Officials from three Rocky Mountain state governments and a major national sports conservation partnership urged both the Obama administration and the 114th Congress to not interfere with what could become very successful federal-state collaborations to preserve the greater sage grouse’s habitat and keep it from being listed as an endangered species.
Oil and gas producers have increasingly worked with state and local governments and property owners to mitigate identified environmental threats to the greater sage grouse and other wildlife to make it unnecessary to list them as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Such listings potentially could shut down or severely restrict oil and gas operations.
The committee’s hearing came a day after BLM and the National Marine Fisheries Service jointly proposed requiring petitioners seeking endangered or threatened status for a species to show that state wildlife agencies have been contacted beforehand and include relevant information about what those agencies are doing (OGJ Online, May 18, 2015).
“We had a good relationship with the federal agencies, but recently began to get top-down directives that seem to be designed not to protect habitat but to direct human behavior,” Kathleen Clarke, who directs Utah’s Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office, told the US House Natural Resources Committee on May 19.
“There is a dichotomy developing between Utah’s collaborative planning process and a growing federal unilateralism,” said Clarke, who also was US Bureau of Land Management director during 2002-06. “What started out as a collaborative partnership has become increasingly combative and adversarial.”
Dustin Miller, who directs Idaho’s Species Conservation Office, said, “We built a cohesive strategy with the federal government by blending our two alternatives, creating a plan that preserves sage grouse habitat with considering economic needs. BLM issued a directive in January that contradicted this.”
Worked across spectrum
However, John Swartout, a senior policy advisor for Colorado Gov. John W. Hickenlooper (D), said despite Hickenlooper’s concerns about what an endangered species listing for the greater sage grouse would do to the state’s economy, “the governor believes congressional action to prevent one would not provide the kind of certainty we need.”
Swartout said, “Colorado has worked closely with many partners across the spectrum from conservationists to landowners. We will continue to work with [US Sec. of the Interior Sally Jewell], and believe we are close to reaching a not warranted decision.”
Ed Arnett, a senior scientist at the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership in Loveland, Colo., said concerns about the greater sage grouse’s well-being were raised initially in the 1950s by the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, an organization of states’ fish and game departments. “This came from scientists, not green groups,” he observed.
“The states have always had cooperating agency status. They’ve always been at the table,” he said. “In my opinion, the state wildlife agencies’ advice hasn’t always been heeded. But we’re very close to getting consensus.”
Federal-state relations could have developed friction because the entities have different responsibilities, Swartout suggested. “The [ESA] becomes confrontational when BLM and other federal agencies have to emphasize regulations, while states concentrate on cooperative partnerships,” he said. “We hope to get that balance right.”
‘Closer to the ground’
Miller said, “Our state-led planning efforts work better. We’re closer to the ground. We need to see modifications to the ESA to ensure that state-led efforts are a priority. The courts have interpreted it in a fashion contrary to what the act’s original writers intended.”
In her opening statement, Committee Vice-Chair Cynthia M. Lummis (R-Wyo.) said, “It’s a refreshing day when the administration admits that the law needs to be improved. It previously spurned this committee’s efforts to fix the ESA. We need to make sure it follows through and fixes problems on the ground, where they’re most serious, and not simply here in Washington. We need a positive dialogue on the ESA.”
Committee member Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), meanwhile, observed, “Despite all the tension in this room, I believe there’s considerable agreement about the need to preserve the sage grouse. We simply have different ideas on how to get there.”
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].
