Judge removes prairie chicken from threatened list

OREANDA-NEWS. September 07, 2015. Permian basin oil and gas producers won a ruling that will remove the lesser prairie chicken from protections under the federal Endangered Species Act, easing burdens on operations in the west Texas and eastern New Mexico basin.

US District Court Judge Robert Junell ruled in favor of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association's case against the Department of the Interior (DOI) when he concluded that DOI failed to properly apply its own policies when it added the species to the threatened species list in 2014.

The ruling serves as a vindication of stakeholder participation across the Lesser Prairie Chicken range, Permian Basin Petroleum Association president Ben Shepperd said.

A spokeswoman for the US Fish and Wildlife Service today said the agency is still considering its options for responding to the ruling.

Shepperd said the association's members' efforts to conserve the bird's habitat and recover the species will continue, he said, which includes more than 180 members enrolling in agreements to avoid, minimize or mitigate impacts to the bird from their operations. The members, which include oil and gas, pipeline, electric transmission and wind energy companies, have committed about \\$46mn to benefit the lesser prairie chicken.

Texas oil and gas producers have made "commendable, successful efforts in good faith" to conserve and protect the bird, and do not need additional rules and restrictions to inhibit their business, Texas Railroad Commission chairman David Porter said.

The US Fish and Wildlife service first listed the bird as a threatened species in March 2014, saying its population was in rapid decline largely because of habitat loss and drought. The species' population in 2013 had declined to a record low of 17,616 birds, almost 50pc lower than its 2012 population estimate.