Weekly Newsletter |June 14, 2019

Issues

Lawsuit seeks formal determination on ESA status for lesser prairie chicken. This week, a coalition of environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit against the Interior Department (DOI) in an effort to force the agency to protect the lesser prairie chicken from habitat loss and the impacts of climate change.

Specifically, the lawsuit challenges the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to complete a 12-month determination analyzing whether the bird warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). A formal determination, requested in a 2016 petition to list the lesser prairie chicken for ESA protection, was due in September 2017, according to the complaint.

“The iconic lesser prairie-chicken could go extinct if we do not take meaningful steps to save it,” said Jason Rylander, senior counsel at Defenders of Wildlife, one of four environmental groups filing suit. “Endangered Species Act protection could make all the difference, but the Trump administration refuses to act. The lesser prairie-chicken has waited long enough for a decision.”

The lawsuit names DOI Secretary David Bernhardt and FWS’s Acting Director, Margaret Everson, as defendants. When asked for comment, a DOI spokeswoman said the agency cannot comment publicly on matters pertaining to pending or ongoing litigation. The Independent Petroleum Association of America has long advocated that the best scientific and commercial information available demonstrates that the bird does not meet the ESA’s definitions of either a threatened or endangered species, thanks in large part to a combination of public and private efforts to protect the species.

Bi-state grouse protection draws organized public support. Earlier this week, a court-ordered public 60-day comment period regarding the bi-state greater sage grouse came to an end. E&E News (sub req’d) reports that 2,531 comments were submitted, with 2,494 including identical phrasing.

Inhabiting portions of eastern California and western Nevada, the grouse was declared a distinct population segment in 2010, meaning the designated population can be listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) even if other populations are not. In 2013, Fish and Wildlife proposed listing the bi-state sage-grouse population as “threatened” under the ESA. The proposal included designating 1.8 million acres of mostly federal land as critical habitat after identifying infrastructure threats to the bird.

In April 2015, citing the success of conservation programs, the Service withdrew the proposed listing and environmental groups sued. Last year, Chief Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero in California agreed that the service’s decision was “arbitrary and capricious” and effectively ordered the do-over while acknowledging that “a great deal of effort” has been devoted to assessing threats.

The “redo” comment period ended June 11, 2019.

In the News

Sen. Lee introduces Native Species Protection Act. Utah Policy. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the Native Species Protection Act Thursday, a bill that would allow states to manage species that exist entirely within their border. “There are real benefits to protecting endangered species from extinction, but the federal law intended to establish such protections – the Endangered Species Act – is in serious need of reform,” Sen. Lee said. “The Native Species Protection Act is a commonsense reform that would limit the damage caused by federal mismanagement of protected species and their habitats, while empowering state and local officials to pursue sensible conservation plans with their communities.” The Native Species Protection Act clarifies that noncommercial species found entirely within the borders of a single State are not subject to regulation under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 or any other provision of law enacted as an exercise of the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce.

Interior-EPA bill on House floor next week. E&E News, Sub req’d. The House will take up the annual funding bill for EPA, the Interior Department and other environmental agencies next week as part of its second minibus package of spending bills. The House Rules Committee announced today that proposed amendments are due by Thursday morning for the package, which includes the Interior-EPA, Commerce-Justice-Science, Agriculture, Transportation-Housing and Urban Development, and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs bills. The panel is expected to hold a hearing early next week to decide what provisions will get votes when the $383 billion minibus reaches the floor. The $37.3 billion Interior-EPA portion would reject the deep cuts in environmental spending sought by the Trump administration by boosting spending by around 5% for fiscal 2020.

USDA takes comments on predator killing in Idaho. E&E News, Sub req’d. A plan to kill wolves and other predators that attack livestock, deer and elk in Idaho is the subject of an environmental study that will include public comment, the Department of Agriculture said yesterday. “We’re going into this with the intent of taking a fresh look at all the different issues, and that’s what we hope to get from the public,” said Kirk Gustad, the Agriculture Department’s project manager for the Idaho EIS. Comments will be taken until July 10. A federal judge ordered the review last year after ruling the Agriculture Department’s Wildlife Services agency violated environmental laws by not providing the justification to expand killing of mountain lions, coyotes, bears and other predators. Western Watersheds Project and other conservation groups sued in 2017, contending the agency needed the extensive study to better understand the ramifications.

Groups seek ban on bear-baiting in Idaho, Wyo. forests. E&E News, Sub req’d. Hunting black bears by using bait in national forests in Idaho and Wyoming should be banned because hunters have killed federally protected grizzlies that were attracted to the food, conservation groups say in a lawsuit. The Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians and Wilderness Watch filed the lawsuit Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho challenging the Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service. The federal agencies are violating environmental laws by allowing the practice that has resulted in the deaths of at least eight grizzly bears since 1995 in national forests, the groups allege. The groups also said the bait stations get the bears used to human food.

Gray wolf provokes scientific debate. E&E News, Sub req’d. A sure-to-be-lively public hearing could amplify the concerns voiced by the peer-review scientists who found myriad flaws in the Fish and Wildlife Service’s justification for removing the gray wolf from Endangered Species Act protections. The June 25 hearing in Brainerd, Minn., announced this week, is bound to be packed and, at times, emotional. More than 1 million public comments have already flooded in, most apparently opposed to delisting (Greenwire, May 16). “Thanks to the Endangered Species Act, wolf populations are now making a modest recovery but they do still remain functionally extinct in the vast majority of places where they used to live,” a commenter identified as Glenn Feld wrote in a note posted yesterday.