Oklahoma’s senior statesman is ruffling feathers after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a proposal to list two distinct population segments of the lesser prairie chicken under the Endangered Species Act on Wednesday.
“Evidence shows that the lesser prairie chicken is thriving, making this proposal to list it as ‘threatened’ in Oklahoma completely unnecessary,” said Inhofe. “It also opens the door to more complicated and burdensome federal regulations. The voluntary public-private conservation partnerships for the lesser prairie chicken and its habitat are working, as evidenced by recent aerial surveys which show the population has doubled since 2013. The Service’s disappointing listing proposal has potential to harm Oklahoma’s job creators, particularly our farmers, ranchers and energy producers. I urge the Service to abandon this erroneous process, especially because the previous listing effort was struck down in federal court in 2015.”
The Northern distinct population segment, found in western Oklahoma and other Great Plains states, is proposed as threatened with a rule that tailors protections. The Southern distinct population segment, found in eastern New Mexico and across the southwest Texas Panhandle, is proposed as endangered.
The environmental protections could impact drilling operations, particularly in the active Permian Basin, as the Biden Administration attempts to reverse environmental policies implemented by former President Trump.
Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe and five closely aligned senators from Kansas and Texas previously signed off on a May 21, 2021 letter addressed to the Secretary of the Department of Interior, stating they believe “it would be imprudent and harmful to ongoing and unprecedented conservation efforts in our states for the Service to issue what would amount to a premature Endangered Species Act listing proposal for the lesser prairie chicken.”