Federal wildlife officials designated a unique lizard in southeastern New Mexico and West Texas as an endangered species on Friday. In one of the most valuable oil and natural gas basins in the world, future energy development, sand mining, and climate change are the main risks to the survival of the lizard.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared, “We have determined that the dunes sagebrush lizard is in danger of extinction throughout its entire range.” It was determined that in 47% of its range, the lizard is already “functionally extinct.”

Scientists have found that a large portion of the 2.5-inch (6.5 cm) spiky, light brown lizard’s remaining habitat has been broken up, making it difficult for the species to locate mates outside of those who already reside nearby.

INaturalist Rare Lizard Effects Oil | AP – VOR News Image

New Endangered Listing For Rare Lizard Could Slow Oil And Gas Drilling In New Mexico And West Texas

The service stated in its conclusion, published in the Federal Register, that “even if there were no further expansion of the oil and gas or sand mining industry, the existing footprint of twould operations will continue to negatively affect the dunes sagebrush lizard into the future.”

The ruling ends twenty years of legal and regulatory battles between the US government, environmentalists, and the oil and gas sector. Environmentalists applauded the decision, but business leaders denounced it as a danger to the continued extraction of fossil fuels.

According to Bryan Bird, the Southwest director of Defenders of Wildlife, the decision offers a “lifeline for survival” for a rare species whose “only fault has been occupying a habitat that the fossil fuel industry has been wanting to claw away from it.”

“The dunes sagebrush lizard languished in a Pandora’s box of political and administrative back and forth for far too long, even as its population was rapidly declining and facing extinction,” Bird stated.

Both the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association and the Permian Basin Petroleum Association expressed disappointment, claiming that the decision defies current scientific understanding and disregards decades-long state-sponsored conservation initiatives spanning hundreds of thousands of acres and costing millions of dollars in both states.

NewsWeek Rare Lizard Effects Oil | AP – VOR News Image

New Endangered Listing For Rare Lizard Could Slow Oil And Gas Drilling In New Mexico And West Texas

In a joint statement, PBPA President Ben Shepperd and NMOGA President and CEO Missi Currier stated that “this listing will bring no additional benefit for the species and its habitat, yet could be detrimental to those living and working in the region.” They also believed that the federal government’s overreach could hurt local communities.

According to scientists, the distribution of lizards is the second-smallest of any North American lizard and is limited to the Permian Basin. The reptiles burrow into the sand to shield themselves from harsh temperatures, and they graze on insects and spiders in their habitats among shinnery oaks and dunes.

In 2010, federal officials determined that protecting the species, which environmentalists had first requested in 2002, was justified. Some members of Congress and local communities that depend on the development of oil and gas for jobs and tax income expressed outrage about this.

After several Republican senators wrote to Obama administration officials pleading for a postponement of the final decision, federal authorities opted not to list the dunes sagebrush lizard in 2012.

CNBC Rare Lizard Effects Oil | AP – VOR News Image

New Endangered Listing For Rare Lizard Could Slow Oil And Gas Drilling In New Mexico And West Texas

According to then-U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, the decision was based on voluntary conservation agreements in Texas and New Mexico and the “best available science.”

In its ruling on Friday, the Fish and Wildlife Service stated that although these agreements “have provided, and continue to provide, many conservation benefits” for the lizard, “we conclude that the risk of extinction for the dunes sagebrush lizard is high despite these efforts based on the information we reviewed in our assessment.”

It went on to say that industrial development “will continue to have edge effects on surrounding habitat and weaken the structure of the sand dune formations,” and the network of roads will continue to restrict movement and facilitate the direct mortality of dunes sagebrush lizards from traffic.

SOURCE – (AP)

Spain has withdrawn its ambassador to Buenos Aires after Argentina’s President Javier Milei slammed Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez over his wife’s alleged corruption during a anti-socialism rally in Madrid.

Javier Milei a staunch libertarian referred to Sanchez’s wife Begona Gomez as “corrupt” during a rally in Madrid organized by the far-right Vox party and attended by several of its overseas friends.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares stated that he expects Milei to apologize.

Other ministers also attacked Milei’s statement, in which he referred to socialism as “cursed and carcinogenic”. Sanchez leads Spain’s Socialist Party.
“With his behaviour, Milei has brought the relationship between Spain and Argentina to its most serious state in recent history,” Albares said in a video statement.

Milei’s visit breached diplomatic convention by refusing to meet with Spain’s King Felipe and Sanchez, instead promoting his book at a party gathering alongside Vox leader Santiago Abascal.

Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, stated in a post on social messaging app X that “attacks against family members of political leaders have no place in our culture”.

Spain’s largest opposition party, the conservative People’s Party (PP), declined to support Madrid’s position, claiming that Sanchez should have provided explanations concerning the alleged corruption issue weeks ago.

“His silence generates internal doubts, but also distrust abroad,” a PP source said, adding that the party’s mission was to oppose the Spanish government, not Milei.

In April, a local court said that it was investigating allegations of influence peddling and commercial corruption against Sanchez’s wife, which were raised in a private complaint by Manos Limpias, or Clean Hands, an anti-corruption activist group.

However, Madrid’s prosecuting authorities later announced that it was asking to have the case dismissed due to a lack of evidence.

Sanchez decided to stay in office after five days of deliberating his future after the investigation into his wife was publicized.

Spain court investigating PM’s wife for graft: Image Reuters

Wife of Span’s PM investigated for corruption

In April, a Spanish judge has initiated a preliminary investigation against Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s wife over corruption allegations, raising political tensions in Madrid to unprecedented heights.

The judge’s surprising decision against Begoña Gómez provoked outrage in Sánchez’s Socialist-led administration, which denounced the claims as “false” and blamed them on rightwing rivals.

The judge, Juan Carlos Peinado, initiated judicial proceedings after receiving a complaint from a labor union regarding influence peddling. It claimed that Gómez obtained favors from private companies that secured government contracts and received subsidies.

Spain’s justice minister, Félix Bolaños, criticized the case as “one more false allegation”.

On Wednesday, Sánchez addressed parliament, “On a day like today, and despite the news I have heard, despite everything, I still believe in justice in my country.”

The union that submitted the complaint was Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), which has a history of filing anti-corruption lawsuits and whose leader has far-right connections. Its complaint was based on a series of stories published by news outlets, including El Confidencial.

Before deciding whether or not to proceed with the case, the judge must call witnesses and analyze the evidence.

Manos Limpias claims that Gómez obtained favors from executives at Air Europa and its parent company, Globalia, while serving as the director of an Africa research center at IE University in Madrid for over four years, until 2022.

Manos Limpias linked her actions to the airline’s €475 million bailout in late 2020, as it tried to survive the coronavirus outbreak.

Gómez has remained silent on the claims in recent weeks and was not available for comment on Wednesday. Globalia has declined to respond.

IE University reported receiving four airline tickets from Globalia as part of an event sponsorship contract in 2020, but stated that it had never received any money from Globalia or its Africa center.

The conservative opposition demanded that Sánchez deliver quick “explanations” to parliamentarians regarding the case.

According to Esther Muñoz, deputy secretary of the opposition People’s Party, the silence of the government’s head is highlighting his wife, not the People’s Party.

Other ministers in Sanchez’s government responded to the opposition. Spain’s deputy prime minister, María Jesús Montero, stated, “we are facing the worst PP in history” and accused it of aligning with “practices and discourses of the extreme right”.

In recent weeks, Sánchez’s government has concentrated on approaching regional and EU elections, passing only a few pieces of legislation.

The PP has postponed the approval of a controversial plan that would provide amnesty to Catalan separatists involved in a 2017 secession push. Sánchez’s minority coalition government is reliant on the votes of Catalan legislators, who will not support any new legislation until the amnesty bill passes.

A Catalan regional election on May 12 will put Sánchez’s standing to the test following the amnesty pact. The Catalan branch of Sánchez’s Socialist Party is leading polls, followed by the extreme separatists Junts for Catalunya.

Source: Financial Times, Reuters

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A helicopter carrying Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister, and other dignitaries crashed in the mountainous northwest on Sunday, sparking a large rescue attempt in a foggy forest as the population was asked to pray.

The apparent crash occurred as Iran, led by Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, launched an unprecedented drone and missile offensive on Israel last month and enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.

Iran has also endured years of large protests against its Shiite theocracy over an ailing economy and women’s rights, making the situation even more sensitive for Tehran and the country’s future as the Israel-Hamas conflict rages across the Middle East.

Raisi was heading through Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. State television reported a “hard landing” at Jolfa, a city on the border with Azerbaijan some 600 kilometers (375 miles) northwest of Tehran. Later, state television moved it farther east, near the hamlet of Uzi, but reports remained inconsistent.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan region, and other officials and bodyguards accompanied Raisi, according to the Associated Press. One local government official used the term “crash,” while others mentioned a “hard landing” or a “incident.”

Iran’s state TV Silent

In the hours that followed, neither IRNA nor state TV reported on Raisi’s condition. However, hardliners urged the population to pray for him. State television broadcast footage of hundreds of believers, some with their hands raised in supplication, worshiping at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad.

One of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrines, as well as in Qom and other cities across the country. The primary channel of state television broadcast the prayers nonstop. In Tehran, a group of men kneeling on the side of the street held strands of prayer beads and watched a video of Raisi praying, with some clearly crying.

“If anything happens to him, we’ll be heartbroken,” one of the men, Mehdi Seyedi, stated. “May the prayers work and may he return to the arms of the nation safe and sound.”

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi stated on state television that “the esteemed president and company were on their way back aboard some helicopters, and one of the helicopters was forced to make a hard landing due to bad weather and fog.”

“Various rescue teams are on their way to the region but because of the poor weather and fogginess it might take time for them to reach the helicopter.”

Poor weather conditions

IRNA referred to the area as a “forest,” and it is also known to be mountainous. Poor weather conditions, including heavy rain and wind, hampered SUVs racing through a wooded region, according to state TV. Rescuers were visible walking through the fog and mist.

A rescue aircraft attempted to land in the region where authorities believe Raisi’s chopper was, but was unable to do so owing to heavy mist, emergency services spokesperson Babak Yektaparast told IRNA.

Late in the evening, Turkey’s defense ministry reported that it had sent an unmanned aerial vehicle and was prepared to send a helicopter with night vision capabilities to assist with the search and rescue efforts.

Long after the sun had set, Iranian government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi said that “we are experiencing difficult and complicated conditions” throughout the search.

Raisi, 63, a hardliner who formerly commanded the country’s court, is seen as Khamenei’s protégé, and some observers believe he may succeed the 85-year-old leader after his death or retirement. Raisi had gone on the border with Azerbaijan early Sunday to inaugurate a dam alongside President Ilham Aliyev. The dam is the third that the two countries have built on the Aras River.

The visit occurred despite strained relations between the two countries, including a shooting attempt on Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Tehran in 2023 and Azerbaijan’s diplomatic connections with Israel, which Iran’s Shiite theocracy regards as its principal regional adversary.

Iran pilots a variety of helicopters, but international sanctions make it difficult to obtain spare parts. Its military air fleet predates the 1979 Islamic Revolution. IRNA reported images showing Raisi taking off in what seemed to be a Bell helicopter with a blue-and-white paint scheme similar to that seen in prior photographs.

Raisi won Iran’s 2021 presidential election, which had the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history. The US has sanctioned Raisi in part because of his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political detainees in 1988, at the close of the horrific Iran-Iraq war.

Source: CTN News