With the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently saying the greater sage grouse did not need protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) said it’s time to investigate making the best use of the federal land in the grouse’s habitat.
“Now that the service has concluded that greater sage-grouse are not in danger of extinction or likely to become so within the foreseeable future, we can turn our attention to the question of how best to balance the multiple uses of our Federal lands and its resources upon which we all depend on for our nation’s survival,” Calvert, the chairman of the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, said.
If the grouse had been listed and Endangered Species Act, many ranching and energy operations in the West would have been greatly impacted with some in the oil, gas and mining industries saying that restrictions on land use would cost billions of dollars in lost economic activity.
The decision not to include the grouse on the endangered list is “a reflection of the hard work led by the states and private landowners to make an ESA listing unnecessary,” Calvert said.
The Fish and Wildlife Service was facing a court-ordered Sept. 30 deadline to announce the fate of the sage-grouse under the ESA.
“The Fish and Wildlife Service is commended for reaching an informed decision based upon the best available science, despite the rush to meet an arbitrary court-imposed decision deadline.”
Calvert submitted language for the Fiscal Year 2015 appropriation (Public Law 113-235), which prohibited the agency from installing a proposed rule to list greater sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act. He also included a similar provision in the Fiscal Year 2016 appropriation; however, that bill has not yet been activated.
“I’m proud to have been able to override the September 30, 2015, deadline, if necessary, in my capacity as chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, in the event that the agency needed more time to make an informed decision,” he added. “The decision by the service also reaffirms my long-held belief that protecting our environment and our economy are not mutually exclusive goals.”