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Drilling would be Unaffected by Species’ Conservation in More than 99 Percent of Permian Basin
Contact: Mark Salvo (503) 757-4221

Representative StevePearce (R-NM-2^nd) and industry spokesmen are perpetuating a hoax onthe public by asserting that listing the dunes sagebrush lizard under theEndangered Species Act will “shut down” oil and gas development in the PermianBasin and “devastate” economies in southeastern New Mexico and West Texas. Infact, the lizard occupies a tiny patch of habitat in the basin and oil and gasdrilling will be unaffected by conservation actions in more than 99 percent ofthe region if the lizard is listed.

“Representative Pearce andothers have been whipping up a frenzy over the proposed listing, but their wildstatements don’t comport with reality,” said Mark Salvo of WildEarth Guardians.“Let’s pause and look at the facts: the lizard lives in less than one percentof the Permian Basin. Listing will have little, if any, effect on oil and gasdevelopment.”

The dunes sagebrushlizard, also known as the sand dune lizard, occurs in sand dunes in shinneryoak grasslands in southeastern New Mexico and West Texas. The species ishighly imperiled and extremely sensitive to disturbance, including oil and gasdevelopment. Scientists warned as early as 1997 that the lizard facedextinction without greater protections. After waiting a decade, the U.S. Fishand Wildlife Service has finally proposed to list the dunes sagebrush lizardunder the Endangered Species Act.

TheU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that dunes sagebrush lizardpopulations are scattered across approximately 655 square miles. The PermianBasin is more than 75,000 square miles in size. The species habitat is 0.87percent of the Basin. Even this tiny range is riddled with oil and gas wells.At least 4,084 oil and gas wells have already been drilled in lizard habitat inNew Mexico.

Representative Pearce’s political puffery is predictable. Heowes his congressional seat to the oil and gas industry, which was the topcontributor to Pearce’s campaign in 2009-2010, shoveling $309,420 into hiscoffers according to OpenSecrets.org. Persons associated with Yates Petroleumand Marbob Energy were the top individual donors to Pearce in his bid to beatincumbent Harry Teague last year. Now Mr. Pearce is providing a return on theirinvestment.

Unfortunately, many in the news media (e.g., Forbes), newspaper editorial boards(e.g., Las Cruces Sun-News, MidlandReporter-Telegram), and hundreds of people that rallied in opposition tolizard listing last week have accepted hyperbolic statements by RepresentativePearce and industry spokespeople as fact. Even T. Boone Pickens protested that“you can’t let them shut you down over alizard.” Contrary to such hyperbole, published research found only afraction of 1 percent of federally permitted activities are disallowed due tospecies listings under the Endangered Species Act.

“Industry doesn’t like tocompromise,” said Salvo, “even to conserve less than 1 percent of the vast PermianBasin for an imperiled species.”

Rep. Pearce and three colleagues, Representatives MichaelConaway (R-NM-11^th), Randy Neugebauer (R-TX-19^th), andFrancisco Canseco (R-TX-23^rd), have taken their opposition to lizardlisting one step further by urging congressional action to prevent the Fish andWildlife Service from protecting the species under the ESA. Their propositioncomes just three weeks after Congress passed and President Obama signedlegislation removing ESA protection for most gray wolves in the NorthernRockies. The wolf delisting was an unprecedented action in the nearly 40 yearsof the Endangered Species Act. Their intentions for the lizard continue adisturbing trend of politicians attempting to vet species listings on behalf ofspecial interests.