Exclusive: Ted Cruz unveils bill nixing Biden regulation that’s hamstringing oil development to protect tiny lizard

Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz introduced a new bill to nix the Biden administration’s protections for a lizard species that critics argue will restrict oil and gas development.

Cruz unveiled his Congressional Review Act (CRA) bill to walk back the Biden administration’s decision to protect the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard, a species that is indigenous to parts of New Mexico and western Texas, under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Cruz and other critics of the designation have asserted that the lizard’s protections are more likely intended to complicate oil and gas development in the Permian Basin, an oil- and gas-rich region of western Texas and New Mexico.

The lizard is less than three inches long, excluding the length of its tail, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

“The Biden administration has used the federal government to suppress American energy production at the exact time when the country and indeed the world needs access to affordable American energy,” Cruz said in a statement shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. “This disastrous rule threatens American jobs and undermines the production of energy in the Permian Basin. I call on the Senate to expeditiously take up and pass my legislation to reverse it.”

Ted Cruz CRA Bill by Nick Pope on Scribd

The FWS listed the tiny Dunes Sagebrush Lizard under the ESA in May, citing the “best available science” and stating that the rule would “protect the rare lizard and its habitat” from habitat loss attributable to oil and gas activity.

Oil and gas interests, meanwhile, have questioned whether or not the science underlying the decision is truly solid, and have also indicated that the protections could delay permitting processes and drive up production costs, according to The Texas Tribune. Specifically, the lizard’s endangered status would make the process of building access roads more time-consuming, difficult, and costly, which would increase the costs of production; at least some of those costs would ultimately be passed on to consumers.

“Listing the dunes sagebrush lizard as an endangered species is another effort by the Biden Administration to shut down drilling in the Permian Basin,” Republican Texas Rep. August Pfluger said in a statement shared with the DCNF. “Our Congressional Review Act is President Biden’s attempt to use a lizard as a weapon against the oil & gas industry. We will not allow the President to take control of private property and kill energy jobs in the Permian Basin.”

Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming joined Cruz in introducing the CRA legislation. A number of industry groups support the bill, including the Permian Basin Petroleum Association, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, the American Petroleum Institute, and the American Exploration and Production Council.

FWS did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

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