Trump administration further limits US endangered species protections

President Donald Trump's administration finalized two rules on Friday that narrow protections under the US Endangered Species Act.

One rule rescinds the “blanket rule” that had automatically applied endangered species protections to species listed as “threatened.” The other requires the government to consider economic and national security tradeoffs when deciding whether to designate an area as “critical habitat.”

The Interior Department said the changes would strengthen US energy independence and make federal actions match what it called the best reading of the law. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the Endangered Species Act had been used to block many new projects, raise costs, weaken competitiveness and undermine national security.

Conservation groups opposed the changes and said they would challenge them in court. Noah Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity told AFP the rules would be a disaster for endangered species and said they were another example of the administration weakening protections for wildlife, air, water and the climate.

Greenwald said the blanket rule had been in place since 1975, two years after the law was passed, and had helped reduce the burden on the Fish and Wildlife Service by giving it the option to write species-specific rules when needed. He also said the new critical habitat rule would require the service to accept claims from corporations and landowners about the economic value of land.

The changes follow other Interior Department moves affecting endangered species policy, including a change to the definition of “harm” that excludes habitat destruction, and a rule that would allow more killing of grizzly bears in areas where the department says their population has recovered enough. In 2023, the Interior Department under the Biden administration credited the Endangered Species Act with saving hundreds of species from extinction over five decades.