The little Sage Grouse vs. Big Oil and Agriculture. Who do you think wins this one?
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Interior Secretary Sally
Jewell has revealed plans to preserve habitat in 10 Western states for an
imperiled ground-dwelling bird, the federal government’s biggest land-planning
effort to date for conservation of a single specie, Mead Gruver reports for the
Associated Press
“The proposal would affect energy development. The regulations would require
oil and gas wells to be clustered in groups of a half-dozen or more to avoid
scattering them across habitat of the greater sage grouse. Drilling near
breeding areas would be prohibited during mating season, and power lines would
be moved away from prime habitat to avoid serving as perches for raptors that
eat sage grouse.
“Some will say the plans don’t go far enough to protect the bird, Jewell
said. “But I would say these plans are grounded in sound science — the best
available science,” she said at a news conference Thursday on a ranch near
Cheyenne.
“Sage grouse are chicken-size birds that inhabit grass and sagebrush
ecosystems in 11 states from California to the Dakotas. The rules would not
apply to a relatively small area of habitat in Washington state. The bird’s
numbers have declined sharply in recent decades, and some environmentalists warn
they are at risk of extinction.
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service faces a court-ordered deadline of Sept.
30 to decide whether the greater sage grouse needs protection as a threatened or
endangered species. Many Western lawmakers and representatives of the
oil-and-gas and agriculture industries say a threatened or endangered listing
would devastate the region’s economy.”
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