Issues

Congressional Leaders Speak Out on Revised Mitigation Policy. This week, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) sent a letter to Dan Ashe, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, requesting the withdrawal of the recently proposed revised Mitigation Policy and Presidential Implementation memorandum. Congressman Steve Pearce (R, NM), Cynthia Lummis (R, WY) and several other members also submitted a letter to Director Ashe, calling for an extension of the comment period beyond the current June deadline to ensure “the public has sufficient time to review and analyze yet another broad, sweeping policy change that could impact jobs and economies across America.”

Sen. Murkowski’s concerns largely stemmed from the proposal’s requirement for all mitigation policies to set a “net benefit goal or at minimum, a no net loss goal for natural resources” in order to manage and minimize damages to natural resources. Sen. Murkowski wrote that the Service “does not have the authority to require net conservation gain” and that the policy also “fails to provide any specific legal authority related to net conservation gain.” The Chairman outlined the lack of definition of the principle of net gain as “disconcerting”, citing that the resulting policy is unclear because of this missing information. Sen. Murkowski also urged the Service to exclude Alaska from implementation of the policy, as its landscape and practices are vastly different from the rest of the United States.

IPAA has also submitted comments on the draft policy, expressing concerns over the proposed rule and requesting that the Service withdraw the policy unless re-proposed with significant changes. Read IPAA’s one page summary on the policy HERE, and its full comments HERE.

Recent Advances in Drilling Technology Benefit Local Wildlife and Energy Producers. A new report released this week by the Western Energy Alliance and the Petroleum Association of Wyoming has found that recent advancements in drilling technology have dramatically improved the environmental impacts of energy production. The report found that “modern oil and natural gas operations result in a nearly 70% reduction in disturbance” to species and habitats surrounding oil and gas drilling sites in the West. Specifically, horizontal and directional drilling techniques, when paired with hydraulic fracturing, enable companies to extract from one well pad the same amount of oil and natural gas that would normally require eight to 16 separate vertical well pads. These advances significantly reduce the operational footprint that drilling has on surrounding habitats.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell has embraced the advances in extractive technology, noting that “by using directional drilling and fracking, we have an opportunity to have a softer footprint on the land.” This is good news for both conservation groups and oil and natural gas companies, who are committed to minimizing potential impacts of development on species, particularly the greater sage-grouse and other big game species.

In Wyoming, state agencies, ranchers, and energy producers have been able to coordinate efforts through the Sage-Grouse Implementation Team, resulting in the protection of 64 percent of leks from drilling disturbances. The new drilling methods are also cost-effective, as horizontal drilling actually increases the rate of recovery of oil and natural gas from each well. The report concludes that wildlife and energy production can peacefully coexist, to the benefit of the native species and the local economies.

Western governors propose ESA amendments. The Western Governors’ Association (WGA) this week unveiled a proposal to overhaul the Endangered Species Act to better serve imperiled species and ensure the federal government works closely with states when making determinations on listing decisions and critical habitat designations. The resolution  was passed by a unanimous vote, following a year of bipartisan efforts by the WGA to bring together conservationists, industry, and elected officials to find a solution to some of the law’s most pressing issues.

The resolution calls for requiring clear recovery goals for listed species, ensuring the use of sound science in ESA decisions, discouraging Endangered Species Act litigation, and enhancing the role of state governments in decisions made on species within their borders.

Wyoming Governor Matt Mead (R), who serves as Chairman of the WGA, intends to bring the resolution to the National Governors’ Association and work with interested parties to assemble a legislative package that could be sent to Congress. The resolution has already secured the support of Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe. “If we can continue that dialogue and if we can keep it bipartisan, and then start to take the resolution and build that into more specific principles and legislative language,” he said, “then I think it represents the best opportunity we’ve had in a long time to think about re-authorization of the Endangered Species Act.”

In the News

Monarch highway. Houston Chronicle (Editorial). Our state government generally hasn’t shown much interest in environmental issues, but last month it joined five other states in signing up for a federal initiative to turn Interstate 35 into a corridor for monarch butterflies on their annual migrations between Canada and Mexico. We applaud TxDOT for joining the monarch project and urge it to lead the way in making the 600 miles of the I-35 corridor in Texas the model for the other states to follow. The initiative will start off with $700,000 in federal money with, we hope, more to come. Texas has been lackluster in efforts to protect our environment, and our current government has seemed particularly antagonistic toward attempts to do so. The butterfly project is a small, but welcome exception.

Environmental groups protest planned BLM auction. Wyoming Business Report. A coalition of conservation groups filed a formal administrative protest last week challenging a Bureau of Land Management plan to auction off 139 square miles of publicly owned lands in Wyoming for fossil fuel development. Most of the area, about 100 square miles, is located in habitat for greater sage grouse. The protest calls for canceling the Aug. 2 auction entirely. “New fossil fuel leases lock in more climate disruption, more air and water pollution, and further declines for the iconic sage grouse,” said My-Linh Le of the Center for Biological Diversity. “Plans that worsen the climate crisis and sage grouse declines aren’t in the public interest”

Interior Secretary sees more collaboration from states, locals. Bloomberg BNA. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the ongoing Bureau of Land Management Planning 2.0 process will “make more space, not less” for collaboration between the federal agency and state and local governments, especially with respect to land-use planning such as that involved in the decision last fall not to list the greater sage grouse under the Endangered Species List. But one Western governor challenged Jewell June 13 as to whether state leaders will have input early in the process of land use planning. “With respect to the governors’ consistency reviews, it doesn’t look that way right now,” Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) said. “In fact, it feels like its getting narrower versus broader. The way the process worked this last time with respect to the sage grouse, it felt perfunctory. I want it to feel like we’ve been listened to.”

Divided panel approves rider-filled Interior-EPA bill. E&E News (sub req’d). The Senate Appropriations Committee today approved 16-14 a spending bill for the Interior Department, U.S. EPA and the Forest Service after adding money for wildfire fighting and rejecting a Democratic attempt to strike a dozen policy riders. The party-line vote sends the $32.7 billion fiscal 2017 measure to the full Senate. But Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) predicted that the riders — touching on everything from water regulations to the Endangered Species Act — will likely keep the bill from clearing the 60-vote procedural hurdle needed to take it up on the floor. The bill includes a provision that would remove Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in Wyoming and the Great Lakes — a move that drew opposition from Sen. Udall, who labeled it one of 12 “poison pill” riders. Note: Agri-Pulse and Argus Media also report and Senators Moran (R-KS) and Udall (D-NM) have issued press releases.

Senate passes authorization without environmental riders. E&E News (sub req’d). Senate and House lawmakers are set to battle it out over the sage grouse in a conference committee after senators advanced a defense authorization bill today that is free of environmental riders. The Senate bill passed in a vote of 85-13. It differs significantly on environmental matters from the House version of the bill. As has been the case in recent years, Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) opted for a clean bill that largely only tackles defense issues. McCain has previously stated that he is “frankly not interested” in including environmental issues like greater sage grouse conservation in the Senate bill.

Lesser Prairie Chicken Prevented from “Threatened” Listing. The Hutchinson News. On Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted to add Rep. Kevin Yoder’s amendment to prevent the listing of the lesser prairie chicken as a “threatened” or “endangered” species to the 2017 Interior and Environment Appropriations Act. “As I said when the Justice Department announced it was dropping its appeal, I remain skeptical that was the end of the road,” Yoder said in the release. “The Lesser Prairie Chicken’s listing as a threatened species stunted economic growth in Kansas for little to no benefit. It was a misguided effort to save a bird that already saw its population increase over the last few years due to local efforts. My amendment today simply maintains the new status quo, preventing the Administration from reopening its efforts and protecting farmers and ranchers from unwanted government overreach.”