Too Many Jobs, Not Enough Lizards

The Albuquerque Journal is reporting that there is now a rift developing between dueling government agencies within the Obama administration. It seems that on one hand there is the Bureau of Land Management which is staffed by bureaucrats more interested in trying to counteract the president’s growing image as an oil and gas industry jobs and wealth destroyer. And on the other hand are some of the most radical elements in the administration, those working in the Fish and Wildlife Service who would happily destroy the very economic foundations of the nation's energy infrastructure to save some obscure “critter” that most people never heard of.
Apparently the Bureau of Land Management bureaucracy is promoting a compromise that officials say will protect the so-called dunes sagebrush lizard, while still allowing the high paying jobs and enormous tax revenues flowing out of energy industry in southeast portion of the state to continue.

For its part, the BLM has been enrolling both ranchers and energy companies in agreements that “protect” and “reclaim” the so-called habitat. It says tacking on these added costs will make the job and wealth killing consequences of an endangered species listing unnecessary. Read full story here (subscription required): News New Mexico

Too Many Jobs, Not Enough Lizards