Dunes Sage Brush Lizard May Stop Drilling. . .

[marshabar1]

The push for federal protection of the dunes sagebrush lizard -- a tiny 3-inch reptile -- is causing big headaches for oil drillers and ranchers who say doing so will kill their livelihood.

Oil company owners say they support conservation, but fear what will happen to the economy if the brakes are put on local oil production.

"This could cripple what is now a very healthy job environment," said Douglass Robison, president of ExL Petroleum in Midland, Texas.

The dunes sagebrush lizard lives off of a shrub called shinnery oak in the Permian Basin, which cuts through New Mexico and West Texas -- and is also one of the richest resources of oil and gas in the United States.

Environmental groups say that oil production has destroyed much of its shinnery oak, which has led to a dramatic decline in the lizard's population.

Conservation groups that want the reptile added to the Endangered Species List are pointing to a new study by the Center for Biological Diversity showing that the reptile's habitat is so small that protecting it won't impact drilling.

"[The dune sagebrush lizard] exists on less than 1 percent of the land proposed during the study," said Jay Lininger, an ecologist with the Center for Biological Diversity who conducted the study.

Lininger based his study on the land leased to oil and gas companies by the Bureau of Land Management and found that 5 percent of nearly 53,000 acres offered for lease since January 2010 included habitat for the lizard.

But Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Tex.) disagrees with the report done by the Center for Biological Diversity. "They have seen 1,000 drilling locations that would be potentially inaccessible," he said.

"They have only looked at 1 percent out of potential habitats," he said. "The science is weak," he added. He says giving the dunes sagebrush lizard federal protection status wouldn't be threatening just Texas, it would be damaging to the entire United States because of less domestic drilling, resulting in higher gas prices.

Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) said if the lizard ends up on the list, it would shut down any industry that interrupts the land, including oil drilling and ranching. "Almost every job [in the counties] is at risk," Pearce told FoxNews.com. "Workers will have to go someplace else."

The Center for Biological Diversity and another conservation group, WildEarth Guardians, says Pearce's claim that the oil and gas industry would be devastated is blown out of proportion.

Lininger said the lizards are at great risk. "The science is clear that the species require protection now."

politics.foxnews.mobi/sr%3D1/dd%3D1/ms%3D1/jsrv%3D72/aamsz%3Dbanner_top/site%3DFOXNEWS/area%3DFN.POLITICS.PENTAGON.CONTENT/quickPage.html?page=33234&content=51721111&pageNum=-1

[Deleted]

FAR better to deal with people that hate us than to hurt a flippin' lizard. And, oh, yeah--SAVE THE WHATEVERS!!!!!

[marshabar1]

Yeah well, the science is clear. People really must drop dead.

[Deleted]

We don't have oil in AZ, but we have lots of lizards. Wonder if we could export some to the drilling areas..... probably not.. wrong kind of lizards or some bullcrap.

[marshabar1]

Well They'll stop you and say that it's the end
They'll stop you and then they'll come back again
They'll stop you when you're riding in your car
They'll stop you when you're playing you guitar
Yes But I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must drop dead
Alright

Well They'll stop you when you are all alone
They'll stop you when you are walking home
They'll stop you and then say they're all brave
They'll stop you when you're sent down in your grave
But I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must drop dead

Nod to Bob Dylan, Rainy Day Woman

[Deleted]

LOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would K you in seconds, except I am racing you to Ed's 200!!!!!

[marshabar1]

An environment group, Wildlife Guardians, sued the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in 2008 to fast-track the lizard’s listing, which had been languishing due to funding shortages. The Feds were only too happy to comply and held hearings in Texas and New Mexico last week as part of a timeline that could see the lizard listed within a year. In typical environmentalist hyperbole, the Wildlife Guardians lawsuit said, “Each month that passes without ESA protection for the sand dune lizard, this species angles farther over the cliff and closer to extinction.”

As dire and sensational as that sounds, the fact is that what’s known about the lizard is attributed almost entirely to studies done in the 1960s on federal lands — while most of the Permian Basin is in private ownership. If the impacts of oil and natural gas production are anywhere close to what Wildlife Guardians says they are, the lizard would certainly have disappeared in the 50 years since those studies were completed.

“The science is terrible,” said Permian Basin Petroleum Association spokesperson Jane Sheppard. “They have one study that says the lizards won’t cross roads and another that says their population is dropping because they’re being killed when they cross roads. Which is it?” Still, the Feds are using this dated, incomplete and conflicting science to justify moving forward with the listing.

Why would the federal government seek to shut down oil production in America’s richest source of domestic energy when gasoline is inching toward $5 a gallon? Why, for that matter, would the federal government seek to shut down home building in Southern California? As a Southern Californian, the controversy over the sand dune lizard reminds me of the Fish & Wildlife Service’s aggressive efforts to list the California gnatcatcher in the early 1990s. Declaring that songbird endangered would have caused an economic impact of up to $14 billion to the Southern California economy, which at the time was mired in a recession.

Read more: dailycaller.com/2011/05/02/will-obama-take-on-the-sand-dune-lizards/#ixzz1NVMm52A3

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Did someone say lizard?

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Mean Kittay.... bad oil!!!!!