Don't Triple Dog Dare This Cat!
Give what you can
Or donate monthly, and a sponsoring FReeper will contribute $10
Save our poor Lazamataz!
Posted on 04/25/2011 10:09:01 AM PDT by Hojczyk
First, here are the first three graphs of a story out of west Texas:
A three-inch lizard that thrives in desert conditions could shut down oil and gas operations in portions of Southeast New Mexico and in West Texas, including the state's top two oil producing counties.
Called the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard, it is being considered for inclusion on the federal Endangered Species listing by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A public rally to oppose this move is being sponsored by the Permian Basin Petroleum Association on Tuesday, April 26 at Midland Center beginning at 5 p.m. Congressman Mike Conaway will speak, as will Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson; other public officials have been invited.
"We are very concerned about the Fish and Wildlife Service listing," said Ben Shepperd, president of the PBPA, noting the service also has proposed listing the Lesser Prairie Chicken next year. "The wolf at the door is the lizard; we're concerned listing it would shut down drilling activity for a minimum of two years and as many as five years while the service determines what habitat is needed for the lizard. That means no drilling, no seismic surveys, no roads built, no electric lines."
This lizard isn't protected under the Endangered Species Act ("ESA") ---yet. But if the industry, lessees and land owners, and affiliated businesses and communities do not rally to present the necessary science and defend against the typically hyperbolic claims of the species' imminent demise due to "habitat fragmentation" presented by anti-growth, anti-energy environmental extremists, the lizard will soon add another burden to the business of energy production, just as scores of species listings in other states have diminished economic growth across a number of industries.
The abuse of the ESA is more than two decades old, but is now something of a science on the left, and the sporadic attempts to amend the ESA over the years have all come to naught. I have battled such listing for 20 years and it is crucial not just for the soon-to-be-impacted property-owners and industry interests to organize, but also for the House Natural Resource Committee to exercise oversight on this proposed listing and all new listings and to make sure that the administrative record is full of arguments against the listing and especially against the entire theory of "habitat loss" as a rationale for a listing.
"It's just another listing" is the familiar refrain of the MSM and the Beltway trade associations are weary of these battles. But this one and others that will impact domestic oil production ought to at least bring some new industries beside land owners and property-rights activists into the battle to return balance to the ESA.
Shoot, shovel shut up.
States, just start drilling and make the feds stop you.
To $4.17 here in Northern Indiana this morning.
I've been saying that for over a year.
Let's see the Delta Force on that WACO.
I was born in the ‘oil patch’ (Odessa) and raised
in Hobbs, NM... right smack in the middle of the
area the EPA is talking about. I am a few months
shy of 70 years old... those damn lizards were running
around when I was a kid... they have been running
around all these years... they do not drink the oil...
they go their merry way and live the life that lizards
live. This latest action is PURELY bogus in every
way. Those folks are looking for ways to destroy us.
.... ah, power in the hands of idiots.
Endangered Species Act.
Yet one more ‘progressive’ law signed by a Republican president, to be used as a battering ram by leftists.
The eco-nazis rule with an iron hand.
Well:
Clinton shut down most of New Mexico to drilling.
The Dhims shut down Alaska
Obama shut down the Gulf
Now, they’re shutting down West Texas and the rest of New Mexico.
That’s an easy 2/3 of our productive capacity.
Klamath Falls, part 2?
We keep our oil and we let DC and all of the other liberal hell holes freeze in the dark!
Export these critters to any other oil producing nation, and see if they shut down their domestic drilling operations to protect them.
“A three-inch lizard” that is harassed by the sight of oil wells. Its senses are assaulted. ...kinda like sensitivities in corporate offices.
Aren’t real estate interests in decline (and denial) just great? They do the same in my area, posing as greenies.
The lizards, or the enviro wackos?
Anyone know the bag and possession limit on enviro whackos?
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.