ARLINGTON, Texas (Reuters) – Ghana’s Joshua Clottey will target Filipino Manny Pacquiao’s body for punishment when the two clash in Dallas this weekend.

Seven-time world champion Pacquiao’s WBO world welterweight title is on the line and Clottey intends to soften up his opponent.

DALLAS/WASHINGTON, March 5 (Reuters) – The iconic sage grouse that once roamed the western U.S. plains in great numbers needs protection, a move that will still curtail some energy development, the U.S. Interior Department said on Friday.

The bird will not be listed under the Endangered Species Act, but the department will put special emphasis on preserving the the chicken-sized bird on lands where oil companies want to drill and wind companies want to erect their massive turbines.

The bird which feeds off the sage brush in states such as Wyoming has lost about half of its habitat over the past several decades, with its numbers slashed by 90 percent to between 200,000 and 300,000.

Bob Abbey, director of the Bureau of Land Management, said the agency will review drilling permits that have already been approved.

"Certainly, we would be reviewing those applications with a lot more scrutiny in areas where we have determined they are major populations of sage grouse and as a result of that determination…we would likely attach some additional stipulations on that drilling," he said.

It was not immediately clear which projects will be affected, but efforts to protect the bird have already thrown some projects into uncertainty, including a 198-turbine, $600 million wind farm in Wyoming proposed by Horizon Wind Energy.

The Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States said it was concerned about how energy development would be affected but was relieved that a full listing of the bird was avoided.

"We’re concerned that land managers will nevertheless implement this decision by introducing very restrictive policies that prevent companies from investing and creating high-paying jobs in local communities," the group said.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he wanted to move ahead with energy development while working with the states and private landowners to ensure the sage grouse thrives.

POLITICAL FLAP?

Republicans, who have branded President Barack Obama’s attempts to pass a climate change bill as a job killer, said efforts to protect the sage grouse was another example of a green agenda that was bad for workers.

"Wyoming is still left with a black cloud over our job market," said the state’s U.S. senator, John Barrasso.

With an unemployment rate of 9.7 percent, the economy will be a politically charged issue in a congressional election year where Democrats are seen in trouble in many districts.

The bird did not attain full endangered status but as a candidate species, federal and state government agencies will be expected to work harder to protect its habitat, so industry could still face restrictions.

Wyoming had already taken steps to protect the bird in a bid to stave off an endangered species listing, which the sage grouse could still attain down the road.

The Bureau of Land Management in early January issued guidelines to protect the bird, which Wyoming officials and environmentalists say will effectively preclude wind power development in about 20 percent of the sprawling state.

According to National Geographic, the bird’s range is spread over 11 western states but is concentrated in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Nevada.

(Editing by Jim Marshall and Rebekah Kebede)

DALLAS, March 5 (Reuters) – The U.S. Interior Department will announce on Friday its plan to protect a threatened ground bird, a move that will have a huge impact on wind, oil and natural gas development and ranching in the American west.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will announce whether the greater sage-grouse will be afforded mandated protections with a listing under the Endangered Species Act.

Even without endangered species status, the department’s the Bureau of Land Management said it will publish later on Friday updated national guidelines to safeguard critical habitat for the chicken-sized ground bird. Any federal measures to protect the bird and its habitat will have implications for the energy and ranching sectors.

"The BLM anticipates issuing its national policy today and materials will be posted later today," a BLM spokesperson said.

The BLM guidelines could be modeled on those already laid down in Wyoming, which effectively preclude wind energy development in 20 percent of that state and restrict the oil and gas industries in some areas to one drilling site per square mile.

The national policy will cover the 10 other states where the bird is found. But the biggest impact on development will no doubt be found in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Nevada, the four states where it is most widespread.

Under a full endangered species listing, activities that require federal approval or funds that could jeopardize the existence of the species or adversely modify its habitat will be subjected to scrutiny from the Fish and Wildlife Service.

The fact that the BLM is announcing its plans suggests the bird may not get an Endangered Species listing but could be given what is known as "warranted but precluded" status.

This would still include regulatory hurdles to protect the bird, whose population the National Audubon Society estimates has shrunk to around 200,000 from millions a century ago.

The bird, to some a symbol of the West, has seen its range area cut in half due to habitat loss and development.

During the consultation process, the Fish and Wildlife Service offers mitigations that if implemented will eliminate or reduce harm to the species or its habitat. If the mitigations are implemented, the activity proceeds.

Such a listing could also be politically explosive at a time of high unemployment ahead of November’s congressional elections.

(Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by David Gregorio) (Dallas newsroom, +1 972 632 7041, edward.stoddard@thomsonreuters.com))

DALLAS, March 2 (Reuters) – Incumbent Rick Perry beat U.S.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in a bruising primary election on
Tuesday to decide the Republican candidate for Texas governor.

“I have called Governor Perry congratulating him on his
victory,” Hutchison said in televised remarks from Dallas,
after election results showed Perry with a commanding lead.

DALLAS (Reuters) – Many Americans are skeptical about global warming and that makes it harder to get a bill through Congress.

“My personal leanings are that it’s more cyclical than a permanent trend,” said Jimmy Pritchard, a Southern Baptist pastor in a Dallas suburb.