Oklahoma U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe is one happy man today after the final step was taken to delist the Lesser Prairie Chicken.
The chairman of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has spent the past few years fighting the Obama administration’s efforts to protect the bird, a move opposed by oil and gas producers and farmers and ranchers in the Midwest and southwest.
The final rule to delist the Prairie Chicken was published in the federal register, prompting Sen. Inhofe to respond, “I am pleased the day has come for the Lesser Prairie Chicken to be officially delisted. The agency’s original listing was rushed and failed to properly take into consideration the facts on the ground.”
Inhofe sided with the Oklahoma conservation plan pushed by Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation Director Richard Hatcher.
“The states’ conservation plan exceeds the expectations of U.S. Fish and Wildlife, committing more than 9 million acres and $43 million to conservation projects. As the court ruled, there clearly was no need for the federal government to interfere.”
The Lesser Prairie Chicken was listed as “threatened” in 2014, prompting Sen. Inhofe at the time to call the decision “purely political.”