The New York attorney general’s office has been a hurdle for a host of Trump administration policy pivots, suing to preserve immigrant protections, voting rights and access to gender-affirming care, 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.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, joined by her counterparts in 19 other states and the District of Columbia, filed federal lawsuits in the Northern District of California challenging rule changes by the federal government that together weaken long-standing habitat protections for both endangered and threatened species.
The attorneys general allege that the Trump administration’s new interpretations of the federal Endangered Species Act amount to “greenlighting the destruction of endangered species’ habitats” and “permitting commercial developers and fossil fuel companies a pathway to access endangered animals’ habitats.” The lawsuits ask the courts to block the new rules and restore the full protections of the 50-year-old endangered species law.
“America’s endangered species have survived because generations of Americans chose to protect them and the habitats they depend on,” James said in a statement announcing the filings. “Now, the Trump administration is tearing down those protections and pushing countless endangered species closer to extinction.”
The White House deferred comment to the U.S. Department of the Interior, where a spokesperson defended the administration’s actions.
“This lawsuit seeks to preserve a decades-old regulatory overreach that expanded the Endangered Species Act beyond the authority granted by Congress,” spokesperson Charlotte Taylor said. “The Department will vigorously defend its authority to implement the law according to its plain text."
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 declared that species were facing extinction “as a consequence of economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation.”
The long-standing interpretation of the law made it illegal to damage or destroy any area designated as a “critical habitat” for an endangered or threatened species, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has said is fundamental to saving species.
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’s 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.
One change by the Trump administration limits the definition of “harm,” which for decades has made it illegal to damage or destroy species' habitats. The administration’s 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 “a reversal of staggering proportions” that violates Supreme Court precedent on the definition of “harm.”
The coalition also challenges a rule change that ends the automatic protection of newly threatened species. Under the administration’s change, no federal protection is extended unless the government writes a new, species-specific rule, further delaying protection for species under certain circumstances.
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.
Earthjustice attorney Kristen Boyles, whose organization has also sued to block the changes, accused the Trump administration of gutting the Endangered Species Act.
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.
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.
“The Trump administration repeal violates the core purpose of the statute and decades of legal precedent, including from the U.S. Supreme Court,” Boyles said. “Now more than ever, imperiled species from salmon to marbled murrelets to grizzly bears need habitat protection to survive and recover.”
James said of the administration’s new rules, “In 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.”
Noah Greenwald, endangered species co-director at the Center for Biological Diversity, also opposes the rule changes.
“It’s beyond tragic that as the world’s 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,” Greenwald said in a statement.
