The owl, snail darter, etc are all just convenient excuses for enviromental activism. The enviromentalists are anti-human. They think that humans are a cancer on the planet, and the only way to atone to mother earth is to try to eliminate as many humans as possible, by shutting them off from natural resources.
I'll be posting an article on another critter, a small lizard, that occupies oil drilling areas of the Permian Basin. The enviro-facists are using it in an attempt to shut down the drilling/production. Secondary objective - prevent "global warming" from fossil fuels.