ATTOR­NEY GEN­ER­AL PAX­TON PRO­TECTS TEXAS OIL AND GAS PRO­DUC­TION BY VACAT­ING BIDEN-ERA RULE THAT UNLAW­FUL­LY LIST­ED THE DUNES SAGE­BRUSH LIZARD AS ENDANGERED

AUSTIN, July 29 -- The Texas Attorney General issued the following press release:

Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a settlement vacating and remanding the Biden Administration's listing of the dunes sagebrush lizard as endangered. This legal victory ends an unlawful rule that threatened Texas's oil and gas industry.

In September 2024, Attorney General Paxton sued the Biden Administration over its decision to list the dunes sagebrush lizard as endangered. The listing violated the Endangered Species Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ("USFWS") relied on data that fell short of the "best available" standard and ignored its own internal listing policies. The agency also made arbitrary assumptions a...