“Today’s decision not to list the dunes sagebrush lizard has spared Texas from strict federal land use controls on private lands, which would have stalled Texas’ historic boom in oil and gas production. It was the correct decision, legally and scientifically.
“Decisions to list species under the Endangered Species Act should be based on rigorous science. However, the initial attempts to list the dunes sagebrush lizard as an endangered or threatened species were not based on sufficient data that was specific to Texas.”
Kathleen Hartnett White is director of the Armstrong Center for Energy and Environment at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. She was commissioner and chairman of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality from 2001 to 2007.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin.
Primary website: www.TexasPolicy.com
Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/TexasPublicPolicyFoundation
Twitter feed: www.Twitter.com/TPPF
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