Issues
Nevada Governor pushes back on compensatory mitigation rollback. At a recent Western Governors Association workshop on invasive species in Lake Tahoe, Governor Brian Sandoval of Nevada told reporters that he has concerns about the impact that rolling back compensatory mitigation will have on the state’s Greater sage-grouse plan. The state’s program, known as the Conservation Credit System, allows mining companies like Barrick and Newmont to offset their impact of development by restoring sagebrush habitat elsewhere.
“A big piece of [the state’s plan] was working with the private sector, working with the mining industry, to allow for that compensatory program. So, to see that go away, would be very troublesome for me,” said Sandoval at the workshop earlier this week.
Back in August, Governors from Nevada, Oregon and Utah expressed concern with a Trump administration directive that no longer requires off-site compensatory mitigation on most federal land as part of the Sage Grouse Initiative. Gov. Sandoval has written his expressed support for other changes the Trump administration has moved forward for the Endangered Species Act, but Sandoval’s office sent a letter to the Department of Interior asking it to allow the state to keep the mitigation program intact.
“Nevada has worked toward conservation of sage-grouse habitat, in part to prevent its listing under the Endangered Species Act,” said the Governor’s Policy Director Pam Robinson. “Better management, protection and restoration of sagebrush ecosystems are crucial to preventing the listing of greater sage-grouse in the future. Those goals are accomplished through compensatory mitigation and are often comprised of projects that include protection of valuable resources such as mesic meadows and natural springs, removal of pinion and juniper and the restoration of degraded habitat.”
According to Gov. Sandoval, state officials are still having conversations with the Trump administration about the plan’s future and what the curtailment of “compensatory mitigation” means.
County in New Mexico says residents have suffered because of the ESA. The Otero County Commission of New Mexico is sending letters to the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration to share their support of proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Changes that will affect the county include revising the definition of destruction or adverse modification, making determinations on a case-by-case basis and identifying the economic effects of listing an animal as endangered.
The southwestern county is made up of mostly government-owned lands and, according to one of the letters, “In the Lincoln National Forest, administered by the Forest Service, that agency keeps moving the goal posts on what it is trying to protect,” the letter states. “The Forest Service regulations killed the timber industry in this county. And now they are trying to kill the livestock industry, too.”
While U.S. Forest Service District Ranger Beth Humphrey does not agree with the county’s assessment in regard to the ESA’s impact on the timber and livestock industry, she is in support of the changes as well, saying, “I think it’s going to be easier for us to action [sic] within threatened, endangered species habitat and that’s a good thing for any industry that has impact on threatened and endangered species and their habitats.”
The public has until Monday, Sept. 24, to weigh in on the proposed changes.
In the News
Grijalva launches drive to save turtle research lab. E&E News. NOAA has long touted its Galveston Sea Turtle Facility as the only one of its size and class in the world. Today Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, launched a drive to save it. In a letter to Chris Oliver, the head of NOAA Fisheries, Grijalva said he was “alarmed” with NOAA’s plan to “effectively terminate the laboratory” to save between $600,000 and $800,000 a year in operating costs. Grijalva said he became aware of NOAA’s plan from a recent email sent to congressional staff, in which he said NOAA cited “budget restraints” as the reason for the cutback. “As you are aware, all species of sea turtles in U.S. waters are listed as either threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act,” Grijalva wrote in his letter. Grijalva also told Oliver that it does not appear NOAA has a clear plan in place for its transition. He asked Oliver to provide detailed information on how and when NOAA plans to scale back its operations and to elaborate on the agency’s budget constraints. A spokesman for NOAA Fisheries had no immediate response to the letter, saying the agency had not yet received it. According to the agency’s website, NOAA has been involved in international sea turtle research since 1978. Part of the work involves studying the molecular, cellular and biological effects of environmental pollutants on sea turtles.
Our view: ESA is good; so is vital development. Grand Forks Herald. The trendy term is “charismatic megafauna,” and it’s used to describe large animals of the world that have universal, popular appeal. Think bald eagles, grizzly bears and the like. It’s what most people likely consider when thinking of the Endangered Species Act, the landmark legislation signed by President Nixon in 1973. Conversely, probably few have heard of the sheepnose mussel, the Topeka shiner minnow or the Poweshiek skipperling butterfly. Yet it’s those tiny creatures — and not necessarily the popular “charismatic megafauna” — that grab the bulk of the attention as controversy grows around the ESA. The ESA’s chief goal is to determine endangered species, meaning those likely to become extinct. It also is used to determine threatened species and to protect habitat needed for a declared species’ survival. It passed Congress with almost unanimous approval and is notably credited with the rebound of the bald eagle, which teetered near extinction a half-century ago. Today, however, the ESA is a political issue. Republicans are pushing for new standards that would reduce problems created when humans and certain species collide.
DOJ rebuffs challenge to otter management, deference standard. E&E News. The Trump administration is urging the Supreme Court to reject an endangered species case that centers on sea otters but has bigger implications for agency deference questions. In a brief filed Friday, Justice Department lawyers argued that a petition from the Pacific Legal Foundation challenging the Fish and Wildlife Service’s management of threatened sea otters in California should not be accepted for review. Government lawyers dismissed PLF’s argument that a lower court issued an overly broad ruling based on what is known as Chevron deference — a legal standard under which judges defer to agency interpretations of ambiguous laws — when it upheld FWS’s decision to scrap an unusual otter management plan. The litigation stems from a 2012 decision by FWS to shut down a controversial program that established a “no otter zone” in certain Pacific fishing areas so fishermen could do their work without triggering liability for harming the at-risk creatures. Under the program, officials moved southern sea otters from the zone to San Nicolas Island off the coast of Los Angeles. But the effort was deemed unsuccessful, as many of the otters died or swam away. The agency suspended the program in the 1990s and canceled it in 2012.
International 10-year salmon preservation plan advances. Associated Press. Canada and the U.S. states of Alaska, Oregon and Washington would all reduce their catch of fragile salmon species under the terms of an updated international agreement that, if approved, will spell out the next decade of cooperation between the U.S. and Canada to keep the migratory fish afloat in Pacific waters. Members of the Pacific Salmon Commission on Monday recommended a conservation plan that stretches to 2028 after two years of intense negotiations involving fishermen, tribes on both sides of the border and state and federal officials. It must be approved by both the U.S. and Canadian governments. The international commission first met in 1985 to create more cooperation between Canada and the U.S. on protecting salmon, which migrate thousands of miles from inland streams to the Pacific Ocean and then back to their spawning place. The agreement covers pink, Coho, sockeye, chum and chinook salmon and spans a territory from Cape Falcon, Oregon, in the south to southeast Alaska in the north. The current agreement expires Dec. 31.
Enviros threaten lawsuit on giraffe protections. E&E News. Environmentalists will likely sue to force a Fish and Wildlife Service decision on whether giraffes deserve Endangered Species Act protection, multiple organizations announced today. Citing a missed deadline that’s incited litigation on other species, the Center for Biological Diversity and allied groups filed a required notice of intent to sue. The suit will target the Fish and Wildlife Service’s failure to meet deadlines triggered by an ESA petition. “As giraffe populations plummet, the Trump administration won’t even take the first step toward protecting these beautiful animals,” Tanya Sanerib, international program legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. The notice of intent to sue gives the Fish and Wildlife Service 60 days to act before the environmental groups go to court. There’s no disputing FWS missed deadlines set under the 1973 law. On April 19, 2017, environmental groups filed their 124-page petition to list giraffes as endangered under the ESA. “The giraffe has suffered a major reduction in population size across its range primarily due to habitat loss, commercial overutilization, and severe poaching, and such decline continues unabated,” the petition stated, adding that “the Service has a duty to protect the iconic giraffe.”
State rejects protection for small redwoods forest predator. E&E News. Oregon fish and wildlife officials have rejected a request from six conservation groups to protect a small predator that inhabits old-growth redwood forests. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission on Friday denied the petition by the conservation groups to protect the Humboldt marten under the Oregon Endangered Species Act. The sleek predator with an elongated body of about 14 inches eats mostly rodents but also birds and reptiles. Oregon allows it to be trapped for its fur. The species was thought to be extinct until it was found in redwoods in 1996. It’s believed that about 200 Humboldt martens live in two Oregon locations. Another small population is in California. The conservation groups have said the martens living on the southern Oregon coast are threatened by wildfires and rodent poisons used by marijuana growers. Populations in the state’s central coast are vulnerable because of a lack of mature forests and because they get hit by cars and die. The separate groups of martens are geographically isolated due to lack of connecting habitat, making them more susceptible to extinction, experts have said. The Center for Biological Diversity and Cascadia Wildlands were among the groups seeking protections for the martens.
