Tribes and Environmental Groups Sue to Block Trump’s Gutting of the Endangered Species Act

A coalition of nine environmental groups and two Washington tribes filed separate lawsuits this week contesting the decision. They argue that rescinding the harm rule is prohibited by the ESA’s statutory language and defies the core goal of the law, given that habitat loss is the primary driver of extinction. 

“It’s so intuitive, and it’s also the law that endangered species need to have habitat, or they can’t survive,” said Ben Levitan, a senior attorney at the nonprofit Earthjustice, which filed one of the lawsuits alongside the Center for Biological Diversity, Oregon Wild, the Sierra Club, and several other nonprofits. “The Trump administration is pretending like that requirement just doesn’t exist. So we’re trying to enforce that law and make sure that the Trump administration enforces it too.”