Lawsuit: US withholding wildfire fuel break information

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Conservationists are accusing federal land managers of illegally withholding information about environmental assessments used to justify plans to create fuel breaks to slow wildfires by clearing forests and shrubs across six western states with little if any public oversight.

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act in federal court in Reno this week against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

A lawyer for the group says he's disappointed the Biden administration is continuing the “obstructionist tactics” of the Trump administration, which first announced the plans last year.

The center is seeking more details about potential projects on federal rangeland across 348,000 square miles (901,300 square kilometers) — an area twice as big as the states of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio combined.

The government announced plans in November 2020 to begin mapping out the fuel breaks in Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho and Utah.

Fuel breaks involve clearing extended stretches of vegetation to slow the progress of fires. The bureau has said that assessments of more than 1,200 fuel breaks dating to 2002 found that 78% helped control wildfire and 84% helped change fire behavior.

The new lawsuit filed Monday says the blueprint adopted in environmental impact statements approved in January allow the activity to occur in an area that is home to at least 25 threatened or endangered species “with minimal public notice and no formal opportunities for public comment."

The Center for Biological Diversity first filed a FOIA request for the plan’s supporting data in March with the bureau, which is overseen by the U.S. Interior Department.

“Unless enjoined and made subject to a declaration of the Center’s legal...