Trump’s plan to promote more oil could fail on a lizard

It is a true David-against-Goliath scenario. The little one against the supposedly overpowering. Donald Trump had promised in the election campaign that he would radically raise oil production. For the saying “Drill, Baby, Drill” (drilling, baby, drilling) he was frenetically celebrated by his followers. The dune sage brush lizard could now thwart this plan. The insect -eating tiny is one of the endangered species, but lives in the so -called Permic basin – the oil -richest region in the United States. The area extends over West Texas to the southeast of New Mexico. According to estimates, 40 percent of the US oil are funded here. At the same time, it is also the only region in which dune sage brush lizards are native.

Oil drilling and logistics for this – such as transport routes or sewage basin – would destroy the habitual of beige lizards, experts agree. The area in which the animals are at home has already halved due to the previous oil production, according to the authority “Us Fish and Wildlife Service”. That is why the lizard has been a endangered species since the past spring. The “Endangered Species Act” (ESA) is the strongest law in the USA to protect wild animals. According to the law, the animals must not be killed – and the government is obliged to ensure that the population grows again. Under these conditions, an expansion of the holes in the region is basically excluded.

Will Trump stop? As little as he has adhered to laws in the past few days, it is to be expected that he also doesn’t care about the lizard. Trump has fraternized with the mighty oil industry. They have long been complaining that animal protection disabled the development of new oil and gas fields.

That is why the very inconspicuous sand residents will soon be on the scaly skin. The peculiarity of these lizards is that they have adapted to the barren surroundings so well. They live in the sand and in the mostly dry bushes. They dive into the sand against the heat – and literally move away in it. You hike around in search of food, but it could be cut off by oil production. A fascinating living being-nevertheless, the lizard also has hardly any fans in the US population. The majority for more oil production and less nature conservation is.

When the “Fish and Wildlife Service” wanted to protect the animals for the first time ten years ago, the resistance in Texas was huge. The mighty Republican Ted Cruz said at the time: “You know my opinion about lizards? You can make very nice boots out of them.” When the lizard had finally received protection status, Wayne Christian, head of the “Texas Railroad Commission”, which regulates the oil production: “This has nothing to do with the fact that you want to save the lizard. It is about destroying the US oil industry. (…) It doesn’t matter whether IDECHE, WAL or ENGEL. Get and live in caves again. “

President Trump already indicated in office on the first day that he could call for an energy emergency. State authorities have been instructed to check and stop all measures that could hinder the energy industry and the oil industry. Doug Burgum, the new Interior Minister of the United States, has signed an arrangement that already provides oil production over species and nature conservation. Many now consider dealing with the dune sage brush lizard and their habitat for the nail test.

Even if the law to protect the endangered animals is one of the strictest in the world, there are probably some options for how the Trump government could avoid it. For example, she could basically question that the animals are threatened – and thus delete them from the list. Or explain that the lizard was “accidentally” protected. It is unclear whether David will end in this story. Can Trump, the businessman be stopped by a lizard and a law, when he strives for profit? Just as he behaved in the few weeks of his second term, probably not.