Interior Advances Oil Industry Permit to Harm Butterfly Habitat

The North Dakota oil and gas industry is poised to receive a sweeping statewide permit to kill or harass the threatened Dakota skipper butterfly for the next 30 years.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday announced the North Dakota Petroleum Council’s application and an environmental assessment for “incidental take” of the rare butterfly covering multiple oil and gas companies’ drilling projects statewide for 30 years. The environmental assessment is scheduled to be published this week, opening a 30-day public comment period, according to a Federal Register public inspection ...