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CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- President Trump's administration has opened the door to industry-friendly changes to a sweeping plan imposed by his predecessor to protect a ground-dwelling bird across vast areas of the West.

Wildlife advocates warn that the proposed changes would undercut a hard-won struggle to protect the greater sage grouse.

Representatives of the ranching and energy industries cheered the policy shift as needed to give states flexibility.

A document outlining the recommended changes was released Monday by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

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It recognized for the first time the importance of livestock grazing on sage grouse habitat, said Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association.

It also backed away from requirements to keep rangeland grasses and shrubs at a prescribed minimum height, which ranchers had complained was arbitrary.

"I was very pleased with what I saw there in terms of the tone," Magagna said.

The ground-dwelling sage grouse has lengthy, pointed tail feathers and is known for the male's elaborate courtship display in which air sacs in the neck are inflated to make a popping sound.

Millions of sage grouse once populated the West but development, livestock grazing and an invasive grass that encourages wildfires has reduced the bird's population to fewer than 500,000.

States affected by the conservation plan are California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Just how much Zinke intends to tinker with the plan that was years in the making remains to be seen.

It was hashed out under President Obama and unveiled in 2015 as a solution to keeping the sage grouse off the endangered species list following a decade-long population decline caused by disease and pressure on the birds' habitat from energy development, grazing and wildfires.

The proposed changes, the result of a 60-day review of the plan by Zinke's agency, could give states wiggle room in areas such as setting population goals for sage grouse and drawing boundaries of recognized sage grouse habitat.

Advocacy groups such as The Wilderness Society and National Wildlife Federation said the proposal was a backdoor attempt to allow unfettered oil and gas development that ignored previous scientific studies showing that drilling too close to sage grouse breeding areas would harm the birds.

"Wholesale changes to the plans are not necessary and could derail years of hard work," National Wildlife Federation President Collin O'Mara said in a statement. "We cannot fall victim to the false dichotomy that pits wildlife conservation against the administration's energy development goals."

The birds inhabit parts of 11 states including large swaths of Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and Nevada - big ranching states that include areas with vast wind energy and gas drilling potential.

Wyoming has a larger number of greater sage grouse than any other state and keeping the bird off the endangered list remains a priority, Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead said.

"We've come a long ways to get to this point," Mead said. "As we make changes - and certainly I think there's room for improvement - we have to move cautiously because we don't want to get to the point where the bird is listed."

Wyoming officials are glad the Trump administration has been talking to them about sage grouse policy, and the proposed changes include improvements, Mead said.

Officials remain concerned, however, by how the administration wants to set population goals for sage grouse. The birds are difficult to count and their numbers can fluctuate significantly from year to year in response to weather patterns, Mead said.

"We want to move cautiously as to not disrupt the great work that has been done by so many over the many years," Mead said.

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter said Zinke's announcement marked an appropriate step toward giving the state more power to manage sage grouse. Idaho, along with Utah and Nevada, had filed a lawsuit challenging the Obama-era conservation plans for the birds.

"My staff and I stand ready to roll up our sleeves and work with the Department of the Interior to bring the federal plans into alignment with Idaho's science-based conservation plan," Otter said in a statement.

The proposed changes drew a muted reaction from some other Western governors who had been heavily involved in crafting conservation plans for the birds.

Democrat Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, who co-chaired a federal-state sage grouse task force established in 2011, was still reviewing Zinke's announcement, according to spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery.

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In Nevada, Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval didn't have any immediate comment. Sandoval had worked closely with former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to develop sage grouse protection plans for the state.

Sandoval, Mead and Hickenlooper met with Zinke in April and urged him to coordinate with states before changing the Obama-era plans.

Areas where sage grouse habitat and gas drilling overlap include the upper Green River Basin of western Wyoming, home of some of the biggest onshore natural gas fields in the U.S.

A third gas field, the Normally Pressured Lance field, could add another 3,500 wells in a 220-square-mile area. Drilling could begin next year if the U.S. Bureau of Land Management signs off.

Jonah Energy LLC recognizes the existence of sage grouse winter range in the southern part of its proposed gas field about 200 miles northeast of Salt Lake City, said Paul Ulrich, government affairs director at the Denver-based petroleum company.

"From our perspective, that definitely presents challenges but also provides an opportunity to do what we've done from day one, which is follow the science," he said.

Read more here:
Obama-era greater sage grouse protections face changes under Trump - CBS News

A federal court struck down a key piece of the Obama administration's climate agenda on Tuesday by saying the Environmental Protection Agency does not have the authority to ban the use of certain chemicals used in air conditioners blamed for exacerbating global warming.

The EPA enacted the rule in question in 2015, responding to research showing hydroflourocarbons, or HFCs, contribute to climate change.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals' 2-1 decision said EPA does not have the authority to enact a 2015 rule-making ending the use of hydrofluorocarbons commonly found in spray cans, automobile air conditioners and refrigerators. The three-judge panel said that because HFCs are not ozone-depleting substances, the EPA could not use a section of the Clean Air Act targeting those chemicals to ban HFCs.

"Indeed, before 2015, EPA itself maintained that Section 612 did not grant authority to require replacement of nonozone-depleting substances such as HFCs," the court wrote.

"EPA's novel reading of Section 612 is inconsistent with the statute as written. Section 612 does not require (or give EPA authority to require) manufacturers to replace non-ozonedepleting substances such as HFCs," said the opinion, written by Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

The Obama administration issued the regulatory changes to correspond with the 1987 Montreal Protocol that sought to stop the depletion of the ozone layer by phasing out another chemical found in aerosols. The 2015 update was part of former President Barack Obama's climate change agenda due to the impact of HFCs on the climate.

"This ruling has significant implications for our industry and we will be monitoring the EPA's response closely," said Stephen Yurek, president and CEO of the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute, whose industry is directly affected by the regulations. "Despite the court's decision, our industry remains committed to ratification and implementation of the Kigali Amendment to globally phase down the use of HFC refrigerants."

Under the Kigali agreement, the U.S. and other countries agreed to phase out HFCs and use alternative chemicals over a number of years. The agreement was seen as an adjunct to the Paris climate change agreement.

The Trump EPA will have to decide whether it will appeal the court's Tuesday ruling, which was brought by HFC manufacturers Chemours Co. and Honeywell International. "We are reviewing the decision," said an EPA representative.

The Kigali Agreement and the HFC rule have not been a specific target of the Trump administration, and given that many appliance manufacturers support the regulations, President Trump may find little in the way of problems with the regulations.

But critics of the Kigali agreement are out there, and they undoubtedly will be pushing for Pruitt to allow the court decision to stick. Myron Ebell with the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute is one of those voices. He was Trump's EPA transition chief who helped ramp up the agency.

"CEI opposes the Kigali amendment because the purpose of the Montreal Protocol to the Vienna treaty is to protect the ozone layer," Ebell said in May. And the "Kigali amendment hijacks the Montreal Protocol and turns it into a global warming treaty."

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Federal court strikes down EPA rule key to Obama's climate agenda - Washington Examiner

The campaign that ends on Tuesday has produced little evidence that Kenya has heeded his advice. In recent days, the campaign has been marked by a break-in at the vice presidents country estate, the killing and possible torture of a senior election official, and reports of plans to rig the vote for President Uhuru Kenyatta and stage an armed raid on one of the oppositions tallying centers. Talk of fake news has flavored the campaign debate as international observers, including former Secretary of State John Kerry, seek to ensure a fair vote.

Mr. Obama expressed disappointment in the campaign so far. In Kenyas election we have already seen too much incitement and appeals based on fear from all sides, he said. But I also know that the Kenyan people as a whole will be the losers if there is a descent into violence. You can make clear that you will reject those that want to deal in tribal and ethnic hatred.

A violent reaction seems like a real possibility given Kenyas recent history. After a disputed election in 2007 in which the opposition leader Raila Odinga lost, spasms of violence left at least 1,300 people dead and 600,000 displaced from their homes. In 2013, after Mr. Odinga lost again, this time to Mr. Kenyatta, he claimed he had been robbed of victory.

Mr. Odinga, a former prime minister, is running again, his fourth campaign for the presidency, and he and Mr. Kenyatta were virtually tied in recent polls. In a country riven by tribal rivalries, Mr. Kenyatta, 55, has the support of many Kikuyus and Kalenjins, while Mr. Odinga, 72, is strong among the Luos, Luhyas and Kambas.

Mr. Obama, whose father was Luo, urged Kenyans to put those divisions aside. The choices you make in the coming days can either set Kenya back or bring it together, he said. As a friend of the Kenyan people, I urge you to work for a future defined not by fear and division, but by unity and hope.

Analysts said many Kenyans would pay attention, even if there are limits to Mr. Obamas influence. Will Obamas statement shift behaviors in Kenya? No, said William M. Bellamy, a former ambassador to Kenya who is now a professor of international relations at Simmons College. But it provides a basis for judging the success or failure of these elections. The standard set by the president and international observers, he added, will have a big impact on how Kenyans themselves assess the validity of their elections.

The former presidents decision to speak out on Kenyas election was a striking departure from his general approach since leaving the White House. He has remained largely out of the issues in Washington as Mr. Trump seeks to unravel much of his predecessors legacy. Although Mr. Obama has issued written statements at critical moments in the debate over replacing his health care program, he has for the most part left it to his former advisers and other Democrats to wage a rear-guard battle on behalf of his programs and policies.

President Obama has a unique stature in Kenya and has issued similar statements about past Kenyan elections, said Benjamin J. Rhodes, a longtime foreign policy adviser to Mr. Obama. The stakes are enormously high as there is a grave risk of violence and instability around the election, and its important for the Kenyan people to hear his voice at this pivotal moment.

Follow Peter Baker on Twitter @peterbakernyt

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Obama Weighs In on Kenyan Election, Urging Calm - New York Times

Former President Barack Obama now has an Illinois holiday in his honor but state employees still have to go to work.

Former President Barack Obama now has a day commemorating his birth, but residents of the state where he began his political career shouldnt expect time off: Aug. 4 wont be a full-scale legal holiday.

Illinois will honor the 44th president on his birthday, after Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, signed the commemorative day into law on Friday. It goes into effect in 2018.

The Illinois House rejected a plan to make Obamas birthday a state holiday amid concerns about giving state employees another paid day off, the Associated Press said.

Obama was born in Hawaii but served as an Illinois state senator and was elected to the U.S. Senate from Illinois in 2004. Earlier this year, Rauner said he thought it was awesome that Obama came from Illinois and that the state should celebrate it. On social media, others disagreed:

Hillary Clinton, Obamas fellow Democrat, won Illinois by 16 percentage points in last years presidential election. On Sunday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel who was Obamas first White House chief of staff said the city would file a federal lawsuit challenging the Trump administrations use of federal grant money as a way to force local authorities to cooperate with a crackdown on illegal immigration.

See the article here:
'Barack Obama Day' is the newest holiday in Illinois - MarketWatch

A sage grouse. Bob Wick / U.S. Bureau of Land Management

Mining companies, ranchers and governors in some Western states especially Utah, Idaho and Nevada said the Obama-era plan would impede oil and gas drilling and other economic activity.

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Environmental groups said the Obama-era plan did not do enough to protect the sage grouse from extinction.

The ground-dwelling sage grouse, long associated with the American West, has long pointed tail feathers and is known for the male's elaborate courtship display in which air sacs in the neck are inflated to make a popping sound.

Millions of sage grouse once roamed the West but development, livestock grazing and an invasive grass that encourages wildfires has reduced the bird's population to fewer than 500,000 across 11 states from California to the Dakotas.

Zinke said in June that "state agencies are really at the forefront of efforts to maintain healthy fish and wildlife populations" across the country, adding that the Trump administration is committed to ensuring that state voices are heard in decisions affecting land use and wildlife management.

In particular, Zinke said he has received complaints from several Western governors that the Obama administration ignored or minimized their concerns as the 2015 sage-grouse plan was developed. Republican governors in Idaho, Utah and Nevada all want more flexibility and say the conservation efforts should rely less on land-use restrictions "and more on numbers" of birds in a particular state, Zinke said.

The new plan is intended to provide flexibility to states instead of a "one-size-fits-all solution" ordered by former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, Zinke said.

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On the other side, Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado and Republican Gov. Matt Mead of Wyoming told Zinke earlier this year they opposed any changes that would move "from a habitat-management model to one that sets population objectives for the states."

Hickenlooper and Mead co-chair a federal-state sage grouse task force that worked to develop the 2015 plan, which was backed by more than $750 million in commitments from the government and outside groups to conserve land and restore the bird's historic range.

Continued here:
Zinke Revives Obama-Era Sage Grouse Controversy With New Protection Plan - NBCNews.com