Issues

FWS and NOAA Fisheries Issue Final Rule Met with Strong Criticism. On August 23rd, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Fisheries Service submitted for publication in the Federal Register a final rule revising regulations for impact analyses of critical habitat designations for endangered and threatened species.  According to the announcement, the rule will go into effect on October 30, 2013.

Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, was critical of the final rule and noted the large financial burden in places on states and private property owners. As he states:

“Designating critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act creates massive financial burdens for private property owners and state and local governments. Friday’s rule allows the Agencies to avoid doing a full economic analysis of these financial burdens and allows them to hide the true costs of a species listing. It’s disturbing to see the Obama Administration ignore the call of Congress and the American people for more transparency and accountability with its most recent proposal. This rule change is another example of this Administration moving forward with a dangerous precedent to ignore economic impacts when implementing expensive rules and regulations. They are pulling wool over our eyes and hoping we won’t notice.”

According to the FWS, the rule is meant to “to improve transparency and public comment by providing the public access to both the scientific analysis and the draft economic analysis of a proposed critical habitat designation at the same time.” Read more on the final rule HERE.

FWS Proposes Rule Regarding Incidental Take Statements. This week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (the Services) released a proposed rule regarding Incidental Take Statements (ITS) for endangered and threatened species. The proposed rule relates to the use of “surrogates” to imply the likely extent of take created by a project or development.  As the FWS explains:

“In some situations, the most practical surrogate for expressing the amount or extent of anticipated take of listed species is the amount of listed species’ habitat impacted by the proposed action, and the expression of the habitat surrogate is fully coextensive with the project’s impacts on the habitat.”

Currently, ITS are produced by the Services as part of a biological opinion resulting from consultations with the federal agency under Section 7 of the ESA. Under the proposed rule, however, the Services may instead use surrogates when it is “impractical” to detect or monitor take of individual animals. The rule would also provide for the use of “Programmatic Incidental Take Statements” for ongoing or long-term federal actions. According to the FWS, a Programmatic ITS will specify appropriate measures that would minimize the impacts of take caused by the programmatic action. According to the proposed rule:

“The key distinguishing characteristics of programmatic actions for purposes of this proposed rule are: (1) they provide the framework for future, site-specific actions which are subject to section 7 consultations and incidental take statements, but they do not authorize, fund, or carry out those future site-specific actions; and (2) they do not include sufficient site-specific information to inform an assessment of where, when, and how listed species are likely to be affected by the program.”

FWS states the proposed rule will be published in the Federal Register next week, followed by a 60-day comment period. ESA Watch will continue to monitor the proposed rule as the comment period moves forward. Read the full press release from the FWS HERE.

In the News

Energy Lobbyists Set Sights on Lesser Prairie Chicken. Texas Tribune. Some of Texas’ biggest oil and gas lobbyists are hoping to take control of the fate of the fast-disappearing lesser prairie chicken — much like they did with the dunes sagebrush lizard this year. In June, Beatty Bangle Strama, a law firm whose attorneys lobby for ExxonMobil, created a nonprofit called the American Habitat Center. (The incorporation document can be found at the website for the secretary of state in Colorado, where it was filed.) The center was set up to administer a future “mitigation bank” that would allow the five biggest oil companies in the Permian Basin, where the grouse is found, to pay into a system that allows landowners to help conserve and restore the chicken’s habitat.

Spotted frog protection: Endangered listing could impact Basin. Herald and News. A contentious natural resources landscape in the Klamath Basin could get bumpier with the proposed listing of spotted frogs under the Endangered Species Act.

Western Governors urge USFWS to approve state conservation mechanism for lesser prairie chicken. Wagoner Tribune. Governors of five western states have urged the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to approve the Range-wide Conservation Plan for the Lesser Prairie Chicken (RWP) as the key conservation mechanism for the species.

Montrose rules designed with sage grouse in mind. Associated Press. New Montrose County regulations will require a permit before development can take place in areas designated as Gunnison sage grouse occupied habitat. Commissioners approved mitigation regulations for the bird, which is up for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Wyoming’s Congresswoman wants to reform the Endangered Species Act. Wyoming Public Media. In September a Congressional subcommittee will hold a hearing in Casper as Congress takes another crack at reforming the Endangered Species Act. Wyoming Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis has for years been supportive of reforming the ESA.  While she is quick to acknowledge that it has been a good law, Lummis is frustrated that once something gets on the endangered species list it rarely comes off.

County regs designed with sage-grouse in mind. Montrose Daily Press. Commissioners on Aug. 19 approved adoption of wildlife impact mitigation regulations “for development in areas containing or having significant impact on natural resources of statewide importance” — specifically, the Gunnison sage-grouse, which is up for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Okla. farm group hosts meetings on prairie chicken. Associated Press. The Oklahoma Farm Bureau is hosting a meeting for landowners and others concerned about the status of the lesser prairie chicken. The meeting next week in Woodward is to look at how Oklahoma would respond to the federal government’s plan to list the bird as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

House Committees Examine Endangered Species Legislation. Kittanning Paper. Local State Representative Jeff Pyle (R-Armstrong/Indiana) discussed new endangered species legislation with members of the House Game and Fisheries Committee, along with members of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, Monday.

Migratory birds now challenge sage grouse. Tri-State Livestock News. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has already determined that the greater sage grouse “warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act,” but is currently not listed. Probable causes of sage grouse population declines have varied, but researchers have always put ‘habitat loss’ at the top of the list.