Ted Cruz Unveils Bill Nixing Biden Regulation That’s Hamstringing Oil Development To Protect Tiny Lizard
Daily Caller (July 20, 2024) – 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.”
