Issues

Industry Files Comments on Greater Sage-Grouse. This week, the American Petroleum Institute (API), Western Energy Alliance, Public Lands Advocacy, and the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) submitted comments regarding the Draft Greater Sage-Grouse Land Use Plan Amendment/Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Utah Sub-Region. IPAA would like to thank API for their leadership on these comments.

The letter details the signing organizations’ concerns regarding the DEIS, including its reliance on the NTT Report, COT Report, and the GRSG Monograph. According the document, each of these reports “fail to meet established standards for scientific integrity and peer review under the ESA, the DQA, and  Presidential and DOI memoranda and orders.” The comments also highlight the conservation measures already in place to protect the Greater sage-grouse in both Wyoming and Utah. From the comments:

“We support both the Wyoming and Utah plans as an alternative to many management protocols in the preferred alternative and strongly encourage the agencies to more meaningfully  incorporate them into the preferred alternative. BLM must also recognize the states’ primary  authority over wildlife management and central role in managing GRSG populations and habitat within its borders. The states are better suited than the federal government to perform this  function as it falls within its traditional jurisdiction and professional expertise. Accordingly, we urge the BLM to revise its Preferred Alternative to be significantly more  flexible and adaptive. BLM also needs to fully recognize that GRSG populations in Utah are stable or increasing. Finally, myriad local, state, tribal and federal conservation measures are  already in place. Taken together with clustered development and modern technology, effective management already ameliorates threats and disturbances to GRSG in sagebrush habitat.”

In related news, a group of national, regional and local environmental groups, including the American Bird Conservancy and the Wild Utah Project, also submitted comments to the BLM regarding the DEIS. The groups argue the plan is too weak and must be strengthened to avoid a federal listing of the grouse under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Lesser Prairie Chicken Comment Reopening & Opening. This week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) reopened the comment period for comments on a 4(d) rule for the Lesser Prairie Chicken. The FWS also opened an additional comment period on the Final Lesser Prairie Chicken Range Wide Conservation Plan.  From the listing:

“We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce the reopening of the comment period on the December 11, 2013, proposed revised special rule under authority of section 4(d) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), that provides measures that are necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation of the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus). In addition, we announce the reopening of the public comment period on the December 11, 2012, proposed rule to list the lesser prairie-chicken as a threatened species under the Act. We are reopening the comment period to allow all interested parties an opportunity to comment on the final Lesser Prairie-Chicken Range-Wide Conservation Plan, which has been prepared by the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Interstate Working Group, and our  endorsement of the plan, and we request comments on the plan as it relates to our determination of status under section 4(a)(1) of the Act.”

The final range-wide conservation plan is available in Docket No. FWS–R2–ES–2012–0071 HERE. IPAA’s ESA Watch team will continue to monitor the comment period as it moves forward.

Kansas Governor: Lesser Prairie Chicken Listing Harmful to Economy. This week, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback sent a letter to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Director Dan Ashe regarding the proposed federal listing of the Lesser Prairie Chicken. From the Governor:

“The listing of the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species is not justified at this time, and doing so would negatively impact the state’s agriculture and energy sectors in ways that can be avoided consistent with the interests of conservation and protection of the species. For those reasons, Kansas will be a strong advocate for independent judicial review of any decision to list the lesser prairie chicken.”

According to the Associated Press, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has also expressed his support for a state Senate bill that would exclude the lesser prairie chicken from federal protection. The bill would give the state the authority to charge federal officials if they try to enforce federal laws pertaining to the rare bird. The Joplin Globe Editorial Board was critical of his support, stating “if Kansans do not want the lesser prairie chicken protected, then they need to send that message to Washington via their U.S. representatives and senators.”

In the News 

Interior Department apologizes for closed meeting about sage grouse. Associated Press. U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell’s office is apologizing after a reporter for the Craig Daily Press was barred from a public meeting on proposed sage-grouse regulations.

Report: Montana should add sage grouse protections. Associated Press. A governor’s council recommends Montana restrict new development in sage grouse habitat to avoid federal protections that would lead to tighter rules. The Greater Sage Grouse Advisory Council outlined its recommendations in a 73-page report given to the governor on Wednesday. NOTE: Also featured in the Montana Standard, The Missoulian and the Billings Gazette

The sage follow the law. Elko Daily Free Press (Op-Ed by Ralph R. Sacrison, Elko County Natural Resources Management Advisory Commission). To be lawful and assure scientific integrity, the EIS following the Nevada and Northeastern California Greater Sage-Grouse Draft Land Use Plan Amendment/Environment Impact Statement must adapt consistency with local government. The DEIS does not. The six alternatives and their history do not show clear and specific closure with consistency proscriptions of the Federal Land Planning and Management Act (43 USC 1712).

Walden asks BLM for extension. Times Herald. U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) announced Jan. 24, he has urged the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to extend their comment period for their draft proposal for sage grouse management. “Many Oregonians have told me about the drastic impact this draft plan could have on rural communities throughout the west. They’ve also told me that complying with the deadline for comments is challenging due to the lack of availability of the document and complexity of the matter,” Walden wrote in a letter to BLM Deputy Director Neil Kornze.

FWS extends comments on grouse. California Farm Bureau. A deadline for comments has been extended until Feb. 10, on a proposal to list as threatened a population of greater sage grouse that lives along the California-Nevada border. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it had extended the comment period on both the proposed listing and on a proposal to designate approximately 1.86 million acres of land as critical habitat for the species.

Comment Period on Sage Grouse Proposal Ends Today. Times-News. Residents have until the end of the day to comment on a Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service document aimed at saving sage grouse and their habitat in Idaho. A federal judge ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to make a final decision on whether the bird warranted endangered status by 2015.

Landowners in prairie chicken areas offered deal. Associated Press. The federal government is offering first-of-its-kind legal protections for landowners who implement conservation measures to protect the lesser prairie chicken’s dwindling populations across five states. The prairie chicken is found in parts of Eastern Eddy County.