Railroad Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman expressed concern over U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (“USFW”) decision to list the Lesser Prairie Chicken as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act

AUSTIN - Railroad Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman expressed concern over U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (“USFW”) decision to list the Lesser Prairie Chicken as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

“I am greatly troubled that USFW listed the Lesser Prairie Chicken as a threatened species, despite the conservation efforts made to protect the chicken,” Smitherman said.

“The Obama Administration has a history of politically motivated tactics to curb oil and gas production. I fear that this action will adversely impact energy production in Texas, as well as the associated economic activity and benefits that our state enjoys,” Smitherman concluded.

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Chairman Barry Smitherman was appointed to the Railroad Commission of Texas in July 2011, and was elected Chairman in February 2012. In November 2012, Chairman Smitherman won a statewide election to the Commission with 74 percent of the vote, receiving more than 4.5 million votes. Chairman Smitherman currently serves as Texas’ representative on both the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission and the Southern States Energy Board, and as Chair of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Gas Committee. He is on the Visiting Committee of the Bureau of Economic Geology with the Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin, The University of Texas School of Law Center for Global Energy, International Arbitration, and Environmental Law, and the Eanes Education Foundation Advisory Board.