NATIONAL 

GOP proposal boosts states’ review authority. E&E News (sub req’d). States could conduct environmental reviews of proposed transportation projects under their own laws and procedures, as long as the U.S. Department of Transportation certifies that those standards are “substantially equivalent” to what the National Environmental Policy Act and other federal laws require, according to a bill introduced yesterday by Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) Under H.R. 2497, dubbed the “NEPA Reciprocity Act,” the Transportation Department would have to create a program to eliminate “duplicative environmental reviews and approvals under state and federal law of projects,” according to the bill’s text.

House Backs Voluntary Plan for Lesser Prairie Chicken. National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. The House of Representatives pushed back on the Endangered Species Act listing of the lesser prairie chicken and voted May 15 to sustain voluntary conservation efforts that electric cooperatives helped to develop in the bird’s five-state range. “This action by House members is a boost to all the electric co-ops that have worked hard to conserve the lesser prairie chicken in a way that also allows them to serve their members,” said NRECA CEO Jo Ann Emerson. “We thank our House leaders for recognizing our efforts that we hope will serve as a model in mitigating both impacts to the species and costs to members,” she said.

COLORADO 

Feds seek heft in Hickenlooper order for state-led rescue of grouse. Denver Post. Federal authorities deciding whether to list the greater sage grouse as an endangered species on Thursday called Colorado’s small grouse population crucial and are pressing Gov. John Hickenlooper to toughen his order for state-led protection. Hickenlooper’s order must be more specific, losing vague phrasing such as “where practicable,” commit to change state rules for the oil and gas industry where necessary, and require drillers to offset harm to grouse, according to a May 14 letter sent to Hickenlooper from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regional director Noreen Walsh.

CONNECTICUT 

DEEP asks public to stay away from nesting shorebirds. The Day. The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection on Thursday announced that Charles Island in Milford and Duck Island in Westbrook will be closed to the public through Sept. 9 to prevent disturbances to nesting birds. Both islands have been designated by DEEP as Natural Area Preserves, primarily due to their importance as nesting habitats for several state-listed birds, including snowy egrets and great egrets (state threatened species), glossy ibis and little blue herons (state special concern), DEEP said in a news release.

IDAHO

Agencies Launch Effort to Reduce Fires in Sagebrush Steppe. Associated Press. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management as well as other federal and state agencies are starting a public information campaign intended to reduce human-caused fires in sagebrush steppe areas in Idaho. The Idaho office of the BLM in a statement Thursday says efforts will include radio and television announcements, social media postings and a billboard on Interstate 84 between the Broadway and Gowen Field off-ramps in Boise.

Why Saving Sage Grouse Habitat During A Wildfire Could Be Difficult. Boise State Public Radio. A new rangeland fire management plan is the result of cross-state and federal collaboration that isn’t often seen in resource policy. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell visited Idaho earlier this week to present the plan alongside state officials.  But with the deadline looming for a U.S. Fish and Wildlife decision on whether or not to add the greater sage grouse to the Endangered Species List, the Interior Department had a good reason to make a new plan.

LOUISIANA

‘Teddy bear’ no longer endangered: What’s behind the ‘rewilding’ of America? Christian Science Monitor. The Louisiana black bear, the inspiration for the “teddy bear,” has clambered back from the brink of extinction, out of the Atchafalaya bottomlands, and promptly up into suburban neighborhood trees. This month alone, three of the bears have had to be chased out of Louisiana neighborhoods, underscoring why the US Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday began proceedings to “de-list” the bear from the endangered species list, where it has been since 1992.

PENNSYLVANIA

DEP Uncertain How to Fight Mine Fire Because of Bats. WNEP. A mine fire in Carbon County, near Tresckow, has been burning for years. The Department of Environmental Protection can’t fight this fire as it normally would and it’s all because of bats. The Indiana Bat and the Northern Long-Eared Bat are protected by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

WEST VIRGINIA

Group puts agencies on notice over proposed mine. E&E News (sub req’d). The Center for Biological Diversity is urging the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to scrutinize the impacts of a proposed strip mine on two imperiled species. At issue is the proposed Big Creek surface mine in McDowell County, W.Va., being developed by Democratic gubernatorial candidate James Justice. In a letter to the agencies and the Fish and Wildlife Service today, CBD warned about the mine’s potential effects on the Big Sandy crayfish and the northern long-eared bat. NOTE: Charleston Daily Mail also reports.

WYOMING 

Agencies fight weeds to help sage grouse in Wyoming. Associated Press. State and federal land management agencies are teaming up with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and others to keep invasive plants out of sage grouse habitat. The Wind River/Sweetwater River Sage Grouse Working Group this month awarded a $31,000 grant to Fremont County Weed and Pest. The money will go toward a large-scale, three-year noxious weed inventory and treatment effort that the county weed district began last year in partnership with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.