Nine environmental groups have sued the Trump administration for rescinding a more than 50-year-old definition of ‘harm’ in the Endangered Species Act. The groups claim that the decision imperils wildlife and violates the law’s plain language.
Background
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service determined on July 10 that maintaining a freestanding definition of ‘harm’ is unnecessary. The complaint, filed in Seattle federal court, challenges this decision and argues that it defies reason and is arbitrary and capricious.
The plaintiffs, including the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity, argue that a ‘take’ causes harm when it results in significant habitat modification or degradation that actually kills or injures wildlife. They claim that abandoning the focus on harm undermines the ordinary understanding of its meaning, which was endorsed by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 1995 decision.
The Trump administration has scaled back various environmental initiatives and standards, including reducing government support for clean energy and repealing an Obama administration-era scientific finding that climate change threatens public health.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
