Issues
Senate GOP says FWS’ mitigation plans overstep its authority. Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water and Wildlife told Interior Department officials at a hearing this week that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s mitigation plans overstep the agency’s legal authority and would slow down development in the United States. The plans provide recommendations on mitigating adverse impacts of land and water developments on fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats
Subcommittee Chairman Dan Sullivan (R-AK) said the plans have “the potential to extend the scope of federal review in consideration of infrastructure, energy and private development in land-use projects throughout the nation” and could “increase costs, delay or possibly paralyze projects, essentially withdraw lands and discourage needed investment in many states.” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), the Subcommittee’s Ranking Member, disagreed, arguing that the updated plans were necessary to combat climate change.
IPAA submitted joint comments with API earlier this year on the Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposed revisions to its Mitigation Policy. IPAA argued the policy improperly expanded the Service’s authority beyond that which was delegated by Congress. “Its onerous requirements and ambiguous standards will lead to delays in federal approvals and authorizations, both by the Service and other federal agencies,” the groups wrote in their comments.
FWS proposes protections for rusty patched bumble bee. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced on Wednesday its plans to list the rusty patched bumble bee as an endangered species. The insect, native to the upper Midwest and Northeastern United States, is considered an essential pollinator in multiple ecosystems, but has recently suffered losses in population.
FWS has faced legal pressure from the Xerces Society, who petitioned the agency to list the bumble bee in 2013 and later sued the Service to force a 90-day finding. The current proposal will be open for comment for 60 days, with FWS likely issuing its final decision in September 2017.
Last year, IPAA and API jointly submitted comments on the FWS’ proposal to list the rusty-patched bumble bee under the ESA. A review of that proposal found that the petition to list the bee relied on incomplete data and did not adequately warrant listing of the bee. Additionally, the groups encouraged FWS to consider Safe Harbor protections for oil and gas operators who voluntarily modify their activities on site, including their use of pesticides in order to further protect the bee.
Outdoor recreation groups sends letter opposing Congressional sage grouse interference. Representatives of more than 100 hunting, fishing, and wildlife-related businesses asked House and Senate leaders in a letter to block provisions in the Department of the Interior funding bills and the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that seek to slow the implementation of the federal sage grouse plans finalized last year.
According to supporters of the federal delisting decision in 2015, sufficient and effective regulations have already been put in place to conserve the sage grouse and its habitat. However, sportsmen’s groups expressed their belief that the best thing Congress can do for sage grouse is to ensure that state and federal land managers get the resources they need to implement their plans and allow conservation efforts on private lands to continue.
The greater sage grouse remains a sticking point between Senate and House NDAA negotiations. The sage grouse provision, among others, is expected to push consideration of the NDAA until after the November elections.
In the News
Interior Department touts efforts to protect sage grouse. Associated Press. A broad effort to save the greater sage grouse across the West without resorting to the Endangered Species Act is making progress, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Wednesday. “There’s some really good work going on,” Jewell said during a visit to a national wildlife refuge outside Denver, where she announced a year ago that the rare bird wouldn’t be listed as endangered or protected. Instead, conservation agencies are relying on cooperation among federal, state and local governments as well as help from oil and gas companies and ranchers. Endangered Species Act protection would have meant stricter restrictions on oil and gas exploration, grazing and other human activities.
Jewell, Hickenlooper nurture “epic collaboration” in $760M western push to save endangered sage grouse. Denver Post. The federal government and non-profit partners plan to spend another $360 million to spur states, landowners and developers to save the imperiled greater sage grouse across a Texas-sized area of sagebrush steppe spanning 11 Western states. That money drives the “collaborative conservation” launched a year ago that Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, Gov. John Hickenlooper and other Western leaders see as an alternative to federal Endangered Species Act protection for species facing extinction that need large landscapes to survive. “This is about epic collaboration. It is in its infancy,” Jewell said in an interview following a one-year progress forum with key players on Wednesday north of Denver. “It will change the face of conservation,” she said. “We are in a new era.”
FWS proposing protections for fish and turtle species. E&E News (sub req’d). An Arizona turtle and a Mississippi fish would gain federal protection under two new proposals from the Fish and Wildlife Service. FWS will propose adding the two species to the Endangered Species Act list in tomorrow’s Federal Register. The Sonoyta mud turtle has been on the agency’s “candidate list” since 1997; the Pearl darter has hopped on and off the list since 1991, last becoming a candidate in 1999. The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the agency to list both species, which were part of the 2011 settlement that required FWS to consider listings for hundreds of candidate species. FWS proposes to list the turtle as endangered and the fish as threatened.
Defense policy negotiators play chicken on sage grouse provision. Defense News. Sage grouse and lesser prairie chicken, meet the lame duck. Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain confirmed Tuesday that he and other negotiators on the 2017 defense policy bill have deadlocked over protections for the greater sage grouse, and action is unlikely before next month’s lame duck session of Congress. “I think it’s pretty obvious that we’re going to have to go to lame duck,” McCain, R-Ariz., told a small group of reporters. “Sage grouse! It’s the major impediment. It’s terribly frustrating.”
Mexican police raid sawmills to protect monarch butterfly habitat. Smithsonian (Magazine). The butterfly colony is one of the natural wonders of the world, but that hasn’t stopped illegal loggers from encroaching on the 200-square-mile preserve. That’s why last week a special police unit raided the area, shutting down seven sawmills. A squad of 220 policeman and 40 foresty inspectors backed by a helicopter raided the logging camps, reports the Agence France-Presse. The squad permanently shuttered three illegal sawmills in the town of Ocampo and temporarily closed one while they verify its paperwork. Three other sawmills in the town of Aporo were temporarily closed because of a lack of paperwork. The authorities also seized 231 cubic feet of illegally harvested wood.
