A federal court has tossed Trump-era changes to the endangered species act, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The changes were tossed by a federal judge in California, which included voiding Trump regulations that made it difficult to give protections to species threatened by future events, and Trump’s allowing economic factors to be considered when listing species as threatened or endangered.
The rights groups suing to fight the Trump-era changes on the basis, “undermine[s] protection of imperiled species or their habitat.”
But some groups will feel the loss as the report indicates:
The decision is a setback for some business groups that said the federal government had gone too far in some cases—for example, with broad definitions of critical habitat that had the effect of putting development off limits.
Several industry groups, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Petroleum Institute and the National Association of Home Builders, had said in the lawsuit that it would be “an abuse of discretion” for the judge to void the rules.
Travis Cushman, a deputy general counsel with the American Farm Bureau Federation, said the group was disappointed in the decision and closely reviewing it.
He said the group had “long advocated for improvements that modernized” the Endangered Species Act, and that carefully considered changes made during the Trump administration “were vacated by a single judge.”
The Biden administration had asked that the rules be returned by the judge for revision instead of tossing them.
The judge denied that request and tossed them, not the possibility for confusion and effective implementation exists.
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