Bird's Fate Tied to Future of Drilling

SPOTTED HORSE, Wyo. — Once again an imperiled bird has become a symbol of clashing values in the Western wilds. Reminiscent of the bitter struggle over the spotted owl, a battle over the greater sage grouse is pitting an industry against protectors of an ancient and colorful species that inhabits the same region believed to harbor much of the West's most promising natural gas deposits.

Biologists warn that the birds, inhabitants of Western prairies for thousands of years could be extinct in 50 years, although lobbyists for the oil and gas industry contend that protection of the sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act would deal a sharp setback to the Bush administration's energy policy.

This week, Wyoming's Gov. Dave Freudenthal entered the fray on behalf of the bird, expressing concern about further destruction of sage grouse habitat and calling for a halt, at least for a year, to new drilling around Pinedale, one of two areas in Wyoming where exploration and production has been most intense.

Freudenthal said issuing new leases would be "contrary to the goal of deliberate and responsible development."

He is the second Western governor after Bill Richardson of New Mexico to take issue with the expansion of oil and gas drilling. The governors, both Democrats, are echoing regional concerns that the administration's energy policy is jeopardizing other natural resources, including water and wildlife.

Experts estimated there were two million sage grouse scattered across the plains of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Oregon and northeastern California at the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition 200 years ago. The population today may be fewer than 200,000 -- a decline attributed to the loss of about 50% of the birds' sagebrush nesting grounds.

Recently, many of the birds have been dying from West Nile virus carried by mosquitoes, some of them hatching on waste water ponds that are a byproduct of the natural gas boom in Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and New Mexico. Millions of gallons of water are being pumped in a process used to extract methane gas.

Last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it would begin reviewing whether the sage grouse warranted inclusion on the Endangered Species List. Conservation groups have been petitioning the agency to list the species since 2000.

Meanwhile, Jim Sims, a former communications director for President Bush's Energy Task Force, is leading the effort by a Colorado-based coalition of western businesses to block the listing.