Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado is slamming President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, accusing them of "attempting to lock up our public lands" to protect an "ugly" animal.
Researchers have said that Colorado's population of Gunnison sage-grouse has declined in recent years due to a dramatic loss of habitat, estimating in 2019 that as few as 1,800 of the birds were left in the state. The Audubon Society considers the bird endangered, although it is only listed as "threatened" by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced on October 17 that it had approved final plans to protect over 2 million acres of BLM-managed public land and almost 3 million acres of "public subsurface mineral estate" that serves as habitat for the Gunnison sage-grouse, putting the lands off-limits for potential oil drilling.
In a statement emailed to Newsweek on Monday, Boebert accused the Biden-Harris "regime," "radical progressives" at the BLM and former President Barack Obama of participating in a "tyrannical seizure of our land" that could "destroy" Colorado's oil and gas industry.
Boebert also suggested that the BLM was protecting the greater sage-grouse, a bird that lives in a similar habitat and range but is less threatened than its cousin, the Gunnison sage-grouse.
"The Biden-Harris Administration and the radical progressives in charge of BLM are attempting to lock up our public lands from critical uses like oil & gas exploration," Boebert said. "Instead of putting Coloradans first, they're continuing to bend the knee to Green New Deal worshippers who want to destroy Colorado's oil & gas industry and the tens of thousands of good-paying jobs that support families across the state."
"Obama, Biden and Harris have tried to use the Gunnison Sage-Grouse's ugly, non-endangered cousin, the Greater Sage-Grouse, to lock up more than 183 million acres in the West," she added. "This new land grab attempt doubles down to lock up tens of millions of acres more of surface and subsurface mineral rights. There was no consideration by this regime of what is actually best for all Coloradans."
Boebert went on to say that she would "fight this newest land grab just like I've done for every ridiculous attempt from the Biden-Harris Administration and BLM to damage our economy."
Newsweek reached out to the White House and the Colorado office of BLM via email on Monday night.
BLM Colorado State Director Doug Vilsack said in a press release that the federal government "worked tirelessly" to satisfy both environmental and energy industry concerns, with the plan designed to "limit disturbance in the habitat" of the Gunnison sage-grouse.
The BLM release also noted that a "final recovery plan" to protect the threatened bird was approved by the Fish and Wildlife Service in 2020, during the administration of former President Donald Trump.
While BLM says that 85 percent of "high potential" acres that it manages in the area will remain open to potential future oil and gas leasing, the updated plan includes a "one-mile buffer around Gunnison sage-grouse habitat as well as the designation of a new backcountry conservation area and three new areas of critical environmental concern."
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