MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Vermont is one of a number of states suing to block Trump administration rules that make changes to the Endangered Species Act.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco, follows a similar challenge filed last month by several environmental groups.
The new rules begin taking effect Thursday. They for the first time allow officials to consider how much it would cost to save a species. They also remove blanket protections for animals newly listed as threatened and make it easier for creatures to be removed from the protected list.
The administration and congressional Republicans have said the changes improve the law.
Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan says the new rules “gut protections for threatened and endangered species, including many in Vermont.”
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