Issues

IPAA Voices Concerns with Northern Long-Eared Bat Listing. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published a letter to the editor this week from Independent Petroleum Association of America President (IPAA) Barry Russell regarding the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to list the northern long-eared bat as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Russell emphasized that the listing “imposes unnecessary and burdensome costs on a myriad of U.S. businesses, including natural gas development in Pennsylvania.” He continued:

“The real threat to the northern long-eared is a fungal disease known as white-nose syndrome — and a listing does absolutely nothing to address this underlying problem. Every reasonable effort should be made to halt the spread of this disease, but preventing highly regulated oil and natural gas activities from moving forward will have no tangible benefits to its population or the management of white-nose syndrome.”

IPAA submitted comments to Fish and Wildlife opposing the bat’s listing in January, August, and December 2014. In March 2015, IPAA and the American Petroleum Institute (API) also filed joint comments with the Service requesting that oil and gas activities be exempted from the prohibition against incidental take of the bat under the proposed 4(d) rule.

Following the Service’s announcement that it would list the bat as threatened, IPAA Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Political Affairs Dan Naatz stated that “Rather than listing the bat and limiting development, the Fish and Wildlife Service should work toward finding a solution to this deadly disease, while ensuring energy development, environmental stewardship, species conservation, and economic growth can thrive together across the nation.”

USGS Scientists Say Warming Climate Could Threaten Wyoming Sage-Grouse. A study of 3,200 square miles of sagebrush ecosystem conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) indicates that climate change could reduce Greater sage-grouse nesting habitat in southwestern Wyoming by 12 percent by 2050.

Published in the journal Ecological Indicators, the study concludes that climate change will make Wyoming more prone to wildfires that could burn sagebrush. “Historic disturbances of fire, development and invasive species have altered the sagebrush landscape, but climate change may represent the habitat’s greatest future risk,” the study’s lead author and Sioux Falls-based scientist Collin Homer said.

Greater sage-grouse populations live across 11 Western states. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is expected to decide this fall whether to list the bird under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

CBD to Fights FWS on Atlantic Seabird. The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) announced that it will sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection of the black-capped petrel, an Atlantic seabird that forages for food from North Carolina to Florida. The Center notes that the Service has not responded to a 2011 petition from WildEarth Guardians to protect the bird.

This move comes three months after the Obama administration announced plans to permit oil and natural gas exploration in the mid-Atlantic, the same waters inhabited by the seabird. The administration’s current plan allows offshore drilling in federal waters near states like Virginia and Georgia, and provides for a potential lease sale in 2021.

In the News

Obama bat protection decried as ploy to thwart oil and gas extraction, logging. Washington Times. Barry Russell, president and CEO of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, said that the “threatened” listing for the bat “does absolutely nothing to address this underlying problem.” “Every reasonable effort should be made to halt the spread of this disease, but preventing highly regulated oil and natural gas activities from moving forward will have no tangible benefits to its population or the management of white-nose syndrome,” Mr. Russell said in a letter that appeared Tuesday in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Conservation helping endangered lesser prairie-chicken. Fox News Lubbock. Results are encouraging from the first year of the lesser prairie-chicken range-wide conservation plan. The grouse was designated as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act in March 2014. The estimated habitat range includes regions of Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas.

U.S. to sign international bat pact as white-nose syndrome spreads. E&E News (sub req’d). The United States, Mexico and Canada will formally agree this evening to improve the coordination of their efforts to conserve North American bats. Although the three countries have worked together for almost 80 years under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, no formal agreement has been in place for bats. Representatives of the countries will sign a letter of intent to increase bat conservation cooperation at the Hilton San Diego Mission Valley, according to a FWS statement. The signing ceremony is part of the annual meeting of the Trilateral Committee for Wildlife and Ecosystem Conservation and Management.

Fish and Wildlife Service considers listing eight new species in western states. Lexology. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced Friday that it is formally evaluating whether to list a number of species as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). The Service issued its 90-day finding on ten petitions to list, delist, or reclassify species under the ESA filed by several non-governmental organizations and private individuals.

Forestry Association OK With ‘Threatened’ Bat Status. Gatehouse Media. The Arkansas Forestry Association says it can live with a recent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to list the northern long-eared bat as a threatened species while allowing most forest management practices to continue unabated. “Rather than listing the bat and limiting development, the Fish and Wildlife Service should work toward finding a solution to this deadly disease, while ensuring energy development, environmental stewardship, species conservation and economic growth can thrive together across the nation,” said Dan Naatz, a lobbyist for the Independent Petroleum Association of America.

ND environmental litigation bill to protect ag from federal regulations passes. Dickinson Press. he North Dakota Legislature has passed the agricultural piece of a two-part legislative effort, designed to create a fund to help legally protect the state’s two largest industries–agriculture and energy–from federal environmental regulations. HB 1432 tries to address challenges farmers face with the Waters of the U.S. regulations and with the federal Endangered Species Act.

Lawmakers seek more latitude to kill ravens, aid sage grouse. Associated Press. Lawmakers hope to prevent sage grouse from landing on the Endangered Species List by taking aim at a notorious egg-snatcher. The Senate Natural Resources Committee is holding a meeting Tuesday to discuss AJR2, which would urge Congress to remove protections for the common raven. The resolution notes that ravens steal the eggs of desert tortoises and sage grouse, but enjoy protections under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

Feds, states spar in push to create 165 million acre safe zone for grouse. Denver Post. Two days of intense negotiations in Denver last week veered toward an impasse as USFWS chief Dan Ashe and 11 Western governors’ envoys squared off. Western leaders, including Gov. John Hickenlooper, are ramping up a political blitz for feds to let states do the job. They contend states know best how to protect grouse and other vanishing sagebrush species, which now include other birds and deer. They point to voluntary sagebrush-conservation projects with ranchers involving 360,000 acres of grouse habitat.