Several industry associations joined Republican-led states in seeking a reversal of a judge’s decision tossing Trump-era endangered species rules.
The groups and states want the Ninth Circuit to restore rules that changed how agencies classify endangered or threatened species and their habitats under the Endangered Species Act. The Trump administration also changed how agencies worked with one another to reduce harm to listed species.
Returning to pre-2019 regulations would cause confusion and irreparable harm, the groups and states told the US District Court for the Northern District of California. Their arguments failed to sway Judge Jon S. Tigar, who said keeping the rules in place would cause “equal or greater confusion, given the flaws in the drafting and promulgation of those regulations.”
The US Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service already announced plans to review and revise the species regulations. This “put the public on notice that the regulations’ existence in their current form is unlikely,” Tigar wrote on 5 July.
Alabama, Alaska, and 11 other states filed their notice of appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on 21 July. The Pacific Legal Foundation and Washington Cattlemen’s Association filed a separate notice on 21 July. The industry groups filed their notice of appeal on 22 July.
In the meantime, states and industry groups want the lower court to make a speedy decision on their motion for a stay pending their appeal.
The judge’s final decision takes effect on 4 August and will subject the states and groups to pre-2019 regulations that were unlawful and that they fought to reform, according to a 21 July filing. They will also be subjected to the regulations without the chance to defend the 2019 rules on the merits or participate in the notice and comment process guaranteed under the Administrative Procedure Act, the filing says.