by Donald Eng
HARTFORD, CT — Connecticut is one of 21 states participating in a pair of lawsuits against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. Attorney General William Tong said the suits challenge new rules that gut essential protections for wildlife under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and threaten the survival of imperiled species.
The rules make it easier for private companies or individuals to modify or degrade the habitats of listed threatened and endangered species and leave threatened species without core protections, Tong said.
“Donald Trump is sacrificing entire species for short-term corporate and political gain,” Tong said. “For half a century, the Endangered Species Act has been an American success story. We sued and stopped Trump from implementing these rollbacks in his first term, and we’re suing again now to save our environment and countless threatened and endangered species from irreversible, permanent harm.”