Issues
Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s energy policy panel holds a hearing on the Endangered Species Act. During a House hearing on February 27th Rep. James Lankford (R-OK). Highlighted Oklahoma’s Lesser Prairie Chickens and American Burying Beetles. The Wall Street Journal Reports: “The bird, the bug and the Endangered Species Act have been a 10-year headache for farmers, builders and drillers in Oklahoma
During the hearing, Rep. Lankford called for increased authority on local leadership when it comes to endangered species determinations. Lankford went on to say that, “”[…] this is about state and local governments, private individuals and private business being able to make decisions.”
Fellow Republicans are calling for an overhaul of the Endangered Species Act, but legislative reform is unlikely in the near-future given the partisan divide on the forty-year-old environmental law. Republicans want to give states more authority over endangered species listings as well as require increased scientific transparency, more accurate economic impact studies and safeguards for private landowners.
Senate Passes Bill in Hopes of Keeping Sage Grouse Off Endangered List. A bill intended to encourage landowners to participate in voluntary Sage Grouse conservation passed the Oregon Senate on Wednesday. The passage of House Bill 4093 is in effort to avoid a federal endangered species listing of the Sage Grouse. The legislation:
“Carves out an exemption from the state’s public records law for the purpose of Sage Grouse habitat protection when reports and agreements are voluntarily submitted to the Department of Agriculture, Department of Forestry or a soil and water conservation district.”
Doug Whitsett (R-Klamath Falls) said that listing the Sage Grouse could decimate the Eastern Oregon economy much like the impact the “spotted owl had on Western Oregon timberlands.” Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-Ontario) echoed this sentiment: “Everyone from Bend to those in John Day should be worried about this — not just ranchers.”
The Bend Bulletin reports that although bill passed, landowners are hesitant to enter into contracts with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service out of fear their personal information would be available to the public. “Ranchers and landowners wouldn’t want the public or every hunter to know where their gates are, their roads, the number of cattle they have on their property,” Bentz said.
The measure now goes back to house for approval.
Developments at the Wyoming Legislature. The Wyoming Senate introduced a bill that would create a state Sage Grouse implementation team. The new legislation has already passed the house and calls for the implementation team to work alongside federal agencies and make recommendations to the governor regarding how to enhance Sage Grouse conservation. The proposed Sage Grouse implementation team is another initiative aimed at averting a possible listing of Sage Grouse under the federal Endangered Species Act. Mining interests in the state have expressed concerns with the proposed listing.
BLM Advancing Multi-State Line on Route That Avoids Most Sensitive Landscapes. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in the Federal Register. The BML’s preliminary review of the 412-mile-long Energy Gateway South Transmission Line Project includes a “preferred alternative” that would largely avoid prime Sage Grouse habitat. As E&E News (sub req’d) reports:
“BLM, the Forest Service and its partner agencies have said they tried as much as possible to follow designated utility corridors. The preferred route in the draft EIS does not appear to run through any of Wyoming’s designated core Sage Grouse areas, which are considered critical to the bird’s survival and where the state has pledged to limit development.”
As the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is studying whether to list the bird as an endangered species, federal and state leaders in Wyoming and across the multiple Western states have said that such a listing would damage region’s economy.
In the News
‘Obamacrats’ threaten America’s energy boom with Endangered Species Act. Washington Examiner (Column by Ron Arnold). Injustice at the hands of President Obama’s government agencies is piling up at a monumental rate, largely because he selects administrators who loathe resource production and aggressively look for ways to unmake America’s industrial strength — as well as arrogantly dismissing all proof of their destructiveness with haughty legalistic obfuscation.
BLM closes Pony, Elk fire areas to all human use for two months. Idaho Statesman. The closure, which is scheduled to last until April 30, is the result if the 2013 Pony and Elk fires. The area will be closed year-round to motorized use for up to three years. Agency officials say the closures are necessary to support fire rehabilitation efforts and to protect key sage-grouse habitat and crucial winter habitat for mule deer and elk.
640 new oil, gas wells proposed south of Strawberry River. Salt Lake Tribune. The U.S. Forest Service two years ago approved a plan to drill 400 wells from 162 pads about 11 miles south of Duchesne. This project has been challenged by environmentalists who cite impacts to water, roadless areas and sage grouse. Berry prevailed in the appeals process, but opponents may take the matter to court.
Texas U.S. Senator John Cornyn Weighs in on Threatened Species Listing of Georgetown and Salado Salamanders. KFYO. Senator John Cornyn weighed in, saying, “If there’s any question the Obama Administration is targeting Texas in its unprecedented acts of government overreach, we need only look at this latest irresponsible ESA listing, which is supported by questionable science and ignores the input and conservation efforts of the Central Texans who will be directly impacted.” ** A recent White Paper on regulatory overreach can be found HERE
Grouse versus raptors. Elko Daily Free Press (Guest Column). “By altering the landscape with roads, facility construction, billboards, and transmission lines, and in some cases providing sources of water and food, we are subsidizing ravens and providing them with the opportunities and advantages they need to excel in areas that they didn’t before,” said lead study author Kristy Howe. “This is bad news for the animals in that ecosystem upon which ravens prey.” But the Interior does not list predators as high on the list of threats to sage grouse, of course, just human activity, except transmission lines.
Sage grouse protection needn’t stop drilling, ranching. Salt Lake Tribune (Op-Ed by Allison Jones, Wild Utah Project and Kirk Robinson, Western Wildlife Conservancy). Sage grouse are one of the most studied species in the ecological literature, and these buffer figures are not disputed. The good news is, with directional drilling from more distant well pads, drillers can access the same fossil fuels stored under the lek compared to a pad on top of the lek, at an increase in cost to the energy company of as little as 10 percent to 15 percent.
Kansas Wants to Exclude the Lesser Prairie Chicken from Federal Protection. Care 2 (Blog). There is a bird called the lesser prairie chicken, and about half of its population lives in western Kansas. Their numbers have decreased dramatically recently, and the Obama administration has proposed that it become a protected species. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach will have none of that. The bill, SB 276, does a few things. Notably, it nullifies any law that seeks to regulate the lesser and greater prairie chicken, their habitats or farming practices.
