FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS ADVISORY
January 19, 2017
For More Information, contact:
Luther Strange
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Alabama Attorney General
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Page 1 of 2
ATTORNEY GENERAL STRANGE LEADS COALITION OF STATES CALLING ON
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO REPEAL BROAD EXPANSION OF DEFINITION OF
CRITICAL HABITAT FOR ENDANGERED SPECIES
(MONTGOMERY) – Attorney General Luther Strange led a coalition of 14 states calling on the
incoming Trump administration to immediately repeal two new rules pushed by the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service to broadly expand the definition
of critical habitat for endangered species.
“If allowed to go unchallenged these new rules will assign government bureaucrats
unprecedented power to unnecessarily expand critical habitat to potentially cover any areas
they choose,” said Attorney General Strange. “One can only imagine how such unlimited
authority in hands of federal rule makers could have a devastating impact on private property
and economic development.”
In a letter this week to the Trump administration’s transition team, Attorney General Strange
and 13 other Attorneys General said the new rules promulgated by the two federal agencies
“unlawfully and vastly expand the authority of the Services to designate areas as critical
habitats.” Furthermore, the rules “violate the (Endangered Species) Act because they expand
the regulatory definition of a ‘critical habitat’ beyond its narrow statutory definition.”
The Attorneys General also noted that the rules expand the definition of “adverse modification”
of critical habitat beyond what is legally permitted.
“This definition would give the Services power that the Act never contemplated – to consider
whether an alteration would adversely modify or destroy features that do not exist at present.
Under this definition, the Services could declare desert land as critical habitat for a fish and then
prevent the construction of a highway through those desert lands, under the theory that it
would prevent the future formation of a stream that might one day support the species.”
In November, 18 states, including Alabama, sued the National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, and the current Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce, to
challenge the rules. The Obama administration filed a motion to dismiss this lawsuit on
January 13, 2017.
501 Washington Avenue * Montgomery, AL 36104 * (334) 242-7300
www.ago.alabama.gov Page 2 of 2
Joining Alabama and Arkansas in the letter to the Trump transition team are Alaska, Arizona,
Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, South Carolina, Texas, West
Virginia and Wyoming.
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A copy of the letter is attached
