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The New York attorney general’s office has been a hurdle for a host of Trump administration policy pivots, suing to preserve immigrant protections, voting rights and access to gender-affirming care, to name a few of the legal battles. But this week the office opened up a new challenge in defense of endangered species, including sea turtles and whales.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, joined by her counterparts in 19 other states and the District of Columbia, filed federal lawsuits in the Northern District of California challenging rule changes by the federal government that together weaken long-standing habitat protections for both endangered and threatened species.

The attorneys general allege that the Trump administration’s new interpretations of the federal Endangered Species Act amount to “greenlighting the destruction of endangered species’ habitats” and “permitting commercial developers and fossil fuel companies a pathway to access endangered animals’ habitats.” The lawsuits ask the courts to block the new rules and restore the full protections of the 50-year-old endangered species law.

“America’s endangered species have survived because generations of Americans chose to protect them and the habitats they depend on,” James said in a statement announcing the filings. “Now, the Trump administration is tearing down those protections and pushing countless endangered species closer to extinction.”

The White House deferred comment to the U.S. Department of the Interior, where a spokesperson defended the administration’s actions.

“This lawsuit seeks to preserve a decades-old regulatory overreach that expanded the Endangered Species Act beyond the authority granted by Congress,” spokesperson Charlotte Taylor said. “The Department will vigorously defend its authority to implement the law according to its plain text."

Signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1973, the Endangered Species Act requires the federal government and its agencies to ensure any actions they approve or authorize do not imperil any species of plant or animal classified as endangered, including its habitat. The original text of the law declared that species were facing extinction “as a consequence of economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation.”

The long-standing interpretation of the law made it illegal to damage or destroy any area designated as a “critical habitat” for an endangered or threatened species, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has said is fundamental to saving species.