Has anyone seen the actual papers supporting protection of this lizard or know who wrote them? I haven't even come across a news story listing the latin name so I'm not sure exactly which animal it is that they are trying to protect. I have worked in agriculture and oil for many years and I don't see how more wells would do any long term damage to generic lizard habitat. If anything it enhances things for many animals by creating more transitional and edge habitats, ie. unpaved lease roads, clearings around pumping units, pipelines and regulator stations. Once installed the average oilfield pumping unit takes up about 2 maybe 3 average sized parking spaces and doesn't create much disturbance for native wildlife. If you want to find sceloperus, cnemidophorus, phrynosoma and many other desert/dryland lizards the best place to find them is along a dirt road's edge where the vegetation is cleared. Anyway, I would like to see the data showing how the proposed oil exploration will negatively effect this animal. In the meantime I will continue to enjoy the almost $4 per gallon gasoline and $4.50 per gallon diesel fuel that I'm buying.