Issues

BLM has yet to craft sage grouse policies for oil and gas lease sales. As highlighted in news reports this week, five months after Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced the federal government had found a way to balance drilling with sage-grouse conservation in the West, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) continues to delay federal oil and gas lease sales. This week, the Interior Department announced it will defer the sale of 60,000 acres of leases in Montana, while more than 8 million acres of leases have previously been deferred in Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming, with no indication of when those leases will be either freed up for sales or removed from consideration.

BLM spokesman Al Nash said completion of the policies to put new federal public land management plans in place is still several months away. Nash said BLM anticipates selling leases representing 20,000 acres during an auction in October, but those parcels are outside of sage brush habitat. Alan Olson, executive director of the Montana Petroleum Association, said the lease deferrals are “more excuses not to allow development on public lands.”

Texas discontinues foundation over lizard protection. Texas State Comptroller Glenn Hegar has fired the Texas Habitat Conservation Foundation over concerns the organization failed to perform the habitat restoration work it was supposed to complete between 2013 and 2014. Lauren Willis, a spokeswoman for Hegar, stated in CBS Newsthere was no evidence the foundation’s work harmed the lizard but that the plan was being closely monitored by regulators in the state.

News of the Comptroller’s decision led conservation groups to call for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reconsider its 2012 decision not to list the dunes sagebrush lizard. Fish and Wildlife had cited state-led voluntary conservation programs in its decision, and the decision was upheld by federal courts in 2014. The Center for Biological Diversity said that it does not currently plan to sue the agency over the lizard in light of this new development.

Ben Sheppard, president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association, applauded Hegar for “continuing to try to improve the (Texas Conservation Plan) and oversight of the plan.” Sheppard’s group has been heavily involved in New Mexico’s conservation plan, which assesses a fee of varying severity depending on the impact a drilling or operations plan has on the lizard’s habitat. “I think (the comptroller’s action is) not altogether a bad thing,” Sheppard said. “The comptroller has chosen to put a different set of eyes overseeing the plan. Nobody’s complained about the plan, and I’m not aware that the plan has any criticisms other than management issues.”

New study highlights concerns around monarch population. A new study by researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and U.S. Geological Survey suggests there is a “substantial probability” the eastern population of monarch butterflies in the U.S. could be wiped out over the next two decades. Specifically, the researchers determined the probability of a “quasi-extinction” event where too few butterflies remain for the species to be able recover, to be between 11 and 57 percent.

Though the World Wildlife Fund Mexico and partners reported a large increase over the previous year in the number of monarch butterflies hibernating in Mexico this winter, the estimated 150 million monarchs alive today is still below mid-1990s estimates. Experts attribute the population decline to the increased use of glyphosate, a popular herbicide that has eradicated milkweed, a plant that serves as monarchs’ sole food source during their yearly migration across North America.

To avert the “quasi-extinction,” the Environmental Defense Fund has proposed creating an “Airbnb for butterflies.” Their proposal would create an exchange where investors and conservationists could pay farmers and landowners to set aside areas filled with milkweed along the monarchs’ migration route. Other environmental groups recently filed a lawsuit to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the monarch butterfly under the Endangered Species Act. In March 2015, IPAA submitted joint comments with API to the FWS in response to a request for comment on the status of the monarch butterfly, highlighting the negligible impact of oil and gas operations on the butterfly’s population and its expansive habitat range.

In the News

Fungus that has killed roughly 7 million bats has now reached the West Coast. Los Angeles Times. Federal biologists on Thursday confirmed the presence of a lethal fungus known as white-nose syndrome in Washington, the first occurrence in western North America of the disease that has killed roughly 7 million bats. The discovery of white-nose syndrome in a little brown bat in North Bend, Wash., about 30 miles east of Seattle, is a setback for cooperative conservation measures, such as restricting human access to bat roosting sites, to slow the spread of the epidemic that was first documented in 2007 in New York. Since then, the disease that gets its name from the powdery, white substance that appears around muzzles, ears and wings of affected bats has swept across 28 states and five Canadian provinces. Note: Bellingham Herald, Monga Bay, E&E News (sub req’d) and The Oregonian also report and Center for Biological Diversity has issued a press release.

Secretary of the interior visits Santa Cruz Island, calls fox recovery a model. Ventura County Star. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell spotted a fox during a few hours Friday on Santa Cruz Island. Maybe two. That’s kind of a big deal. The cinnamon-colored foxes smaller than a house cat came close to extinction just 16 years ago. Fox populations on three of the islands in Channel Islands National Park had declined by more than 90 percent. Only 15 foxes were left on San Miguel and Santa Rosa, while Santa Cruz, the largest island, had an estimated 55. But their numbers have rebounded, marking the fastest recovery of any mammal on the endangered species list.

Attorney General Maura Healey to defend state against Kinder Morgan gas pipeline suit. The Republican. Attorney General Maura Healey has signaled that her office intends to defend the state against Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., which seeks an easement through the Otis State Forest for a new natural gas pipeline spur that would serve three natural gas utilities in Connecticut. The Kinder Morgan subsidiary sued the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation last week in Berkshire Superior Court seeking access to the state conservation land so it can begin tree-cutting along the pipeline route. Tennessee wants to begin tree-cutting right away because aspects of the Endangered Species Act won’t let the company cut trees in the forest past March 31, unless an extension is granted.

Governors’ ESA initiative aims to change the debate. Ag Alert (Op-Ed). The federal Endangered Species Act isn’t working. It doesn’t work for species and it doesn’t work for people. But things don’t have to stay this way. Recognizing a need and opportunity for change, Gov. Matt Mead of Wyoming is leading an effort through the Western Governors’ Association, where states and stakeholders are sharing ideas about species management and exploring “ways to improve the efficacy of the Endangered Species Act.” We believe this is the most productive conversation around the ESA and species conservation to occur in decades.

Regional grouse mapping effort under way. Post Independent Citizen Telegram. “Historic” was the word used at a recent meeting to kick off of an effort by local governments in northwest Colorado and the state’s wildlife agency to better map the habitat of the greater sage-grouse. The hope is that the new habitat mapping will be considered by the Bureau of Land Management, which along with the U.S. Forest Service is responsible for constructing land-use plans intended to conserve the bird’s habitat. The collaborative approach between CPW and local governments is a monumental partnership that will benefit more than just the grouse, Bob Broscheid, CPW director, said over the phone during a meeting in Rifle last Thursday.

Interior secretary preaches cooperation during Oregon visit. Associated Press. The top Department of the Interior official brought a message of cooperation between ranchers and the government to Burns, Oregon — the same place ranchers recently held an armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge. Jewell said she’ll return to Washington, D.C., determined to showcase what she called “a disaster averted” — the Harney County effort to protect the greater sage grouse while avoiding federal regulation that could hurt the ranching and logging industries.

Aging rigs spark debate: removal or reef? E&E News (sub req’d). Recent research suggests that some platforms also rank among the world’s most productive fish habitats. Love was a co-author of a 2014 study that found California’s platforms produced far more fish biomass each year than natural habitats, beating out a Louisiana estuary, a natural reef off California and others. Specifically, they’ve become havens to rockfish, several species of which are endangered. The reason, according to Love: Platforms cover more of the water column. They are akin to giant 700-foot-tall coral, while the natural stuff peaks at around 20 feet.

Environmentalists wield powerful ESA to kill jobs. Heartland Institute (Blog). From its inception, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has sought ways to permanently stop natural resource use, and with the help of environmental attorneys, CBD has successfully weaponized the Endangered Species Act (ESA) against ranchers, loggers, miners, and human activity in general. ESA was written in a way that theoretically allows it to halt virtually any activity or state or local law deemed to be harmful to plants or animals considered to be in danger of extinction, and CBD has taken advantage of the law’s vague and broad language to force extreme action against private industry and private property owners.