After cutting sage-grouse protections, Interior Department moving forward with oil and gas leasing in prime habitat
Planned lease sales could allow development in once-protected areas
On his very first day as Deputy Interior Secretary, David Bernhardt was instructed by then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to take charge of an effort to weaken landmark plans designed to conserve the sage-grouse. Bernhardt, an oil and gas lobbyist, faithfully carried out that effort by recently weakening protections for the imperiled bird to allow more oil and gas development across millions of acres in the West. Although the ink has barely dried on the shredded conservation plans, the Interior Department is moving forward with efforts to sell oil and gas leases in prime sage-grouse habitat.
The landmark plans to conserve the sage-grouse were initially agreed to in 2015 — the result of years of negotiations between Western governors, ranchers, conservationists, and industry. They sought to help grouse populations rebound and avoid a listing under the Endangered Species Act, which in turn would provide more certainty to communities and industry across the West. In weakening these plans, the Trump administration is breaking that Western deal and increasing the likelihood that grouse populations will slide towards an endangered species listing.
Since 1985, sage-grouse populations have declined by 30 percent as their historic range dwindles under the pressure of encroaching development. A key component of the sage-grouse plans involved designating several types of habitat, the most critical being sagebrush focal areas, or SFAs, to allow populations to rebound. This subset of priority habitat was marked by high breeding population densities, existing high quality habitat, and a large amount of federal ownership that could ensure landscape connectivity. Importantly, the 2015 sage-grouse plans required drilling to be prioritized outside of sage-grouse habitat, and for any oil and gas leases sold within SFAs to have strict, non-waivable requirements for no surface disturbance.
Under Bernhardt’s sage-grouse plans, sagebrush focal areas in every state except Montana and Oregon were eliminated, reducing protections for nearly 9 million acres. In eliminating 83 percent of the designated areas, the new plans open critical habitat to loopholes designed to allow oil and gas development.
Southwestern Wyoming, where the sagebrush steppe stretches for hundreds of miles, is home to 37 percent of the remaining sage-grouse. In a recent poll, 58 percent of Wyoming voters supported keeping the 2015 conservation plans in place — only one in three supported overhauling the plans.
Despite prevailing public opinion in Wyoming, the Bureau of Land Management is speeding ahead with oil and gas lease sales in key sage-grouse habitat. This March, the agency sold 114 oil and gas leases covering roughly 96,000 acres, many of which overlapped with previously identified sagebrush focal areas. While many of these leases still include prohibitions on surface development, future leases may not be subject to the same requirements.
Currently, BLM Wyoming is evaluating 160 oil and gas lease parcels to be auctioned in June of 2019, covering more than 200,000 acres. As with the March lease sale, many of these lands intersect with now-eliminated sagebrush focal areas. It is likely that these leases, when auctioned, will be subject to new loopholes that more easily allow oil and gas development in key sage-grouse habitat.
Under Acting Secretary Bernhardt, the Interior Department has repeatedly moved to weaken wildlife protections and boost extraction — neutering the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, proposing changes to water down the Endangered Species Act, and opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, just to name a few. Now it appears that the sage-grouse is the next imperiled animal in his sights. In Wyoming, upcoming oil and gas lease sales show that Bernhardt is moving full speed ahead in catering to oil and gas corporations at the expense of wildlife.
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