Wayne (Not A) Christian follows Susan Combs on hating the environment

Wayne (Not A) Christian, head of the Texas Railroad Commission, is following the decade-plus old steps of former Texas Comptroller Susan Combs and hating on the dunes sagebrush lizard, which, once again, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering for Endangered Species Act protection.

That said, beyond his bullshit, I don't know why he's worried.

Back then, Fish and Wildlife, as I reported here in 2015 and again here in 2019, was documented as getting in bed with Combs and the oil and gas business. In fact, FWS was busted in egregious lying. (For those who don't know, Fish and Wildlife in general treats its No. 1 mandate as being working with state parks and wildlife / conservation departments to "improve" hunting and fishing opportunities.)

In the "hating" at the second link, Wayne (Not A) Christian is also a liar about his claims to support the environment, and more specifically, about claims that an ESL listing will hurt oil drilling. Those were demolished more than a decade ago, two years before a federal judge bought Combs' lies. And, within both wingnut and more liberal Christianity, I believe lying, when it brings reputational harm to others, is called "false witness." Center for Biological Diversity et al probably didn't have their legal case helped by the caving of Dear Leader's first Interior Secretary, the oily Ken Salazar, whose department includes FWS. Whether Biden's Interior Secretary, Deb Haaland, will do better, I don't know. FWS has a history of snookering people regularly.

And, (Not A Christian) lies in this second presser letter as well, claiming that Biden "hates" oil and gas drilling in general, when he's approved more federal leases than Trump. And, that includes on federal land in New Mexico, which also harbors dunes sagebrush lizards and is now the second-largest oil state in the nation.

In a bit of good news, Biden vetoed a bill that would have required FWS to withdraw its proposed ESA listing.