The Trump administration has asked a federal judge in West Texas to bless a settlement that would wipe out the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2024 endangered listing for the dunes sagebrush lizard and force a fresh review of the science. The tiny, sand-dwelling reptile survives in narrow, disconnected patches of shinnery oak and duneland scattered across the Permian Basin. Conservationists warn that yanking federal protections could swing the gate back open for more oil, gas and frac-sand development in those fragile areas, and scientists say the species, already confined to small habitat islands, faces a sharply higher extinction risk if those safeguards disappear.
Settlement Filed in Midland Court
As reported by Reuters, the U.S. Department of Justice told the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in Midland that the Fish and Wildlife Service made a “serious and fundamental” error in its 2024 listing decision when it concluded that lost dune habitat could not be restored. In a proposed settlement filed with the court, the government agreed that the final rule should be vacated and that the agency should re-evaluate the lizard’s status if the judge signs off.
Why It Was Listed in 2024
In its final rule published in May 2024, the Fish and Wildlife Service found the dunes sagebrush lizard qualified as endangered because habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation from oil and gas development, frac-sand mining and climate change threaten the species’ survival, according to the Federal Register. The agency identified about 210,506 hectares, roughly 520,161 acres, of shinnery-oak duneland across the lizard’s range and estimated that about 50% of that habitat remained minimally disturbed, 35% had been degraded so severely it likely could not support populations, and 15% showed moderate disturbance.
What the Settlement Would Do
The proposed agreement would erase the 2024 endangered listing and send the issue back to the Fish and Wildlife Service for a new look at the science and conservation measures, E&E News reports. After that reconsideration, the agency could again list the lizard as endangered, downgrade it to threatened, or remove federal protections entirely, depending on what the new review concludes.
Conservation Groups Push Back
The Center for Biological Diversity quickly asked the court for permission to intervene and fight the settlement, calling it “an obvious attempt by Trump to undermine the Endangered Species Act” and arguing that the agency has walked away from its duty to defend science-based safeguards, according to the group’s Center for Biological Diversity. The organization warned that vacating the rule would weaken immediate protections for the remaining dune fragments that still support the lizard.
State and Industry Reaction
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the U.S. Department of the Interior over the 2024 listing in late 2024, arguing that the rule was politically driven and would damage economic activity in the Permian Basin, according to a Texas Attorney General's Office statement. Industry groups and some state officials have welcomed the new settlement as a way to clear regulatory uncertainty and keep oil, gas and sand-mining operations running in areas where the lizard occurs.
Habitat Snapshot
In its analysis, the Fish and Wildlife Service concluded that habitat degradation across the lizard’s range is extensive. Roughly 47% of duneland had been altered so severely that those areas were unlikely to sustain viable lizard populations, leaving what is left in smaller, more isolated patches that are highly vulnerable to local die-offs. That fragmentation, combined with the lizard’s dependence on limited and specialized duneland, formed the core scientific basis for the 2024 endangered listing, the Federal Register record shows.
What Happens Next
The settlement still needs approval from a federal judge in Midland. If it is entered, the Fish and Wildlife Service has said it will complete a new review and, within two years, decide whether to relist the lizard as endangered, downlist it to threatened or strip protections altogether, Reuters reported. With conservation advocates already moving to intervene, the case is poised to become a test of the agency’s science, the legal strength of voluntary conservation agreements and how courts weigh species protection against economic interests.
Local Stakes
Economic tug-of-war around the listing has already been playing out, and the new settlement underscores that whatever happens in Midland will help decide whether small pockets of West Texas regain regulatory breathing room or see federal protections snap back after a court-supervised scientific review. Expect a steady stream of legal briefs, expert declarations and scheduling orders to drive the next round of headlines.
