A federal judge has ruled that the Bureau of Land Management illegally failed to consider the impacts to the imperiled Gunnison sage-grouse before leasing acreage for oil and gas development in southwestern Colorado.
Senior Judge John Kane with the U.S. District Court of Colorado issued his findings this week in rulings in lawsuits brought by conservation groups and the San Miguel County Board of Commissioners in connection with two lease sales. At issue were 1,400 acres leased in 2018 and 9,241 acres leased in 2017. Much of the acreage leased in the sales is in San Miguel County, home to the second-largest population of Gunnison sage-grouse, which is protected under the Endangered Species Act as a threatened species.
The BLM relied on environmental analysis in the resource management plan for its Tres Rios Field Office in proceeding with the lease sales, but Kane ruled that it should have done more analysis at the leasing stage in order to comply with the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act. He said that new information was available that allowed the BLM to consider additional impacts not previously considered, based on factors such as the specific lease sizes and locations, including their positions relative to Gunnison sage-grouse habitat and existing leases.
The BLM also reviews oil and gas proposals when companies apply for drilling permits, and had said it would have more specifics to consider at that stage, “but I conclude that the BLM had new information at the leasing stage that revived its duties” under the Endangered Species Act, Kane said in his ruling. He said the agency was obligated to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service on the lease proposals and their potential impacts on Gunnison sage-grouse.
The plaintiffs in the case want Kane to vacate the BLM decisions authorizing the lease sales and declare the leases void now that he has found the agency violated the law, but he will first consider briefs from plaintiffs and the government on the issue. Megan Mueller, senior conservation biologist with Rocky Mountain Wild, one of the plaintiffs, said she thinks Kane will vacate BLM’s actions, but that otherwise it will have to do more environmental analysis consistent with his rulings.
A BLM spokesman contacted Friday provided no comment on Kane’s rulings.
The Gunnison sage-grouse is found primarily in the Gunnison Basin, with a handful of small, satellite populations elsewhere in western Colorado and one in eastern Utah. One small population is on Piñon Mesa in Mesa County.
Mueller said the latest three-year running average population estimate for the Gunnison Basin is just over 2,700 Gunnison sage-grouse. She said Kane’s ruling is important because it pertains to leasing in the San Miguel Basin, which is home to the second-largest population of the birds, but is estimated to have just 193 remaining Gunnison sage-grouse based on the latest estimated three-year average.
“That area is really important habitat for Gunnison sage-grouse and if those leases were developed it would result in a lot of truck traffic within a half mile of leks,” she said.
Leks are breeding grounds for the birds. Mueller said no drilling has yet occurred on the leases.
She said the San Miguel Basin population of the bird is already struggling and on the brink of being lost, but as the second-largest population it is important to the survival of the Gunnison sage-grouse. Mueller said the survival of the bird can’t rely solely on its Gunnison Basin main population. Things such as a bad winter can threaten that population, and it’s important to have satellite populations to provide resiliency and redundancy, as well as genetic diversity, she said.
“Basically you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to (trying to avoid) extinction,” Mueller said.
San Miguel County Commissioner Hilary Cooper said in a news release, “It was clear to us that the BLM’s leasing decision added additional threats to the federally listed Gunnison sage-grouse and now it is clear that they acted unlawfully.”
Counties, state and federal agencies need to be working together to bring this species back from the brink of extinction. We prefer to work productively with the BLM in the field over fighting them in court.”
