"Lizard Protections Sought In Southwest Amid US Oil Boom"

"ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A small lizard found among the dunes straddling New Mexico and West Texas in one of the nation’s richest oil basins is at the center of a legal complaint filed Tuesday.

Environmentalists want the U.S. government to add the lizard to the endangered species list as part of a fight that stretches back to the Bush and Obama administrations and could affect part of the multibillion-dollar energy industry in the Permian Basin.

The Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife filed the complaint in federal court in Washington. It follows a listing petition that the groups submitted in May 2018."

Susan Montoya Bryan reports for the Associated Press October 1, 2019.

Source: AP, 10/02/2019