Texas Files Lawsuit Against Biden Administration Over Endangered Lizard Status, Citing Oil Industry Threat

By Jonathan Stempel

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration following its decision to classify the dunes sagebrush lizard as an endangered species. Paxton argues that the ruling is politically motivated and poses a risk to property owners and energy production in the region.

The Republican attorney general claims that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service based its final rule, announced on May 20, on flawed data and arbitrary assumptions regarding the lizard’s future. He contends that this designation could hinder private landowners’ business activities while aiming to protect the lizard within its extensive geographic range, which includes the Permian Basin, the most productive oil region in the United States.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Midland, Texas, and seeks to overturn the endangered status of the lizard. Paxton has previously initiated multiple lawsuits challenging various policies of the Biden administration.

In a statement, he accused the Democratic administration of "weaponizing environmental law" in a covert effort to undermine Texas’s oil and gas industry, which plays a crucial role in providing energy across the country.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees the Fish and Wildlife Service, declined to comment, noting that both agencies are named as defendants in the case.

The Railroad Commission of Texas, responsible for regulating the state’s oil and gas industry, urged Paxton in June to contest the lizard’s endangered classification, labeling the decision as "nothing more than a political game."

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Texas produced 43% of the nation’s oil and 27% of its marketed gas in 2023.

The range of the dunes sagebrush lizard covers approximately 1.25 million acres (1,953 square miles), as stated by the Fish and Wildlife Service.

The case is filed as Texas v. U.S. Department of the Interior et al, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.