Editor's Note: This story was updated Saturday, Dec. 13.
One small point in a spending bill approved by Congress Saturday could be a big deal for sage grouse.
A spending bill rider would delay a decision about whether to extend endangered species protection to the greater sage grouse. A decision about whether to list the sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act is currently scheduled for September, 2015.
The $1.014 trillion spending bill with the sage grouse rider had already cleared the House before winning Senate approval Saturday. It now heads to the desk of President Barack Obama.
Oil and gas companies and some ranchers say listing the birds would hamper drilling and grazing across 11 western states. They include Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
In an interview with The (Bend, Oregon) Bulletin, Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, called the rider a “a big win” for Central and Eastern Oregon.
“We need time and help to avoid a listing long-term and do the habitat work that’s been going on there,” he told the newspaper.
Noah Greenwald, the endangered species director for the , said sage grouse need Endangered Species Act protections.
“Protecting species sometimes means making tough choices," Greenwald said. "In some cases that might mean you can’t develop oil and gas in a particular location. We just don’t have confidence that those kinds of hard choices will be made, absent a listing.”
Greenwald said this delay could be perpetuated if it's included in future spending bills, year after year.
Environmentalists, ranchers, and state officials have come together in recent years to help conserve sage grouse habitat. But Greenwald said he worries those efforts may lose steam without the an imminent listing decision.
Dan Morse, conservation director with , said it's these types of efforts that need to continue.
"We need to focus on how we solve this problem on the ground and not get caught up in philosophical bickering over the Endangered Species Act," Morse said. "We're going to try to continue our efforts to get good solutions on the ground despite what changes might come."
In the spending bill, the Bureau of Land Management would also receive $15 million to protect sage grouse habitat.
The bill also has other riders that environmental groups worry about, including: a prohibition for the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate lead ammunition, and prohibitions on mountaintop-removal mining regulations.
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