The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has ended endangered species protections for a Texas lizard that were introduced in 2024 after state Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the federal government over the designation.
The dunes sagebrush lizard is a roughly 2.5-inch-long reptile native to the Permian Basin has faced threats from oil and gas exploration and development in the region for decades, according to biologists. After the species was designated as endangered by the Biden administration and granted federal protections in 2024, Paxton sued, arguing the Wildlife Service did not use “the best scientific and commercial data” when it declared the lizard endangered.
The end of the dunes sagebrush lizard’s endangered classification came as part of a settlement on July 21 in a lawsuit between the federal government and Paxton’s office. The agreement vacates the 2024 classification, which will require the Wildlife Service to reassess the lizard’s status.
In a statement, Paxton applauded the wildlife service’s pending reassessment and framed the initial classification as a misstep that did not consider habitat restoration efforts.
“Texas, its people, and its industries should not have to suffer the effects of an illegal rule while the Fish and Wildlife Service further evaluates the status of the species,” Paxton said in a press release about the settlement Wednesday.
The wildlife service said that it is still committed to working with local partners to preserve the lizard’s natural habitat in a brief statement on Thursday.
Conservationists and biologists have pushed back on Paxton’s effort to rescind the lizard’s endangered status since the lawsuit was filed, arguing the Trump administration has made a concerted effort to change the status to benefit oil and gas interests. In February, the lesser prairie chicken, whose habitat is found in Texas and four other states, was similarly stripped of its endangered status in response to a court order.
“There appears to be a disturbing pattern of the Fish and Wildlife Service ignoring its mission to save struggling wildlife like dunes sagebrush lizards and lesser prairie chickens for the convenience of Texas politicians and big oil and gas polluters,” said Jason Rylander, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity in a June press release about the suit prior to the settlement.
Oil and gas companies had warned for years prior to the reclassification that the restrictions on development stemming from the lizards’ endangered status would slow every step of projects in the region.
A new reassessment of the sagebrush lizard’s status is expected within two years of the settlement, the wildlife service said.
A previous effort in 2012 to place the lizard under endangered status also failed when the wildlife service considered placing the species on the endangered list. The proposal was met with disapproval from then-Texas Comptroller Susan Combs and oil and gas groups, who also expressed doubt in scientific data about the risks posed to the lizard.
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This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
