Gov. Janet Mills announced Tuesday that a federal judge has granted her administration’s motion to intervene in ongoing lawsuits pitting Maine’s lobster industry against conservationists protecting North Atlantic right whales.

The lawsuit, Center for Biological Diversity v. Ross, is in the U.S. District Court in D.C., according to the governor’s release. The suit is connected to regulations posted by the federal government earlier this year to protect the whales. Opponents of the regulations argue that it will have a negative impact on Maine’s lobster industry. The suit also “amends and supplements” a similar lawsuit from 2018, according to the statement.

Intervenor status, according to Cornell Law School, means the Mills administration is not a party to the case, but has a legally declared vested interest in its outcome.

“Intervening in this case is a critically important step in the state’s efforts to support Maine’s vital lobster industry,” Gov. Mills said in a statement. “A court decision in the plaintiff’s favor could close Maine’s lobster fishery altogether – a completely unacceptable outcome that would be devastating to our lobstermen and their families and devastating to our coastal communities and our economy. We will fight tooth and nail to prevent that from happening.”

Mills has written to federal regulators in the past to protest the regulations. Now, the administration is hiring law firm Nossaman LLP to represent the state as an intervenor.