Trump Administration Moves to Cut Animal Habitat Protections (2)

The Trump administration is seeking to roll back agency interpretations of what it means to “harm” wildlife like grizzly bears and Florida panthers protected under the Endangered Species Act.

A newly proposed rule made public Wednesday morning would nix current regulations that include habitat modification or degradation in the definition of “harm” to endangered species.

If the rule were finalized, various industries would have an open door to “destroy the natural world and drive species to extinction in the process,” according to a statement from the Center for Biological Diversity. The deregulation would also eliminate a key way for environmental groups to fight development projects in court.

“This is a five-alarm fire,” Noah Greenwald, the center’s co-director of endangered species, said in a statement one week before the proposed regulations were publicized. “Unless habitat destruction is prohibited, spotted owls, sea turtles, salmon and so many more animals and plants won’t have a chance.”

The Trump administration’s proposal would tighten the definition of “harm” to what’s outlined explicitly in the ESA, according to the notice in the Federal Register. The statute outlaws the “take” of an endangered species, which includes “harm” among acts like hunting, shooting, and trapping.

Harm should be construed as an “affirmative act directed immediately against a particular animal,” not an act that indirectly injures a population of animals, the proposed rule says.

Earthjustice called the proposal “misguided” and a threat to 50 years of conservation progress.

“We are prepared to go to court to ensure that America doesn’t abandon its endangered wildlife,” Drew Caputo, the organization’s vice president of litigation for lands, wildlife, and oceans, said in a statement.

When the US Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expanded the definition of “harm” through previous regulations, the Supreme Court backed the agencies in 1995, citing agency deference under the Chevron doctrine, which has since been overturned.

Habitat destruction is the primary cause of extinction, underpinning the importance of the expanded federal definition of “harm” as it stands now, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

The proposed regulation would only apply to future permit activities, not permits that have already been issued.

NOAA and the FWS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.