Texas sues Biden administration over endangered lizard status, cites oil industry threat By Reuters

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration on Monday for declaring the dune chain lizard an endangered species, saying the politically motivated decision could harm property owners and production energetic.

Paxton, a Republican, said the US Fish and Wildlife Service relied on flawed data and arbitrary assumptions about the lizard’s future to adopt a final rule on May 20 listing the animal as endangered.

He said the move threatened the ability of private owners to conduct business while ensuring the lizard’s survival in its large geographic range that overlaps the Permian Basin, the largest oil-producing region in the United States.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Midland, Texas, seeks to overturn the final rule.

Paxton has filed many lawsuits challenging the policies of the Biden administration.

In a statement, he accused the Democratic administration of “weaponizing environmental law” in a “backhanded attempt to undermine the Texas oil and gas industries that help keep the lights on for America.”

A spokesman for the US Department of the Interior, which includes the Fish and Wildlife Service, declined to comment. Both agencies were named as defendants.

The Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, asked Paxton in June to challenge the lizard’s endangered status, calling the listing “nothing more than a political game.”

Texas accounted for 43 percent of national production and 27 percent of its market production in 2023, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

The dune lizard’s range spans 1.25 million acres (1,953 square miles), the Fish and Wildlife Service said.

The case is Texas v. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, et al., U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, no. 24-00233.