Story Created:
Aug 4, 2009 at 2:01 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Aug 4, 2009 at 2:01 PM CDT
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - A little prairie grouse could give the wind energy industry big fits.
The lesser prairie chicken is close to making the list of threatened or endangered species. If it makes the list, there would be significant restrictions on companies hoping to erect towering, turbine-topped pylons across five states. The region is believed to have some of the nation's best wind energy potential.
Scientists believe the prairie chicken population has dropped 80 percent nationally since 1963. The blame goes to habitat loss and fragmentation, population isolation, drought and changes in land usage. They once numbered about 3 million across an area that stretches through eastern New Mexico, eastern Colorado, western Kansas, northwest Oklahoma, and in parts of the Texas Panhandle and South Plains. Estimates show their population now at about 30,000.
Their habitats lie in areas with plentiful and strong wind resources - where energy companies are anxious to build.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
AP-NY-08-04-09 1420EDT
