Environmentalists never did bother to make a case for why oil drilling would adversely affect the sage grouse.
Having grown up right next door to an oil refinery and “chicken farms” for oil storage- what is surely more developed than an oil drilling area- I found that to get the best photographs of wildlife, especially birds, for reference material, all one need do is go to the wetlands and grasslands around the refinery, as it acted as a perfect wildlife refuge. There were king rails and sora rails, coots, great blue herons, geese and ducks of very description, kestrels and hawks and owls, fox sparrows and other songbirds, kingfishers, a number of tortoises and turtles, snakes, muskrat, beaver, mink, foxes, deer... in greater abundance than there were in regional parks.
So how would drilling for oil harm a sage grouse?
..and nighthawks. Oh, it was awesome watching the nighthawks in breeding season. They loved the flat roofs of manmade structures to nest on, so they were everywhere.
Haha - my 82yo mother is an avid bird watcher and spends weekdays sneaking past security guards at local office park to check out the birds, especially birds of prey, who populate the corporate park sink hole.