Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, an association of independent oil and gas companies, dismissed in a statement the ruling as coming from a judge she said had been “an activist on sage grouse issues for more than a decade.” Plans by the Trump administration to increase protections for the iconic greater sage grouse , which lives on millions of acres of oil and gas - rich lands , have been blocked by a federal court . The move undermines government efforts to permit greater hunting , fishing and mining in the west of the US . The injunction granted by Judge B. Lynn Winmill in Idaho is temporary . However , Winmill said that the environmental organizations that brought the challenge are likely to be successful . The groups argued that the Interior Department did not consider reasonable alternatives and did not investigate the environmental impact of its proposals .
Plans by the Trump administration to increase protections for the iconic greater sage grouse , which lives on millions of acres of oil and gas - rich lands , have been blocked by a federal court . The move undermines government efforts to permit greater hunting , fishing and mining in the west of the US . The injunction granted by Judge B. Lynn Winmill in Idaho is temporary . However , Winmill said that the environmental organizations that brought the challenge are likely to be successful . The groups argued that the Interior Department did not consider reasonable alternatives and did not investigate the environmental impact of its proposals .