Issues
Trump Admin rolls out new ESA proposal. On Thursday, the Trump Administration announced plans to revamp sections of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in a joint venture with the Interior and Commerce departments. The proposal would make it easier to delist an endangered species by streamlining interagency consultations and would withdraw a policy that automatically extended the same protections for both threatened species and endangered species.
“ESA implementation was not consistent and often times very confusing to navigate,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Principal Deputy Director Greg Sheehan said in a statement, explaining the changes.
Sheehan called the proposal a way of “providing clarity,” arguing that the changes would help the main goal of the ESA – species recovery – be realized so that animals and plans could be more easily removed from endangered and threatened species lists. The administration also requested that Fish and Wildlife discard language that guides officials to ignore economic impacts when determining how wildlife should be protected so that determinations are based instead on “the best scientific and commercial data.”
Interior spending bill to include ESA riders. Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the Interior-Environment Appropriations two-bill minibus, H.R. 6147. Before being recommended for further consideration, the spending package for fiscal year 2019 included more than 230 amendments with 163 of them filed just to the Interior-EPA title.
Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert (R-CA) accurately predicted that “quite a few” of the amendments would be approved for floor debate. The version of the two-bill spending package that passed included dozens of amendments, some of which related to hot-button issues confronting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Interior (DOI), including listing and spending for endangered species.
Of the amendments originally considered, lawmakers in the House voted by 213-202 to include a plan by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) to bar the use of funds to implement or enforce the threatened species listing of the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse, as well as a second Lamborn amendment to prevent the enforcement of threatened or endangered species listings unless they have undergone a five-year review by a vote of 213-201. The House also adopted an amendment from Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM) to prevent any rulemaking on the status of the lesser prairie chicken by 216-197.
Gov. Mead defends ESA overhaul in Senate hearing. Earlier this week, Governor Matt Mead of Wyoming sat before the Senate Committee in Environment and Public Works (EPW) to discuss the draft legislation sponsored by Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY). The legislation, aptly titled Endangered Species Act Amendments of 2018, is a 36-page draft bill designed to elevate the role of state and local governments in the listing process while also furthering transparency efforts. Though Mead did not write the bill, it is inspired by an ongoing bipartisan campaign by the Western Governors Association, that Mead formerly chaired, to recommend changes to the law.
“States not only have the resources, but a great deal of expertise,” said Gov. Mead, fielding critical questions from Senators, “and I think it’s important to add that states care about endangered species.” The Senate proposal would give states the opportunity to lead species recovery planning and implementation efforts and provide support for state-level initiatives. Federal officials would have to give “great weight” to state information on listing decisions. The bill would also further require that “the number of federal representatives on a [species] recovery team not exceed the number of state and local representatives” and would require annual state feedback on the performance of Fish and Wildlife Service employees.
With Republican support shoring up in the Senate, the bill is poised to have a vast following. Beyond the dozens of organizations that sent letters in support of the bill, the Public Lands Council (PLC) and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) have launched an online campaign to educate the public on the need for a modernized Endangered Species Act. According to Kevin Kester, California rancher and NCBA President, the Endangered Species Act Amendments of 2018 is a once in a lifetime opportunity for species conservation reform and those in support of the bill are waiting on baited breath for it to become law.
NDAA in conference, Pentagon irked by sage-grouse language. Lawmakers tasked with reconciling the House and Senate versions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) met for the first time this week. The sage grouse provision from House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT), who is also on the NDAA conference committee, would prevent the Greater sage-grouse and lesser prairie chicken from being listed under the Endangered Species Act for the next 10 years.
In opposition to the provision, more than 100 Democrats, led by House Natural Resources ranking member Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) sent a letter to the those working on a compromise, demanding that the NDAA is stripped of wildlife provisions on sage-grouse, lesser prairie chickens and other species.
The Pentagon is also objecting to the House provisions for the two birds, urging its exclusion in a brief letter attributed to the Department of Defense (DOD) saying that the language “is not necessary to protect military testing and training.” According to Lucian Niemeyer, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations and Environment, “Legislation at this time prohibiting the listing of these species may have the unintended consequence of undermining the ongoing working relationships and initiatives that DOD has with our federal, state, and private partners as it relates to balancing wildlife conservation and sustaining our readiness capabilities.”
Chairman Bishop decried the document’s release, saying DOD hasn’t officially changed its position “What came out … was an orchestrated attempt to try and change the direction of the discussions that are taking place,” he said. “The bottom line is the Defense Department did go through recommendations they would give. This is one of the things they discussed, but they did not vote to change their position on it.” In 2016, the Pentagon said sage grouse language wasn’t necessary. While the Pentagon did not confirm or deny the document’s authenticity, Senator Inhofe said he was also not concerned about the Pentagon’s assessment, saying it wouldn’t change his position.
In the News
ESA is ‘8-track law in Spotify world’ — GOP. E&E News (Sub req’d). Western Republican lawmakers yesterday rolled out a wide-ranging legislative package to overhaul the 45-year-old Endangered Species Act, which they said has morphed into a financial and regulatory burden on farmers, ranchers and loggers without adequately protecting wildlife. “Everyone here agrees with the premise that we should make all reasonable effort to protect species facing extinction” as a result of human activity, Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar, chairman of the 79-member Congressional Western Caucus, said during a hearing on the suite of bills he dubbed the “Western Caucus Endangered Species Act Modernization Package.” But Gosar, who is leading the reform effort, said the “legislative intention” of the 1973 landmark conservation law has strayed significantly from the “on-the-ground reality” of how the federal government has implemented it, resulting in what critics of the law say is a 3 percent species recovery rate in its nearly 50-year history. The ESA has become too restrictive and overly litigious, said those who want to update it. For instance, the protection of species and habitat has threatened healthy and sustainable forests, making them vulnerable to wildfire, said Arkansas Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman.
States versus feds: Mexican gray wolf at center of endangered species debate. ABC News. Growing up on a cattle ranch in northern Arizona, Ethan Lane recalls the Mexican gray wolves that would regularly prey on his livestock. “These wolves are very threatening. The cattle would sense their presence and change their behaviors in response to the pressure,” Lane said, adding that the wolves, listed as an endangered species by federal law, were hard to distinguish from the muscular coyotes that also roamed the area. Tension over whether the Mexican gray wolf should still be classified as an endangered species is just one example in an ongoing battle between federal and state interests to reform the Endangered Species Act — the subject of a Senate committee hearing Tuesday. Conservation groups say that giving states more input means that more species that need protection will not be listed as endangered and would block the ability of advocacy groups to sue to protect species. Lane now serves as the executive director of the Public Lands Council and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Federal Lands, two groups that represent the interests of U.S. cattle and sheep producers.
If Trump gets his oil boom, leases could cover this valley — GOP. E&E News (Sub req’d). Ten thousand feet up, it’s possible to see the whole North Fork Valley from Dan Stucker’s plane. As the aircraft glides over sloping mesas with snow-dusted mountains, the land below resembles a vintage pioneer landscape. If President Trump has his way, a new feature could arrive on this vista: oil and gas pumps. His administration is opening vast stretches of public land to energy companies, and among the forests and fields under Stucker’s plane, up to 95 percent of the valley could be available to drillers. The administration’s new policies would bring sweeping changes to this Rocky Mountain landscape, facilitated by a growing bond between federal officials and the oil and gas industry. Emails and other communications between government employees obtained by E&E News reveal directives and orders by Trump officials to shelve environmental policies to speed energy development.
Newmont signs deal to protect sage grouse near Paradise Valley ranch. Nevada Appeal. Newmont Mining has signed a deal with the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources designed to protect Sage Grouse habitat at its West IL Ranch near Paradise Valley. Director Bradley Crowell said the agreement signed this week is the second to use the Conservation Credit System to protect the bird and avoid a future listing of the grouse under the endangered species act. West IL Ranch will enhance irrigation to increase and improve the quality of meadow habitat for the grouse along the Owyhee River. Enhancements will include repairing and replacing irrigation ditches and damaged head gate infrastructure to improve perennial grass cover and decrease annual grass density in the area. “Most of Newmont’s ranch operations are within Nevada’s sagebrush ecosystem and provide a wide range of habitat and biological diversity,” said Newmont ecologist Chris Jasmine. “This CCS transaction allows improvements to habitat while improving ranch operations.” The first CCS agreement was also signed by Newmont in 2016.
Lesser prairie chicken numbers increase in West. E&E News (Sub req’d). The lesser prairie chicken population has grown by thousands in five Western states, but endangered species activists say it’s not enough. This year’s population survey shows the prairie chicken’s population totaled 38,637 in the Texas Panhandle, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado. That’s up from last year’s total of 29,934. It’s the sixth straight year that the bird’s population has risen, according to a news release by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, which released the results of a yearly aerial survey this week. The 10-year average population goal for the prairie chicken is 67,000, so the increases aren’t enough, advocates said. “While we are pleased to see the recent increase in lesser prairie chicken numbers, the birds’ recovery still has a long way to go,” said Bryan Bird of Defenders of Wildlife. The Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing a petition from three groups, including Defenders of Wildlife, to have the bird listed as an endangered species
Panel debates impacts of grazing on species, wildfire. E&E News (Sub req’d). Republicans and several witnesses at a House oversight hearing yesterday lashed out at environmental activists and federal land management policies that they say threaten to drive ranchers off public lands. Dave Naugle, a University of Montana wildlife biologist and greater sage grouse expert, told the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands that responsible livestock grazing can help protect rangelands from catastrophic wildfires. Large “intact ranching operations” also help protect sensitive wildlife habitat for sage grouse and other species by preventing “accumulation of roads and other human features” that fragment rangelands. He also disputed long-held claims from conservation groups and others that cattle grazing and sage grouse are not compatible. He pointed to recent studies that suggest higher grouse nest survival rates in grazed areas compared with nests in non-grazed areas — a likely result of cattle kicking up insects that grouse chicks feed on, he said.
