‘One attendee, who disagreed with Pearce’s anti-lizard rhetoric, was shouted down by the partisan crowd.’
LIZARDS are a big political issue in New Mexico?
You'd go off the deep end too if F&WS declares a good portion of oil and gas areas off limits due to the lizard and your livelihood blows away with the SE NM wind. As Pearce said, look at what has happened to the lumber industry in the west because of an owl and the agriculture in CA's central valley because of a fish. It can and will happen here if F&WS declares it endangered. Especially sad because there are already agreements in place to protect it without the overwhelming boot of the the feds.