Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration and federal environmental and wildlife officials Monday to challenge the endangered species listing of the dunes sagebrush lizard, which lives in the heart of Texas oil country.
Less than three inches long, the lizard inhabits parts of the Permian Basin near Midland-Odessa and the southeast corner of New Mexico, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Paxton argued that the agency illegally classified the lizard, also known as the sand dune lizard, against “the best scientific and commercial data available” as a “backdoor” way to destroy the oil and gas industry in Texas — a valuable portion of which lies in the Permian Basin.
“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,” Paxton said in a statement.
Environmental advocates said the process, which included public hearings and a 90-day comment period, was fair.
“We get that the fact that this important species which occupies the same areas where oil and gas is abundant in West Texas is inconvenient, but the solution is not suing the federal government but working together to protect critical habitats,” said Cyrus Reed, legislative and conservation director of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club.
“Any oil and gas companies and landowners have already been working to protect the 4% of the Permian Basin that is impacted,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that Paxton spends more time doing the dirty work of oil and gas operators and sand miners than looking for solutions.”
Paxton sent a letter earlier this year telling the Biden administration he would sue if the classification was not reversed.
“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. “I warned that we would sue over this illegal move, and now we will see them in court.”
Paxton said federal regulators did not consider state and local conservation actions that have already taken place.
Companies that have already entered into a conservation agreement with the state to protect the lizard are exempted out of new regulations, but new businesses would not be able to take advantage of those, hindering development.
In 2012, the wildlife service approved the “Texas Conservation Plan for the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard,” developed by the industry and the state comptroller’s office. The voluntary program for oil and gas producers allowed activities that could occasionally harm lizards or their habitat for permit holders that participate in conservation efforts and also mitigate damage to the species.
At the time, the lizard had been listed as a candidate for eventual endangered status but was pulled from the list by the wildlife service after the Texas plan was approved, according to the Sierra Club.
“The ability to manage wildlife resources at the state level is especially important in Texas, where most land is privately owned,” the lawsuit said. “Texas’s collaboration with private landowners to achieve conservation while enabling economic development is crucial to the success of conservation efforts.”
A statement by the wildlife service in May said the Texas program and a similar one in New Mexico assured businesses and landowners that they would be allowed to manage their land under the conservation agreements, even if the lizard was listed as endangered, “with no additional requirements or restrictions.”
“The Endangered Species Act is an important tool in preventing the extinction of imperiled species like the dunes sagebrush lizard,” said Amy Lueders, the wildlife service’s southwest regional director. “The Service will continue working collaboratively with Tribes, industry, stakeholders, and private landowners while ensuring protections for the lizard and its habitat.”
About 100 ranchers and oil and gas companies have enrolled in conservation programs in both states, the service said.
Once the lizard was classified as endangered, no additional conservation agreements were allowed, the service said.
“Although new enrollment in these voluntary agreements ends when the listing rule is final and effective, the Service has multiple tools and programs to work with industry, private landowners, and public agencies to streamline and ensure compliance with the ESA,” the May statement said. “In addition, through advanced horizontal drilling techniques, oil and gas wells are still able to reach most oil and gas reserves without disrupting lizard habitat.”
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said Monday that new regulations could cause job losses as well as decreased revenue for the Permanent School Fund and Permanent University Fund, which help pay for education and are funded in part by oil and gas revenue, land leases and mineral rights.
More than $2.1 billion in oil and gas revenue was deposited into the school fund in 2022-23, Buckingham told federal officials last year. The university fund owns more than 2 million acres in West Texas, she said in an August 2023 letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“As the steward of over 13 million acres of energy-rich land, I will do everything in my power to protect our state’s energy independence and our schoolchildren’s education,” Buckingham said in a statement on Monday. “This unwarranted, understudied classification of the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard directly threatens surface activities that are absolutely necessary for oil and gas exploration in West Texas, and I will not allow this to happen on my watch.”
