Issues

Environmental groups inundated FWS with lawsuits seeking species listings. This week, Reuters reported that two environmental groups, Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and WildEarth Guardians, were responsible for the majority of new species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) since 2010. The petitions and lawsuits were designed to force the federal government to respond.

Of the over 600 species currently being reviewed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 77 percent were submitted by CBD and 16 percent by WildEarth Guardians. Due to budget cuts in recent years, the Service has been overwhelmed by the staggering number of petitions and unable to meet the ESA’s deadlines. When deadlines are missed, the petitioning groups then use litigation to force a listing.

To illustrate the dramatic increase in lawsuits by outside groups, Reuters highlights that between 2005 and 2009 the FWS listed at least 24 species for federal protection in response to lawsuits; between 2010 and 2014 that number increased to at least 197, an increase of over 820 percent.

The group’s strategy has sparked backlash by current and former leaders in Congress. Retired Representative John Dingell (D-MI), a co-author of the ESA, said that the deluge of lawsuits has “perverted” the law and is not reflective of the original intent of Congress. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, also stated that “the Endangered Species Act has gone from a well-intentioned piece of legislation in the 1970s to one that is dictated by environmental activist groups taking advantage of the adversarial system.” WildEarth Executive Director John Horning responded by saying that “the only way to get the agency’s attention was to have a massive number of petitions that kind of overwhelmed the agency and forced them through a little shock therapy.”  Read the full report from Reuters HERE.

Comment period for proposed petition regulation revisions extended. This week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service announced a 60-day extension to the public comment period for proposed revisions to Endangered Species Act (ESA) petition regulations to accommodate additional public comment.  Comments on the plan are now due September 18, 2015.

The revisions proposed in May 2015 aim to “improve the specificity of petitions and to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the petition process to support species conservation.” IPAA is currently drafting comments to submit on the revisions.

New poll shows bipartisan support in Western states for federal sage-grouse plans. A new poll commissioned by the Pew Charitable Trusts and conducted in the final week of June found that 61 percent of voters support the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service plans to protect the greater sage-grouse’s habitat. The polling was conducted through 600 phone interviews with registered voters who live in counties that are home to greater sage-grouse.  According to the poll, 58 percent of Republicans, 61 percent of Independents, and 71 percent of Democrats support the federal plans.

Revealed in May, the federal plans seek to minimize habitat fragmentation and protect existing habitats by minimizing surface disturbances, which would include new energy development. The plans also seek to improve the condition of the sage-grouse habitat and reduce the threat of rangeland fires.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) has filed comments on the proposed plans, arguing that they are lacking in both conservation and development and would hinder energy development in Western states, resulting in lost jobs and reduced revenue to state and local economies while providing minimal benefit to the sage-grouse. As Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Political Affairs Dan Naatz stated in the Washington Times:

“While we support conservation efforts to protect the greater sage-grouse, at first glance, these plans, with their significant new limitations on land use, appear to fly in the face of the meaningful conservation efforts already underway within the range states to protect this important species.”

The plan has also received mixed reactions from Western governors in the grouse’s habitat range, concerned the plan would harm energy developers and ranchers without providing adequate support for state sage-grouse plans. Conservation groups are also split over whether the plans go far enough to protect the bird.

Defense bill includes Endangered Species Act provisions. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2016 includes several environmental riders, including provisions that would block Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for the greater sage-grouse, the American burying beetle, and the lesser prairie chicken. A group of 89 House Democrats signed a letter this week calling for the environmental provisions to be removed from the final conference report on the bill, saying that they are “unrelated to military readiness.” Republicans have countered by saying that listing the sage-grouse as endangered could harm military readiness by restricting where the military can train its soldiers.

Specifically, three provisions would prohibit the federal government from interfering with state management plans for the protection and recovery of the greater sage-grouse, remove the lesser prairie chicken’s “threatened” status and prevent the Secretary of the Interior from listing the lesser prairie chicken as threatened or endangered in the future, and remove the American burying beetle’s endangered status.

The bill is currently in conference committee to reconcile the differences, including the ESA-related riders, between the versions passed by the House in May and by the Senate in June. The greater sage-grouse provision was attached by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT) during mark-up in the House Armed Services Committee, while the other two provisions were amendments offered by Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK) that were approved on the House floor. The Senate substituted their own language for the bill to better reflect the priorities of its members and therefore the ESA riders were not included in the version passed by the Senate. While the bill has received veto threats from the administration, others forecast these provisions will not threaten passage of a bill otherwise considered to be a “must-pass” piece of legislation. The conference report is expected to be unveiled and submitted for a final vote in both houses next week, with lawmakers hoping to send the bill to President Obama for his signature before Congress’ August recess.

In the News

Conservation program to include new grassland component. E&E News (sub req’d). The rule would also allow wind turbines on CRP land, provided that they are installed in a way that minimizes threats to threatened or endangered wildlife listed under the Endangered Species Act. It also adds a new definition of “nesting season” to reflect a new requirement that landowners consider certain categories of bird nesting seasons.

Public urged to attend sage grouse meetings. Burns Times Herald (Press Release). The purpose of this press release is to alert you, as a Harney County property owner or interested person, of proposed rules being proclaimed by the state of Oregon from both the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) and the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (LCDC) that may regulate development on private land to protect important sage grouse habitat. If you own land, recreate, hunt, fish, have an interest in or simply visit the vast rural portions of this county, you may want to comment on these rules and better understand them. Below are the opportunities to do so in this community.

Sage grouse listing call ‘a humdinger’. Jackson Hold News & Guide (Op-Ed). If you were Dan Ashe, the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who must decide whether the greater sage grouse warrants Endangered Species Act protection, who you gonna call? Former Gov. Dave Freudenthal led by establishing Wyoming’s Sage Grouse Implementation Team that set Wyoming conservation standards ahead of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service intervention.

Bishop presses White House for ESA emails ahead of hearing. E&E News (sub req’d). With a contentious Endangered Species Act oversight hearing looming, the House Natural Resources Committee chairman is pushing the Obama administration for more information on why it apparently didn’t evaluate how protected species like manatees could be affected by its proposed power plant carbon emission limits. Some legal experts and conservationists believe federal and state Republican lawmakers and industry groups could potentially use ESA challenges to derail or delay seemingly unrelated environmental rules like the Clean Power Plan.

Congress needs to let sage-grouse plans work. Desert News (Op-Ed). It is important to take the time to reflect on the notable achievement by the Departments of Interior and Agriculture (USDA) in releasing the greater sage-grouse land-use plans. When implemented, these plans will protect millions of acres of critical habitat for the greater sage-grouse, as well as many other wildlife species dependent on our nation’s sage brush ecosystem. Congress could learn a thing or two about getting work done by looking at these plans. While the plans were being developed, the only concern was protecting iconic species like the greater sage-grouse and, in turn, protecting the Western way of life.

Wind turbines at center of bat protection rules. Sheboygan Press. Because of the disease, white-nose syndrome, the federal agency listed the northern long-eared bat as threatened. The temporary rule to list the bat as threatened exempted some activities, but not wind energy generation. The agency is now considering a final rule, including potential exemptions for wind turbines. But Amidon, with the Fish and Wildlife Service, said that some bat populations — such as northern long-eared — are so precarious that even the marginal additional deaths caused by wind turbines can become a factor in their survival.