The Brown Sand Dune Lizard vs The People of West Texas

Just as the news about wildfires was winding down and the safety of several cities around the area was assured, another story broke on the West Texas news scene.  The United States Fish and Wildlife Service decided that the brown sand dune lizard needed to be placed on the "endangered species list."  This would mean for the oil industry that before any drilling in a given area of West Texas (apparently the counties adjacent to eastern New Mexico) could commence, the USFWS would have to assess the area and determine if this particular lizard would be endangered by drilling operations.  Apparently the lizard is only found in a few locations in New Mexico and now in West Texas.  Whether are not the lizard needs protection is not the point.  No, the point is that a federal bureaucracy is so DEEPLY CONCERNED about this little animal that the bureaucracy could potentially halt all drilling operations where any sign of the lizard habitat is located.  That such a ban would cause lots of economic hardships is fairly self-explanatory.

I personally am for the protection of any endangered species, even the little sand dune lizard.  What I am upset about is that so much effort and money is being devoted to the protection of this animal from the pollution and environmental damage caused by oil exploration, yet several agencies, both federal and state, have approved the Waste Control Specialists (WCS) facility near Andrews.  While it is possible that the sand dune lizard would be harmed by oil operations, I suspect the lizard (being fairly smart for an animal with a pea-size brain) would simply move to another sand dune.  Yes, it would be inconvenient, but once the drilling was over and either the operation closed or a pump jack put in place, the sand dune lizard would then move back home and life would go on.

In the case of people, there appears to be very little concern on the part of the state and federal government that the hazardous and nuclear waste would DEFINITELY be harmful to people.  By the way, something harmful to people would probably represent a hazard to the much endangered sand dune lizard as well.  In the WCS facility, we see a private corporation that has received approval from governmental agencies to bring radioactive waste by the trainload (and truckload) from thirty-six other states into Texas.  This load of waste does not include the waste we must by law bring import from Vermont (The State of Vermont is very concerned about the waste from so many states coming to Andrews because there might not be enough space for Vermont's continuing shipment of nuclear waste to Texas). 

Again, it seems so strange, yet so frustratingly familiar, that we (the US) are more concerned with the endangered lizard than the endangered humans living in the same area.  Maybe if the USFWS realized that the WCS facility ALSO endangered the brown sand dune lizard, the WCS operation would be halted immediately.  We can only hope!