Courthouse News Service
Taking aim at new Trump administration rules that allow farmers to use more water from the state’s largest rivers, California claimed in a federal lawsuit Thursday that the rules fail to protect endangered fish species.
The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of California by state Attorney General Xavier Becerra and state environmental agencies, comes a day after President Trump signed new rules that change how much water can be used from the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. The rivers are used for much of the state’s agriculture industry.
Becerra said the new rules will harm endangered wildlife with their lack of protections.
“As we face the unprecedented threat of a climate emergency, now is the time to strengthen our planet’s biodiversity, not destroy it,” Becerra said in a statement. “California won’t silently spectate as the Trump Administration adopts scientifically-challenged biological opinions that push species to extinction and harm our natural resources and waterways.”
Read More →
