Issues

Members launch Endangered Species Act Working Group. Yesterday, members of the House of Representatives announced the creation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Working Group.  The group, led by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings and Western Caucus Co-Chair Cynthia Lummis, will examine and discuss the role of the ESA through a number of events, forums, and hearings. According to the news release, the Working Group will continue to examine the impacts of litigation as well as how to measure ESA progress; how to define success; if the ESA is working to achieve its goals; the role of state and local governments in recovering species; whether the ESA conserves species while ensuring property and water rights protection; the need for public engagement and input; and more.

IPAA President & CEO Barry Russell applauded the announcement, noting how the current application of the ESA could impair our nation’s energy and economic progress:

“America’s oil and natural gas industry recognizes that energy development must go hand in hand with environmental conservation. Producers have been working with regulators and environmental groups on the state level to protect vulnerable species and minimize impacts to species’ habitats. Right now, in its current form, the ESA’s regulatory implementation actually threatens these conservation efforts already in place.”

The Working Group is comprised of thirteen members from thirteen states across the nation.  Read the news release surrounding the Working Group’s creation HERE and sign up for more information from the group HERE.  Don’t miss IPAA’s full comments on the announcement on our website and this week’s ESA Special Report from Congressman Cynthia Lummis below.

Lesser prairie-chicken comment period reopened. On May 6, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a notice regarding the proposed rule to list the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The notice, posted in the Federal Register Monday, is regarding a 45 day extension for comments on the five state conservation plan as well as the Service’s intent to initiate a 4(d) rule. According to the notice summary:

“We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, propose to create a 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 also announce the availability of a draft rangewide conservation plan for the lesser prairie-chicken, which has been prepared by the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Interstate Working Group, and request comments on the plan as it relates to our determination of status under section 4(a)(1) of the Act.”

Upon the announcement, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe highlighted that the Service’s goal is to work with its state and federal partners as well as private landowners and others “to support and expand efforts to conserve the lesser prairie-chicken and its habitat before it requires the protection of the ESA.” Read the full notice in the Federal Register HERE and the Service’s official announcement to extend the comment period HERE.

ESA WATCH – SPECIAL REPORT

Improve the ESA to Ensure Conservation and Development Are Not Mutually Exclusive

Congressman Cynthia Lummis (WY)

It is no secret that the Endangered Species Act (ESA) has become the third rail of natural resources policy.  It is so thoroughly embedded into our national dialogue regarding wildlife conservation that it has become an institution unto itself.  It appears the ESA is on par with our most untouchable social safety net entitlement programs.  Its untouchable status, however, does no favors to the species it was designed to protect.

The ESA was created in 1973 in response to concerns regarding the decline in population of the American Bald Eagle.  Since then the ESA has been a source of both pride and angst.  Pride in fulfilling the original goal to ensure that species escape extinction and come off the list, as has occurred for a few iconic species like the eagle and peregrine falcon.  Angst in the Act’s inability to recover more than 1% of species ever listed.  Pride that we possess a national desire to do what is right by the land and wildlife we have been given to steward; angst that the means established to accomplish that goal seems more beneficial to lawyers than to the lesser prairie chicken and other species.

Funding authorization for the ESA lapsed 25 years ago, yet the prohibitions and penalties associated with the law remain in force regardless of funding.  This fact has removed any incentives for careful study of the ESA by policy makers.  Worse, it has thrust the courts and lawyers into the de facto role of ESA policy makers.

Most laws cannot withstand the passage of time and changes in technology and scientific development.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledges that only 5 percent of the over 1,000 species under review are actually improving.  We can do better for species; we must do better for people.  That does not necessarily require comprehensive reform, but it does require an honest discussion about the ESA that does not immediately devolve into finger pointing and anger.  That is why I joined Natural Resources Committee Chairman, Doc Hastings, in announcing the formation of an ESA working group that will restart the discussion in a thoughtful and transparent way.

The working group will consist of Members from across the country and will analyze the ESA from all angles. We will hear from every interested stakeholder to unearth new ideas to improve the ESA for everyone.  There are many ideas out there, most of them from people outside the beltway, and I am eager for the working group to assess each of them on their merits.  My hope is that the ESA working group will help build a more sophisticated level of awareness about the law, and identify areas of improvement that can attract broad support in Congress and beyond.

We must improve the ESA to ensure that conservation and development are not mutually exclusive.  Doing so starts with an open discussion that is free of rancor.  I urge you to let me know your ideas, and I look forward to the task at hand.

Congressman Cynthia Lummis was first elected to represent the people of Wyoming in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008.  She is a member of the House Natural Resources, Oversight and Government Reform and Science, Space and Technology Committees.

In the News

Group airs ads urging N.M. senators to oppose listing of prairie bird. E&E News (sub req’d). A new conservative group led by a former aide to New Mexico GOP Rep. Steve Pearce this week stepped up pressure on the state’s two Democratic senators to oppose a proposed “threatened” listing for the lesser prairie chicken. GOAL Advocacy, which supports oil and gas development and agricultural industries, launched a second wave of radio ads this week and organized hundreds of phone calls yesterday to the offices of Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich.

Routt County approves oil well permit despite concerns for grouse. Denver Post. The Routt County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a permit for a new oil well planned for Bureau of Land Management land in far northern Routt County, but all three members expressed reservations about the impacts Entek’s new well could have on threatened sage grouse and the enviro-political fallout that could ensue.

Simpson presses BLM on fires, sage grouse. E&E News (sub req’d). Simpson said a grouse listing under the Endangered Species Act “would be devastating across the West.” He added, “Tell me where we are to try to prevent this listing.” Kornze responded, “We’re amending nearly 70 land use plans across the West. A few of them have come out. We are doing 15 different tranches.”

Amodei, GOP to tackle Endangered Species Act. Elko Daily Free Press, Editorial. For several years we have been saying the Endangered Species Act is in need of a major overhaul. This week U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., announced the creation of a working group whose research could lead to such reform. It’s about time.

Protect the sage grouse. Ravalli Republic, LTE. The clock is ticking on an “endangered species” listing of the Greater sage-grouse. If U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decides to list the bird in 2015, it will mean huge changes to Montana and the western states where the grouse has historically lived. Ranchers may have their federal grazing land leases curtailed. Oil and gas development may be stalled. Other road and energy development may be stopped in certain areas.

Count shows Central Oregon sage grouse numbers ‘relatively stable’. Associated Press. Oregon wildlife officials say that counts of sage grouse in Central Oregon are what they call “relatively stable.” The numbers are significant because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is using them as it evaluates whether the sage grouse should be a protected species in the West.

Protections for wolverines draw states’ opposition. Associated Press. State officials in the Northern Rockies on Monday lined up against a federal proposal to give new protections to the carnivorous wolverine, as climate change threatens to melt the species’ snowy mountain strongholds.

Interior proposes rule allowing limited take of lesser prairie chicken. E&E News (sub req’d). The Interior Department today proposed a limited exemption to Endangered Species Act protections for a small grouse that roams the southern Great Plains, a move aimed at strengthening habitat protections but which drew fire from one conservation group. The proposed special rule would allow take of lesser prairie chickens as long as it is incidental to activities under a conservation plan that the Fish and Wildlife Service has determined will provide a net benefit to the bird.

Nevada Hopes Study on Coyotes Keep Sage Grouse off Endangered List. Associated Press. The Elko Daily Free Press reports  the state Department of Wildlife wants to use part of a $3 fee on hunting tags to fund a $100,000 study on coyotes as part of efforts to try to keep the sage grouse off the federal list of endangered species in Nevada, Utah and much of the West.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announces availability of draft recovery plan for the black-footed ferret. YNN News. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is announcing the availability of the Black-footed Ferret Draft Revised Recovery Plan (Plan).

California judge dismisses Endangered Species Act ‘Mega’ lawsuit. Southwest Farm Press. A U.S. District Court judge in California has ruled that two environmental activist groups did not prove the EPA awarded federal registrations for a host of crop protection chemicals that put endangered species at risk in a lawsuit they filed in 2011.

County pilot program takes off. Elko Daily Press. County officials believe the most appropriate means for protecting sage grouse is through increased grazing and targeted predator control. The county recently approved a conservation project at the Devil’s Gate Ranch. The idea is to lay out poisoned eggs for ravens, continue grazing and then monitor sage grouse numbers.