On Wednesday June 2, 1999, after hearing legal arguments, Federal District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill took under advisement the Committee for Idaho's High Desert and Idaho Watersheds Project's motion for permanent injunction barring livestock use of 1,000,000 acres of public domain lands in Owyhee County, Idaho which are managed (sic) by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
As readers will recall, Judge Winmill had ruled on March 31, 1999 that 68 grazing permits issued by the BLM in 1997 were invalid because the BLM had failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). IWP's motion requested the judge to take action in the light of his decision and order the BLM to cease grazing. In the alternative, IWP and CIHD argued that at a minimum, the Court should order a one year timetable with a date certain for NEPA compliance on all 68 permits as well as interim management measures to protect damaged riparian areas on much of the area under legal action.
The Judge announced that he would not be issuing a permanentt injunction stopping livestock grazing this year, but would consider setting a timetable and requiring interim action to protect public resources in 1999 pending the issuance of new NEPA compliant permits. He said he would rule "soon".
The oral argument by the attorney for the rancher/intervenors was remarkable in that he suggested that no length of time would be sufficient for the BLM to adequately study these allotments and comply with the law, and so the judge should avoid any hard time table for bringing grazing use into compliance with the law. Some in the audience thought they saw the attorney making the symbol of infinity in the air as he talked!
The judge did say that "an extended period of study" was not acceptable. The Justice Department attorney representing the BLM informed the Judge that the BLM had changed its way of doing business and now was taking NEPA compliance very seriously although they would need at least 18 to 24 months to complete such analysis.
The courtroom was filled with ranchers of the full-time and the hobby variety who bemoaned their fate to attentive reporters after the hearing.