Obama Admin. Tries to Hide Land Grab From Western States,
9/22/15
Daily Caller) – The
Obama administration has opted not to list the greater sage grouse under the
Endangered Species Act (ESA), instead using land use plans which basically
amount to an underhanded land grab, according to critics.
“The 15 amended
federal land use plans the Interior Department is using to substitute for
listing the greater sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act perpetuate a
top-down, penalty-based approach that ultimately harms sage grouse conservation
efforts,” Brian Seasholes, director of the libertarian Reason Foundation’s
endangered species project, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Do not be
fooled,” echoed Utah Republican Rep. Rob Bishop. “The announcement
not to list the sage grouse is a cynical ploy. With the stroke of a pen, the
Obama Administration’s oppressive land management plan is the same as a
listing.”
For years, states have
worried the Interior Department would list the greater sage grouse as
endangered, a move that would put more restrictions on landowners in
11 western states, harming property owners and small towns. Local
officials in Colorado, for example, worried that listing the grouse would harm
farmers, miners and oil and gas drillers.
But Interior has opted
not to list the grouse due to “an unprecedented effort by dozens of partners
across 11 western states,” according to a news release. Obama officials
and environmental groups have framed Interior’s decision as resulting from the
“success” of current policies.
“The conservation plan
announced today marks a massive shift in the way our nation thinks about how to
defend and protect wild animals and landscapes,” said Rhea Suh, president of
the Natural Resources Defense Council and a former Obama administration
official.
“For forty years,
protections for the sage-grouse have languished. It’s time to give this bird –
and its habitat – a chance to thrive,” Suh said. “While the plan should be seen
as a floor, not the ceiling for sage-grouse protections, it ushers in a new era
of landscape-scale conservation gains in the future.”
Seasholes, however,
argues the Interior is relying on 15 amended federal conservation plans
which the department is using as a proxy for an ESA listing. He says the grouse
is actually being protected by local and state efforts on the ground, adding
that the federal land use plans are actually harming the grouse.
“Sage grouse
conservation ultimately occurs due to on-the-ground management, not in cities or
the offices of federal agencies and groups that support penalty-based sage
grouse conservation,” Seasholes said.
“Successful sage
grouse conservation depends on cooperation, long-term partnerships and the
willing help of private landowners and others, an approach many states have
successfully implemented but that the punitive federal land use plans
unfortunately counteract.” Seasholes added. “Tangible work on the ground,
coupled with incentives and partnerships, conserves the sage grouse, not
regulations.”
Interior’s plan will
provide habitat protections for grouse over 67 million acres, which include 12
million acres with severe limitations on oil and gas
exploration, according to ABC News. Republican lawmakers bashed the plan,
saying it was a ruse to distract westerners from the fact the government was
tightening controls over their economies.
“Now, successful
conservation done at the state level will be in vain,” Bishop said. “The new
command and control federal plan will not help the bird, but it will control
the West, which is the real goal of the Obama Administration.”
Bishop’s office points
to the fact that the potential grouse listing was the result of a 2011
lawsuit brought by environmental groups who wanted to see more land taken
off limits from development. Ironically, environmentalists are likely to sue
again over the Obama administration’s unwillingness to list the grouse as
endangered.
http://dailycaller.com/2015/09/22/critics-obama-admin-tries-to-hide-land-grab-from-western-states/
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