But they are not at all happy with what he is doing on the federal lands.
"This is cold, hard common sense in management of Federal land."
About 44,000 of the plants were being grown on Federal land.
Each industry relies on Federal land, which makes up 49 percent of the state.
He believed that the new state law did no apply on Federal land.
About 85% of the plant's range is on federal land, giving it some protection.
The act at first covered only 13 of the western states as Texas had no federal lands.
In the next step, more federal lands are going to participate.
Oil and natural gas production on federal lands is down by over 40% compared to ten years ago.
Looking back, he'd been lucky his crime was on federal lands.