Kansas wins federal court victory in prairie chicken litigation

Kobach stated: “During the campaign of 2022, after the Biden Administration announced the proposed listing of the lesser prairie chicken, I promised that I would fight it if elected as attorney general.  Shortly after taking office, in March of 2023, I teamed up with my colleagues in Texas and Oklahoma to file this lawsuit.  This court decision delivers our final victory in the case.”

“This is a huge win for Kansas ranchers and energy producers. The listing of the species as threatened or endangered would have crippled oil and wind energy production and would have limited where and when Kansas ranchers could graze cattle on their own property. And it was based on manipulated numbers dividing the species into subgroups to create the impression the species was threatened—when in fact drought had simply caused populations in some areas to drop, while in other areas the numbers were stable.  I’m grateful that the court saw it our way.” Kobach said.

Kobach, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit opposing the proposed listing in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Texas in March 2023. Judge David Counts issued the decision vacating the listing.  In 2014, under the Obama Administration, USFWS proposed listing the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species; and the same court struck down that listing in 2015.