Issues
IPAA Meets with Administration to Talk Greater Sage-Grouse. Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) leadership and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) met on Monday, December 1st to discuss the proposed listing of the Greater sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Mike Smith of QEP Resources, Jay Cranford representing Encana, and Luke Johnson of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP also joined the meeting.
Emphasizing the concerns of independent oil and natural gas producers, IPAA noted in the meeting that listing the Greater sage-grouse under the ESA could negatively impact energy and economic development across the Western United States. IPAA also highlighted that a federal listing would not only harm existing state-based conservation measures, but also ignore the positive efforts American energy companies have made to protect the sage-grouse in the West. As a recent report from SWCA Environmental Consultants highlights, for example, oil and gas producers are currently implementing hundreds of robust measures to protect the grouse on federal lands, working with stakeholders at the local, state, and federal levels to implement measures to protect the sage-grouse and its habitat.
During the meeting, Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe and his team acknowledged the work independent producers have done to protect and support sage-grouse populations. Although Ashe stated that there is much work to be done, IPAA and its Task Force members delivered a strong message to develop reasonable conservation efforts that will allow the industry to continue to explore and produce our nation’s oil and gas resources and also protect the Greater sage-grouse. For additional details surrounding the meeting please contact IPAA’s Samantha McDonald.
Critical Habitat Proposed for Arctic Ringed Seal. This week, the National Marine Fisheries Service proposed new critical habitat protections for the Arctic ringed seal, a decision that would impact 350,000 square miles across Alaska’s Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas. If approved, the proposal would be the largest ever approved critical habitat designation, covering an area roughly twice the size of California.
The proposal has received mixed reaction from Alaska’s leadership. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska criticized the proposal, stating “This is an unprecedented attempt to place restrictions on a larger than Texas-sized area of water surrounding our state. I remain skeptical that the listing of ringed seals based on a 100-year weather projection was justified, and I am concerned that this designation would severely impact any economic development from Northwest all the way to our border with Canada.”
NOAA Fisheries Alaska regional administrator Dr. James Balsiger stood by the decision, stating “after reviewing the best available information, our scientists identified the habitat features that are essential for sustaining Arctic ringed seals – a species that is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future due to climate change.”
The proposed rule is now published on the Federal Register and the public has until March 3, 2015 to submit comments.
Annual review of Endangered Species Act candidates released. On December 3rd, 2014, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) released its Candidate Notice of Review, an annual report that updates the candidates for protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
According to the report, twenty-three species are being added to the list, and there are now 146 species recognized by the Service as candidates for ESA protection. These species do not receive ESA protection, but the Service does use grants programs and voluntary programs to help conserve them and their habitats.
The mao or ma ‘oma ‘o bird, an olive green honeyeater native to Samoa, 18 flowering plants and four ferns found on the Hawaiian Islands were among 23 new entries this year. Read the full notice from the FWS HERE.
In the News
Researchers may have found a key to halting bat-killing disease. E&E News (sub req’d). A new study has found that the fungus that causes the deadly white-nose syndrome in bats is almost exclusively transmitted among bats during hibernation and that applying treatments in winter could stop the disease’s rapid spread. The study, published this week in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the Royal Society of London’s biological research journal, found that the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome thrives in lower temperatures and thus spreads when the bats are hibernating in cold caves and abandoned mines in winter. NOTE: Read the full study HERE.
Feds propose largest-ever critical habitat area for Arctic seals. E&E News (sub req’d). The National Marine Fisheries Service is proposing extensive critical habitat protections for the Arctic ringed seal, releasing a map today that would designate millions of acres in Alaska’s Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas. The proposed rule — scheduled to appear in tomorrow’s Federal Register — would create the largest-ever critical habitat designation, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. In a news release today, the group sized the area at 350,000 square miles, or twice the size of California. NOTE: Alaska Dispatch News also reports.
Sage-grouse protections worry western utilities. Utility Dive. The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has issued a final rule adding the Gunnison sage-grouse to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife, a decision which will offer the bird additional protections and could change how electric providers in grouse territory do business, Electric Co-op Today reports. Opponents of the decision, including Western cooperative electric utilities, say the new protections are not necessary and will ultimately hurt local economies.
Lawsuit targets protection for rare Colorado lizard. Summit County Citizens Voice. An unusual Colorado lizard that lives in grasslands and juniper woodlands has been targeted for protection by conservation advocates. The Center for Biological Diversity last week filed a formal notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to decide whether the Colorado checkered whiptail warrants consideration for Endangered Species Act protection.
Landowners should be a greater part of the sage grouse conversation. Billings Gazette, LTE. The recent listing of the Gunnison sage grouse as threatened under the Endangered Species Act made waves even here in rural Montana. That’s because countless landowners and stakeholder groups here have been involved for many years to ensure that the greater sage grouse doesn’t also require an ESA listing. The greater sage grouse inhabits millions of acres of public and private lands in 11 western states. As such, countless westerners and local communities would be impacted by such a listing.
Oregon to expand sage grouse program. Science Recorder. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has decided to expand on a conservation project along the Pacific Northwest, promising that if Oregon ranchers improve their property for the dropping sage grouse populations, they will not be hit with more restrictions if the bird becomes an endangered species.
