Press Releases
11/25/2020
Attorney General Tong Adds Endangered Species Act Claim to Lawsuit Challenging Trump Administration's Revisions to the National Environmental Policy Act
(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today joined a multistate coalition in amending their complaint challenging the Trump Administration’s unlawful revised regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The new complaint alleges that the regulations also violated the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).On July 15, 2020, the Trump Administration’s Council on Environmental Quality announced a final rule upending NEPA's requirement that federal agencies comprehensively evaluate the impacts of their actions on the environment and public health. Shortly after, the coalition filed a lawsuit arguing that the rule abandoned informed decision making, public participation, and environmental and public health protections in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act and NEPA.
Today, the coalition claims that the Trump Administration also violated the ESA by failing to consult with federal wildlife agencies to assess impacts to listed species during the rulemaking process. Connecticut has 23 federally listed endangered species that would be directly affected by this Trump Administration rollback.
“This rule completely obliterates our bedrock environmental protections, allowing developers to push through major energy and infrastructure projects with no regard to science, environmental harm and endangered species. We will not allow the Trump Administration to silence science, facts, and our voices. This rule was pushed through with complete disregard for legal processes and procedures and by an entity with no statutory authority to make these sweeping changes. We join with states across the nation in asking the court to block this rule,” said Attorney General Tong.
“This lawsuit is necessary to prevent the elimination of NEPA as a foundational tenet of environmental law and protection. Endangered species protections are one of the many environmental safeguards substantially ignored by the revised regulations,” said DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes. “We at DEEP join with Attorney General Tong and strongly support this action to reverse a decision that threatens to erode the protections NEPA has promoted over the past 50 years. We cannot risk our state’s endangered species and their vulnerable habitats, which are vital to a healthy and resilient ecosystem.”
Enacted under the Nixon Administration in 1973, the ESA is intended “to halt and reverse the trend toward species extinction, whatever the cost.” Section 7 of the ESA requires a federal agency to engage in formal consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service when a proposed federal action “may affect a listed species or critical habitat.”
The Trump Administration failed to consult with federal wildlife agencies regarding the impacts that the final rule might have on federally listed endangered and threatened species, as required by Section 7. Bypassing the ESA’s formal consultation process, the Trump Administration concluded that the final rule, which makes significant changes to how federal agencies review the environmental impacts of their actions, will have “no effect” on listed species or designated critical habitat. The Trump Administration did not provide any meaningful analysis or supporting evidence for this conclusion.
A copy of the amended complaint can be found here.
Assistant Attorney General Robert Snook and Assistant Attorney General Matt Levine, Head of the Environment Department, assisted the Attorney General in this matter.
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