Issues
Interior defends ESA changes. A top Trump administration official on Monday defended a plan to refurbish the Endangered Species Act (ESA), saying the proposed changes would result in more efficient and effective listing decisions. At a forum hosted by the Heritage Foundation think tank, Deputy Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said that lawmakers who passed the ESA four decades ago created “a degree of ambiguity” that led to legal controversies in the following years. Bernhardt explained that the Interior Department worked with other agencies to craft a plan that would provide “clarity and predictability” to regulations covering endangered or threatened wildlife.
“We are intent on maintaining our environmental standards, but we are equally intent on leaving a reliable, efficient, and defensible regulatory regime in place that better serves the American people than what we found when we walked into the department, and I’m confident that we’ll be able to do this,” Bernhardt said in his remarks.
The Trump administration proposed a regulatory revamp in July that would end automatic protections for threatened animals and plants and opens the possibility of including cost-benefit analysis in listing decisions, making the process of removing a species from endangered or threatened status more efficient. “What we’re thinking about is how can we make the law work in a way that’s good for species and good for people,” he said. Comments on the proposed changes will be accepted through Sept. 24.
Sue and Settle Secretarial Order. Last Friday, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke signed a Secretarial Order to prevent the practice known as “sue and settle” by promoting public engagement, transparency, and accountability in Consent Decrees and Settlement Agreements. Over the past five years, the Department of Interior (DOI) has been party to a staggering number of settlement agreements and consent decrees, often with no input from or notice to the American people, leaving the door open for potential abuse. Secretarial Order 3368 is intended to alleviate concerns the litigation process has been used to undermine the procedural safeguards Congress put in place by giving the American people a window into where the money is going and a voice before DOI makes a recommendation to accept or enter into a settlement with large policy or budgetary implications. Read more on S.O. 3368 here.
Colorado Dems pushback on industry lease sales. Debate over the balance between energy development and sage-grouse conservation continues this week, with top Colorado Democrats objecting to public land leases in sage-grouse habitat. Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet (D) has joined Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) in pushing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to scale back a December oil and gas lease sale that he says could negatively affect more than 108,000 acres of greater sage-grouse habitat, as well as the state’s sensitive North Fork Valley region.
In letters to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management Tuesday, the two Democrats also asked the government not to go ahead with plans to let energy companies drill on habitat for the grouse. Similar discourse emerged late last year when the Department of Interior (DOI) and BLM issued notices announcing its intention to reconsider land use plans and withdraw provisions for 10 million acres of habitat on federal land. At the time, Gov. Hickenlooper welcomed the news with little trepidation, but recent lease sales have received pushback from the governor.
Oil and gas leases in key sage grouse habitat will still come with protective restrictions, notes Bob Budd, who chairs Wyoming Governor Mead’s sage grouse implementation team. For instance, permits prohibit companies from disturbing the ground on or near a lek, where sage-grouse gather for mating displays. “We were leasing in core areas before this,” he says. “It’s how you do it, not where you do it.” Industry officials agree, saying there is no need to limit leasing because modern drilling techniques allow companies to reach oil and gas deposits from a mile or two away.
“America’s independent oil and natural gas producers work hard every day to ensure that energy development, environmental stewardship, species conservation, and economic growth can thrive together across the nation,” wrote Barry Russell, President and CEO of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, in a 2015 op-ed recognizing the collaborative efforts between state governments, federal agencies and conservation groups to ensure the sage-grouse’s protection.
The comment period for the lease sale ended on September 11th. A notice of sale will be posted on October 22nd, 2018.
In the News
Duffy Wants Wolves Removed from Endangered Species List. WSAU. U.S. Representative Sean Duffy wants to remove gray wolves from the endangered species list. WAOW-TV reports Duffy introduced legislation this week to give management of endangered species lists to the states. He said in a statement, “Wisconsin deserves the opportunity to use science-based wildlife management for our own gray wolf population because we know what’s better for our state’s ecosystem better than activist judges in Washington.” The bill has bipartisan support in the House. This summer the state Department of Natural Resources reported between 900 and 950 wolves roamed the state during the winter and that there is evidence indicating the population is stabilizing. Wolves were initially removed from the list in 2011 but legal challenges led them to be put back on in 2014.
Forest Service proposes expedited energy permitting. E&E News, (Sub req’d). The Trump administration is proposing streamlined permitting for oil, gas and mineral projects in federal forests and grasslands. In two notices of proposed rulemaking slated for publication in tomorrow’s Federal Register, interim Forest Service chief Victoria Christiansen says the efforts are part of President Trump’s push to spur energy development. “The changes listed here have the potential to decrease the burden on industry, thus promoting domestic energy production primarily by making the leasing decision process simpler, and by aligning the Forest Service process with the [Bureau of Land Management] so that operators have one simplified permitting system,” the oil and gas notice says. The service said it intends to identify National Forest System tracts that BLM could offer for oil and gas leasing. Environmental groups and conservation groups protested, calling on the White House to cease its search for federal minerals.
Dems hope to improve landmark law in 2019. E&E News, (Sub req’d). Democrats hope an abbreviated fall congressional session coupled with electoral victory in November will help stave off Republican efforts to overhaul the Endangered Species Act. GOP lawmakers in both chambers this year have introduced several legislative measures — stand-alone bills, packages and policy riders — to reform the 1973 law protecting imperiled wildlife. While Republicans view the proposals as much-needed updates to an outdated, ineffective and overly litigious law, Democrats perceive the efforts as transparent attempts to gut a landmark conservation law that has helped save wolves, bears and other iconic animals. “If we take the House back, none of these will ever get a vote in the 116th Congress,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) told E&E News after his remarks at a Capitol Hill press conference with other Democrats and environmental advocates to defend the ESA. Many Democrats, however, view that package and similar legislation from Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) as nothing more than initiatives to roll back protections for species and their habitat, as well as a disregard for the effect of climate change on animals such as the polar bear. Beyer said that if the lower chamber does manage to bring to the floor some of those Republican-led ESA bills this fall, “unfortunately, these attacks are likely to pass the House.” But, he added, “it’s very difficult to see how they get 60 votes in the Senate.”
Push to change wildlife act sparks lobbying blitz. The Hill. Action in Congress and the Trump administration to overhaul the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is spurring a lobbying frenzy. Industries that have long sought to reduce the compliance burden of protecting imperiled animal and plants species are seizing a rare moment with a Republican Congress and White House that are sympathetic to their cause. It’s been more than a dozen years since policymakers have shown such an interest in overhauling the ESA, and industries including agriculture, energy and developers are working hard to get something across the finish line. “This is an extremely important time, because the opportunity is there to make changes,” said Richard Pombo, a lobbyist and former congressman from California who led the last major effort, in 2005, to comprehensively change the ESA. His measure passed the House, but not the Senate, and he lost reelection in 2006, due in part to those efforts. “It’s probably the best we’ll have in terms of Congress and an administration willing to make changes that in previous years were much more difficult,” he said. Even if significant reform doesn’t happen this time around, lobbyists are happy that the issue has taken on such a high profile.
Interior Deferring to States, Reviewing Fish, Wildlife Protections. Natural Gas Intelligence. In a development sure to impact the oil and gas industry, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said state regulatory agencies should have a higher profile in protecting fish and wildlife and asked his department to identify federal regulations that are more restrictive than those enacted by states. Zinke’s plans for the review were outlined in a two-page memo posted Tuesday by the nonprofit group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Although the memo doesn’t specifically mention the greater sage grouse or the lesser prairie chicken, it appears the scope of the review should encompass efforts to protect the ground-dwelling birds. The industry has been working with federal and state regulators for years to protect the birds’ habitat from infrastructure such as well pads and pipelines. Zinke asked the officials to provide Interior’s deputy secretary with “a report containing detailed recommendations for the respective bureau or office to better align its regulations, policies and guidance with state provisions” within 90 days. The deputy secretary would then consult with state fish and wildlife agencies regarding the recommendations and deliver an implementation plan to Zinke within 180 days of the memo’s issuance.
