Conservation Groups Renew Challenge to Endangered Species Act Regulations

SAN FRANCISCO — Environmental groups filed a lawsuit today renewing their challenge to Endangered Species Act (ESA) regulations developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The lawsuit aims to correct sections of the rules that fail to protect imperiled species and undercut the purpose, intent, and effect of the highly popular and successful conservation law, which was enacted by Congress 50 years ago.

The new regulations came about as the result of federal lawsuits challenging the weakening of the ESA in 2019. In response to that litigation, FWS and NMFS agreed to revise the damaging rulemakings; the agencies revised the rules in April 2024. 

While the new rules contain some critical fixes, such as reinstating automatic protections for threatened species, many unlawful provisions were left intact. For instance, one provision allows the near-total destruction of protected habitat before recognizing that a violation has occurred. Another demands greater certainty in scientific judgments leading to protection for species and habitat, even when the best available science indicates that protection is warranted. Many threatened or endangered species, from wolverines to walruses, will get inadequate protection under the challenged rules.

Earthjustice filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, and WildEarth Guardians.

“The agencies tasked with upholding the Endangered Species Act had the chance to restore full protections under the law, but they left too many species hanging in the balance,” said Earthjustice attorney Ben Levitan. “We’re returning to court to give imperiled species what the law demands—a better chance of survival.”

“These regulations are a disaster for endangered animals like the spotted owl, polar bear and so many more,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s really disappointing to see the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service put forward regulations that fundamentally undercut its own ability to do what’s necessary to save plants and animals from extinction.”

“As we face a global extinction crisis, it’s more important than ever that our actions to save biodiversity follow science, not sell out to special interests,”said Bradley Williams, Deputy Legislative Director, Wildlife and Lands Protection at Sierra Club. The Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service can and must do more to protect imperiled species, and we will continue to advocate for wildlife across the country facing extinction.”

“The Endangered Species Act is our nation’s most powerful environmental law protecting wildlife and safeguarding biodiversity," said Jennifer Schwartz, Interim Legal Director at WildEarth Guardians. "With the extinction crisis worsening day after day, we must defend the future of wild species against the onslaught of attacks that continue to erode the Endangered Species Act."

Background

Since Congress passed the ESA in 1973, the law has saved 99 percent of listed species from extinction, including the bald eagle, gray wolf, Florida manatee, humpback whale, and California condor. Even with the ESA preventing hundreds of species from vanishing, the biodiversity crisis has accelerated because of human activities and human-driven climate change. More than two-thirds of all plant and animal life on Earth has declined since 1970 and nearly half of the ecosystems in the U.S. are at risk of collapse today.