Issues
Forum Highlights Concerns Surrounding the ESA. Yesterday, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Congressional Working Group held a forum entitled “Reviewing 40 Years of the Endangered Species Act and Seeking Improvement for People and Species.” The meeting included a diverse group of stakeholders focused on discussing the ESA’s history, its impacts on people and species, and potential improvements to the Act moving forward.
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman and Working Group Co-Chair Doc Hastings (R-WA) presided over the Forum, alongside other members of the Working Group in attendance including Co-Chair Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Rob Bishop (R-UT), Bill Huizenga (R-MI), James Lankford (R-OK), Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO), Randy Neugebauer (R-TX), and David Valadao (R-CA).
Stakeholders present at the meetings included Michigan State Senator Tom Casperson (R), who spoke about the lengthy and complicated process of delisting of the gray wolf in 2012, Captain William Beacom of Nav-Com Services, who discussed military base limitations that can be directly attributed to the ESA, and Maria Gutierrez of El Agua Es Asunto de Todos, who noted the ESA’s impacts on the economies and livelihoods of many California Latino communities relying on limited water resources. Roger Marzulla of Marzulla Law LLC and Mike Wood, a business representative of Carpenters Industrial Council, also spoke of their concerns with the current ESA.
For additional information on the Forum or to watch a webcast of the event click HERE.
“Sue and Settles” Impact on ESA Listings. This week, Stephen Moore, a member of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, highlighted the impact of “sue and settle” cases on new federal regulations and Endangered Species Act (ESA) listings. As Mr. Moore explains, the practice of “sue and settle” has increased over recent years with groups like the Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians petitioning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to list species as endangered – and then quickly filing lawsuits against the FWS to force regulatory action.
According to Mr. Moore:
“Next March, Fish and Wildlife will make a determination about whether to add the lesser prairie chicken, found in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Kansas to the list. Harold Hamm, president of Continental Resources, says that the habitat for the prairie chicken overlaps ‘some of the most promising land for oil and gas leases in the country.’
“Many Westerners suspect that this environmental activism isn’t only or even mostly about saving species and obscure subspecies. Instead, it is about restricting land use on hundreds of thousands of acres of private and state land. The concern is that if these species are listed as endangered, their habitat could be placed off limits for economic development.”
Read the full article from the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board member HERE.
In the News
Blue-Throated Macaw Gets Listing Protection. Courthouse News. Twenty-two years after Endangered Species Act protection was first requested, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed Bolivia’s blue-throated macaw as endangered throughout its range. Since proposing the change in January, the agency has gathered new information indicating that the population in the wild is “likely between 350 and 400 individuals,” up from the 150 cited in the listing proposal, but still far below healthy population levels.
Feds stall oil, gas drilling projects. Elko Daily Free Press (Guest Column – Thomas Mitchell). Timothy Considine (University of Wyoming) found that development of oil, natural gas, and coal resources on federal lands are often mired in a regulatory bog, while huge tracks of land — that are home to threatened and endangered species and greatly affect the viewshed — are fast-tracked for use for solar panels and wind turbines. In Nevada alone, Considine estimates oil and gas projects on public land could generate tax revenues of as much as $218 million and create as many as 21,797 new jobs — as many as 200,000 jobs in the seven-state region.
Fish & Wildlife Service Proposes Endangered Species Act Protections for Red Knots. NRDC’s Switchboard (Blog). After traveling to Quebec’s Mingan Archipelago to tag these remarkable birds just a few weeks ago, I recently received wonderful news that the Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to list them as threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
County receives criticism for its trapping plan. Elko Daily Free Press. The pilot project is a response to a possible 2015 decision to include sage grouse on the endangered species list. The county hopes to demonstrate that sage-grouse populations will increase with predator control and fire prevention through cattle grazing. Commissioner Charlie Myers said he’s concerned the state hasn’t participated in enough “on the ground” conservation projects.
Butterfly and Lark Win and Lose Protections. Courthouse News. A recent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service action was a mixed bag for the Pacific Northwest’s streaked horned lark and Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly. The lark was granted threatened status and the butterfly was granted endangered status under the Endangered Species Act, but the agency slashed the proposed critical habitat for both species and added special exemptions from prohibitions against harming the lark.
Deal renews controversy over sage grouse protections. Wyoming Public Media. A deal to allow oil and gas development in a sage grouse conservation area near Douglas met considerable resistance when it was announced last month. Environmental groups said it set a dangerous precedent, and showed the state isn’t serious about keeping the bird off the endangered species list. The state said it was a necessary compromise that protects sage grouse while respecting private mineral rights.
