U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday that the dunes sagebrush lizard might not be listed as endangered if enough energy companies and ranchers voluntarily agree to preserve the sand-dwelling reptile’s habitat.
Salazar endorsed the conservation pacts as a way to protect the lizard while avoiding the more rigid federal endangered-species listing, which could put the brakes on oil and gas drilling in parts of West Texas and New Mexico.
“We are making great progress with volunteer agreements,” he said after touring a ConocoPhillips site near Midland, in the imperiled lizard’s range. “We might be able to avoid a listing.”
The Fish and Wildlife Service, which Salazar oversees, must decide by mid-June whether to list the three-inch reptile, also known as the sand dune lizard, as an endangered species, a designation intended to save it from extinction.
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Still, Permian Basin Petroleum Association President Ben Shepperd, whose group represents about 900 oil and gas producers, questioned the need for conservation plans, saying research does not show the lizard is threatened or endangered.
Despite the “carrot” of no endangered-species listing for conservation agreements, Shepperd said, “I see no need to surrender part of Texas to an administration in Washington, D.C., that has shown only contempt for the oil it contains.”
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As you might notice from the headline I do not have a high regard for the anti Darwinian Endangered Feces List. These lizards should be able to adapt or move to another area. They are probably in more danger from cats than from oil rigs anyway. If they really want these lizards protected they need to find out whether they eat roaches. If they do they will be in demand as house pets.
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