Suit: US grouse protections driven by politics, not science

Rural Nevadans suing to block the Obama administration's sage-grouse protections say a trail of internal government documents shows politics was the driving force behind a pre-determined policy that flies in the face of its experts' own best science.
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Western states coalition disputes ‘biased’ federal science on sage grouse

A coalition of rural Western counties and business interests is contesting the science being used to decide whether to list the Greater sage-grouse as endangered or threatened, accusing the Obama administration of relying on “selective, false and biased” research.

Denver attorney Kent Holsinger filed three Data Quality Act challenges Wednesday with the Department of the Interior on behalf of the coalition, which includes the Western Energy Alliance, ranchers, mining and drilling companies and 19 counties in Colorado, Montana, Nevada and Utah.

“We’ve documented real issues with transparency and scientific integrity,” said Mr. Holsinger in a statement.

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Sage Grouse Debate Prompts Scrutiny of Far-Reaching Federal Species Law

WASHINGTON — The federal government listed Johnston’s Frankenia as an endangered species in 1984 insisting the special protection was needed because there were only 1,500 of the Texas shrubs left on the planet.

But the government made a mistake; there are at least nine million of the plants living a healthy existence throughout the state and in northern Mexico, yet the shrub remains on the federal Endangered Species List as a protected plant because the de-listing efforts that started a decade ago have become too cumbersome to complete.

Now as debate heats up on Capitol Hill over the proposed listing of the Sage Grouse as an endangered species, a key concern of Colorado Republican Rep. Scott Tipton is that it may never be de-listed, even if the population recovers.

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