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Protection weighed for sage grouse in West's energy areas

See how far you can drive your car or how long you can heat your home with a sage grouse. Look at the current prices and supplies of oil, coal, natural gas, and precious metals and decide which would be better for America--a common bird or addressing some of our major problems.

It's not an either/or situation, any way. Energy development and mining don't kill off birds. The specific locations where these resources are located are few and far between.

The whole sagebrush ecosystem is in crisis, declining in vigor and losing diversity. The grouse is only a warning flag. That is one purpose of the endangered species act; not just to preserve one of God's creatures, but to preserve the ecosystems on which humans depend. If we can maintain the sagebrush ecosystem in such a way that the grouse survives, then that bodes well for humans as well. After all, the sagebrush supplies water, livestock grazing, hunting, and other things to us.
This is not to say that no development should occur; rather, it is to say, we should be careful (conservative) about new development, including energy development. It is only prudent.