Legal Battle Over Endangered Species Act Protections Escalates

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The Center for Biological Diversity has stepped into a high-stakes legal battle to defend threatened wildlife from losing vital protections under the Endangered Species Act

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A lawsuit filed by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Property and Environment Research Center seeks to remove safeguards for species listed as "threatened" under federal law

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The contested "blanket rule" automatically extends protections to threatened species without requiring individual protection plans for each animal or plant

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Trump's administration previously scrapped this protective measure in 2019, forcing wildlife officials to create separate rules for nearly 100 threatened species

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Biden reinstated the blanket protection in 2024, but the legal challenge now threatens to reverse these safeguards under the second Trump administration

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This cynical court challenge has nothing to do with conservation and everything to do with stripping protections from vulnerable wildlife," warns Noah Greenwald from the Center

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Wildlife advocates fear that without the blanket rule, species like Florida scrub jays and marbled murrelets could face increased extinction risks amid staffing and funding cuts

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When the blanket rule was previously removed, some threatened species received significantly weaker protections through their individual rules

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The case unfolds against the backdrop of what scientists describe as a global extinction crisis threatening over a million species in coming decades

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[{"selector":"#anim-52e262fe-35d9-474a-96c5-92d3f83a0d96","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":200,"duration":3000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-6f6db99d-17df-45bc-8af6-9fd96060683f","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":200,"duration":3000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-4cd6a25b-8aed-4f1a-96db-b2729ebaf5cd","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(-114.50152%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":200,"duration":3000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-74978f94-5d0d-4820-867d-3b4b7d25adcc","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":700,"duration":3000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-ec27ca19-bf91-4494-8cca-e49af95ff854","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(115.2381%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":700,"duration":3000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] Endangered Korean Mountain Goats Rebound Population Surges Nearly 80% on Woraksan Learn more