{"id":542230,"date":"2021-05-26T21:00:36","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T01:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=542230"},"modified":"2021-05-26T21:35:30","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T01:35:30","slug":"bidens-protection-of-lesser-prairie-chicken-may-affect-oil-drilling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-protection-of-lesser-prairie-chicken-may-affect-oil-drilling\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden&#039;s Protection of Lesser Prairie Chicken May Affect Oil Drilling"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbidens-protection-of-lesser-prairie-chicken-may-affect-oil-drilling%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=542230&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GetFile-391.aspx\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>President Joe Biden is seeking to enact federal&nbsp;protections for the lesser prairie chicken under the Endangered Species Act, because of environmental threats and declining numbers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe loss of America\u2019s native grasslands and prairies of the southern Great Plains has resulted in steep declines of the lesser prairie-chicken and other grassland birds,\u201d US. Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Director Amy Lueders&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fws.gov\/news\/ShowNews.cfm?ref=service-seeks-comment-on-proposal-to-list-the-lesser-prairie-chicken-&amp;_ID=36914\">said<\/a> in a statement, <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/changing-america\/sustainability\/environment\/555641-biden-administration-wants-to-protect-lesser\">reported<\/a> the Hill.<\/p>\n<p>The move by the Biden administration could have big consequences for the fossil fuel industry as the range of the species that could be federally protected overlaps with the oil and gas-rich Permian Basin.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Federal protections would likely impose restrictions on new oil and gas developments in the region where the birds roam.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The decline in the species numbers has been driven by the degradation and fragmentation of the southern Great Plains due to oil and gas development, agriculture and increasingly warmer temperatures.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on Wednesday proposed listing the lesser prairie chicken\u2019s population in the southwest Texas Panhandle and eastern New Mexico as endangered and birds in the northern part of the species\u2019 range as threatened.<\/p>\n<p>Public meetings on the protection proposal will be held in July and the public will have 60 days to make comments. &nbsp;However, it could be a year before a decision is made.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The lesser prairie chicken is a species of prairie grouse that lives across a five-state range that includes Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>According to FWS, the five-year average population across the range of the species is about 27,000 birds. It\u2019s estimated the bird\u2019s habitat has shrunk across its historical range by about 90 percent.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Washington Post reports&nbsp;FWS biologist Clay Nichols <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/climate-environment\/2021\/05\/26\/biden-environment-prairie-chicken\/?wpmk=1&amp;wpisrc=al_environment__alert-hse&amp;utm_source=alert&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&amp;location=alert&amp;pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YSIsImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNWQ1MWMwYTE5YmJjMGY1Yjc4NjZhOGI2IiwidGFnIjoid3BfbmV3c19hbGVydF9yZXZlcmUiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy53YXNoaW5ndG9ucG9zdC5jb20vY2xpbWF0ZS1lbnZpcm9ubWVudC8yMDIxLzA1LzI2L2JpZGVuLWVudmlyb25tZW50LXByYWlyaWUtY2hpY2tlbi8_d3Btaz0xJndwaXNyYz1hbF9lbnZpcm9ubWVudF9fYWxlcnQtaHNlJnV0bV9zb3VyY2U9YWxlcnQmdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbCZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249d3BfbmV3c19hbGVydF9yZXZlcmUmbG9jYXRpb249YWxlcnQifQ.NzhnUzAQ_BJxsZOmT3Cev6aWK3rwG13k5qCEzYDZlis\">said<\/a> actions that could lead to the killing of prairie chickens or loss of their habitat could be prohibited.&nbsp; Conservationists note that man-made structures such as powerlines, telephone poles and drilling rigs provide perches for birds of prey to target the prairie chickens, making the species vulnerable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The FWS in 2014 listed the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species, but that decision was overturned in court and a voluntary habitat conservation agreement was put in its place.&nbsp;Environmental groups&nbsp;in 2016 <a href=\"https:\/\/biologicaldiversity.org\/w\/news\/press-releases\/lesser-prairie-chicken-proposed-for-endangered-species-act-protection-2021-05-26\/\">filed<\/a>&nbsp;a petition for the endangered listing, arguing the voluntary conservation programs have fallen short.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Joe Biden is seeking to enact federal\u00a0protections for the lesser prairie chicken under the Endangered Species Act, because of environmental threats and declining numbers.\u00a0 \u201cThe loss of America\u2019s native &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2313203,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GetFile-391.aspx","fifu_image_alt":"Biden&#039;s Protection of Lesser Prairie Chicken May Affect Oil Drilling","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-542230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GetFile-391.aspx","fifu_image_alt":"Biden&#039;s Protection of Lesser Prairie Chicken May Affect Oil Drilling","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2313203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}