Can a Little Bird Defeat Big Oil? Today, the Government Decides

...For months the federal government has anxiously debated whether to invoke the Endangered Species Act, or ESA, to protect the greater sage grouse. On September 22, it will make its initial determination: it will decide whether to remove the greater sage grouse from consideration as an endangered species or to move forward with a listing. The stakes couldn’t be higher. The species is an icon of the American West and an indicator of the region’s ecological wellbeing. It also resides on some of this country’s prime fossil fuel real estate. Should it be listed, more than 160 million acres of grouse habitat could be subject to regulation under the ESA. Large swaths of federal land could close to oil and gas extraction. The bird could prevent new development, from metal mines to wind farms, in Montana, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and more. It would fundamentally change the way the federal government manages a vast portion of our resource-rich public lands. It could undermine, even break, the fossil fuel industry’s dominance of the West. Oil and gas interests, led by a powerful consortium called the Western Energy Alliance, have done everything in their power to prevent such an outcome. The industry has drummed up vitriolic opposition to grouse protections, particularly in Congress, where oil money runs deep. It has tried to sow scientific controversy and it has filed protests against federal conservation plans meant to bolster the species. It has launched scare-tactic PR campaigns to alter public opinion. The industry and its allies have even taken aim at the Endangered Species Act itself, trying to block the law from working properly and erode its widespread support among the American people. Make no mistake: Big Oil is afraid of a little bird...more

The take on this from a lefty mag...