Report: Grouse Needs 3-mile Buffer From Drilling

(AP) — A government report with significant implications for the U.S. energy industry says a struggling bird species needs a 3-mile buffer between its breeding grounds and oil and gas drilling, wind farms and solar projects. A 3-mile buffer for the birds represents a much larger area than the no-occupancy zones where drilling and other activity is prohibited under some state and federal land management plans. [...] those plans also contain more nuanced provisions, which backers say will protect sage grouse, such as seasonal restrictions on drilling or other activity and limits on the number of oil and gas wells within key sage grouse habitat. BLM spokesman Jeff Krauss said the agency will use the new information as it works on changes to land use plans that include new sage grouse conservation measures. By comparison, Montana and Wyoming have adopted management plans for the bird that call for a no-surface occupancy zone of six-tenths of a mile around breeding sites, or leks, in key sage grouse habitat. The state plans also limit human activity within a larger area around breeding and nesting seasons. [...] they take into account cumulative impacts, such as a restriction in Wyoming that limits oil companies to one well pad per square mile in key habitat.

Topics:  ap    a   u.s    blm   jeff krauss   montana   a   wyoming   report   grouse   drilling   3-mile buffer   key   breeding   oil   bird   limits   

 

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