Standing Strong for Life on Earth
Stopping the Second Trump Administration’s Anti-Environment Attacks
During President Donald Trump’s first term, the Center for Biological Diversity filed 266 lawsuits challenging his administration’s attempts to block progress on climate change, kill wildlife, endanger public health, destroy public lands, and otherwise harm the planet.
We won nearly 9 out of 10 times — and we’re not about to slow down now.
“Trump 2.0 is going to get twice the fight from the protectors of our planet, wildlife, and basic human rights,” said Executive Director Kierán Suckling. “We’ve battled Trump from the border wall to the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, and in many cases we’ve won. This country’s bedrock environmental laws stand strong. We’re more prepared than ever to block the disastrous Trump policies we know are coming.”
This time around, so far we’ve filed 47 suits defending life on Earth from harmful actions by the second Trump administration. Read on for details.
47. August 12, 2025 – Lawsuit Seeks Records on Trump Energy Order to Gut Environmental Protections
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration today public records on actions related to the so-called energy emergency.
46. August 07, 2025 – Lawsuit Aims to Protect Rare Southeastern Pinesnake
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration for failing to protect Florida pinesnakes under the Endangered Species Act.
45. August 07, 2025 – Lawsuit Aims to Protect Rare Southeastern Pinesnake
The Center for Biological Diversity and Sierra Club filed a lawsuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s failure to ensure that counties in three states have effective plans for cleaning up sulfur dioxide air pollution.
44. July 17, 2025 – Lawsuit Aims to Protect Oregon Coast Red Tree Voles
Conservation groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for denying protections to the imperiled North Oregon Coast population of red tree voles.
43. July 15, 2025 – Lawsuit Seeks Records on Trump Efforts to Weaken Whale Habitat Protections
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration to force the release of public records on a proposed rollback of key Endangered Species Act protections for marine wildlife, including the potential political or industry influences behind the change.
42. July 10, 2025 – Lawsuit Seeks Records on Trump, DOGE’s Environmental Rollbacks Agenda
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Office of Management and Budget seeking the lists of agency environmental safeguards targeted for cancellation or modification by Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
41. July 09, 2025 – Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration’s New Arizona Border Wall Waivers
Conservation groups sued the Trump administration for unconstitutionally waiving dozens of environmental laws to speed border wall construction through the San Rafael Valley in Arizona’s Sky Island region, a biodiversity hotspot that includes the most significant wildlife corridor remaining along the Arizona-Mexico border.
40. July 03, 2025 – Lawsuit Aims to Protect Oregon’s Crater Lake Newt From Extinction
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration for delaying critically needed Endangered Species Act protections for the Crater Lake newt.
39. July 01, 2025 – Lawsuit Seeks Protection for Rare Desert Wetland Wildflower in Nevada, California
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking Endangered Species Act protection for the Tecopa bird’s beak, a rare desert wetland wildflower that grows in Nevada and California.
38. June 27, 2025 – Lawsuit Filed to Protect Everglades From Becoming I.C.E Detention Center
Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity sued in U.S. District Court to protect the Florida Everglades from a reckless plan to create a massive detention center to confine people who are rounded up in immigration raids.
37. June 25, 2025 – Lawsuit Seeks List of Polluters Asking Trump for Clean Air Act Exemptions
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration for failing to release the names of fossil fuel companies and other polluters seeking exemptions from lifesaving Clean Air Act safeguards against hazardous pollution.
36. June 18, 2025 – Lawsuit Seeks Records on Trump’s Efforts to Weaken Habitat Protections for Imperiled Wildlife
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration for failing to release public records about its proposal to rescind the long-standing definition of “harm” in the Endangered Species Act’s regulations.
35. May 29, 2025 – Trump’s Plan to Land SpaceX Rockets in Pacific Wildlife Refuge Spurs Lawsuit
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Air Force and Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to release public records detailing the Trump administration’s plans to build landing pads for SpaceX rockets in sensitive marine habitat in the Pacific Ocean.
34. May 28, 2025 – Lawsuit Seeks Protections for Rare Toad Threatened by Trump’s Fossil Fuel Push
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to finalize Endangered Species Act protection for critically imperiled Railroad Valley toads.
33. May 23, 2025 – Lawsuit Seeks Info on RFK Jr.’s Calendar, Records on Dietary Guidelines
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today for failing to release Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s calendar and schedule. The lawsuit also seeks information about the development of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, including related communications with the beef industry.
32. May 22, 2025 – Lawsuit Challenges Trump Order Opening Pacific Monument to Commercial Fishing
Kāpaʻa, the Conservation Council for Hawai‘i and the Center for Biological Diversity, represented by Earthjustice, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging its illegal actions to open the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to commercial fishing.
31. May 21, 2025 – Lawsuit Seeks DOGE Plans for Upcoming Mass Firings
The Center for Biological Diversity sued Trump’s Office of Personnel Management seeking the plans required by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency to drastically reshape and downsize key agencies’ workforces.
30. May 20, 2025 – Lawsuit Aims to Protect Critically Endangered Gulf Rice’s Whale From Oil, Gas Dangers
Four conservation groups filed suit in U.S. District Court to challenge a federal government plan that fails to properly protect rare species, including Rice’s whales and Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, from being harmed or killed by fossil fuel drilling and exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.
29. May 20, 2025 – Lawsuit Aims to Protect Cook Inlet, Belugas from Water Pollution, Noise
Several groups and an Alaska resident filed suit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales and the Johnson River, which flows through Lake Clark National Park before entering Cook Inlet, or Tikahtnu in the Dene language.
28. May 19, 2025 – Lawsuit Challenges Trump Approval of Louisiana LNG Deepwater Export Terminal
The Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club sued the Trump administration for approving the proposed Delfin LNG deepwater export terminal 40 miles off the Louisiana coast. The project would be the first offshore LNG export project in the United States.
27. May 16, 2025 – Trump Plan to Accelerate National Forest Logging Spurs Lawsuit
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest Service for failing to release public records about the Trump administration’s plans to rapidly expand logging in the nation’s forests.
26. May 1, 2025 – Lawsuit Challenges EPA’s Failure to Protect People, Wildlife From Pesticides Applied to Water
The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit challenging Trump's Environmental Protection Agency’s failure to ensure pesticides sprayed directly into water bodies and streams to control weeds and mosquitoes, and for other purposes, aren’t harming protected plants and animals.
25. April 29, 2025 – Trump’s Use of Emergency Powers to Dismantle Wetlands Protections Spurs Lawsuit
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump Army Corps of Engineers for failing to release information about its plans to rubber-stamp the destruction of wetlands to speed along fossil fuel energy projects.
24. April 24, 2025 – Lawsuit Seeks Public Records on Harms to Whales, Sea Turtles, Marine Life From NOAA Mass Firings
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration for denying protections to the brook floater mussel under the Endangered Species Act.
23. April 17, 2025 – Lawsuit Pushes Trump Administration to Save Brook Floater Mussel
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration for denying protections to the brook floater mussel under the Endangered Species Act.
22. April 16, 2025 – Lawsuit Seeks Trump’s Master Plans for Slashing Environmental Protections
The Center for Biological Diversity sued four Cabinet-level agencies for failing to release information on the Trump administration’s “action plans” to boost the oil industry and other fossil fuel producers by rolling back and eliminating environmental safeguards.
21. April 14, 2025 – Lawsuit Seeks Info on Trump EPA’s Plan to Reconsider Climate Endangerment Finding
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency for failing to release information about the agency’s plans to reconsider, and likely undercut, its landmark scientific finding that greenhouse gasses endanger public health and the environment.
20. April 8, 2025 – Lawsuit Challenges Delays by Trump EPA in Cleaning Up Dangerous Smog Pollution in Phoenix, Yosemite National Park Area
The Center and other conservation and public-health groups sued Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin for his failure to take action to reduce smog pollution in the Phoenix metro area and Mariposa County, California, home to Yosemite National Park.
19. April 7, 2025 – Lawsuit Seeks Details on Trump Administration Cuts to Life-Saving Elephant, Rhino Conservation Programs
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration over its delay in complying with a public records request seeking information about funding cuts to international wildlife conservation programs.
18. April 2, 2025 – Lawsuit Challenges Outdated Plans for Aging Oil Platforms Off California Coast
The Center for Biological Diversity and the Wishtoyo Chumash Foundation filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the federal failure to require updated development and production plans for oil drilling at the Santa Ynez Unit off the California coast.
17. March 28, 2025 – Lawsuit Aims to Protect Nantahala-Pisgah Forest From Destructive Logging Plan
A coalition of conservation groups sued the Trump administration over the U.S. Forest Service’s Nantahala-Pisgah forest plan. The plan allows for a five-fold increase in logging that violates federal law by overlooking harms to forests, water quality and wildlife.
16. March 27, 2025 – Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration Over Delayed Protections for Two California Salamanders
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration for delaying Endangered Species Act protections for the Kern Canyon slender salamander and relictual slender salamander in California.
15. March 18, 2025 – Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration Failure to Review Flawed Oil, Gas Industry Air-Pollution Permits in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency over its delay in responding to challenges to air-pollution permits for oil and gas processing facilities in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.
14. March 13, 2025 – Lawsuit Seeks to Protect 11 South Florida Species
The Center for Biological Diversity, represented by the Jacobs Public Interest Law Clinic for Democracy and the Environment at Stetson University College of Law, sued the Trump administration for delaying Endangered Species Act protection for a lizard, two snakes, and eight plants found in South Florida.
13. March 10, 2025 – Lawsuit Challenges Federal Failure to Regulate Dangerous Phosphate Mining Waste
The Center and conservation, public health, and environmental justice allies sued the Trump administration over the federal failure to respond to a petition requesting stronger oversight of toxic and radioactive waste from phosphate mining and fertilizer production.
13. March 03, 2025 – Lawsuit Seeks to Prevent DOGE, Musk From Gutting U.S. Environmental Agencies
The Center for Biological Diversity sued five cabinet-level agencies seeking to stop the so-called Department of Government Efficiency and its DOGE teams from taking further actions against multiple environmental agencies until each team fully complies with the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
12. February 27, 2025 – Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration Failure to Protect Gulf of Mexico’s Smalltail Shark
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration for its failure to decide whether to protect smalltail sharks under the Endangered Species Act. The sharks live in nearshore waters of the western Atlantic Ocean from Brazil to the northern Gulf of Mexico.
11. February 27, 2025 – Lawsuit Seeks Records on DOGE Structure, Musk’s Mission in Trump Administration
The Center Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration, including Elon Musk, to obtain public records on the activities of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. The lawsuit appears to be the first contending that DOGE itself is an “agency” for purposes of the Freedom of Information Act.
10. February 26, 2025 – Lawsuit Seeks Endangered Species Act Protections for Washington’s Sand-Verbena Moth
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration seeking Endangered Species Act protections for sand-verbena moths. These highly imperiled moths were denied protections in 2019 when Trump was first in office.
9. February 19, 2025 – Lawsuit Challenges Trump Order to Undo Ocean Protections From Offshore Drilling
Conservation groups filed the first environmental lawsuit against the Trump administration to protect oceans from offshore drilling. One set of groups is challenging an illegal order by President Trump to revoke former President Biden’s withdrawal of vulnerable areas of the ocean from future oil-and-gas leasing. Another set is asking a court to reinstate a federal court ruling that invalidated an attempt by the first Trump administration to undo Obama-era offshore protections.
8. February 19, 2025 – Lawsuit Challenges EPA’s Approval of Radioactive Roads
The Center for Biological Diversity sued Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency today for approving the use of radioactive phosphogypsum in road construction at Mosaic’s New Wales facility in Mulberry, Florida.
7. February 18, 2025 – Lawsuit Challenges Massive Idaho Gold Mine Threatening Wildlife, Public Health
Local and national conservation groups sued Trump’s U.S. Forest Service to challenge its approval of the Stibnite Gold Project, an open-pit cyanide leach gold mine in Idaho’s Salmon River Mountains. The mine would jeopardize public health and clean water, harm threatened plants and animals, and permanently scar thousands of acres of public land in the headwaters of the South Fork Salmon River.
6. February 18, 2025 – Lawsuit Challenges USDA’s Killing of Texas Wildlife
The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop Trump’s U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services program from trapping, shooting and poisoning Texas’ wildlife.
5. February 18, 2025 – Lawsuit Aims to Protect Spring-Run Chinook Salmon in Pacific Northwest
The Center for Biological Diversity and allies sued Trump’s National Marine Fisheries Service for delaying Endangered Species Act protection decisions for spring-run Chinook salmon in Oregon, Washington and Northern California.
4. February 5, 2025 – Lawsuit Challenges Federal Approvals for New Oil, Gas Drilling on California Public Lands
Health and conservation groups sued Trump’s Bureau of Land Management, challenging its approvals of new oil and gas drilling permits on public lands in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Despite an ongoing legal challenge to its permitting system in the region, the BLM continues to hand over drilling permits to fossil fuel companies at the expense of public health, the environment and the law.
3. February 04, 2025 – Lawsuit Demands Records Supporting Finding That Spraying Insecticides Across Millions of Western Acres Harms None of Region’s 201 Endangered Species
The Center for Biological Diversity sued Trump’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to release records documenting its finding that insecticides sprayed across millions of acres in 17 states do not harm any of the area’s 201 endangered plants and animals.
2. January 21, 2025 – Lawsuit Seeks to Compel EPA to Prevent Dangerous Air Pollution From Mine in Arizona’s Patagonia Mountains
The Center Biological Diversity and other conservation and community groups sued Trump's Environmental Protection Agency over its delay in responding to objections filed over an Arizona air pollution permit for a new heavy metals mine in the Patagonia Mountains south of Tucson.
1. January 20, 2025 – Lawsuit Seeks Records on Elon Musk, DOGE’s Role in Trump Transition
The Center Biological Diversity sued the Trump administration to obtain public records showing how people claiming to represent the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, were interacting with the White House since the presidential transition began in November.
