AG Healey to Sue Trump Administration to Save Endangered Species Act
Jenn Stanley, Public News Service – MA
BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey says she intends
to sue the Trump administration over new rules that would gut the
Endangered Species Act. The lawsuit she announced Monday alleges that
the changes are illegal and that the administration failed to review
environmental impact and ignored public opinion.
The Endangered Species Act
was enacted more than 40 years ago and has since prevented the
extinction of 99% of all listed species – including the bald eagle,
humpback whale, green sea turtle and whooping crane. Healey said the new
rules violate the act’s purpose, which has helped revive some of
Massachusetts’s endangered and threatened species.
“These protections have boosted our piping plover recovery, increasing
populations here in Massachusetts alone by 500% since 1990,” Healey
said. “It used to be that there were no peregrine falcons in our state,
but now our state is home to more than 40 breeding pairs of those
falcons.”
Healey said the new rules pave the way for approval of oil, gas and
other development projects despite potential species impact. Supporters
of the rules say they create greater transparency.
Under the new rules, economic factors can be considered when making
endangered species determinations. They also make it easier to remove
protections for a species.
Healey said these rules are unpopular and will help businesses exploit the environment.
“The Endangered Species Act has been one of our most successful
environmental laws,” she said. “It was passed many years ago and,
significantly, it was passed with nearly unanimous bipartisan support.
And I think that speaks to the common understanding of the importance of
this law.”
The new rules are expected to appear in the Federal Register this week and will go into effect 30 days after that.