Att. Gen. Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against the Biden Administration, challenging the federal classification of the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard as endangered.
The lawsuit targets the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and several key administration officials, alleging that the decision to categorize the sagebrush lizard as endangered was made unlawfully and undermined the power of the state’s oil and gas industries.
“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. I warned that we would sue over this illegal move, and now we will see them in court,” said Paxton via press release.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the U.S. FWS’s decision earlier this summer to classify the species as endangered allegedly aims to protect the lizard’s habitat in southeast New Mexico and West Texas, where over 95% has been lost to human activities.
The classification comes after years of legal disputes among federal agencies, environmentalists, and the oil sector.
The FWS noted that nearly 100 ranchers and 100 oil and gas companies in New Mexico and Texas have voluntarily joined conservation agreements designed to mitigate specific threats to the lizard’s habitat, representing only 4% of the 86,000-square-mile Permian Basin. These agreements are intended to reassure land managers that they can maintain their operations with minimal new requirements or restrictions.
While certain activists welcomed the ruling, industry representatives expressed concern about its potential impact on fossil fuel production for Texas.
According to the Attorney General’s office, the federal Wildlife Service failed “to use the best available scientific and commercial data” when designating the lizard as endangered, leading to what he describes as inaccurate and “arbitrary assumptions” regarding the lizard’s current and future status as an endangered species.
Paxton’s office further contends that the classification ignores ongoing voluntary conservation efforts spearheaded by various state entities, efforts that he argues should have mitigated the need for federal intervention for the lizard in the first place.
Paxton emphasized that the federal designation creates an atmosphere of regulatory uncertainty that could stifle economic development in the Permian Basin, one of the nation’s most productive oil and gas regions.
The complaint follows a notice sent by Paxton to the Biden Administration on July 25, in which he urged the retraction of the lizard’s endangered classification. After the administration failed to respond adequately, Paxton’s office proceeded with legal action, seeking a court ruling that the agencies acted in violation of both the Administrative Procedure Act and the Endangered Species Act.
Environmental advocates, however, argue that protecting the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard is critical to preserving its habitat and biodiversity. They assert that the species has seen significant declines due to habitat loss, primarily attributed to oil and gas development, and that federal protections are needed to prevent further species population decline.
“The Endangered Species Act is an important tool in preventing the extinction of imperiled species like the dunes sagebrush lizard,” said Amy Lueders, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service southwest regional director, via press release.