Federal Judge Rules in Lawsuit Regarding Dunes Sagebrush Lizard

October 1, 2014

Federal Judge Rules in Favor of Texas Comptroller in Lawsuit Regarding Dunes Sagebrush Lizard

(AUSTIN) — Texas Comptroller Susan Combs applauded yesterday’s ruling by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia that struck down a lawsuit brought by environmental groups. Defenders of Wildlife and the Center for Biological Diversity had asked the court to require the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to reconsider its June 2012 decision not to list the dunes sagebrush lizard (DSL) as endangered.

 

The decision comes as a huge victory for the Texas Conservation Plan (TCP) for the DSL. Comptroller Combs was instrumental in the development of the TCP for the DSL. Combs worked with a broad group of stakeholders, including private property owners, oil and gas companies, agricultural interests, biologists, and state and federal agencies, to provide protection for the DSL while allowing continued economic activity in the Permian Basin, a region that accounts for 57 percent of Texas’ total crude oil production and supports 47,000 oil and gas-related jobs.

In his ruling Judge Rudolph Contreras noted “the Court finds that the FWS’s withdrawal decision rested on ‘the best scientific and commercial data available,’ as required by the ESA.” Contreras added that environmental groups “proffer no scientifically superior data from the administrative record that FWS failed to consider.”

 

“I am very happy with the judge’s decision,” Combs said. “It supports our basic belief that the TCP provides appropriate conservation for the lizard and reaffirms that the research conducted by Texas A&M University about the DSL helped to provide Fish and Wildlife the best scientific data available to make the decision not to list the species as endangered.”

 

The plaintiffs also argued the DSL was not being protected because the Combs-led TCP for the DSL was voluntary in nature, and the partners to the plan were providing too little information to FWS. According to Combs and Contreras, this is simply not the case.

The Comptroller’s office maintains frequent reporting with Fish and Wildlife on the plan including enrollment, research conducted, allowed disturbances and conservation activities by regularly and transparently sharing aggregated information with FWS both through required monthly and annual reports (both publicly available) as well as other communications.

 

At the time of FWS’ initial decision not to list the DSL, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar lauded the TCP, calling it “a great example of how states and landowners can take early, landscape-level action to protect wildlife habitat before a species is listed under the Endangered Species Act.”

 

 

 

Currently more than 227,000 gross acres and more than 108,000 habitat acres are enrolled in the plan, and 575 acres of land have been used for conservation. Only 30.6 acres of habitat have been disturbed by those enrolled; that is 1.4 percent of the total amount allowed for the first three years. Additional information is provided to the public on a Comptroller-run website, www.KeepingTexasFirst.org.

“The TCP continues to be part of our ongoing efforts to help Texas strike an appropriate balance between environmental protection and economic growth. It protects private landowners, oil and gas producers and agriculture producers who are taking the lead in lizard conservation while also maintaining their right to conduct business,” Combs said. “Without the support of all the stakeholders involved and those actively conserving the DSL in the Permian Basin, this species would have been listed as endangered, which could have been devastating to our state’s economy. We should all thank these partners.”