ESA Rider Averted, but Some Species Remain in Cross Hairs

Despite voting this week to overturn a controversial moratorium on Endangered Species Act listings, the House's Interior Department and U.S. EPA funding bill -- and expected GOP amendments -- would roll back or prevent protections for a handful of individual species, including bighorn sheep, lizards, wolves and grouse. Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.), following the defeat Wednesday of the rider to preclude new Fish and Wildlife Service species listings or critical habitat designations, said he plans to introduce an amendment that would prevent an "endangered" listing for the dunes sagebrush lizard, which FWS has warned faces grave threats in New Mexico and western Texas from oil and gas activities. A separate amendment from Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) would block an ESA listing of the lesser prairie chicken, a grouse species that plays a critical role in grassland ecosystems but now occupies less than 15 percent of its historic range, according to Earthjustice. The bird has been a candidate species for protections for more than a decade. Pearce said he will also again offer an amendment that would strip funding for the recovery program of the endangered Mexican wolf in Southwestern states, where only 50 of the animals remain in the wild but they have come into conflict with ranchers. In addition to the amendments, which are yet to be debated, the House's fiscal 2012 funding bill, H.R. 2584, includes several provisions to protect ranching interests from bighorn sheep and lawsuits from groups that claim grazing harms native species. Democratic lawmakers earlier this week said they intend to offer an amendment to overturn a proposal on page 126 of the bill that would prohibit the federal government for the next five years from taking any action involving bighorn sheep that would reduce the amount of livestock on public lands. A separate rider aims to protect ranchers from environmental lawsuits by requiring that groups first exhaust all administrative appeal options, a lengthy process designed to stem legal assaults. Other pro-grazing language includes a five-year extension of a provision allowing the Bureau of Land Management to extend existing grazing permits while it completes environmental reviews of 10-year renewals; a provision allowing BLM to transfer permits under the same conditions without triggering a National Environmental Policy Act review; and language exempting the process of livestock trailing from NEPA reviews for the next five years. ..more