The long-protected dunes sagebrush lizard, whose haunt is in the Permian Basin region of West Texas and parts of New Mexico, is no longer considered an endangered species.
Conservationists are not happy after U.S. District Court Judge David Counts of the Western District of Texas approved a settlement in a legal challenge made by the state of Texas after the Biden Administration in 2024 classified the lizard as endangered, saying it faced grave threats from oil and gas development and climate change. Republican officials in Texas and industry groups had criticized the Biden administration claiming the classification was an attack on the state’s oil and gas economy. The Fish and Wildlife Service in the Trump administration called the decision a “serious and fundamental error” and facing the lawsuit, reversed its original position.
The judge found the Biden administration’s evaluation of the lizard’s habitat was “potentially inaccurate” and approved the agreement to remove the endangered species protections. The lizard’s habitat can conflict with oil and gas exploration in the Permian Basin, the largest source of drilling activity and oil production in the U.S.
Meanwhile, the Fish and Wildlife Service will reevaluate the animal’s status over the next two years.
According to the New York Times, it was the second time in a year that Judge Counts allowed the Trump administration to remove an animal from the endangered species list in response to a lawsuit brought by industry or states. In the previous case, Judge Counts agreed to rescind protections for the lesser prairie chicken, another species whose habitat puts it in conflict with the oil and gas industry.
The Trump administration is attempting to also remove protections for seven species of freshwater mussels found in Central Texas rivers and creeks. The government challenged Biden-era findings and claims they were in error or with incomplete information.
“Sound science is being thrown under the bus for politics,” said Jason Rylander, a legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation group that tried to intervene in the cases but was denied the opportunity.
Mr. Rylander said that in 25 years of practicing conservation law, he had never before seen an administration use the courts to hastily strip protections from a species. He said the government would typically conduct a new scientific review and solicit public comments before altering a decision that had taken years to complete, reported the Times.
