Court Strikes Down Trump ESA Regulations — A Win for Endangered Species

In a landmark ruling, a federal court in the Northern District of California struck down four of six challenged Trump administration regulations that had significantly weakened the Endangered Species Act’s core enforcement mechanisms. Host Mariann Sullivan speaks with Noah Greenwald, Endangered Species Program Director at the Center for Biological Diversity, about the case — what was challenged, what the court decided, and what it means for wildlife protection amid ongoing regulatory rollbacks under the current administration.

• Federal court invalidates four ESA regulations: The Northern District of California ruled that changes to Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act were both facially inconsistent with the statute and arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act.
• “Reasonably certain to occur” standard struck down: The court rejected a heightened evidentiary standard for evaluating effects of federal projects on listed species, restoring the lower “likely to occur” threshold that better reflects the statute.
• “As a whole” critical habitat language invalidated: Adding three words to the adverse modification standard would have allowed death-by-a-thousand-cuts destruction of critical habitat for wide-ranging species like the Northern Spotted Owl — the court found this directly contrary to the ESA.
• Enforceable mitigation commitments required: The court upheld that project proponents cannot escape ESA obligations through vague promises; terms and conditions to protect listed species must be binding and enforceable.
• Fish and Wildlife Service duty to flag reinstated: The ruling reaffirmed that FWS has an affirmative obligation to notify action agencies when consultation must be reinitiated — it cannot simply wash its hands of its expert role.

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Noah Greenwald is the Director of the Endangered Species Program at the Center for Biological Diversity, where he has worked since 1997 to protect imperiled wildlife, strengthen the Endangered Species Act, and raise public awareness about the biodiversity crisis facing North American wildlife.

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