U.S. Interior Department revokes rule that granted automatic protections to threatened species
The Trump administration cancelled a regulation that provided blanket protection for species listed as threatened, requiring individual protection plans and new economic impact analyses.
The Interior Department announced on Friday that a rule giving automatic protections to species classified as threatened under the Endangered Species Act has been cancelled. Under the new approach, species added to the threatened list will need individualized protection plans, a process that could allow companies to seek exemptions for activities such as oil and gas drilling, mining and other development in habitats where the species occur.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the Act had been used for too long “to stop almost any new project in America, driving up costs for families, weakening our competitiveness, and undermining our national security.” He added that success should be measured by species recovery and delisting rather than by adding more species to the list.
A second rule finalized the same day requires officials to assess economic impacts when determining whether habitat is critical to a species’ survival, a change critics say could give corporations greater influence over habitat decisions.
Environmental groups warned that exempting industries that cause habitat loss could effectively exempt the main threats to the species. Noah Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity said, “If you're exempting certain industries that cause habitat destruction, in many instances you'll be exempting the main threat to those species.”
The administration’s actions follow earlier changes that narrowed the definition of “harm” to wildlife and reduced designated critical habitat in the Rocky Mountains for species such as the Canada lynx. The Interior Department also indicated plans to shift more management authority for grizzly bears to the states where they live.
The Endangered Species Act, credited with helping recover species like the bald eagle and American alligator, still lists about 30 species proposed for threatened status, including monarch butterflies, alligator snapping turtles, California spotted owls and various reptiles and fish.