AP 5-9, 2016
The state of Wyoming is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit from a coalition of environmental groups who say the state Legislature didn’t go far enough in amending laws that would make trespassing to collect data a crime.
A coalition of environmental, animal rights and other groups filed suit challenging the original Wyoming laws last year. The coalition claimed the state was trying to stifle criticism of resource management decisions and block activists from exposing animal cruelty.
A federal judge last year expressed concern with the laws’ original language seeking to prohibit data collection on open land.
The Legislature this year removed the open land reference, but the groups say the laws still violate the right to collect data and give it to the government.