The Trump administration has moved to withdraw federal endangered species protections for the dunes sagebrush lizard, bringing an end to a legal challenge filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and reopening a contentious debate over conservation and energy development in the Permian Basin.
The decision marks a significant reversal from a 2024 determination by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which had classified the reptile as endangered after concluding that extensive oil and gas activity in the region had caused long-term and potentially irreversible habitat loss.
Federal officials now say that assessment may have rested on flawed assumptions. In a court filing submitted as part of a settlement agreement, the U.S. Department of Justice stated that wildlife regulators made a “serious and fundamental” mistake by treating habitat restoration as largely impossible while giving insufficient weight to experimental recovery efforts that had shown encouraging results.
According to the government, those errors may have produced an incomplete picture of ongoing conservation initiatives across Texas and New Mexico, where the species is found.
The agreement, which still requires approval from a federal judge in Midland, Texas, resolves a lawsuit filed by Paxton last year. The Texas attorney general had argued that the endangered designation was politically driven and threatened both energy production and the rights of private landowners operating within the region.
The dunes sagebrush lizard inhabits roughly 1.25 million acres spanning portions of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. Much of that territory overlaps with the Permian Basin, the nation’s most productive oil field and a critical source of U.S. crude oil and natural gas output.
The latest move aligns with a broader push by the Trump administration to scale back environmental regulations that officials contend impose unnecessary burdens on industry. Supporters of the rollback argue that easing restrictions will strengthen domestic energy production and economic growth. Environmental advocates, however, warn that reducing federal protections could leave vulnerable species and ecosystems exposed to greater risk.
Under the terms of the settlement, the Fish and Wildlife Service will undertake a fresh review of the lizard’s status and must decide within the next two years whether the species should again be classified as endangered, listed as threatened, or remain without federal protection.
While acknowledging errors in its previous habitat-restoration analysis, the agency did not otherwise concede wrongdoing.
The dispute has carried political significance beyond environmental policy. Paxton, a close ally of President Donald Trump, is currently pursuing a U.S. Senate bid and has frequently challenged federal environmental regulations that he argues interfere with Texas’ energy sector.
Texas remains the dominant force in American energy production, accounting for a substantial share of the country’s crude oil output and natural gas extraction. The outcome of the lizard case is therefore being watched not only by conservation groups but also by energy producers and landowners across the region.
