Texas sues Biden administration over rare lizard’s endangered status

SAN ANTONIO (CN) — The long litigation history over the dunes sagebrush lizard continued Monday when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the federal government for its decision to list the rare spiny lizard under the Endangered Species Act.

Found only in parts of New Mexico and Texas, the dunes sagebrush lizard has been at the center of controversy for years. It lives in unique sand dune systems covered in shinnery oak in southeastern New Mexico and western Texas. But the problem is that a big part of its habitat is in the Permian Basin, which has been experiencing a boon in oil and gas production.

The state argued in its lawsuit and in public comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that classifying the lizard as endangered would threaten the state’s economy, the agriculture industry and energy independence. Claiming the move was one of “countless ways” federal power was being weaponized to harm Texas’s oil and gas industries, Paxton warned the Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Department of the Interior in July that the state would sue over the unlawful listing if not withdrawn within 60 days.

He did just that in federal court on Monday.

“The Biden-Harris administration’s unlawful misuse of environmental law is a backdoor attempt to undermine Texas’s oil and gas industries which help keep the lights on for America,” Paxton said in a statement Monday. “I warned that we would sue over this illegal move, and now we will see them in court.”

But the Fish and Wildlife Service, while acknowledging the state’s concerns and voluntary conservation efforts over the last decade, said that listing determinations must be made “solely on the basis of the best scientific and commercial data available." The agency said a species warrants listing if it meets the definition of an endangered species, which it defines as in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

“Our listing determination that the dunes sagebrush lizard meets the Act’s definition of an ‘endangered species’ is supported by the current condition of the habitat and the risk that condition poses to the dunes sagebrush lizard throughout all of its range,” the Fish and Wildlife Service said in comments posted to the federal register.

It added that the determination was based on threats to the reptile’s habitat loss from development by the oil and gas and the frac sand mining industries, along with climate change and climate conditions.

The lawsuit includes as defendants the Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service and their heads, Interior Secretary Debra Haaland and Martha Williams, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service.

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