Attorneys general in 17 states on Wednesday made good on a promise to sue the Trump administration over rule changes that substantially weakened how Endangered Species Act protections are considered and enforced.
The attorneys general vowed to challenge the administration in mid-August when the Interior and Commerce departments announced new rules that would allow officials to decrease the amount of habitat threatened and endangered animals require to survive and remove tools used by scientists to predict future harm to species as a result of climate change.
The administration would also be allowed to reveal, for the first time in the 45 years since the act was signed into law by the Nixon administration, the financial burden of protecting wildlife.
Revealing the price tag and loss of potential development opportunities on protected land could open future threatened and endangered designations to challenges they have not face before now. Before the change, the act called for endangered plants and animals to be protected regardless of the cost.
View the complete September 25 article by Darryl Fears on The Washington Post website here.