Reuters —
US states filed two lawsuits on Wednesday accusing President Donald Trump’s administration of illegally weakening the federal Endangered Species Act, a landmark law that has shielded the bald eagle and other wildlife from dangers posed by development.
The lawsuits by the Democratic attorneys general of 20 states and Washington, DC, were filed less than two months after the Department of the Interior and the Department of Commerce announced final rules that could make it easier for developers, fossil fuel companies and others to disturb lands that environmental advocates say need protection from business interests.
Enacted by Congress in 1973, the Endangered Species Act has been credited with saving animals including the California condor, grizzly bear and humpback whale.
In one lawsuit, the states challenged a rule that narrowed the Endangered Species Act’s definition of “harm,” which had long included encroachments on habitats where endangered animals live.
