As MDN has previously chronicled, on September 22, 2016 the rogue U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) published a proposed rule to list the rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The rusty patched bumble bee is found in the Midwest and eastern parts of the U.S. If it gets listed, it will have SIGNIFICANT impacts on drillers and midstreamers (see “Endangered” Bumble Bee May Slow/Stop O&G Projects in Northeast). With just a few days left in Obama’s reign of terror, the Obama-influenced USFWS pulled the trigger and listed it (see USFWS Pulls the Trigger and Lists Bumble Bee as Endangered). But then a white knight rode in to town to (temporarily) save the day. The Trump Administration signed an order delaying the listing until March 21 (see Trump Administration Delays Listing Bumble Bee as Endangered). The clock is ticking and drillers/midstreamers are worried. The oil and gas industry, along with farmers and others negatively affected by the listing, have asked newly-minted Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to delay the listing until next year, to give everyone time to figure how they’re going to comply with this newest inanity from USFWS…
