Nov 30, 2012 IPAA Responds to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Proposed Listing of the Lesser Prairie Chicken
WASHINGTON, D.C. – IPAA released the following statement in response to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to begin consideration to list the Lesser Prairie Chicken as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA):
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision is the start of a slippery slope that sets a dangerous precedent for future energy production, economic growth, and working conservation efforts.
“America’s heartland is flourishing due to oil and natural gas development in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and New Mexico. It is no accident that the anti-development movement is pressing to list a species in this resource-rich region. It is an increasingly used tactic by environmental groups to manipulate ESA in order to discourage growth. If the Lesser Prairie Chicken is listed as endangered, this encouraging growth will be in jeopardy as energy development – in fact, all kinds of development – could be stopped in its tracks.
“By caving to environmental pressures, the Obama administration is sending a signal to American business: Your future is uncertain. Avoid expanding your company’s growth and think twice about creating those new jobs. Independent producers, small companies who drill 95 percent of the wells in the U.S., cannot operate, let alone create jobs in this kind of uncertainty.
“In the midst of a battered economy, the Obama administration has chosen to show hostility to economic growth, instead of the encouragement for job creation and energy development that President Obama promised in his campaign.”
