A GOP-led House on July 27 voted to overturn two Biden administration Endangered Species Act (ESA) rules, one intended to protect the lesser prairie chicken, the other the northern long-eared bat.
In May, the Senate voted to overturn protection rules for the two animals, with the votes almost exclusively along party lines, with Republicans backing overturning the regulations. The Senate vote on the prairie chicken was 50-48, with Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) voting with the Republicans and two Democrats absent. Later that month, the vote was 51-49, with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Mr. Manchin voting with the GOP.
With the votes clearing Congress, the legislation now goes to President Joe Biden, who says he will veto the bill.
Conservationists are angered and upset with the recent Congressional actions on the two species.
Commenting on the House vote on the lesser prairie chicken, Marshall Johnson, chief conservation officer for the National Audubon Society, in a statement, said: “These kinds of political attacks ignore science and have no place in how our nation manages wildlife.
“President Biden should keep his commitment to veto this bill without pause. Given their imperiled state, Lesser Prairie-Chickens will vanish from our grasslands without these necessary protections.”
Policy on Endangered Species
The ESA is a federal act signed into law in 1972 by President Richard Nixon that protects animal and plant species in the United States. Its focus is two-pronged: to prevent an at-risk species from going extinct and to support the recovery and return to numbers and prevalence so that the protection is no longer needed.Both the lesser prairie chicken and northern long-eared bat have seen their numbers drop dramatically in recent years.
The lesser prairie bird was once thought to number in the millions but now hovers around 30,000, officials said—and the long-eared bat, one of 12 bat types decimated by a fungal disease called white-nose syndrome.
A northern long-eared bat in an undated photo. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources via AP
It is rare for Congress to get involved in animal conservation legislation, an action that is normally handled by the two government agencies that oversee and administer the ESA: the Interior Department’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the Commerce Department’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
A member of the grouse family, the lesser prairie chicken is found in parts of the Midwest and Southwest, including one of the country’s most prolific oil and gas fields—the oil-rich Permian Basin in New Mexico and Texas. The bird’s range also extends into parts of Colorado, Oklahoma, and Kansas but has diminished across about 90 percent of its historical range, officials said.
As oil and gas fields have been developed and taken the place of the home of the lesser prairie bird, its numbers have fallen.
White-Nose Syndrome
White-nose syndrome is the fundamental cause of decimating the numbers of the northern long-eared bat. The disease infects the bat when it hibernates in winter in caves. Across species of mammals, white-nose syndrome is one of the deadliest illnesses. In some areas, white-nose syndrome has reduced northern long-eared bat numbers by 97 percent.The northern long-eared bat geographic habitat takes in much of the eastern part of the United States, extending as far south as the northern parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina, and as far west as the Central Time Zone, taking in the states of the Great Lakes region, and parts of Canada.
The House vote for “disapproval” of the ESA protection status of the lesser prairie chicken passed 221-206. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania was the only Republican who voted nay, and four Democrats voted yea: Representatives Yadiro Caraveo (Colo.), Henry Cuellar (Texas), Sharice Davids (Kan.), and Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico.
Republicans approved overturning the prairie chicken protective order, 220-208. Mr. Fitzpatrick, again, was the only Republican to break ranks on the vote. Ms. Cueller and Rep. Jared Golden of Maine were the only Democrats who voted nay.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
