DENVER—Environmentalists are denouncing a decision by the Obama administration to support Bush-era rules they believe give mine companies unlimited access to public lands to process ore and dump waste.
The administration has asked a federal judge to dismiss a challenge by environmental and community groups to a rule that lifted a restriction on how much public land companies can use. The groups are also challenging a 2008 rule that says companies aren’t required to pay the going rate to use the land.
Environmentalists say the administration’s decision conflicts with its pledge to overhaul the nearly 140-year-old law regulating hard-rock mining on public land.
The National Mining Association says the rule supported by the Obama administration is necessary for mining on federal lands in the West.
