Posted on 04/27/2011 4:05:57 PM PDT by Kaslin
Species: After the harm done by the spotted owl and delta smelt, the listing of a tiny reptile as endangered may be the latest salvo in the war on domestic energy.
As Yogi Berra would say, it's deja vu all over again. If the dunes sagebrush lizard is listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as an endangered species, another key part of the American economy will fall prey to the eco-extremist mantra that every little critter's well-being trumps that of the American people and economy.
Last December, the Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the lizard, a three-inch-long reptile native to the American Southwest, "faces immediate and significant threats due to oil and gas activities and herbicide treatments" and initiated the process to get it listed under the Endangered Species Act.
In 2002, the Center for Biological Diversity first petitioned to have the lizard, originally considered a subspecies of the common sagebrush lizard, listed as endangered. The Bush administration delayed consideration for six years. Last year, the Obama administration put it back on the fast track.
And why not? This is an administration that has ignored a judge's order to remove restrictions on oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and designated vast areas in and off Alaska as protected habitat for the caribou and the polar bears, species whose only problem is one of overpopulation.
As director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Steven Chu, Obama's secretary of energy, expressed a fondness for high European gas prices as a means of reducing consumption of fossil fuels. In a September 2008 newspaper interview, he said: "Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe." Gas prices in Europe then averaged about $8 a gallon.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
I would think that a lizard whose habitat covers two states is not really endangered. Does that make me evil?
Looks that way...
When Texas gains its primary revenue from a state sales tax, and taxes on oil and gas production, we barely balanced the budget this session (27 billion) this time...
Guess what’s going to happen when the revenue is not even going to match what little it did this cycle...
We thought the layoffs and the economy in general were bad this time...
Wait another two years...Those cuts are going to be even deeper...
Absolutely not
*sigh*. CBD again.
Quite a few articles up on this but those of us that would be affected welcome more. This may be the best one in describing the impacts:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2710255/posts
Do a keyword search on “lizard” to see the list:
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/lizard/index
That lizard has lived in the oil patch for millions of years through time much more challenging than today. If they are so threatened then the highways through that part of the country should be closed.
That lizard is decreed as a subspecies split into a species.
The solution is to fire the biologist that got a new degree with the split
Nope.
It implies that you have way too much common sense to be a beauracratic regulator. You might want to think about dumbing down so that you have future career options...
This story has gotten quite a bit of press but in The Carlsbad Current Argus there is an article on the subject. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/local/Albuquerque/Carlsbad_Current-Argus/SIG=124p9p3ds;_ylt=AmxPpKDigOnx4zL4.rfFMvoPnq8F;_ylu=X3oDMTFuMnI1cDNqBGFzc2V0AwRwb3MDNARzZWMDeW5fbG9jYWxfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawNjYXJsc2JhZGNpdHk-/*http%3A//www.currentargus.com/carlsbad-news/ci_17935615?source=rss
It appears pretty clear that the evil one is trying to destroy Texas. Won’t declare disaster to help with fire damage; won’t even talk to Gov. Perry; now trying to kill Texas oil production. Pure evil.
Awfully suspicious that Obama would start this up now given that Texas is listed as having one of the BEST economies in the country! Through his arrogance our country will continue to suffer!
Of course, he believes by screwing Texas as much as he can, the state will be come so digusted that we’ll somehow vote his way in the next General Election...
It’s going to be a hard case to crack, but they are committed, I am just concerned that they will succeed at the very least to split the state and turn it purple before the complete failure of our elected officials and it goes blue...
We have too many feckless elitist moderates in the Republican Party that cave at the slightest bit of resistance by the Feds and this administration...
I believe we need to fire them all and put people of a stiffer backbone and conservative, principled convictions in place...
Just my opinion...
Hi Nan. I appreciated your good comments about Governor Perry and Texas! You were aware of what Obama has done to us.
It’s interesting to read older threads that show how Obama has deliberately tried to penalize Texas. He hates Rick Perry because Perry has stood up to him, even confronting him at an airport because Obama refused to help with the border.
Obama shut down drilling in Texas - which affected the whole country. It’s now starting up again but the application process and restrictions are huge.
When Obama shut down the space shuttle program he chose 4 museums to receive shuttles for public display, but he ignored Houston! Houston, home of the manned Space Shuttle! Unbelievable!!
Texas is full of refineries and Obama has imposed tremendous EPA restrictions on them.
Just last month the U.S. sent two Air force cargo planes to help Mexico battle back wildfires in the northern part of its country, fires that burned 386 square miles. Its a move that West Texas Congressman Francisco Canseco (R-Fort Stockton) thinks is a hypocritical one by the Obama administration as Texas has requested the same sort of federal aid but has been denied it.
In all honesty, after a thousand homes and 100 acres of land had already burned, I believe Obama did finally allow help.
Perry has had to fight Obama all the way, time after time.
Nobody in other states has a clue of what goes on down here. And yet we prosper! It must be Rick Perry’s fault, lol.
the won has destroyed the oil industry in LA. and is now going after Texas. In WV he’s going after coal. We stand to lose thousands of jobs in the next 6 mo. Thousands of jobs in a state that has just over 1 million people is a disaster. WV is used to hurting, but they have always had coal to fall back on. Now they won’t have that and the people will all be slaves to the welfare system. And this just when we were working so hard to get WV out of the welfare system and working again by developing tourism. I hope nobody mentions to the won that WV also has lots of chemical plants. I guess after all the coal power plants are gone, the chemical plants will have to move for lack of affordable power. That evil spirit is systematically destroying the country.
That's another thing he has done - I don't think any new refineries have been “allowed” to be built in ages and the ones we have are getting very old.
Everything he's done has been to harm us and yet half our population doesn't ‘see’ that. It's stunning!
We must remove him. I hate all the fighting that goes on because we must become united and remove Obama. I pray we will.
Take care Nan!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.