Las Cruces, N.M. - U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce released this statement following yesterday €™s federal court decision in Texas to invalidate the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service €™s decision to list the lesser prairie chicken (LPC) as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA):

"Yet another one of this administration €™s job-killing, onerous regulations has been shot down by a federal court," said Pearce. "Yesterday €™s ruling reconfirms what we already knew, that the Fish and Wildlife Service €™s listing of the lesser prairie chicken was unnecessary and unfair. As the Court noted, the agency didn't follow their own rules and ignored existing conservation efforts by states and private landowners -- instead choosing to recklessly list the species. We now know that those grassroots conservation efforts are more than sufficient as the species population continues to surge. This ruling will remove the federal government from the process and return species management to those who do it best, states and private landowners."

The Court concluded that the agency failed to properly apply its own Policy for Evaluation of Conservation Efforts (PECE Policy) to evaluate conservation efforts already undertaken in five states to improve habitat for and diminish threats to the LPC. Under the LPC Range-wide Conservation Plan, more than 180 oil and gas, pipeline, electric transmission and wind energy companies have enrolled in conservation agreements to prevent, minimize, or mitigate any impacts to the LPC from their operations. In the process, they committed $45.9 Million in enrollment and impact fees to cover off-site mitigation actions.

Background:

On March 27, 2014, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the LPC as a threatened species under the ESA. On Tuesday, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas ruled in favor of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association (PBPA) and vacated the FWS rule listing the LPC.

Earlier this year, the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, which oversees the conservation efforts under the Range-wide Plan, reported a 25 percent increase in the lesser prairie chicken population from 2014 to 2015, in part as a result of the industry €™s conservation efforts.

In May of this year, the U.S. House passed a defense spending bill with a provision, strongly supported by Congressman Pearce, to prevent a federal listing of the lesser prairie chicken for 10 years.