Friends of the Inyo v. U.S. Forest Service

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 Friends of the Inyo, et al., No. 2:21-cv-01955-KJM-KJN Plaintiffs, v. ORDER United States Forest Service, et al., Defendants. 16 KORE Mining Limited, 17 Intervenor-Defendant.

19 Plaintiffs Friends of the Inyo (FOI), Western Watersheds Project (WWP), Center for Biological Diversity (Center) and Sierra Club filed this action to invalidate the approval by defendant United States Forest Service (USFS) of a project to conduct an exploratory geological investigation and drilling project at a Kern County site where a gold asset is located. KORE Mining Limited, the sole owner of that gold asset, moves to intervene in the action as a matter of right under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a)(2). The motion is unopposed. The court grants the motion as explained below. ///// ///// I. BACKGROUND On September 27, 2021, defendant USFS approved KORE’s Long Valley Exploration Drilling Project. Compl. ¶ 1, ECF No. 1. KORE…