American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2016 - 18

IndustryDigest
granting a waiver.
"This waiver most likely will apply
to wells in Bottineau and Renville
counties," the association adds.
Generally, North Dakota law
requires a nonproducing well to be
plugged and the site reclaimed within a
year, unless DMR grants the well oneyear temporarily abandoned status.
Local press reports quote DMR
Director Lynn Helms calling the waiver
"the right policy to pursue when oil
prices are unsustainably low."
North Dakota, which has more than
1,100 inactive wells, implemented a
similar rule in 1999, according to the
reports. ❒

Wyoming Game & Fish
Unveils Migration Rules
CHEYENNE, WY.-The Wyoming
Game & Fish Commission has released
revised guidelines aimed at easing travel
for large mammal migrating in the state.
According to the new mitigation policy,
released Feb. 4, state wildlife officials
must identify routes used by antelope,
elk and mule deer as they move from
summer to winter habitats.
Esther Wagner, vice president for
public lands for the Petroleum
Association of Wyoming, says the Game
& Fish Commission has recommended
practicesin place for oil and gas
companies operating in migration
corridors. The new guidelines are a
substitute for one agency plan to impose
"no surface occupancy" restrictions on
all migration corridors, she adds.
"Wyoming doesn't have any
formalized corridors at this time because
it has to go through a research process,"
Wagner says. "While there are no
formally recognized corridors, the state
does have ideas about where they are.
Game & Fish is moving forward with
recommendations in places where it is
saying, if it named migration corridors
in this area, this is how it would want
them to be managed."
Migration bottlenecks and stopover
points would be designated as vital
under the Game & Fish guidelines, with
protections against significant declines
in species distribution or loss of habitat
function allowed. The agency notes that
some modification of habitat
characteristics would be permitted, and
says it will work with stakeholders to
determine risks, existing protections,
18 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

and appropriate management actions.
Wagner says current policies allow
migration corridors more than half a mile
wide to hold as many as four well pad
locations or 60 acres of surface
disturbance in each square mile; corridors
narrower than that have NSO restrictions.
Under the guidelines, Game & Fish
and stakeholders would identify
proactive conservation actions such as
conservation easements, fence
modifications or habitat improvement
projects necessary to conserve
migration corridors. The agency points
out its recommendations will be
considered by the Bureau of Land
Management in its planning documents.
"PAW wants the current
recommendations to stay in place
because science supports them. The
state will move forward with any new
resource management plans that are
being worked on by BLM or
environmental impact statements," she
says. "Game & Fish can make
recommendations on how those lands
should be managed, but it is up to
BLM to include those as alternative
options." ❒

Green Groups Call On
EPA To Oversee Texas
AUSTIN, TX.-The Environmental
Defense Fund and Caddo Lake Institute
have petitioned the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency to strip the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality
of some of the responsibilities delegated
to the state under the Clean Air and
Clean Water acts.
The groups point to a letter from
EPA during the 2015 Texas Legislature
that warned lawmakers that proposed
legislation could conflict with the
federal laws. Since the legislature
passed and Governor Greg Abbot
signed SB 709, which narrows the
qualifications of an "affected person"
who may participate in contested case
challenges to permit applications, the
groups say Texas cannot adequately
administer aspects of the CAA and
CWA. They also criticize lawmakers for
passing and the governor for signing
HB 1794, which caps penalties local
governments may collect in an
environmental enforcement action and
sets a statute of limitations.
The petition also claims budget cuts
impair TCEQ's oversight and faults the
commission for not opposing HB 912, an

unsuccessful bill that sought to eliminate
local governments' opportunity to
challenge or seek judicial review of
permit applications. "The TCEQ raised
no objection about HB 912 being
contrary to requirements for federal
delegation under the CWA," the green
groups say. "Thus, the practice in Texas
is that standing, not only for downstream
governments, but for all prospective
parties, is subject to serious curtailment."
They specifically ask EPA to revoke
Texas' authority to issue permits under
the CAA's new source review program
and the CWA's National Pollution
Discharge Elimination program.
The petition states that the 2015
amendments to Texas law:
* Restrict and limit the public's
ability to obtain judicial review of
TCEQ's permitting decisions;
* Reduce opportunities for public
participation by increasing the burden
on permit opponents in contested case
hearings; and
* Provide inadequate resources for
implementing and enforcing the CAA
and CWA.
Press accounts indicate the TCEQ
disagrees with the petition. "Texas law
has and continues to meet federal
requirements. To suggest otherwise is
misleading to the public," TCEQ
spokesman Terry Clawson is quoted.
"We expect EPA to reject this frivolous
petition." ❒

IPAA, Allies Sue USFWS
For Lack Of Response
To ESA Delisting Petition
WASHINGTON-The Independent
Petroleum Association of America and a
trio of other petitioners have notified the
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service that they
plan to file a civil lawsuit against the
agency over its failure to release a 90day finding on a petition to delist the
American burying beetle under the
Endangered Species Act.
IPAA and its co-plaintiffs-the
American Stewards of Liberty, the Texas
Public Policy Foundation and Steven W.
Carothers-filed a petition on Aug. 18,
2015, that asked USFWS to delist the
beetle. The litigants note that the ESA
gives the agency 90 days to weigh the
petition, but USFWS's timeline is longer
than 2,000. "The petitioners have learned
that, instead of spending resources on
American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2016

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