WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday rejected multiple moves by the Trump administration to roll back protections for endangered or threatened species, a year after the Biden administration said it was strengthening protections for such species.
U.S. District Judge John Tiger in Northern California struck down the Trump-era rules, even as two wildlife agencies under President Joe Biden are revising or overturning the regulations. The decision restores a range of protections under the Endangered Species Act — including some dating back to the 1970s — until the reviews are completed. Environmental groups welcomed the decision, which they say accelerates needed protections and the designation of critical habitat for endangered species, including salmon in the Pacific Northwest.
The Tigar decision “spoke to species that desperately need comprehensive federal protection without compromise,” said Kristen Boyles, an attorney for the environmental group Earthjustice. “Endangered and threatened species do not have the luxury of waiting under rules that do not protect them.”
The court’s decision comes as two federal agencies — the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service — are reviewing five Endangered Species Act regulations finalized by President Donald Trump’s administration, including critical habitat designations and rules, requiring federal agencies to consult with the wildlife or fisheries services before taking actions that could affect threatened or endangered species.
Fish and Wildlife also said it would reinstate a decades-old “broadcast rule” that imposes additional protections on species that have recently been classified as threatened. Those protections were removed under Trump.
Designating critical habitat for threatened or endangered species can result in restrictions on energy development such as mining or oil drilling that could disturb vulnerable species, while the consultation rule and a separate rule on the scope of proposed federal action help determine how government can go to protect endangered species.
Under Trump, officials have rolled back protections for the northern spotted owl, gray wolves and other species, actions Biden has promised to review. The Biden administration previously moved to reverse Trump’s decision to weaken enforcement of the century-old Migratory Bird Act, which made it harder to prosecute bird deaths caused by the energy industry.
Repealing the bird law was among more than 150 business-friendly environmental actions that Trump has taken and Biden wants to review, revise or repeal, including withdrawing last month a 2020 rule that restricted which lands and waters can be designated as places where endangered animals and plants can receive federal protection.
A spokesman for the Department of the Interior, which runs the Fish and Wildlife Service, said Tuesday that the agency is reviewing the court ruling.
Fish and Wildlife, along with the Marine Fisheries Service, announced in June 2021 that they were reviewing Trump-era actions on endangered species. The reviews could take months or years to complete, officials said.
Industry groups and Republicans in Congress have long viewed the Endangered Species Act as an obstacle to economic development, and under Trump they have successfully lobbied to weaken the law’s provisions. Environmental groups and Democratic-controlled states have fought the moves in court, but many of those cases have remained unresolved.
Ryan Shannon, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, another environmental group, said he was “incredibly relieved” that the “terrible” Trump-era rules on endangered species had been rejected by Oakland, Calif.-based Tigar, who was appointed the federal bench by former President Barack Obama.
“I hope the Biden administration will use this opportunity to strengthen this important law, rather than weaken it, in the face of the ongoing disappearance crisis,” Shannon said Tuesday.
Rebecca Reilly of the Natural Resources Defense Council said the court ruling “guarantees that the previous administration’s ‘extinction package’ will be reversed.”
She and other advocates called on the Biden administration to ensure that the Endangered Species Act “can do its job: prevent the extinction of vulnerable species.”
Add Comment