FILE – In this April 15, 2008, file photo, a male sage grouse performs his “strut” near Rawlins, Wyo. The Trump administration moved forward Thursday, Dec. 6, 2018, with plans to ease restrictions on oil and natural gas drilling and other activities across millions of acres in the American West that were put in place to protect the imperiled bird species. (Jerrett Raffety/Rawlins Daily Times via AP, File)
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – The Trump administration moved forward Thursday with plans to ease restrictions on oil and natural gas drilling, mining and other activities that were put in place to protect an imperiled bird species across millions of acres in the American West.
Land management documents released by the U.S. Interior Department show the administration intends to open more public lands to leasing and allow waivers for drilling to encroach into the habitat of greater sage grouse.
Critics warned the changes could wipe out grouse colonies as drilling disrupts breeding grounds. Federal officials under President Barack Obama in 2015 had adopted a sweeping set of land use restrictions intended to stop the birds’ decline.
Interior Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt said the agency was responding to requests by states to give them more flexibility in how public lands are managed. He said the goal to conserve sage grouse was unchanged.
“I completely believe that these plans are leaning forward on the conservation of sage grouse,” Bernhardt told The Associated Press. “Do they do it in exactly the same way? No. We made some change in the plans and got rid of some things that are simply not necessary.”