groups-sue-over-harmful-off-roading-mojave-desert-2021-09-17/
Comments