Texas agency sues to delist protected bird, to ‘maximize revenues’

The seal of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seen at their headquarters in Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia, U.S., May 11, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

(Reuters) – A Texas state agency sued the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in Waco, Texas federal court on Wednesday to seek the delisting of an endangered bird that seasonally populates central Texas, including land which the state agency leases for mining to fund public schools.

The General Land Office of the State of Texas (TXGLO) says the FWS unlawfully denied its bid to remove the golden-cheeked warbler from the federal list of endangered species by violating a 2020 ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that the federal agency applied the “incorrect standard” when denying a delisting petition.

Petitions for delisting had been filed by the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) in 2016 and 2021. TPPF now represents TXGLO in Wednesday’s lawsuit. The FWS denied both petitions.

TXGLO says in its complaint that FWS’s alleged violation of the 5th Circuit ruling undermines its “ability to maximize revenues” by inappropriately subjecting its land to Endangered Species Act restrictions designed to protect the songbird.

A spokesperson with the Interior Department, which oversees the FWS, declined to comment.

Robert Henneke, TPPF’s executive director, said in a statement that “current science proves the warbler has recovered.”

TXGLO sells public lands and leases their mineral rights to fund Texas’ Permanent School Fund, the complaint says.

The FWS says that the warbler, which nests in central Texas’ oak-juniper woodlands, has seen a 25% population decrease in the last 28 years. About 27,000 warblers remain, and the clearing of old juniper woodlands threatens their survival, it says.

The case is General Land Office of the State of Texas v. United States Department of the Interior et al, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, No. 6:22-cv-00044.

For General Land Office of the State of Texas: Theodore Hadzi-Antich with the Texas Public Policy Foundation

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