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.

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

Less than three inches long, the lizard inhabits parts of the Permian Basin near Midland-Odessa and the southeast corner of New Mexico, according to the

Read more Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Monday that his office is suing the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Biden administration officials for declaring a rare lizard endangered earlier this year,

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.