Sage grouse decision put off

BILLINGS – Federal officials are again delaying a decision on whether to list sage grouse in 11 Western states as threatened or endangered, leaving in limbo until at least 2010 a spate of industries that face sweeping restrictions if the bird is protected.

The chicken-size grouse ranges from Montana to Arizona and California to Colorado, living alongside livestock grazing, oil and gas drilling and an increasing number of wind power turbines.

For the Obama administration, the decision on sage grouse could force an uncomfortable choice. On one side are environmental groups that supported him as a candidate and want the grouse protected. On the other is a renewable energy industry much touted by the president but lately emerging as a potential threat to the bird’s habitat.

A decision on the bird already had been delayed twice, following a federal judge’s 2007 order that the government give sage grouse new consideration for listing under the Endangered Species Act.

Government biologists said they could not meet the latest deadline in May because they needed more time to gather scientific data. The decision is now set for next February under an agreement recently reached between Justice Department lawyers and environmentalists.

If the government says a threatened or endangered listing is warranted, it would be at least another year before it would take effect.

Under the Bush administration, the agency had declined to list the bird as threatened or endangered. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill in Boise overturned that decision, saying in part that it was tainted by political pressure from former Assistant Interior Secretary Julie MacDonald.

MacDonald resigned in 2007 following an investigation that found she had interfered in several endangered species decisions.

A variety of factors are blamed in the sage grouse’s decline – from the removal of sage brush by cattle ranchers to drought and West Nile virus outbreaks.

Sage grouse advocates in recent years singled out oil and gas drilling for criticism because energy companies were pushing deep into some of the bird’s last strongholds.

Now, with wind energy on the upswing, so is the potential for the loss of key sage grouse habitat. Roads and power lines built to support wind farms can fragment land where sage grouse live and breed, pushing them off the land.

Fish and Wildlife sage grouse biologist Pat Deibert said the delay in the agency’s decision will not immediately imperil the bird. The most recent estimate indicated there were between 100,000 to 500,000 sage grouse across its 11 state range.

In the meantime, Idaho, Wyoming and other states are expected to continue bolstering their own sage grouse conservation plans, in hopes of avoiding a threatened or endangered listing.

David Hensley, counsel to Idaho Gov. Butch Otter, said the delay offers a chance to prove those measures are working.

“We’re trying to make the best case we can to the federal government that the species doesn’t warrant federal protection in Idaho,” Hensley said.