Governments have a legal duty to cut fossil fuel use to protect human rights. Earthjustice will continue to support our international partners in holding governments accountable to the commitments they make at COP30 and beyond by pushing for more ambitious climate action.

The conference comes on the heels of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ historic climate advisory opinion from July 2025 clarifying that governments must go above and beyond whatever commitments they make at COP30.

We will fight back to protect threatened and endangered species. The public will have 30 days to issue comments on the proposed rules. Earthjustice will share an action alert when the comment period opens.

Earthjustice is fighting back. Earlier this week, we filed a lawsuit to challenge the Trump administration's first offshore oil sale in the Gulf.

“Trump's plan would risk the health and well-being of millions of people who live along our coasts. It would also devastate countless ocean ecosystems. This admin continues to put the oil industry above people, our shared environment, and the law,” said Earthjustice senior attorney Brettny Hardy.

Trump wants to force offshore drilling in places it has never happened before, or for decades, including California and virtually every offshore area in Alaska.

These proposed regulations follow a series of other attacks on the ESA and wildlife by the second Trump administration.

“Most people are not going to allow the sacrifice of our natural world to a bunch of billionaires and corporate interests,” said Earthjustice attorney Kristen Boyles.

❌ No automatic protections for newly listed animal and plant species.
❌ Narrower “critical habitat” definition, ignoring historic areas vital for recovery.
❌ Easier approval for agencies to fast-track harmful projects like logging or drilling.
❌ Allowing economic interests to outweigh science.

Americans depend on these protections for clean drinking water, flood protection, and critical ecosystems. The administration’s plan avoids clarifying the full scope of endangered waterways, but it would clearly result in a serious reduction in legal protections for waters nationwide.

“If you’re going to auction off 80 million acres of our public waters to the oil industry, the least you can do is not break the law in a plethora of ways as you do it,” said Earthjustice senior attorney George Torgun.

The Trump admin is illegally moving forward without analyzing how this massive oil sale could expose millions in the Gulf region to catastrophic oil spills, harm endangered Rice’s whales and other wildlife, and leave behind a dangerous legacy of abandoned oil wells, pipelines, and platforms.

The Trump admin plans to hold an 80-million-acre oil lease sale in the Gulf on December 10 without adhering to the National Environmental Policy Act. The Trump administration has decided to break decades of precedent requiring environmental analysis and public input for offshore lease sales.