A judge restores the protections to endangered species eliminated by the Trump Administration

By Matthew Daly

A federal judge on Tuesday annulled a series of actions imposed during the Trump Administration to reverse the protections of threatened or endangered species, a year after the Joe Biden administration assured that it would strengthen its conservation.

District Judge Jon Tigar in Northern California struck down the Trump-era rules, even as two wildlife agencies under Biden are still reviewing the regulations.

The decision reinstates a number of protections under the Endangered Species Act -- including some dating back to the 1970s -- while revisions are completed.

Environmental groups welcomed the ruling, which they say speeds up necessary action and the designation of critical habitats for threatened species, including salmon in the Pacific Northwest.

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"It speaks for species that desperately need comprehensive federal protection without compromise," said Kristen Boyles, an attorney with the environmental group Earthjustice.

"Threatened and endangered species cannot afford to wait under regulations that do not protect them."

The court's ruling comes as two federal agencies -- the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service -- review five Endangered Species Act regulations finalized by the administration of former President Donald Trump, including critical habitat designations and rules that

Fish and Wildlife also said it will reinstate the decades-old "rule of thumb" that mandates additional protections for species that are newly classified as threatened.

Those protections were removed under Trump.

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Critical habitat designations for threatened or endangered species can place limitations on energy development, such as mining or oil drilling, that could disturb a vulnerable species.

Under Trump, authorities reduced protections for the northern spotted owl, gray wolves and other species, actions that Biden has promised to review.

The current Administration had already reversed Trump's decision to weaken enforcement of the century-old Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which made it more difficult to penalize bird deaths caused by the energy industry.

A spotted owl perches on a branch in Point Reyes, California, June 1995. AP

The repeal of the bird law was one of more than 150 business-friendly environmental measures taken by Trump that Biden wants to reconsider, revise or scrap, including last month's withdrawal of a 2020 rule that limited lands and waters that could be designated as places where endangered animals and plants could receive federal protection.

A spokesman for the Department of the Interior, which oversees the Fish and Wildlife Service, said Tuesday that the agency is reviewing the court ruling.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, along with the marine fishery service, announced in June 2021 that it was reviewing Trump-era actions on endangered species

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Industry groups and Republicans in Congress have long viewed the Endangered Species Act as an impediment to economic development, and successfully lobbied under Trump to weaken the law's regulations.

Environmental groups and Democratic-controlled states fought those measures in court, but many of those cases remained unresolved.

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Ryan Shannon, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, another environmental group, said he was "incredibly relieved" that the "terrible" Trump-era rules on endangered species were thrown out by Judge Tigar. in Oakland, California, which was appointed to the federal bank by former President Barack Obama.

"I hope the Biden Administration seizes this opportunity to strengthen this critical law, rather than weaken it, in the face of the current extinction crisis," Shannon said Tuesday.

Rebecca Riley of the Natural Resources Defense Council said the court's ruling "guarantees that the previous Administration's 'extinction package' will be reversed."

She and other advocates called on the Biden administration to ensure that the Endangered Species Act "can do its job: prevent the extinction of vulnerable species."