Issues
IPAA responds to lesser prairie chicken listing petition. The Independent Petroleum Association of America, American Petroleum Institute, Permian Basin Petroleum Association, and Western Energy Alliance submitted joint comments this week urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to reject a petition to list the lesser prairie chicken under the Endangered Species Act. The groups argue that the bird does not meet the requirements for threatened or endangered status based on the available commercial and scientific information and the scant evidence provided by the petition.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, and Kansas Department of Agriculture Secretary Jackie McClaskey submitted comments in a letter to Fish and Wildlife, asking officials to take into account private landowners and their ongoing conservation efforts, which have helped the species recover in recent years.
The lesser prairie chicken was removed from the Endangered Species Act in July 2016. Shortly thereafter, a new assessment of the species began in response to a petition from conservation groups. Fish and Wildlife is expected to complete its assessment in the summer of 2017.
Greater sage-grouse legislation proposed to empower states. U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-ID) introduced a new bill Thursday that would allow states, rather than federal agencies, to implement their own conservation and management plans to protect the greater sage-grouse and its habitat. The Greater Sage-Grouse Protection and Recovery Act of 2017 (H.R. 527) has been cosponsored by fellow republicans including Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID), Dean Heller (R-NV), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Steve Daines (R-MT).
“This legislation will provide states the ability to implement locally-based land management plans that were developed and will be managed by those who know the local conditions and needs best,” said Sen. Crapo. Sen. Hatch noted that the bill would also “empower the states to continue their good work in conserving the species while simultaneously protecting our lands and jobs from federal overreach.” The bill would further change the balance of state-federal management by prohibiting the Secretary of the Interior from conducting large scale mineral withdrawals for the protection of the greater sage-grouse.
Resurrected House bill to require economic review for species listings. Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX) has re-introduced a bill that would require economic considerations to be factored into Endangered Species Act listing decisions. H.R. 717, also dubbed the “Listing Reform Act,” would also prevent outside groups from using lawsuits to pressure the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to set listing deadlines for certain species.
Fellow Texas Representatives Michael Burgess, Louie Gohmert, and Brian Babin have cosponsored the bill as a part of a wider effort to roll back the Endangered Species Act and force agencies to consider economic costs before issuing new environmental regulations.
In the News
Researcher says endangered bumblebee population will rise again. Lab Magazine. The rusty patched bumblebee, Bombus affinis, recently became the first U.S. bumblebee species to be placed on the endangered species list, but a Kansas State University entomologist says bumblebee endangerment is nothing to be bugged about. Jeff Whitworth, associate professor of entomology, said bumblebees are not headed for extinction. However, their populations have decreased in some states, so inclusion in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Federal Register may help keep them and other bee species at healthy population levels. “Being on the endangered species list is not bad,” Whitworth said. “It helps people have more awareness and information about bees, and it leads to regulations and programs that help keep bees alive.”
Sen. Moran urges Fish and Wildlife Service to formally extend lesser prairie-chicken statues review comment period. High Plains Journal. In a letter to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) recently requested an extension of their deadline for comments and information relevant to the latest 90-day petition funding and status review of the lesser prairie-chicken. To stakeholders requesting a deadline extension in order to accommodate the best possible scientific information, the FWS has indicated an extension was unnecessary because it was open to receiving relevant information past the deadline. Sen. Moran today requested that the FWS reconsider their refusal to extend the deadline in order to help erase any confusion on when information may be provided to the FWS, and to grant stakeholders ample opportunity to provide comments.
Trump’s regulation-cutting order unlikely to limit delistings. E&E News (sub req’d). Endangered Species Act experts doubt that President Trump’s executive order limiting regulations will prevent the government from issuing rules to remove animals or plants from the endangered and threatened species lists. The order requires that “for every one new regulation issued, at least two prior regulations be identified for elimination, and that the cost of planned regulations be prudently managed and controlled through a budgeting process.” While delistings are done via rules that impose some monitoring of recovered species, experts on the process predict that the president’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will look favorably on such regulations when it drafts guidance for implementing the order. “The decision to delist a species would likely be treated as a repeal of a regulation,” predicted Jonathan Wood, a staff attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation, a property rights advocacy group. “I think if anything, it will improve the incentives for the agencies to take seriously their obligation to review species that are on the list and get those off that no longer belong.”
Four Court Cases Agriculture Needs to Watch. Ag Professional. Also before the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit is a Utah case in which a prairie dog found itself in the midst of controversy over the Endangered Species Act. In that case, landowners challenge the listing of the Utah Prairie Dog—a purely intra-state species located only within the state—under the Endangered Species Act. The landowners claim that this exceeds the scope of power given under the Endangered Species Act because the Act is based upon Congress’ interstate commerce power and this animal is neither found in commerce or an interstate species. The trial court sided with the landowners, but the Fish and Wildlife Service appealed the decision.
9th Circ. Revives Greens’ Suit Over EPA Pesticide Approvals. Law 360. The Ninth Circuit on Thursday partially revived a lawsuit filed by green groups alleging that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency violated the Endangered Species Act when it registered certain pesticide ingredients and products without first consulting with other agencies. Pesticide Action Network North America and the Center for Biological Diversity sued the EPA in 2011, making 31 claims that the EPA failed to consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service, with each claim centering on one pesticide active ingredient. And for each ingredient, the plaintiffs alleged subclaims for four types of EPA actions that should have triggered consultations. A variety of pesticide makers intervened on the EPA’s behalf. NOTE: E&E News (sub req’d) also reports
