New LIZARD Act Mandates Immediate Removal of Dunes Sagebrush Lizard from Endangered Species List

The aptly named Limiting Incredulous Zealots Against Restricting Drilling Act of 2025—or the LIZARD Act—is cutting straight to the chase: it legally mandates the immediate removal of the dunes sagebrush lizard from the federal lists of threatened and endangered species. This isn't just a simple administrative change; Section 2 of the bill goes a step further by explicitly barring the Secretary of the Interior from ever determining that this specific lizard qualifies for protection as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) again. Essentially, the bill uses legislation to permanently override the scientific process for this one species.

The Mandate: Legislative Delisting

When a species is listed under the ESA, it triggers a whole host of federal protections that restrict activities like drilling, construction, or land development in its habitat. This bill wipes those protections out entirely for the dunes sagebrush lizard. For anyone working in the oil and gas industry, this is huge news, as the lizard’s habitat often overlaps with potential drilling sites, and its protected status has been a significant regulatory hurdle. The bill effectively clears the way for resource extraction in those areas by removing the need to navigate complex ESA compliance.

Overriding the Scientists

What makes this bill unique is the second part of Section 2, which forbids any future listing. Typically, if a species' population recovers, it can be delisted. If its population declines again, scientists can relist it. The LIZARD Act slams the door on that possibility for this lizard. It’s a legislative veto on future scientific findings. Imagine your car's check engine light: the bill doesn't just turn the light off; it cuts the wire so the light can never come on again, even if the engine starts smoking. This means if the lizard population crashes due to habitat loss from increased development, there is no federal mechanism to step in and protect it.

Real-World Stakes: Land Use vs. Wildlife

For the average person, why should this matter? It’s a clear example of policy prioritizing economic activity over environmental regulation, specifically targeting a species that has been an obstacle to development. If you live in an area where this lizard exists, you might see increased energy production and related jobs, but at the cost of environmental safeguards. This type of legislative action sets a precedent for how environmental policy can be shaped—not through administrative review or scientific consensus, but through targeted laws. It raises the question of whether the ESA remains a science-based framework if Congress can simply legislate specific species off the list when they become inconvenient.