Plan to save bird would limit drilling
The Biden administration proposed Thursday to save an imperiled bird by limiting oil and gas drilling, mining, livestock grazing and other activities across much of the American West.
The draft plan for protecting the greater sage grouse — known for its splashy mating dance — sets up a fierce clash with the fossil fuel industry, which has long seen the bird as a barrier to extracting some of the richest oil and gas reserves in the region.
The proposal from the Bureau of Land Management, an arm of the Interior Department, outlines several alternatives for managing nearly 67 million acres of the birds’ habitat across 10 Western states. The “preferred alternative” would restore some restrictions on drilling and other activities that the Obama administration imposed in 2015, although it would maintain some elements of the Trump administration’s 2019 strategy.
“Joint efforts to conserve the greater sagegrouse and its habitat led to the largest collaborative conservation effort in our history, and we are building on that work, together with our partners, to ensure the health of these lands and local economies into the future,” Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-manning said in a statement.
Greater sage grouse were once so prevalent that flocks of millions darkened the sky, conservationists say. But from 1965 to 2021, their population plummeted by roughly 80 percent, according to a report by the U.S. Geological Survey. As few as 200,000 are left today.
Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, which represents oil and gas companies, said she was still reviewing the draft plan. But in general, she expressed concern about the Bureau of Land Management taking a “onesize-fits-all federal approach” to 10 states.
“As we read (the plan), we’ll be looking to see how BLM accounts for the huge variation across states, as the sagebrush shrubland of Wyoming is different from the sagebrush steppe of Utah, among many other variations,” Sgamma said in a statement. “Each state has different topographies, predation concerns, quality of habitat, etc. and a one-size-fits-all federal approach is not effective.”
Conservation groups offered a mixed reaction to the draft plan. Aaron Weiss, deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities, called it the “last best hope” to save the sage grouse. But Vera Smith, senior federal lands policy analyst at Defenders of Wildlife, said the proposal does not go far enough.
Although sage grouse regulations have rankled the oil and gas industry, they could also curtail clean-energy projects essential to the nation’s transition away from fossil fuels. Such projects include wind farms, solar installations, and mines for minerals used in electric vehicles and other green technologies. That poses a conundrum for the Biden administration’s climate agenda.