Texas Scorecard by Will Biagini | August 2, 2024
The attorney general gave the Biden administration 60 days to retract a rule that circumvents the Endangered Species Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. Attorney General Ken Paxton has sent a letter to the Biden administration, notifying them of the state’s intent to sue if the administration does not back down from its most recent weaponization of environmental law.
In a Thursday press release, the attorney general stated that he is challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—also called the “Service”—over unlawfully classifying the dunes sagebrush lizard as an endangered species.
“The Biden Administration has sought countless ways to weaponize federal power to harm Texas’s oil and gas industries,” said the attorney general. “My office is prepared to take action to protect the Texas economy, preserve Texans’ private property rights, and maintain our State-guided conservation efforts that protect our environment.”
Paxton’s office explained that the Service used unreliable assumptions about the state’s oil and gas industry and unsupported conclusions about climate change when it listed the lizard under the Endangered Species Act.
Moreover, the creature is already protected by conservation efforts that were agreed upon by state landowners. These efforts simultaneously protect wildlife while safeguarding property rights and spurring the state’s economic development.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/state/texas-ag-warns-state-will-sue-after-federal-government-weaponizes-environmental-law/
