Issues

Industry Responds to NWR Proposed Rulemaking. Last week, the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) submitted comments on the National Wildlife Refuge’s (NWR) advanced notice of proposed rulemaking to prepare an environmental impact statement on non-federal oil and gas development within NWR lands.

According to the comments:

“The imposition of additional regulations on non-federal oil and gas development within the National Wildlife Refuge System is unnecessary, has not been justified by FWS, is constrained by the bounds on FWS’ legal authority, and will only result in duplicative layers of regulatory oversight. We therefore request that FWS refrain from future rulemaking in this regard.”

IPAA’s ESA Watch team has also been told the House Natural Resources committee is considering a hearing on this topic later in May and will keep you updated on any further action regarding this rulemaking. Read the full comments from IPAA and API HERE.

ESA Bills Voted on in House Committee. This week, the House Natural Resources Committee held a full-committee markup of four bills that would reform the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Chairman Doc Hastings (R-WA) led the markup along with Ranking Member Peter DeFazio (D-OR). The measures under consideration were H.R. 4315, the 21st Century Endangered Species Transparency Act; H.R. 4316, the Endangered Species Recovery Transparency Act; H.R. 4317, the State, Tribal, and Local Species Transparency and Recovery Act; and H.R. 4318, Endangered Species Litigation Reasonableness Act. According the Committee:

  • H.R. 4315, introduced by Chairman Hastings, would improve transparency of data by requiring federal agencies to publish all data and science used in listing decisions online before listings are finalized.
  • H.R. 4316, introduced by Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), is intended to make the cost and scope of ESA litigation publicly transparent and available online.
  • H.R. 4317, legislation that was introduced by Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX), aims to ensure that the federal government fully consults with states and tribes during ESA listings by including state, local and tribal data in the definition of “best available science.” These groups are closest to the actual conservation of a species and are therefore an important asset to the recovery and protection of a species.
  • H.R. 4318, introduced by Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI), is intended to align attorneys’ fees paid to successful ESA plaintiffs so they are equivalent to non-ESA litigants under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA).

As Chairman Hastings stated following the meeting, “There is widespread support for conserving endangered species, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement.” Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) echoed this sentiment, stating “It is time to bring the ESA into the 21st century and these bills are small steps along that necessary path.” All bills were voted favorably out of committee, with two garnering bi-partisan support. These bills now await floor consideration. IPAA’s ESA Watch team will continue to keep you updated on that process.

Funding for Sage Grouse Protection. The Associated Press reports Wyoming and Utah landowners received nearly $86 million (combined) in federal funding during the last three years in exchange for conserving over one million acres of critical Sage Grouse habitat. Lawmakers in the Western states want to avoid a federal listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as the move with restrain the recent domestic energy boom. Troy Forrest, a grazing program manager with the Utah Department of Agriculture, said that cooperative, voluntary conservation efforts are the best course of action in protecting the Sage Grouse: “Anything that’s voluntary is going to be better and more effective than if it’s regulatory. When people feel threatened they’re going to tend to not do things that benefit the sage grouse.”

Natural Resource Conservation Service conservationist, Jeff Schick noted that employing the assistance of private landowners is preferable to an extensive listing: “It helps ranchers stay viable, protects the birds and protects their investments all at the same time.

Next Big Battle For Nevada Ranchers Could Come From Sage-Grouse Protections. The Las Vegas Review Journal reports that the potential listing of the Sage Grouse could negatively impact economic activity across eleven Western states and seventeen million acres in Nevada. The proposed federal listing would put the species at odds with some of Nevada’s most productive industries: mining, energy development and ranching. These serious economic concerns were responsible for Gov. Brian Sandoval decision in 2012 to create an advisory council to prevent a federal listing.

Ron Torell, president of the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association and an Elko County rancher, said that a listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) could be one of the biggest impacts on rural Nevada in decades:

“The livestock industry fears that a listing would make our industry an endangered species as well. It has the potential to bring rural Nevada to its knees. We are doing everything we can to avoid the listing. But we’re not going to turn it around in just a few years. It will take time and we need some balance.”

On Monday, the governors’ association argued that local conservation efforts were more effective than federal regulations. Furthermore, that landowners will have little interest in participating in federal programs—especially if their voluntary preservation actions were dismissed.

In the News

Sage-grousing. Las Vegas Review-Journal (Editorial). But no matter how that conflict is ultimately resolved, the impact will pale in comparison to the economic damage that will hit Nevada if the sage-grouse is designated a threatened or endangered species in northern and central parts of the state.

Group to sue U.S. over changes to eagle protection rules. Reuters. Conservationists plan to sue the U.S. government over new rules they say loosen protection for eagles killed by wind farm turbines, arguing they threaten decades of protection that saved the bald eagle, America’s national emblem, from extinction.

Kansas lawmakers mull challenge to listing of prairie chicken as endangered. Kansas City Star. The compromise from Senate Republicans calls for fining federal employees up to $1,000. A steep decline in the lesser prairie chicken population led the federal government to list it as threatened in March.

Six test oil wells in drilling process across Fergus County and Judith Basin County. KBZK News. Six test oil wells are in the drilling process in Fergus County and Judith Basin County. There are five species of concern that may face impacts at the well site, including the pallid sturgeon and black-footed ferret, both endangered, as well as the greater sage grouse, sprague’s pipit, and great blue heron.

Businesses Brace for Effects of Prairie Chicken Ruling. The Texas Tribune. This week, the lesser prairie chicken will officially be listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act — a designation likely to affect economic development, including oil and gas drilling, in the Panhandle and West Texas.

Western Governors Defend Their Efforts to Protect the Sage Grouse. Rocky Mountain News. In a recent letter to Interior Department Secretary Sally Jewell, the governors offered their third inventory of programs and initiatives that the states are undertaking to preserve the potentially threatened birds.

Meetings on bistate sage grouse postponed. Associated Press. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency has postponed two public hearings on its proposal to list a distinct species of sage grouse found along the Nevada-California line as threatened.

What oil companies should know about the lesser prairie chicken. Wichita Business Journal. The law firm of Martin, Pringle, Oliver, Wallace & Bauer LLP is offering a free seminar Tuesday to discuss the ramifications for oil and gas producers of the recent designation of the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species.

Three Sierra Nevada Amphibians Receive Endangered Species Act Protection. Nature World News. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, habitat loss, pesticide, climate change, disease and predation have led to a decline in the population of Yellow-legged frogs throughout the Sierra Nevada. The Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog and a distinct population of the frog are listed as endangered.

Oil industry starts fracking in Nevada. Elko Daily Free Press. Another issue surrounds potential effects from drilling and road construction on terrain used by the greater sage grouse. The chicken-sized bird is a candidate for listing as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.