Environmental groups sued the Trump administration Thursday, arguing that the extraordinary exemption officials granted this week to endangered species protections in the Gulf of Mexico lacked any legal justification and violated federal law.
In one lawsuit, a coalition of groups said that despite the arguments from administration officials there is no evidence of an impending halt to oil and gas production because of restrictions imposed to protect endangered species. In contrast, the lawsuit notes that Gulf production is “at an all-time high.”
A separate lawsuit by the Natural Resources Defense Council is focused on Trump administration’s use of a national security provision of the Endangered Species Act.
The exemption was “unnecessary, ineffective and dangerous,” said Drew Caputo, vice president of litigation for lands, wildlife and oceans at Earthjustice, the law firm representing the coalition that includes Healthy Gulf, the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth and the Turtle Island Restoration Network.
