Texas AG sues Biden admin for listing lizard as "endangered"
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A dunes sagebrush lizard. Photo: Ryan Hagerty/USFWS
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) is suing the Biden administration for classifying the dunes sagebrush lizard in May as an endangered species.
The big picture: The sand-burrowing lizard is native to a portion of the oil-and gas-rich Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico and Paxton in a statement Monday called the designation an "unlawful misuse of environmental law" and a "backdoor attempt to undermine Texas's oil and gas industries."
Context: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service deemed the lizard to be endangered due to factors including habitat loss, "degradation from development by the oil and gas and the frac sand" mining industries and "climate change and climate conditions."
- However, Paxton contends in the lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, that the designation was based on "inaccurate and arbitrary assumptions."
Details: Paxton alleges that the classification did not take into consideration voluntary conservation efforts taking place at a local and state level.
- "Because of this, the federal government's action would unduly undermine vital economic development in the Permian Basin, subjecting Texas industries and private landowners to regulatory uncertainty and ambiguity about what they can do with their own land."
- The suit names the U.S. Interior Department and its Secretary Debra Haaland, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its director Martha Williams.
Zoom in: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service noted as it listed the dunes sagebrush lizard as endangered that it's required to reach its determination "solely on the basis of the best scientific and commercial data available."
- It stated that its listing determination that the lizard met the Endangered Species Act definition of an "endangered species" was "supported by the current condition of the habitat and the risk that condition poses to the dunes sagebrush lizard throughout all of its range."
Zoom out: The dunes sagebrush lizard has lost more than 95% of its habitat to oil and gas development and the mining of sand for fracking, per nonprofit the Center for Biological Diversity.
- Representatives for the Biden administration did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment in the evening.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with further context.
