Trump Rolls Back Endangered Species Act Protections During Trip to California

SACRAMENTO – During a visit to California today, President Trump moved forward with implementing Endangered Species Act permits (known as biological opinions) that dramatically weaken environmental protections for salmon and other imperiled species in California’s Bay-Delta Watershed. The State of California previously announced that they would file litigation challenging these biological opinions, concluding that the biological opinions fail to protect endangered species and are contrary to the state’s interests.  In early December NRDC and its partners filed federal court litigation to protect salmon and endangered species from these biological opinions, which marked NRDC’s 100th lawsuit against the Trump Administration. Today, Governor Newsom’s office reiterated the State’s promise to file suit in the coming days to protect native fish species on the brink of extinction.

Following is a statement from Kate Poole, Senior Director of the Water Division at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“These new rules sacrifice the Bay-Delta and its most endangered species for the financial interests of the President’s political backers and Secretary Bernhardt’s former clients. We will fight for the largest estuary on the West Coast, which sustains hundreds of fish and wildlife and thousands of fishing jobs that depend on a healthy Bay-Delta. The Newsom Administration has the tools it needs to protect California from Trump’s latest assault on the environment, and we’re looking forward to working with the Governor to do so.”

More Information

Trump’s Bay-Delta Biops Are a Plan for Extinction (Detailed overview): https://www.nrdc.org/experts/doug-obegi/trumps-bay-delta-biops-are-plan-extinction

Bad News for the Bay-Delta Tomorrow: Trump Administration’s New Biops (High-level overview): https://www.nrdc.org/experts/doug-obegi/trump-admin

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The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Chicago; Bozeman, Montana; and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC

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