Exclusive: US official appeared to delay protections for endangered species at behest of oil group

The energy friendly agenda inside Trump's interior department is revealed in records obtained by the Guardian and the watchdog groups Documented and the Western Values Project

The Texas hornshell is a sleek green-grey mussel that once thrived in the Rio Grande watershed, its habitat stretching from southern New Mexico down into the arid Texas borderlands. Some of its habitat happens to overlap with rich deposits of oil and gas.

Amid a long-term decline in its range, the Obama administration in 2016 proposed to declare the mussel an endangered species. Upon taking office, however, the Trump administration changed tack.