Lawsuit Aims to Restore Protections for Threatened Wildlife

Lawsuit Aims to Restore Protections for Threatened Wildlife

Conservation groups say rule rescinding 'blanket' protections goes against intent of Endangered Species Act

Contacts

Becca Bowe, Earthjustice, [email protected]
Billy Berler, Sierra Club, [email protected]
Liz Bartolomeo, Humane World for Animals, [email protected]
Kati Schmidt, National Parks Conservation Association, [email protected]
Joanan Zhang, WildEarth Guardians, [email protected]

On Wednesday, conservation groups sued to overturn a Trump administration rule that leaves threatened wildlife with no certain, meaningful protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Read the complaint here.

Plaintiffs represented by Earthjustice - including the Sierra Club, WildEarth Guardians, National Parks Conservation Association, Humane World for Animals (formerly called Humane Society of the United States), Conservation Council for Hawai'i and Save the Manatee Club - argue that federal officials ran afoul of the ESA when they issued this rule, since it cuts against the very purpose of the law. For decades, agencies have taken a "blanket" approach to aiding species designated as "threatened" by automatically affording them the same protections as species listed as "endangered." Like preventative health care, this "blanket 4(d) rule" meant to proactively bolster imperiled wildlife before it was too late.

The Trump administration rescinded this rule, replacing it with a requirement that agency officials write up a different conservation plan for every species they add to the "threatened" list. This comes at a time when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) faces a backlog of 400 species awaiting consideration for ESA listing, has seen staff cuts affecting at least 500 biologists, and has lost more than a third of the budget allocated for this work. With this perpetual backlog, reversing the blanket 4(d) rule undermines the ESA and strips vital conservation measures for hundreds of newly listed threatened species for the foreseeable future.

Earthjustice and clients shared the following comments:

"When federal agencies issue rules, they must explain how their choices relate to facts on the ground. That didn't happen here," said Earthjustice Attorney Clay Samford. "There's no rational explanation for upending a system that has, for more than half a century, successfully protected threatened wildlife. This action cuts against the very spirit of the law, which was created to ensure species are given a fighting chance of survival."

"Abandoning automatic safeguards for threatened wildlife is a reckless gamble with species that are already in decline," said Ben Greuel, Sierra Club's national wildlife campaign manager. "Wildlife needs help as soon as we recognize it's in trouble. This rollback opens the door to killing newly listed threatened animals that would otherwise be protected. A species lost to extinction can never be brought back."

"We are following through on our warning to the Trump administration that we would take legal action if it continued dismantling protections for America's most vulnerable wildlife," said Nicholas Arrivo, managing attorney, animal protection law at Humane World for Animals. "The Endangered Species Act was designed to prevent extinction by protecting vulnerable wildlife before it's too late. But the federal government is eliminating automatic safeguards for species newly listed as threatened, creating a more complicated process that could leave animals at greater risk. We are going to court to hold this administration accountable and defend a law that has helped save hundreds of species from extinction."

"Our nation's imperiled plants and animals already have to wait far too long to be considered for federal protections. This senseless rule will strain an already overburdened system, and newly listed threatened species will suffer for it," said Joanna Zhang, endangered species advocate for WildEarth Guardians. "Proactive protections for threatened species under the Endangered Species Act have been effective at stopping extinctions, and we're fighting to uphold the law."

"This regulation is gambling with the safety of America's most at-risk national park wildlife. By removing automatic protections for new additions to the list of threatened wildlife species, the administration is irresponsibly throwing caution to the wind," said Bart Melton, senior wildlife program director for National Parks Conservation Association. "We can't continue to recover America's wildlife in our national parks when agencies are given more work, less regulatory support, and are hit with severe staffing and funding cuts. We are fighting this regulation on behalf of our parks, and the majority of Americans, who agree that the Endangered Species Act is important for protecting the more than 600 threatened and endangered species that call the national parks home."

"Protections afforded by the Endangered Species Act have been a primary reason for manatees' recovery from the brink of extinction to their current numbers," said Elizabeth Neville, Director of Environmental Law and Policy for Save the Manatee Club. "However, with many threats facing this beloved marine mammal-pollution-driven seagrass loss, harmful algal blooms, unsustainable development, and watercraft collisions-their future is far from secure. The 2020-2022 Unusual Mortality Event for manatees wherein over 1,200 manatees died tragically, largely from starvation due to seagrass loss in the Indian River Lagoon, confirmed how precarious the manatees' situation is. Rescinding the certainty provided by the Blanket 4(d) rule places manatees' recovery prospects in grave doubt. This left us with no other choice but to go to court and uphold the government's common-sense and scientifically-justified legal responsibility to manatees and all species threatened with extinction."

Background

Florida manatees are one example of a species vulnerable to loss of protections under this rule change. The beloved marine mammals face threats from speeding boats that can strike and kill them, diminished food supplies due to aquatic vegetation loss, water pollution, and vanishing natural warm-water refuges where they can safely shelter in winter months. The Trump administration's repeal of the Blanket 4(d) Rule will reduce protections available to this species.

The Trump administration has sought to erode the Endangered Species Act in other ways as well, most recently issuing a radical legal memo that sanctions the killing of endangered wildlife. Attempts to weaken the bedrock environmental law come at a time when biodiversity in the U.S. is facing a worsening crisis, with over one-third of plant and animal species at risk of disappearing. The law has saved 99% of species under its protection from going extinct, and more than four out of five Americans support the ESA.

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