Here we go again. Biden will restrict gas and oil over the Lesser Prairie-Chicken. Remember when Donald Trump said Biden would destroy our energy sector? Well, here is one step in the process.
TheHill.com reports the Biden administration has proposed federal protections for the Lesser Prairie Chicken under the Endangered Species Act, arguing the animal faces a number of threats and a decline in numbers.
The Lesser Prairie Chicken is a species of prairie grouse that lives across a five-state range that includes Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on Wednesday proposed listing the Lesser Rrairie Chicken’s population in the southwest Texas Panhandle and eastern New Mexico as endangered and birds in the northern part of the species’ range as threatened.
It is a gimmick. Obama did the same thing. He had his agency declare something endangered and then used it as an excuse to control private lands and keep oil and gas from using the lands.
In 2014, Obama used this special chicken for his land grab. It allows the government an excuse to take control of wide swaths of land throughout the West using the Endangered Species Act.
The rules passed by the government are always draconian and will create a de facto ban on drilling. After lawsuits and millions of dollars, drilling may be stopped or at least it will be severely restricted.
Even if they don’t steal the land, which they often do, they make the laws so brutal, it’s impossible to do anything on the land.
This is how the scheme works:
The government sidesteps legal channels and requirements to produce scientific evidence by using the “sue and settle” method. The government gets environmental groups to sue them and they allegedly settle, but it’s all preordained.
The scheme works like this according to then-Senator Vitter of Louisiana:
A far-left environmental group sues a federal department or agency, like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), claiming that the government is not satisfying its regulatory obligations. Then, after the group and the EPA plan and discuss the matter – without the involvement of any others, including affected business, landowners, and state and local governments – they draft a settlement agreement committing the agency to regulate a certain sector of the economy or type of private property. All that’s left is to get the presiding judge to bless their friendly agreement.
There’s even a bonus prize in this scheme. Because such a settlement is counted as a “win” for the environmental group plaintiff, that suing group is awarded all of its costs and attorney’s fees, creating a revolving fund for its continuing activity, courtesy of our wallets.
Presto: the left, including the Administration, advances its aggressive environmental agenda. No need for messy Congressional hearings or opposing arguments.
The prairie chicken sits atop Texas’s Permian Basin oil bonanza.
Lesser prairie-chicken is native to America’s southern Great Plains in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma & Texas. Habitat loss & fragmentation are a significant factor in lesser prairie-chicken decline. Healthy prairies & grasslands benefit many wildlife & people too.
— U.S. Fish and Wildlife (@USFWS) May 26, 2021
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