As many expected, a lawsuit has been filed challenging the Fish and Wildlife Service’s recent listing of the lesser prairie chicken as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”).  (Read more about the listing here.) The Permian Basin Petroleum Association, along with four New Mexico counties (Chaves, Roosevelt, Eddy, and Lea), filed suit this week against the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and certain of their employees claiming that the decision to list the lesser prairie chicken as threatened under the ESA violated the Administrative… Read More →