Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration and federal environmental and wildlife officials Monday to challenge the endangered species listing of the dunes sagebrush lizard, which lives in the heart of Texas oil country.

The lawsuit claims federal regulators have undermined the Texas oil and gas industry by misusing environmental law, negatively impacting drilling and production.

The dunes sagebrush lizard have lost more than 95% of their habitat to sand mining and oil and gas development, officials say.

Paxton says the endangered designation is weaponizing environmental law to undermine the Texas oil and gas industries.

Paxton, a Republican, said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service relied on faulty data and arbitrary assumptions about the lizard's future in adopting a final rule on May 20 declaring the animal endangered.

Paxton says the endangered designation is weaponizing environmental law to undermine the Texas oil and gas industries.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration Monday after it declared a rare lizard endangered earlier this year. Paxton, a Republican, is suing the Department of the Interior, the U.