A Bayer subsidiary has agreed to pay $7.8 million to further conservation of wildlife, particularly the greater sage-grouse, settling a lawsuit that challenged approval of phosphate mining near Soda Springs, Idaho.
P4 will contribute $5.1 million to a trust fund to be managed by conservation groups that brought the lawsuit in 2021, including the Center for Biological Diversity, WildEarth Guardians and Western Watersheds Project. The groups will use the fund for restoration or conservation of sage-grouse habitat.
Another $2.4 million will go to acquire land for wildlife habitat connectivity, and an additional $300,000 for sage-grouse surveys.
The Caldwell Canyon mine was approved by the Bureau of Land Management in 2019, but following the lawsuit a federal judge vacated the record of decision and ordered BLM back to the drawing board. P4 has submitted a new plan that BLM is expected to rule upon soon.
The phosphate is used in the manufacturing of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Bayer’s Roundup herbicide.
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P4 also agreed to operational restrictions on the 1,559-acre mine in southeast Idaho to minimize the mine’s impact on sage grouse, the conservation groups said in a news release.
Last year, U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill in Idaho found that BLM's decision approving the mine violated both the National Environmental Policy Act and Federal Land Policy Management Act.
P4 appealed and the conservation groups cross-appealed, but the parties agreed to mediation.
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