American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2016 - 19

ground-truthed science and are a
testament to the hardworking men and
women of our industry," Luthi says.
"Every day they live up to some of the
strictest standards in the world-
standards set by both the offshore
industry and by the federal government."
At least one anti-development group
is threatening to renew its challenges to
offshore production. The Center for
Biological Diversity says new legal
action may be the only way to get
federal officials to stop offshore
fracturing operations. ❒

will not allow the states to submit
information as part of the petition and
thereby enable the Department of the
Interior to make a more informed
decision, consistent with Section 6 of
the ESA. The associations add that states
"possess both expertise, information and
data that can be critical to understanding
the status and health of species."
IPAA and API also urge that when
evaluating a petition, USFWS limit the
"additional information" it considers
only to "credible scientific or
commercial information readily
available." ❒

WAFWA Buys Ranch
For LPC Preservation
BOISE, ID.-The Western
Association of Fish and Wildlife
Agencies announced in June it had
purchased 30,000 acres of high-quality
lesser prairie chicken habitat in
Southwest Kansas with funds raised
through the voluntary contributions of
industry partners enrolled in the LPC
rangewide plan.
"This transaction furthers our goal of
providing a stronghold of at least
25,000 acres in each of the ecoregions

IPAA Urges USFWS
Not To Back Away
From ESA Reforms
WASHINGTON-The U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service should not back away
from reforms it proposed last year to its
endangered species petitioning process,
the Independent Petroleum Association
of America urges.
In comments filed in May in
conjunction with the American
Petroleum Institute, IPAA notes that in
May 2015, USFWS and the National
Marine Fisheries Service proposed
changes to the Endangered Species Act
petitioning process to include, among
other things:
* Requiring that petitions be limited
to a single species;
* Requiring consultation with states
prior to submitting petitions; and
* Identifying, clearly labeling and
appending all reasonably available
information relevant to the petitioned
action.
But a supplemental notice issued in
April, IPAA says, "waters down" the
initial proposal by specifying that
petitions be limited to a single
"taxonomic species," but may include
multiple subspecies; and by replacing
the requirement to consult with states to
merely notifying affected states.
These changes, "do not support
objectives of developing a public, sciencebased decision process," IPAA contends.
In their comments, which can be
found on IPAA's website at
www.ipaa.org under "Issues & Policies"
and then "Letters and Comments,"
IPAA and API argue that "species (as
opposed to taxonomic species) are
sufficiently distinct that petitioners
should be required to distinguish
between them, and should submit one
species per petition."
The associations contend that
requiring petitioners merely notify states
JULY 2016 19
American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2016

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