A group of attorneys general in the United States have sued President Donald Trump’s administration for weakening protections for endangered species. The group of 20 Democratic-led states, plus the District of Columbia, filed two lawsuits on Wednesday. The complaints come less than two months after the Department of Interior and Department of Commerce announced final rules that could make it easier for companies to develop sensitive lands that are home to endangered species.
But the Trump administration’s new rule marks a “reversal of staggering proportions”, the states argued. It would open the door to activities such as mining and oil drilling in sensitive habitats so long as they are not “directed immediately and intentionally” at particular animals. Environmental groups have also sued over the change.
The second lawsuit filed on Wednesday challenges two new rules. One eliminates wide protections for newly-threatened species unless the US Fish and Wildlife Service creates species-specific regulations. The second rule requires the government to consider objections from private companies before declaring areas “critical habitats”.
The lawsuit argues that such changes leave endangered species with fewer safeguards than what Congress had outlined in its law. The 1973 law has been credited with helping restore the populations of animals such as condors, grizzly bears and humpback whales. It is seen as a keystone achievement of US conservation efforts.
But the Trump administration has pledged to roll back environmental protections in favour of prioritising economic growth. Critics of Trump’s regulation-slashing fear he may trigger irreversible changes, pushing species to extinction. It accused Wednesday’s lawsuits of seeking to defend “regulatory overreach” that went beyond what Congress had intended.
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