Texas Ag Commissioner claims protecting monarch butterflies part of ‘radical agenda’

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller this week railed against a federal effort to designate monarch butterflies — Texas’ official state insect — a threatened species, calling the effort part of President Biden’s “radical agenda.”

U.S. Fish and Wildlife filed the proposal Tuesday, noting that populations of both eastern and western monarchs have declined by 80% since the ’80s. In response to the decline, which experts attribute to habitat loss and climate change, the agency wants to designate 4,395 acres in California as critical monarch habitats.

While the proposal doesn’t mention Texas or suggest new environmental restrictions for the Lone Star State, that didn’t stop the outspoken Miller from firing off a statement the next day warning that the feds want to make it “nearly impossible” to build things in rural Texas, including “football stadiums.”

“This is nothing more than a  parting shot from the Biden Administration, a desperate move to impose its heavy-handed, radical climate agenda on hard-working Americans before they leave office and sanity returns to our nation’s capital on Jan. 20,” said Miller, who’s — you guessed it — a Republican.

Miller’s no stranger to making such wild-ass claims or taking partisan cheap shots. He drew criticism in 2016 for referring to Hillary Clinton as a “cunt,” later deleting is tweet and claiming his account was hacked. He’s also made social media posts calling drag queens “sickening” and likening Muslim refugees to rattlesnakes.

Regardless of Miller’s bloviation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife is taking public comments on the proposed monarch designation until March 12. Those who want weigh in whether to grant protected status to the butterfly can do so by visiting the agency’s website.

“Science shows that the monarch needs that chance, and this proposed listing invites and builds on unprecedented public participation in shaping monarch conservation efforts,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Director Martha Williams said in a statement. “Providing monarchs with enough milkweed and nectar plants, even in small areas, can help put them on the road to recovery.”

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This article appears in Dec 11-17, 2024.