By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Kansas First District Congressman Tracey Mann sees the designation of the Northern Distinct Population Segment of the lesser prairie-chicken as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act as about more than just that bird.
"The lesser prairie-chicken lives in areas from really western Kansas, eastern Colorado, down through the Oklahoma and Texas panhandle into New Mexico," Mann said. "At the end of the day though, this is a proxy war against our oil and gas producers and against agriculture as we know it. We've been fighting this thing tooth and nail and we will continue to. It was very disappointing to hear that news from the Biden administration."
The point is that drilling projects like the one currently ongoing in Pratt County would be much more difficult to execute with the additional regulation that comes with the lesser prairie-chicken designation.
"It's a little farther west from there, but let's just say that same company was doing that in Scott County, or you know, in Finney County, or one of our Kansas Independent Oil and Gas producers, if they want to drill a well, once this goes into effect, it's more paperwork," Mann said. "More fees to pay, more hoops to jump through, more people that can say no. We ought to be making it easier for our domestic oil and gas producers to do what they do best. With record high gas prices and with this war on fossil fuels that we're in, which makes absolutely no sense to me, let's make it easier for our ag producers and let's make it easier for our oil and gas producers."
Mann is also a co-sponsor of H.R. 4370, the Listing Reform Act which would prohibit the Department of Interior from using any federal funding to list the Lesser Prairie-Chicken on the endangered species list.