For Immediate Release:
January 5, 2026
For press inquiries only, contact:
Amanda Priest (334) 322-5694
William Califf (334) 604-3230
(Montgomery, Ala) – Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall led a 20-state coalition in submitting comments supporting the Trump Administration’s proposed rules for implementing the Endangered Species Act. The letter, filed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marines Fisheries Services, commends the administration’s proposed changes that would realign federal regulations with the text of the Act, ease counterproductive regulatory burdens, and better align the incentives of landowners to work toward species recovery.
“In 2016, the Obama administration abandoned a decades-old framework for designating critical habitat and gave sweeping new powers to unelected bureaucrats in direct violation of the Endangered Species Act,” stated Attorney General Marshall. “We filed suit and the federal government agreed to reconsider the rules. President Trump’s reforms in in 2019 restored balance and common sense. Then in 2024, the Biden administration repealed those sensible reforms and enacted additional unlawful regulations. We are glad that the Trump administration is once again reversing course.”
Among the key provisions the coalition supports is the restoration of a two-step process for designating critical habitat. Under the proposed rule, the Services would first evaluate areas occupied by a species and only consider unoccupied areas as critical habitat where occupied areas alone would be inadequate to ensure conservation of the species. This approach, which was in place for over 30 years before being eliminated in 2016, aligns with the statutory requirement that unoccupied areas be “essential for the conservation of the species.” The letter also supports the Services’ emphasis that the same standard applies to listing and delisting a species as threatened or endangered, meaning that the regulatory burden should lighten as species recover.
The coalition’s letter emphasizes support for “the Services’ return in the Proposed Rules to a more cooperative federalism that recognizes the unique responsibilities and insights by States and other local partners.” The attorneys general also “commend the Services for proposing to realign their regulations with the textual requirements of the Endangered Species Act.”
Attorney General Marshall led the coalition with the attorney general of North Dakota, and they were joined by the attorneys general of Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Click here to read the coalition’s letter.
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