Texas has sued the federal government for waging war against the state’s oil and gas industry through the weaponization of environmental laws.
According to a press release by Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Biden-Harris administration’s decision to classify the dunes sagebrush lizard as endangered was unlawful and violated the Endangered Species Act.
“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,” he said.
“I warned that we would sue over this illegal move, and now we will see them in court,” Paxton continued. The attorney general’s original warning gave the administration 60 days to reverse the classification, or the state would file suit.
The lawsuit—specifically targeted at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—asserts that listing the lizard as endangered was based on inconclusive and unreliable speculations about its status.
Additionally, the listing allegedly does not account for any existing wildlife conservation efforts that apply to it. In response, the attorney general’s lawsuit asks that the court declare the Biden-Harris administration’s rule unlawful and vacate it completely.
Last year, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham posited that listing the dunes sagebrush lizard as endangered would detrimentally affect the state’s oil and gas industry.
According to Buckingham, listing it as such would further restrict fuel exploration and production in the Permian Basin.
“The Biden-Harris Administration will stop at nothing to cripple Texas’ robust oil and gas industry,” Buckingham said. “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 added that the classification “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.”
