Lesser Prairie Chicken A Greater Concern

摘要

Confronted with a contingency they had worked to prevent, oil and gas companies affected by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's decision to classify the lesser prairie chicken as threatened under the Endangered Species Act spent the days immediately after the listing announcement in search of ways to make the best of a bad situation. At the Board of Directors meeting during the Kansas Independent Oil & Gas Association's midyear convention, April 16-18 in Hays, the consensus may well have formed around a strategy known as hoping for the best while preparing for the worst. The group's brightest hopes may hang on litigation questioning the legal settlement that precipitated the listing determination. Spearheaded by Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who filed it on March 17, the lawsuit's other participants include the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance and the states of North Dakota and Kansas (see story page 20).