The decision against listing the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard as endangered is a
Ben Shepperd
victory for clear thinking, responsible scientific study, and regional economic health. And it shows the effectiveness of rallying to a cause.
At long last, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has ruled NOT to list the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard as Endangered. This decision is a huge victory for the Permian Basin and America’s consumers. I have personally thanked both U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and USFW director Dan Ashe, both of whom worked through the difficult issues and reached the correct conclusion, in my view.
Dr. Benjamin Tuggle, the USFW Regional Director in Albuquerque, and his staff were great to work with under sometimes very difficult and heated conditions.
Make no mistake, a Threatened or Endangered finding would have been devastating to the industry in this region and the negative economic impact would have been in the billions of dollars.
I was proud of the role PBPA played in this debate and know we had a tremendous impact on the decision. This was an unprecedented effort with an incredible list of allies.
You always get in trouble for thanking people for their efforts on something like this because you invariably forget to mention someone; but here goes anyway.
U.S. Senator John Cornyn and his staff worked tirelessly on this issue and helped secure a visit by Dan Ashe to Midland last February. Both of the U.S. Senators from New Mexico, Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall, signed letters to USFW urging the agency to thoroughly analyze the scientific and conservation efforts.
New Mexico Congressman Steve Pearce fought tirelessly and Congressman Martin Heinrich was a strong advocate for the facts. Texas Congressmen Mike Conaway (R-Midland), Randy Neugebauer (R-Lubbock), and Francisco Canseco (R-San Antonio) all worked hard on this issue. Representative Conaway was also responsible for Speaker of the House John Boehner’s visit to Midland where I had a chance to speak directly with him on this issue.
I also must mention the incredible scientific research and analysis conducted by scientists at Texas Tech and Texas A&M Universities. Their work helped define the “best available” science. This body of work demonstrated that the best available science showed the Lizard was not in danger of extinction nor was its habitat significantly threatened. Without this scientific information, the USFW would have listed the species as Endangered based on the previous, limited science it had at the time of the listing proposal.
One of the early, helpful scientific analyses was orchestrated by New Mexico Representative Dennis Kintigh. He deserves our heartfelt thanks.
Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst directed the Senate to review the issue and Texas State Senator Kel Seliger held the hearing in Midland which further helped illuminate the issue.
Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, as well as Railroad Commissioners Barry Smitherman and David Porter, all kept the issue in the forefront and helped demonstrate the potential devastating effect the listing would have.
I have not scratched the surface on the local officials, chambers of commerce, industry personnel, and private citizens who all helped in various ways.
This was a tremendous victory for all of us and we can be thankful. But we shall not rest on our laurels. We are already well underway on our next debate, over the Lesser Prairie Chicken.