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Meet The ‘Endangered’ Critter That Could Halt A Fifth Of America’s Oil Production
Forbes ^ | May 3, 2011 | Christopher Helman

Posted on 05/03/2011 5:21:51 AM PDT by WFTR

The dune sagebrush lizard is a 3-inch critter that lives only among stands of shinnery oak, which itself is a somewhat rare tree that lives only in the sandy soil on something like 4 million acres spread between Roswell, New Mexico and Midland, Texas. The area around Midland is known as the Permian Basin, and is one of the oldest and most prolific crude oil regions in North America.

(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events; US: New Mexico; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: endangered; endangeredspeciesact; energy; esa; lizard; oil
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I am a reptile enthusiast. I like reptiles. I keep them as pets. I DO NOT support what USFWS is doing!

I strongly suspect that oil and gas exploration would be no (zero) threat to the habitat and population of this lizard. The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has been putting extremist (animal rights and environmentalist) politics ahead of science in a number of cases. If the lizards were really going to be endangered, they maybe, repeat MAYBE, would have some case for mitigation steps, but this whole exercise is likely another exercise in false or incomplete data being used to justify an agenda.

Please, urge your representatives to ask the House Natural Resources Committee to convene oversight hearings on all actions of the USFWS. Those of us who keep reptiles as pets are already seeking these kinds of hearings regarding a rule to put nine constrictors on the Lacey Act. You may not like us. You may not like our pets, but we can provide another set of witnesses to the use of false "science" by this agency to push an extremist agenda. If the committee will convene hearings and hear from witnesses on several issues, we have an even greater chance of showing that USFWS is acting wrongly without scientific basis. We have a better chance of stopping all of their partisan overreaching.

We have a legitimate means to stop this kind of action. That means is Congressional oversight. We need to do more than complain on Free Republic, Facebook, and other places on the web. We need to insist that our representatives exercise this oversight.

Saying that we need just to kill them all won't stop this nonsense. Showing that the "science" behind what USFWS is doing is deeply flawed would be a good step towards stopping the destructive, partisan actions of this out of control bureaucracy.

1 posted on 05/03/2011 5:21:54 AM PDT by WFTR
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To: Army Air Corps
Here's another article on the dunes sagebrush lizard issue. Again, please ping your people and make the point that we need to contact members of the House Natural Resources Committee and insist on oversight hearings regarding their use of false, flawed, and incomplete data to push a partisan agenda.

You probably know, but I'll repeat this fact. USFWS is under the Interior Department. Ken Salazar, former senator from Colorado, is the Secretary of the Interior. When he was in the Senate, he was arguing in favor of some environmental extremist policy. He said that even if the policy caused $10/gallon gasoline, he would support the policy. His agency is playing games with small businesses, big businesses, pet owners, and anyone who drives a car. We need Congress to exercise oversight and put this agency on a very short leash.

Thanks for your help.

2 posted on 05/03/2011 5:27:23 AM PDT by WFTR (Liberty isn't for cowards)
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To: WFTR

This is absolute insanity!


3 posted on 05/03/2011 5:28:23 AM PDT by Roklok
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To: WFTR

IMO, what really needs to happen is a repeal of the Endangered Species Act or at least a major amendment that restricts jurisdiction, separate species determinations, and requires that economic impact be included in any determinations.


4 posted on 05/03/2011 5:33:12 AM PDT by Truth29
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To: WFTR

Plus this administration will do everything it can to stop the XL pipeline from Canada, and potentially outlaw hydraulic fracking in North Dakota and Montana. These people are doing everything in their power to shut down the USA.


5 posted on 05/03/2011 5:33:20 AM PDT by radioone (Ya' just can't make up Liberal Idiocy)
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To: WFTR

So if this lizard for whatever reason becomes extinct ...what would be the consequences? Species have become extinct since the very beginning of life on this planet. It is the natural order of things. While these lizards should not be deliberately killed, they have been living with oil drilling for decades and are still here.


6 posted on 05/03/2011 5:34:13 AM PDT by The Great RJ (The Bill of Rights: Another bill members of Congress haven't read.)
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To: Roklok

Back in the 50’s all the land around Leveland Tex. was mesquite covered. When the soil bank came along they cleared the land and planted cotton. As soon as they could then they put it in the soil bank. The lizard didn’t mind.


7 posted on 05/03/2011 5:38:00 AM PDT by Waco (From Seward to Sara)
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To: WFTR

Lizards adapt. That’s why they are still here and their dinosaur ancestors are not...........They will probably thrive around oil rigs. People eat lunch and make garbage. That draws flies. Lizard heaven..............


8 posted on 05/03/2011 5:40:30 AM PDT by Red Badger (Mitt Romney: The Harold Stassen of the 21st century........)
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To: Waco

We need to drain the lizard on the EPA............


9 posted on 05/03/2011 5:41:22 AM PDT by Red Badger (Mitt Romney: The Harold Stassen of the 21st century........)
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To: WFTR

Just another Spotted Owl hoax being used by the environazis.

God Bless Our Troops


10 posted on 05/03/2011 6:05:13 AM PDT by bray (What do you think of waterboarding now, Obama?)
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To: WFTR

Texas and N.M. should tell the EPA to shove it up their smelly Obamas.

And let any EPA butthole that appears near those wells fear for their lives.

This is serious.


11 posted on 05/03/2011 6:09:46 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: WFTR
The “endangered species” the US requires...should be that of Federal bureaucrats!!!
12 posted on 05/03/2011 6:11:31 AM PDT by mo ("If you understand, no explanation is needed; if you do not, no explanation is possible")
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To: CedarDave

Lizard Ping.


13 posted on 05/03/2011 6:13:23 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: All

Thanks folks! Let’s contact our members of Congress. We need that Congressional oversight.


14 posted on 05/03/2011 6:16:16 AM PDT by WFTR (Liberty isn't for cowards)
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To: Red Badger

Yup. These econuts apparently think dropping some drilling rigs in four MILLION acres of land is equivalent to carpet bombing the entire area.

Or rather they act like it in order to gut the US energy sector. Why? Because they aren’t (just) econuts, their marxist scum who want to destroy the US economy (thinking they’ll be immune to the results).

/spit

And Congress? Anyone still believe most of those jerks give a d#mn what we think? Then I’ve got some prime land on Mars to sell you!


15 posted on 05/03/2011 6:26:25 AM PDT by piytar (The Four Horsemen: War, Pestilence, Famine, and Bob. Be not proud, Bob! (ht to Gen.Blather))
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To: WFTR; LegendHasIt; Rogle; leapfrog0202; Santa Fe_Conservative; DesertDreamer; OneWingedShark; ...
Do a keyword search on lizard for articles on this subject.

NM list PING! Click on the flag to go to the Free Republic New Mexico message page.

(The NM list is available on my FR homepage for anyone to use. Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the list.

16 posted on 05/03/2011 6:48:52 AM PDT by CedarDave (Obama's energy policy: Take unicorn poop and turn it into renewable energy.)
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To: WFTR

I like lizards, my wife likes lizards. We had one for years. But I’m not walking 10 miles to work everyday for the sake of a LIZARD!!!!!!!


17 posted on 05/03/2011 6:51:10 AM PDT by PATRIOT1876 (The only crimes that are 100% preventable are crimes committed by illegal aliens)
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To: WFTR

Well worth spending ten minutes to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqb3zXgf_50&NR=1


18 posted on 05/03/2011 6:54:26 AM PDT by CedarDave (Obama's energy policy: Take unicorn poop and turn it into renewable energy.)
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To: The Great RJ
*So if this lizard for whatever reason becomes extinct ...what would be the consequences? Species have become extinct since the very beginning of life on this planet. It is the natural order of things. While these lizards should not be deliberately killed, they have been living with oil drilling for decades and are still here.*

What, we humans should go extinct so the lizard can live? It sounds like a hallucinogenic dream that Jim Morrison had in the desert after eating some jimson weed. Did the plan to save the lizard come from the group VHEMT?

19 posted on 05/03/2011 7:00:42 AM PDT by PATRIOT1876 (The only crimes that are 100% preventable are crimes committed by illegal aliens)
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To: WFTR

Bunk. The aliens seeded the lizard in Roswell so we wouldn’t dig up their secret base.


20 posted on 05/03/2011 7:02:57 AM PDT by Jack Hammer
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