Issues

Endangered Species Act focus of House field hearing. This week, four members of the House Natural Resources Committee held a field hearing in Casper, Wyoming focusing on the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the impact ESA listings have on states and local economies.  Wyoming Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis was joined by Congressman Doc Hastings of Washington, Doug Lamborn of Colorado, and Steve Daines of Montana. Each of the congressman and various members of the panel noted their concerns with the federal ESA program as it currently stands, noting impacts of ESA listings and sue-and-settle legislation on their communities. As Rep. Daines stated:

“We want to keep the ESA from being used as a tool to obstruct positive species and resource management and allow the people, not bureaucrats in Washington or Judges in the 9th Circuit, to determine how our environment and our resource economies can flourish together.”

Rep. Lummis also emphasized the ability of protecting endangered species without harming the economy:

“’Manage species in Montana and my state of Wyoming in a way that allows them to recover and thrive,’ said Rep. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming. ‘But still allows us to have jobs and a strong economy, clean air, clean water and all the reasons that we live in places like Wyoming and Montana.’” (KAJ16 News)

Watch a video clip from the hearing HERE and the Committee’s full press release HERE.

CBD files lawsuit in Michigan to protect species from hydraulic fracturing. On Thursday, the Center for Biological Diversity announced its launch of federal litigation challenging the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) regarding the protection of endangered species in Michigan. The CBD alleges the BLM did not properly asses the risks posed to the Karner blue butterfly and Indiana bat from hydraulic fracturing. Read the CBD’s press release HERE.

Sage-grouse protections continue as Colorado awaits federal listing decision. As Colorado awaits both a federal rule on the Gunnison sage grouse and a pending rule from the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, members of the state are working to emphasize the extensive protections already in place for the species. At a Delta County Commission meeting this week, Administrator Robbie LeValley explained the significant conservation programs already underway. As KVNF News reports:

“’The potential listing of the Gunnison sage-grouse as either a threatened or endangered species has been on the county’s radar since 1995,’ LeValley says. ‘It’s been an ongoing effort to improve what we have at the local level, to show that management at the local level can and has very successfully taken care of the Gunnison sage-grouse and the habitat related to the bird.’”

Administrator LeValley noted the work being done via conservation easements, conservation agreements with assurances, certificates of inclusion and federal and state land ownership to ensure the continued protection of the bird without a federal listing. Learn more about the Gunnison sage-grouse listing debate on ESA Watch.

ESA Watch Reminder. Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) noticed two important rulemakings that relate to endangered species act items. One is a final rule and the other is a proposed rule. These posts have been uploaded under “Regulations” on http://www.ESAWatch.org.

In the News

Gunnison Sage-grouse doesn’t need endangered species protection. Denver Post (Guest Column – Chris Dickey, Gunnison Country Publications). We’re talking, of course, about the Gunnison Sage-grouse. More specifically, about the federal proposal to invoke the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as a means of protecting the ground-dwelling bird that lives almost exclusively in the Gunnison Basin.

Environmentalists, energy industry clash over Wyoming Red Desert proposal. Star Tribune. State lawmakers bristled Thursday at a proposal to increase environmental protections in parts of the Red Desert, expressing concerns it would hinder oil and gas development and harm the state economy.

Sage grouse hailed as job-killing weapon in ‘New War on the West’. WyoFile. The Endangered Species Act is misused as a cash-cow for environmental groups and as a tool wielded by the Obama administration to obstruct agriculture, energy development and other key economic drivers in the Rocky Mountain West, according to members of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, and witness testimony.

Interior extends comment deadline for wolf delisting. E&E News (sub req’d). The Interior Department today announced it has extended the comment deadline for its proposed delisting of the gray wolf to Oct. 28 and that it will hold three public hearings beginning later this month in Washington, D.C.; Sacramento; and Albuquerque, N.M.

Federal judge rules in favor of threatened seabird. Associated Press. A federal judge has handed the timber industry another defeat in its effort to expand logging on the habitat of a threatened coastal seabird. U.S. District Court Judge John Bates in Washington D.C. said marbled murrelets will keep their Endangered Species Act listing, and rejected an argument that central California murrelets, which are doing poorly, should not be lumped in with the populations in Oregon, Washington and Northern California.

Endangered Species Act needs fixing. Billings Gazette. The Endangered Species Act, the nation’s 40-year-old law of last resort for protecting wildlife from extinction, has become an economic roadblock to farmers and the coal and oil industry, witnesses told a congressional field hearing Wednesday. Most of the witnesses zeroed in on the possible listing of sage grouse as an endangered species, a move they said would jeopardize economic activity in key livestock, oil, gas and coal regions of the state.

Carter confident of fed decision. Temple Daily Telegram. U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, said Thursday he believed U.S. Fish and Wildlife would make a fair final judgment on its preliminary recommendation to give two Central Texas salamanders, including the Salado salamander, federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Feds issue emergency rules to protect sperm whales. Summit County Voice. Sperm whales have been protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1970. The California-Oregon-Washington stock is found year-round in California waters and reaches peak density between April and mid-June and from the end of August through mid-November. In Washington and Oregon, the animals have been seen in every season except winter.

U.S. proposes using ‘surrogates’ to gauge impacts to listed wildlife. E&E News (sub req’d). The Interior and Commerce departments yesterday proposed a new rule that would offer more flexibility in how the federal government estimates and monitors potential impacts to threatened and endangered species. The new rule would codify the Fish and Wildlife Service’s and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s use of “surrogate” factors such as habitat loss, ecological conditions or impacts to similar species when they authorize projects to kill or harm listed wildlife.

ESA Megasuit plaintiffs file amended complaint. Western Farm Press. Following the dismissal of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Megasuit by the Northern California District Court in April, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint in hopes of satisfying the court’s requirement that they be more specific in their allegations.

Gophers’ endangered listing decision delayed. Yakima Herald-Republic. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Friday that the final determination of whether to list four subspecies of Mazama pocket gophers for protection under the Federal Endangered Species Act will be delayed for up to