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New Rules Put Species and Their Habitats at Risk
BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown today co-led a coalition of 21 attorneys general in filing two lawsuits to protect endangered and threatened species, one against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and another against FWS and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (together, the Services). The suits challenge new rules that gut essential protections for wildlife under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and threaten the survival of imperiled species. The rules make it easier for private companies or individuals to modify or degrade the habitats of listed threatened and endangered species and leave threatened species without core protections.
“Maryland’s endangered species and the habitats they depend on deserve real protection, not political rollbacks that put entire ecosystems at risk,” said Attorney General Brown. “My Office will not stand by while the federal government unlawfully strips away the safeguards that Marylanders and our state’s wildlife depend on.”
The coalition’s first lawsuit challenges the Services’ rescission of the longstanding regulatory definition of “harm.” Previously, the rule defined harm to include “significant habitat modification or degradation” that could kill or injure wildlife by damaging species’ natural habitats and behavioral patterns, including breeding, feeding or sheltering. Altering this definition reduces protections for habitats and makes it easier for them to be damaged or destroyed, even when that destruction ultimately threatens the survival of protected species.
The second lawsuit challenges two rule changes by FWS that reduce protections for threatened species and create a new process for designating areas as “critical habitat.” The first rule rescinds FWS’s regulations that automatically protect all newly listed threatened species. The second rule establishes a new process for designating areas as “critical habitat,” that will likely leave areas essential to species’ conservation without the protections that Congress intended. Together, these changes put threatened and endangered species and their habitats at risk and undermine the comprehensive protections Congress mandated under the ESA.
Research shows habitat loss is the primary cause of species decline. In both lawsuits, Attorney General Brown and the coalition argue the Services’ rationale for gutting habitat protections is contrary to the intent of the ESA, which Congress enacted to protect endangered and threatened wildlife and the ecosystems they depend on for survival. In the second lawsuit, Attorney General Brown and the coalition argue that FWS’s rescission of automatic protections for newly listed threatened species is contrary to the ESA’s conservation purpose because it leaves threatened species without protection necessary for their survival and substantially increases the risk that they will become endangered. The coalition argues these rules are also contrary to the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Maryland has a strong interest in protecting its natural resources, wildlife, and environment. Maryland is home to at least 21 federally listed animals and seven plants, such as the dwarf wedgemussel, the Atlantic sturgeon, the bog turtle, and the Puritan tiger beetle. Because many of these species also live in neighboring states, strong federal protections are necessary to ensure their ultimate recovery.
Attorney General Brown co-led today’s lawsuit alongside the attorneys general of California and Washington. Joining the coalition are the attorneys general of, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
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