Humpback whale, which is currently listed as endangered. (Getty Images)
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced Monday that she intends to sue the Trump Administration over changes to rules regarding endangered species.
According to Healey, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) have enacted new regulations that could lessen protections ensured by the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
“By gutting key components of the Endangered Species Act, one of our country’s most successful environmental laws, the Trump Administration is putting our most imperiled species and our vibrant local tourism and recreation industries at risk,” Healey said in a statement. “We will be taking the Administration to court to defend federal law and protect our rare animals, plants, and the environment.”
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has also denounced the new rules. He and Healey have called the Trump Administration’s new regulations “illegal, arbitrary, and capricious.”
Healy said that the rules could lead the country down a slippery slope to allowing “approval of oil and gas and other development projects despite any species impacts.”
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