\n The lawsuits by the Democratic attorneys general of 20 states and Washington, DC, were filed less than two months after the Department of the Interior and the Department of Commerce announced final rules that could make it easier for developers, fossil fuel companies and others to disturb lands that environmental advocates say need protection from business interests.\n <\/p>\n
\n Enacted by Congress in 1973, the Endangered Species Act has been credited with saving animals including the California condor, grizzly bear and humpback whale.\n <\/p>\n
\n In one lawsuit, the states challenged a rule that narrowed the Endangered Species Act\u2019s definition of \u201charm,\u201d which had long included encroachments on habitats where endangered animals live.\n <\/p>\n
\n The new rule, which the states called \u201ca reversal of staggering proportions,\u201d allows oil drilling, mining and other activities in those habitats so long as those activities are not \u201cdirected immediately and intentionally\u201d against particular animals, even if they cause injuries or death.\n <\/p>\n
\n In the other lawsuit, the states challenged two rules. One rule eliminates broad protections for newly threatened species unless the US Fish and Wildlife Service creates species-specific protections. The second rule requires the government to consider objections by businesses, such as potential economic burdens, before declaring areas as \u201ccritical habitats.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe Trump administration is trying to undermine the law, the will of Congress and the will of the people who overwhelmingly support protections for endangered species,\u201d Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said at a press conference. \u201cInstead of stewardship, this administration\u2019s approach to our land, to our water is one of exploitation.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
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\n According to the complaints, the \u201carbitrary and capricious\u201d rules imposed by the Interior Department\u2019s Fish and Wildlife Service and the Commerce Department\u2019s National Marine Fisheries Service violate the National Environmental Policy Act, which designated the federal government as \u201ctrustee of the environment\u201d for future generations.\n <\/p>\n
\n Both lawsuits were filed in federal courts in the San Francisco area. Environmental groups have also sued to block the revised definition of harm.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe role of federal agencies is to faithfully implement the Endangered Species Act as written, not to expand its reach through interpretations favored by advocacy organizations,\u201d an Interior Department spokesperson said.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThis lawsuit seeks to preserve a decades-old regulatory overreach that expanded the Endangered Species Act beyond the authority granted by Congress,\u201d the spokesperson added. \u201cThe department will vigorously defend its authority to implement the law according to its plain text.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n A spokesperson for the fisheries service said that agency does not discuss pending litigation.\n <\/p>\n
\n Democratic-led states have filed dozens of lawsuits challenging sweeping policy changes during the second White House term of Trump, a Republican.\n <\/p>\n
\n Weakening the Endangered Species Act aligns with Trump\u2019s goal to reduce regulations that he says constrain American businesses.\n <\/p>\n
\n These include the scaling back of a variety of environmental initiatives and standards, including by reducing government support for \u200bclean energy and repealing a scientific finding by former President Barack Obama\u2019s administration that climate change threatens public health.\n <\/p>\n
\n Many wildlife advocates consider habitat loss the biggest cause of animal extinction. Wednesday\u2019s lawsuits say 99% of species that the Endangered Species Act protects have avoided extinction.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe owe future generations a world where bald eagles soar, sea turtles swim and all wildlife thrives,\u201d New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.\n <\/p>\n
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\n Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has said the Endangered Species Act has been \u201cweaponized\u201d to stop a myriad of projects, weakening competitiveness, undermining national security, and hurting Americans\u2019 pocketbooks.\n <\/p>\n
\n He has said the new rules more closely align the law with its original intent.\n <\/p>\n
\n The changes follow the US Supreme Court\u2019s decision in 2024 to overrule a 40-year-old precedent that required courts to defer to federal agencies\u2019 reasonable interpretations of laws they administer.\n <\/p>\n
\n Wednesday\u2019s lawsuits were led by Washington State, California, Maryland and Massachusetts. Other plaintiffs include New York, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reuters\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 US states filed two lawsuits on Wednesday accusing President Donald Trump\u2019s administration of illegally weakening the federal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,61,60,82],"class_list":["post-620489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}