ELR Citation: 50 ELR 20004
No(s). 2:19-cv-0750-SI (D. Or. Dec 20, 2019) (Simon, J.)

A district court vacated grazing permits renewed by former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in response to a presidential pardon of a ranching company's prior criminal convictions. Environmental groups argued that Secretary's decision violated the APA and BLM regulations because it did not include the required finding that the company had a satisfactory record of performance, including a finding that the company was in substantial compliance with the terms and conditions of its existing grazing permit. DOI and BLM argued that the secretary could find the company's satisfactory performance based on any factor not specifically excluded by statute or regulation, and thus that Zinke properly found the company had a satisfactory record based on the president's pardon, the settlement payments it paid to the U.S. government, and the terms of imprisonment its principals served. The court, however, found that the standard Zinke purportedly applied in his review of the renewal was the "substantial compliance" standard. Further, it found that Zinke carefully avoided actually making the required finding, either explicitly or implicitly, that the company had a satisfactory record of performance, and thus that his decision to issue the permit without that finding violated the APA. It therefore vacated the permit and remanded to BLM.