For those supporting the Trump administration’s movement to rebalance government regulation, the announcement made by the BLM to amend Greater Sage-Grouse land management plans issued in 2015 is a very positive step. The Western Energy Alliance is among those that have expressed their complete support of the notice to amend. “We are very pleased [the] BLM is moving forward with amending the sage grouse plans,” shares Western Energy Alliance President Kathleen Sgamma. “The plans discouraged on-the-ground, local conservation efforts and ignored state plans (except for Wyoming’s), in favor of a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach. The attitude of this Interior Department, which is much more interested in real collaboration with states and counties, is welcome after the prior administration’s process that ignored real threats to sage grouse and exaggerated impacts from human activities.” Western Energy Alliance has emphasized that the Obama administration ignored measures taken by the oil and natural gas companies such as technological innovation and practices implemented over a decade that have resulted in a decrease of habitat fragmentation by 70 percent.
