The measure is a victory for environmental and conservation groups and climate advocates. Restoring protections could also be a big help for climate groups who argue that drilling for oil and gas in certain areas could damage endangered wildlife.
“The Court spoke out for species that desperately need comprehensive federal protections without compromise,” Earthjustice attorney Kristen Boyles said in a statement. “Endangered and endangered species do not have the luxury of waiting under rules that do not protect them.”
Trump’s review changed the way the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration considered whether the species met the requirements for federal protections. It could have significantly lengthened the time it takes to protect a species, which had the impact of considering a number of species for protections.
A coalition of environmental groups, including Earthjustice and the Center for Biological Diversity, and the state of California had demanded the Biden administration to reverse the changes.
Last year, the Biden administration announced that it planned to review and make changes to actions taken under former President Donald Trump. But some environmental groups were frustrated by what they believed was the slowness of the current administration.
“Trump’s removal of protections for endangered species should have been overturned on the first day of Biden’s presidency,” said Noah Greenwald, director of endangered species. Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. “With today’s court ruling, the Services can finally continue the business of protecting and recovering endangered species.”
Boyles told CNN that the Biden administration’s Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service had stopped working on its review and asked the California judge to send the rules to the agencies without leaving -they go.
“We’ve been very frustrated with the fish and wildlife service,” Boyles said. “They said it in June last year, but they stopped. They didn’t do any work. That’s practically why this court order had to pass.”
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of California Jon Tigar said the Biden administration has “not demonstrated any desire to keep the 2019 ESA rules intact,” making the decision to abandon Trump’s rule is easy.
Interior Department spokesman Tyler Cherry told CNN the department is reviewing the decision.
The changes of the Trump era were widely seen as an industry-friendly move to pave the way for fossil fuel companies to drill or extract more easily. Boyles said it had resounding negative impacts on both species waiting to be protected and on species such as endangered and endangered salmon that have been affected for years by Snake River dams.
“I hope the agency’s decisions are better,” Boyles said of the return to long-standing rules. “These regulations changed a lot of things; they were radical changes in the way species are added to lists or the way their habitats are protected.”
Greg Wallace and Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.