The Trump administration announced Friday that it has finalized changes to environmental regulations that roll back protections for wildlife.
The moves undo automatic protections for some imperiled species under the Endangered Species Act and allow regulators to consider economic factors when deciding whether to designate critical habitat areas, which conservationists say could boost industries’ interests over those of wildlife.
The Fish and Wildlife Service overhaul follows another major ESA change earlier this week, which redefined what it means to “harm” a protected species.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement that the administration’s changes come as a result of listening to “local voices.”
“Nearly 97 percent of species ever placed on the list remain there today,” Burgum said. “Success should be measured by species recovery and delisting, not by adding more species to the list.”
Final versions of the regulation changes were not available Friday afternoon in the Federal Register.
Under the ESA, species are designated as either threatened or endangered depending on how imminent the risks to their survival are.
One change finalized Friday would undo a longstanding regulation that’s known as the “blanket rule” that automatically afforded the strictest protections that endangered species receive to those that are threatened, unless a special exemption was written for that species.
In a proposal published in the Federal Register in November, FWS said it planned instead to create species-specific rules — known as “4(d)” rules — for all threatened species, which could grant developers exemptions for activities that harm habitat.
The second change revises how officials should go about designating critical habitat for imperiled species, which provides added scrutiny to federal lands or those with a federal nexus.
While a species’ habitat is being evaluated, FWS and Interior officials can consider whether to carve out habitat “if the benefits of excluding the area outweigh the benefits of designating it as critical habitat,” according to a November notice published in the Federal Register.
The administration’s proposal adds an assortment of topics that should be considered during the exclusion analysis, including economic, national security and other factors. It also allows areas to be removed from habitat if they won’t cause the animal or plant’s extinction.
“These revised regulations provide an opportunity for the Service and its biologists to cultivate a more cooperative relationship with the American people we serve,” FWS Director Brian Nesvik said in a statement.
Conservation groups condemned the changes.
Defenders of Wildlife said the moves would make it easier for FWS to do without habitat protections on federal land, while also giving companies and developers “effective veto authority” over those decisions. The group said the revised policies will lead to required habitat exclusions over potential economic harms.
“These final regulations disregard the scientific consensus about what is needed to halt and reverse the decline of imperiled species,” Andrew Bowman, the group’s president, said in a statement. “At a time when wildlife across the country faces mounting pressures, the administration is weakening one of our nation’s most important conservation laws and moving us further away from the Endangered Species Act’s longstanding promise: that future generations will inherit a country where America’s wildlife continues to survive and recover.”
