Issues

FWS “Breaking” Utah’s Heart over Gunnison Sage-grouse Listing. This week, Utah Lt. Governor Greg Bell provided testimony at a Committee on Natural Resources hearing. During his testimony, the Lt. Governor stated that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has “broken” Utah’s heart by attempting to list the Gunnison sage-grouse under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The Lt. Governor discussed the extensive state and local efforts invested into protecting the bird since 1990, including work conducted with the federal government and environmental groups in the State. These plans would protect 94 percent of the sage-grouse population in Utah, yet is threatened by a proposed listing of the bird under the federal ESA. He also discussed the negative economic impacts a federal sage-grouse listing would have on the State. Watch the full video HERE.

Wind farm comes under fire by way of the ESA.  This week, a lawsuit was filed against former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (FWS) regarding an approved wind project in Nevada’s Mojave Desert. The groups – Basin and Range Watch and Friends of Searchlight Desert and Mountains – filed the lawsuit claiming the defendants violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by not accounting for the wind farm’s impact on sensitive wildlife habitat.  Yet as Tammie McGee, spokeswoman for project proponent Duke Energy Corp., highlighted in E&E News (sub req’d), the project “has undergone an approximate five-year National Environmental Policy Act review resulting in a comprehensive environmental impact statement.” BLM is still reviewing the lawsuit and has yet to comment on the litigation.

Conservation Districts comment on proposed Gunnison sage-grouse listing. The White River and Douglas Creek Conservation Districts of Colorado have submitted comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to express their disagreement with the proposed federal listing of the Gunnsion sage-grouse. These districts are charged with caring for the natural resources within their respective boundaries and, as such, have been actively involved in protecting both the Gunnison and Greater sage-grouse and their habitat regions. Yet despite their extensive and effective work, a federal ESA listing is still under consideration. According to their comments:

“Given the multitude of partners working to protect the GSG, a ‘significant portion of the range’ has increased by approximately 33% since 1953 and has been determined by Colorado Parks and Wildlife to have less than .5% risk of extinction in the next 50 years. Therefore, this species is not warranted to be listed as threatened or endangered. However, the FWS blatantly chose to recommend listing the GSG as ‘endangered’ after all the work, dedication, time and resources put into sustaining the Gunnison Sage-grouse by Colorado tax payers, private property landowners and local government entities. This proposed listing is an affront from all perspectives.”

Read their full comments on the ESA Watch website HERE and more great ESA regulation news HERE.

In the News

Lawmakers ridicule proposed woodpecker protections. Capital Press.  Some members of Congress are ridiculing a proposal to give Endangered Species Act protections to a woodpecker that purportedly thrives on intense wildfires. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is taking comments on the potential listing of the black-backed woodpecker, which feeds on insects in the dead trees left standing after fires.

Feds support Idaho’s sage grouse strategy. Capital Press. With prompting from Sen. Jim Risch, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sent a letter of concurrence last week to Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter in support of the state’s greater sage grouse conservation strategy. The strategy is aimed at keeping sage grouse off the endangered species list.

Santa Fe’s ‘prairie dog wranglers’ curb urban population — without poison. E&E News (sub req’d). The Gunnison’s prairie dog itself has been the subject of an Endangered Species Act listing campaign by environmental groups, which say the rodent has disappeared from 98 percent of its historic range. Under a 2011 multi-species settlement between WildEarth Guardians and other groups and FWS, the agency is to issue a decision on whether to list the Gunnison’s prairie dog throughout its range by 2016. In 2008 — in response to a 2004 petition from the group WildEarth Guardians — FWS decided that federal protection was warranted, but only for the animals in certain areas of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and northern New Mexico. Other, higher-priority candidate species took precedence, however, the agency concluded.

Pa. Republican aims to ease pipeline development on protected lands. E&E News (sub req’d). Marino’s bill, the “Energy Infrastructure Improvement Act,” would authorize Interior to approve requests for pipeline rights of way through parks and other protected areas, rather than requiring such requests to be approved by Congress as is the case under current law, according to the statement. Pipeline companies would still have to comply with safety and environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act, before their projects could proceed, and the law addresses only pipelines without authorizing drilling in protected areas, Marino stressed in the statement.

Utah residents sue to reclaim land from prairie dog. Daily Caller. The federal government doesn’t have the authority to regulate a local issue like the Utah prairie dog under the commerce clause or any other power,” Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Jonathan Wood, who is representing Cedar City residents free of charge, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “The government simply overreached.”

FWS chief addresses appropriators’ concerns about wildlife management. E&E News (sub req’d). FWS, which has initially proposed that the greater sage grouse be listed as endangered, agreed to make a final determination by 2015 under a 2011 settlement agreement with environmental groups to address a backlog of species awaiting final listing decisions. Ashe assured Simpson that FWS’s proposed fiscal 2014 budget has adequate funds to meet its obligations under the settlement. The request includes an additional $9.5 million for administering the Endangered Species Act with specific increases for pesticide consultations with U.S. EPA and renewable energy consultations.

Endangered Species Act Settlement Reform Legislation Introduced. Fairfield Sun Times. In an effort to put a stop to the sweeping settlement agreements being made between the federal government and radical environmental groups under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Bill Flores, both Texas Republicans, introduced Endangered Species Act settlement reform legislation, S. 19 and H. R. 1314, in the Senate and House last week.

Environmental group says seismic testing could risk Florida’s economy. Florida Today. The Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act prohibit killing, harming or harassing marine mammals, unless the federal government authorizes it and measures are taken to avoid impacts. Federal law requires measures to minimize impacts, such as seasonal limits on seismic surveys when endangered whales and sea turtles are present.

Talk continues on lesser prairie-chicken’s status. Lubbock Avalanche Journal. Groups are continuing efforts on several fronts to convince federal officials there’s no reason to list the lesser prairie-chicken as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. This month, state wildlife agencies submitted a third draft plan to preserve and expand the bird’s habitat while another group of interested parties has launched a second year of aerial surveys to count the birds.