At a glance, this is actually reassuring. Drilling for oil was planned to take place over 600 square miles of sage grouse habitat and we can get oil elsewhere. Similarly, grazing occurs over a wide area. In contrast, Thacker pass has a very small footprint. The EIS described the nearby sage grouse “leks”, or dancing grounds, with the closest being about a mile away and just three within 3.1 miles. The EIS expressed the greatest concerns were noise levels which could disrupt sage grouse behavior, cause physiological stress, mask biologically important sounds, and increase predation risk. Noise levels were estimated to come in below some 10db threshold for increase. Taking these things at face value, the BLM knows where the grouse are and demonstrated the impact is almost nonexistent. I understand the potential for concern, and I am moderately concerned, but it would seem highly irrational to draw the conclusion that the BLM didn't do a sufficient job with respect to impacts on the sage grouse in particular. Does anybody see this differently?