The lesser prairie chicken, a species with a wide-ranging habitat that includes oil and gas producing assets in the Permian Basin, is again the subject of a federal court case over its designation by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

U.S. District Judge Robert Junell vacated federal protections for the Great Plains bird in September, determining that the agency did not fulfill its legal requirement to consider the success of conservation plans run by state wildlife agencies and landowners that were designed to reduce threats to the lesser prairie chicken before listing the animal as threatened.

The Fish & Wildlife Service intends to file a motion asking the court to remand the prairie chicken’s listing back to the agency, allowing it to address the issues included in the decision. Failing that, the agency will request a delisting process for specific areas in the Permian Basin and four New Mexico counties that joined the original lawsuit.

The Permian Basin Petroleum Association and the counties of Chaves, Roosevelt, Eddy and Lea oppose the request.

In the past week, the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) reiterated its call for oil and gas companies to enroll oil and gas leases and pipelines in a voluntary program to help conserve the bird. The group notes that enrolling assures companies of predictability should the lesser prairie-chicken be listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act again. Enrollment in the program obligates companies to implement conservation benefits for lesser prairie chickens and pay enrollment and impact fees for unavoidable impacts.

“Since this program began in 2014, more than 180 oil, gas, wind, electric and pipeline companies have enrolled about 11 million acres across the five states, and have committed $47.5 million for habitat conservation,” said Sean Kyle, WAFWA’s Industry Services Director.

Regulations to protect the species during its mating season hamper efforts to drill in the areas included in the bird’s habitat.

“The U.S. Bureau of Land Management doesn’t allow us to drill in the spring when the chickens might be mating,” Raye Miller, president of Artesia, N.M.-based Regeneration Energy Corp., told Hart Energy earlier this year. “So from March 1 to June 15, we’re not allowed to drill in those areas.”

Three environmental organizations, including Defenders of Wildlife, the Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians, also have a suit pending that asks that Fish & Wildlife change the bird’s status to “endangered,” which paves the way for more stringent protections. The lesser prairie chicken is the subject of discussion in the U.S. House of Representatives concerning appropriations for fiscal 2016. Lawmakers have proposed removing it from the Endangered Species Act, which would preclude the service from adding it to lists of imperiled species.

Joseph Markman can be reached at jmarkman@hartenergy.com.

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