{"id":345289,"date":"2026-09-12T23:32:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T23:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/345289\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T23:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T23:32:16","slug":"closer-to-extinction-ny-fights-trump-on-changes-to-endangered-species-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/345289\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Closer to extinction’: NY fights Trump on changes to Endangered Species Act"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York attorney general\u2019s office has been a hurdle for a host of Trump administration policy pivots<\/a>, suing to preserve immigrant<\/a> protections, voting rights<\/a> and access to gender-affirming care<\/a>, to name a few of the legal battles. But this week the office opened up a new challenge in defense of endangered species, including sea turtles and whales.<\/p>\n

New York Attorney General Letitia James, joined by her counterparts in 19 other states and the District of Columbia, filed federal lawsuits<\/a> in the Northern District of California<\/a> challenging rule changes by the federal government that together weaken long-standing habitat protections for both endangered and threatened species.<\/p>\n

The attorneys general allege that the Trump administration\u2019s new interpretations of the federal Endangered Species Act amount to \u201cgreenlighting the destruction of endangered species\u2019 habitats\u201d and \u201cpermitting commercial developers and fossil fuel companies a pathway to access endangered animals\u2019 habitats.\u201d The lawsuits ask the courts to block the new rules and restore the full protections of the 50-year-old endangered species law.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica\u2019s endangered species have survived because generations of Americans chose to protect them and the habitats they depend on,\u201d James said in a statement announcing the filings. \u201cNow, the Trump administration is tearing down those protections and pushing countless endangered species closer to extinction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House deferred comment to the U.S. Department of the Interior, where a spokesperson defended the administration\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis lawsuit seeks to preserve a decades-old regulatory overreach that expanded the Endangered Species Act beyond the authority granted by Congress,\u201d spokesperson Charlotte Taylor said. \u201cThe Department will vigorously defend its authority to implement the law according to its plain text.”<\/p>\n

Signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1973, the Endangered Species Act requires the federal government and its agencies to ensure any actions they approve or authorize do not imperil any species of plant or animal classified as endangered, including its habitat. The original text of the law<\/a> declared that species were facing extinction \u201cas a consequence of economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The long-standing interpretation of the law made it illegal to damage or destroy any area designated as a \u201ccritical habitat\u201d for an endangered or threatened species, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has said is fundamental to saving species.<\/p>\n

The filings by the attorneys general accuse the Trump administration of unlawfully unwinding key protections, to the detriment of wildlife and plants. New York, the AG\u2019s office noted, is home to dozens of endangered and threatened species that depend on the protections, including four species of sea turtles and six species of whales.<\/p>\n

One change by the Trump administration limits the definition of \u201charm,\u201d which for decades has made it illegal to damage or destroy species’ habitats. The administration\u2019s new rule declares that harm to a protected species is only prohibited if the action is a direct, intentional act against an individual animal or plant. The attorneys general contend this effectively sanctions habitat destruction in some cases, which will lead to killing or injuring a species. The coalition calls the change \u201ca reversal of staggering proportions\u201d that violates Supreme Court precedent on the definition of \u201charm.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coalition also challenges a rule change that ends the automatic protection of newly threatened species. Under the administration\u2019s change, no federal protection is extended unless the government writes a new, species-specific rule, further delaying protection for species under certain circumstances.<\/p>\n

Another rule change opposed by the coalition empowers developers and fossil fuel companies to block endangered species protections by arguing that such measures in a particular area will harm business. With the rule change, the federal government is now required to consider if the business benefits outweigh the risks to the endangered species.<\/p>\n

Earthjustice attorney Kristen Boyles, whose organization has also sued to block the changes, accused the Trump administration of gutting the Endangered Species Act.<\/p>\n

She said under the original law, a logging company could not clear a forest if endangered birds used them as a critical habitat. Under the revised law, she said, clearing the trees where endangered birds nest is no longer illegal unless the logging company is intentionally using its machinery to target the birds themselves.<\/p>\n

Further, in that example, she said, the company could also argue that not logging the forest could result in a financial loss, which could also negate the protections of the habitat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump administration repeal violates the core purpose of the statute and decades of legal precedent, including from the U.S. Supreme Court,\u201d Boyles said. \u201cNow more than ever, imperiled species from salmon to marbled murrelets to grizzly bears need habitat protection to survive and recover.\u201d<\/p>\n

James said of the administration\u2019s new rules, \u201cIn essence, this grants commercial developers, fossil fuel companies, and other corporate entities a veto over new conservation areas and opens endangered species’ homes to logging, mining, and drilling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noah Greenwald, endangered species co-director at the Center for Biological Diversity, also opposes the rule changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s beyond tragic that as the world\u2019s scientists warn us of an extinction crisis threatening to unravel our shared future, the Trump administration is yanking basic protections from our most endangered wildlife,\u201d Greenwald said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York attorney general\u2019s office has been a hurdle for a host of Trump administration policy pivots,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10],"class_list":["post-345289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}