Trump moves to strip protections for endangered and threatened species

By Ella Nilsen, CNN

(CNN) — The Trump administration moved on Wednesday to roll back Biden-era protections for endangered species and their habitats.

The Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service proposed restoring rules from the first Trump administration that stripped safeguards for plants and animals threatened by human development and a warming planet.

Specifically, it lets economic factors be a main point when considering which endangered species merit protection under the longstanding environmental law. The two agencies also proposed to strip the so-called “blanket rule”, which extends endangered-level protections to species that are listed as “threatened” with extinction.

That blanket rule had been challenged in federal court by property rights groups, but that litigation had paused as the Trump administration rewrote the rule. The rule will now undergo a 30-day public comment period before it is finalized.

Trump administration officials defended their proposal as common sense. Industry groups have complained for years that environmental laws have become too restrictive for major energy, mining and development projects.

“This administration is restoring the Endangered Species Act to its original intent, protecting species through clear, consistent and lawful standards that also respect the livelihoods of Americans who depend on our land and resources,” Interior Sec. Doug Burgum said in a statement.

Environmental groups decried the move as one that could be devastating for endangered and threatened species.

“By promoting drilling, mining, bulldozing, logging and development at the expense of habitat, this administration will push America’s beloved wildlife species further from recovery and closer to extinction,” Defenders of Wildlife senior attorney Jane Davenport said in a statement. “Threatened species like the Florida manatee could easily lose the recovery gains they have made and decline further towards endangered status.”

And environmental advocates argued there is strong public support for protecting environmental species.

“Trump’s attacks on the Endangered Species Act seriously misread the room,” Earthjustice attorney Kristen Boyles said in a statement. “Most people are not going to allow the sacrifice of our natural world to a bunch of billionaires and corporate interests.”

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