Press Release: 9/11/2026

AG Campbell Challenges Trump Administration's Rollbacks Of Endangered Species Act Regulations

 

New Rules Put Species and their Habitats at Risk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

9/09/2026

 

BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today co-led a coalition of 21 attorneys general in filing two lawsuits to protect endangered and threatened species, one against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and another against FWS and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (together, “the Services”). 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.  

“From the beaches of Cape Cod to the peaks of the Berkshire mountains, Massachusetts’ diverse landscapes support thousands of unique plant and animal species that are essential to the health of our environment,” said AG Campbell. “As a mom, I will always work to preserve for the next generation the natural resources, economic opportunity, and public health benefits that come from the strong environmental protections the Trump Administration is attempting to strip away.” 

The coalition’s first lawsuit challenges the Services’ rescission of the longstanding regulatory definition of “harm.” Previously, the rule defined harm to include “significant habitat modification or degradation” that could kill or injure wildlife by damaging species’ natural habitats and behavioral patterns, including breeding, feeding or sheltering. Rescinding this definition reduces protections for habitats and makes it easier for them to be damaged or destroyed, even when that destruction ultimately threatens the survival of protected species.  

The second lawsuit challenges two rule changes by FWS that reduce protections for threatened species and create a new process for designating areas as “critical habitat.”  The first rule rescinds FWS’s regulations that automatically protect all newly listed threatened species. The second rule establishes a new process for designating areas as “critical habitat,” that is more likely to leave areas essential to species’ conservation without the protections that Congress intended. Together, these changes put threatened and endangered species and their habitats at risk and undermine the comprehensive protections Congress mandated under the ESA. 

Research shows habitat loss is the primary cause of species decline. In both lawsuits, AG Campbell and the coalition argue the Services’ rationale for gutting habitat protections is contrary to the intent of the ESA, which Congress enacted to protect endangered and threatened wildlife and the ecosystems they depend on for survival. In the second lawsuit, AG Campbell and the coalition argue that FWS’s rescission of automatic protections for newly listed threatened species is contrary to the ESA’s conservation purpose because it leaves threatened species without protection necessary for their survival and substantially increases the risk that they will become endangered. The coalition argues these rules are also contrary to the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). 

Massachusetts has a strong interest in protecting its natural resources, wildlife, and environment. At least 25 federally listed endangered or threatened species are known to live in Massachusetts, including the threatened piping plover, the northern long-eared bat, the endangered shortnose sturgeon, and the leatherback sea turtle. Massachusetts has also dedicated significant time and state resources to protecting endangered species and their habitats through legislation like the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act, which protects over 400 imperiled species and their habitats. The Trump Administration’s latest rule changes undermine Massachusetts’ efforts to protect its environment and meet its conservation goals.  

These lawsuits are AG Campbell’s latest of dozens of actions to challenge the Trump Administration’s rollbacks of environmental protections. For example, in March, AG Campbell challenged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) unlawful attempt to rescind its 2009 Endangerment Finding – the agency’s seminal determination that greenhouse gas pollution from motor vehicles drives climate change and endangers public health and welfare. This summer, AG Campbell won a court order ensuring the EPA cannot ignore its legal obligation to protect people from dangerous soot pollution that contributes to asthma, heart disease, and even premature deaths.   

Joining AG Campbell in filing today’s lawsuits, which she co-led with the attorneys general of California, Maryland, and Washington, are the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

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