On June 20, 2013, the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), alongside oil and gas trade groups from across the country, submitted comments to the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) regarding the Proposed Special Rule under Section 4(d) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that would accompany the potential listing of the Lesser prairie-chicken (LPC) as threatened under the ESA.
IPAA, along with the American Petroleum Institute, America’s Natural Gas Alliance, Colorado Oil and Gas Association, International Association of Drilling Contractors, Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association of Oklahoma, New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association, Panhandle Producers & Royalty Owners Association, and Western Energy Alliance (collectively “the Associations”), detailed in its comments the Associations’ belief that the FWS’s final determination must be that listing the LPC as “threatened” is not warranted. The Associations’ March 11, 2013 comments echoed this same message. Read more on the March comments on the ESA Watch website.
As detailed in the Associations’ comments this week, the oil and natural gas industry is committed to conservation of the LPC. Companies active in the habitat region including Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas implement LPC avoidance, minimization, and mitigation measures, and provide funding and support for important LPC conservation efforts throughout the region. While the fact that the Service has proposed a 4(d) Special Rule is positive, the rule outlined in the proposal is far too narrow and unnecessarily restrictive to oil and natural gas development activities. As the comments describe:
“The Section 4(d) flexibility to narrowly tailor protections for threatened species and to opt against prohibiting all takes has been fully utilized by the listing agencies. The listing agencies typically refrain from imposing full Section 9 take prohibitions when: (1) take is incidental to a lawfully conducted industrial sector activity; (2) where incidental take potentially attributable to the activity is negligible or not well understood; and, (3) where there are economic and policy reasons to avoid unnecessarily damaging regulations on an industry. The Associations believe that these principals should inform the Service’s delineation of the 4(d) Special Rule for the LPC by removing all prohibitions for takes incidental to lawfully conducted oil and gas operations, because lawfully conducted oil and gas activities already protect the environment, and the LPC habitat therein.”
Furthermore, the FWS’s proposed listing in December 2011 included alleged threats from oil and natural gas activities to the LPC, yet FWS was unable to isolate potential impacts from oil and gas operations from other variables that could pose harm to the species. As such, supposed threats – be it noise or power lines — that are not specific to oil and gas development may be improperly and unevenly attributed to the industry. It is imperative that the 4(d) special rule proposed by the FWS does not wrongfully target development of our natural resources.
The oil and natural gas industry is already regulated under a host of state, local, and federal regulations that augment the Associations’ and their members’ commitment to the environment and its natural species. After all, America’s oil and natural gas operators are the same men and women who work and live in these operating areas. Increased technology is decreasing land use impacts, allowing multiple wells to be drilled in numerous directions from a single pad. And work with state and local governments is ensuring the continued protection of our environment is ongoing while developing imperative natural resources that provide power and jobs for millions of Americans. An ineffective federal listing of the LPC will only harm this development and the many benefits it brings to the United State. Read the Associations full comments HERE.
