When two environmental groups reached an agreement with the US Fish and Wildlife Service last year, pending court cases on the endangered species status of hundreds of species were settled as well.

An article last week in the Washington Post says that the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s decisions on dozens of freshwater snails, and some other 500 species so far was the easy part.

Now a decision is needed on two species that could have significant impact on development in the West, the article says: the dunes sagebrush lizard and the lesser prairie chicken. With oil wells and wind turbines at stake, any decision is likely to mean some angst for the Obama administration, the article says, and may threaten the fragile legal settlement with the environmental groups.

Read the entire Washington Post article, here.

Photo: Lesser prairie chicken, courtesy of the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture