By Jonathan Stempel
July 14 (Reuters) - The Trump administration was sued on Tuesday by nine environmental groups that said its recent decision to rescind a more than 50-year-old definition of "harm" imperiled wildlife.
In a complaint filed in Seattle federal court, the groups challenged determinations on July 10 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service that "maintaining a freestanding definition of 'harm' is unnecessary," and degrading a habitat does not qualify under the Endangered Species Act as an illegal "take" of endangered and threatened wildlife.
Rescinding the definition of harm violates that law's plain language, defies reason, is arbitrary and capricious, and should be overturned, the complaint said.
The Trump administration has scaled back a variety of environmental initiatives and standards, including by reducing government support for clean energy and repealing an Obama administration-era scientific finding that climate change threatens public health.
July 14 (Reuters) - The Trump administration was sued on Tuesday by nine environmental groups that said its recent decision to rescind a more than 50-year-old definition of "harm" imperiled wildlife.
In a complaint filed in Seattle federal court, the groups challenged determinations on July 10 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service that "maintaining a freestanding definition of 'harm' is unnecessary," and degrading a habitat does not qualify under the Endangered Species Act as an illegal "take" of endangered and threatened wildlife.
Rescinding the definition of harm violates that law's plain language, defies reason, is arbitrary and capricious, and should be overturned, the complaint said.
The Trump administration has scaled back a variety of environmental initiatives and standards, including by reducing government support for clean energy and repealing an Obama administration-era scientific finding that climate change threatens public health.
13 days ago
