(FixThisNation.com) – The state of Montana has filed a legal challenge against the Biden administration over its decision to provide a permit to an organization to lease a large public property area for non-agriculture usage.
The motion which was filed with the Department of Interior’s Office of Hearings and Appeals notes that in 2022 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had illegally opted for prioritizing “conservation herds” rather than the rural ranching communities in the state and livestock production. In July of that same year, BLM had given a lease to the American Prairie Reserve (APR) for grazing bison on federal lands.
Austin Knudsen, the Montana Attorney General noted that this decision by the BLM was a “direct attack on rural communities.” He added during a statement to Fox News Digital that BLM unlawfully approved the plan that would convert thousands of acres into a nature preserve that would only benefit the wealthy rather than being used as productive ranch land.
He added that federal law and the BLM’s regulations were completely ignored and that it is clear with these decisions that the Biden administration was going to provide their approval for this program regardless of the impact that it could have on communities in the area. BLM’s decision gave APR access to more than 63,000 acres of land.
Knudsen has also stated that the Interior Department’s appeals board needed to take action and to push BLM to rescind its decision. The motion which was filed on Monday allows APR and BLM a month to respond.
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