US sued over lack of protection plan for rare grouse

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An environmental group is suing U.S. wildlife managers, saying they have failed to protect a rare grouse found in one of the country’s most prolific areas for oil and gas development. A lawsuit filed Tuesday says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is nearly five months late in releasing a final rule outlining protections for the lesser prairie chicken. The Fish and Wildlife Service in 2021 proposed adding a Texas and New Mexico population to the endangered species list and a separate population found elsewhere in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado to the threatened list. The Center for Biological Diversity claims decades of stalling by the government is threatening the bird.