Which Critter Will Be Next?

Once upon a time the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) petitioned for the dunes sagebrush lizard's addition to the endangered species list. Often charging taxpayers hundreds of dollars an hour using laws that essentially allow the organization to tap into limitless public resources to protect various and sundry "species" from extinction, the CBD said yesterday that the Obama administration caved to pressure from the oil and gas industry when it refused to list the latest favorite critter.

According to San Angelo Standard-Times, Taylor McKinnon of the CBD said, "This decision by the Obama administration to toss aside the Endangered Species Act and bow to the wishes of the oil and gas industry is not only bad news for this rare lizard but sets a dangerous precedent for other declining species." McKinnon made no mentioned of employed human beings in his reference to "declining species."

In one of the more creative environmentalist scams yet, the CBD tried to lock in on the shinnery oak trees in the lizards "habitat." Shinnery oak is toxic to cattle, which provided the radicals with not one but two of their favorite targets, oil and gas jobs and ranching jobs.

The CBD was not alone in lamenting the lost opportunity to plunge a dagger into the Permian Basin economy. The WildEarth Guardians were also upset that the proposal to list the lizard had failed. "The lizard occupies a tiny patch of habitat in the basin," said a WildEarth Guardians statement. "Oil and gas drilling would have been unaffected by conservation actions in more than 99 percent of the region if the lizard was listed."

One thing is for certain. These radical, anti-jobs, anti-energy, anti-agricultural organizations will manufacture another series of job and growth killing lawsuits. The only question is which critter will they use in their insatiable thirst to drive the price of food and energy into the stratosphere.

Which Critter Will Be Next?