Species

Starting his 12-month term as chair of the Western Governors’ Association (WGA), Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead on Wednesday said the group would work to improve the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The Obama administration is signaling support to innovate the venerable Endangered Species Act (ESA) that would, among other things, more engage the states — a move that comes as Congress considers overhauling the 40-year-old law to take some authority away from federal agencies.

The Obama administration is signaling support to innovate the venerable Endangered Species Act (ESA) that would, among other things, more engage the states — a move that comes as Congress considers overhauling the 40-year-old law to take some authority away from federal agencies.

A federal judge has ruled in favor of continuing the Department of Interior's Gulf of Mexico (GOM) lease sales, despite claims by environmental groups that questioned offshore conditions following the Macondo well blowout in 2010.

The lesser prairie-chicken has been listed as "threatened" by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the agency said Thursday. The declaration comes with a rule intended to limit the impact of the listing on landowners and businesses, such as those in the oil and gas industry.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on Friday proposed listing the bistate sage grouse as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which would afford special protections to 5,000 birds along the California-Nevada border. The proposed listing comes as federal regulators consider whether the entire western sage grouse population should be protected under the ESA, a decision that would have a huge impact on energy operators.

Proposed Pennsylvania legislation would make it more difficult to list and protect endangered species in the state, while making it potentially easier to site wells in the Marcellus Shale, but it also could force the “taking” of more than $27 million a year in federal funding for state fish and game commissions, according to officials.

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) fluids spilled in 2007 from natural gas wells are believed to be the cause of “widespread death or distress” of an aquatic species in a small Appalachian creek in Kentucky, based on a joint study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) plans to hold an invitation-only meeting on Thursday to discuss a request by two energy companies to access their mineral rights under the Loyalsock State Forest.