Texas rancher sues ConocoPhillips to protect endangered wildcat

A Texas rancher has sued a national oil and gas company that he accuses of harming the habitat of an endangered species of wildcat on his property in DeWitt County. Mike Hamilton, co-owner of his family’s ranch near Cuero, filed a lawsuit in late January against Burlington Resources Oil and Gas Co. LP and its parent company, ConocoPhillips, saying the defendants intend to drill in a pasture where the jaguarundi, an endangered cat, has reportedly been sighted multiple times. The landowner said he isn’t seeking to stop all oil and gas production on his property. Rather, Hamilton is asking the company to refrain from drilling in an area that he says is “ideal habitat” for the jaguarundi.

He’s asking for a halt to all proposed activities that could modify or destroy the habitat, or disturb the jaguarundis with sound, light or construction, according to the lawsuit filed Jan. 20 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas Victoria Division. Also, Hamilton is asking that ConocoPhillips be required to pay about $54,000 to the U.S. government for what he said are past violations of the Endangered Species Act related to initial construction on the jaguarundis’ habitat. “I’ve been given the responsibility of the family’s property,” Hamilton said. “My father and grandfather protected this pasture where the jaguarundis are as basically a wildlife sanctuary, and it’s been treated that way for 50 years. You can’t protect a species if you destroy its habitat.”