Trump administration moves to roll back some Endangered Species Act protections

The Trump administration moved Wednesday to weaken the popular Endangered Species Act in an attempt to restore changes made during the president’s first term that were later blocked by a federal judge

The Trump administration moved Wednesday to weaken the popular Endangered Species Act in an attempt to restore changes made during the president’s first term that were later blocked by a federal judge.

The proposed changes include the elimination of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s “blanket rule” that automatically protects animals and plants when they are classified as threatened. Government agencies instead would have to craft species-specific rules for protections, a potentially lengthy process.

The administration’s announcement answers long-standing calls for revisions to the 1973 Endangered Species Act from Republicans in Congress and industries including oil and gas, mining and agriculture. Critics argue the law has been wielded too broadly, to the detriment of economic growth.

But environmentalists warned the changes could cause yearslong delays in efforts to save species such as the monarch butterfly, the Florida manatee, the California spotted owl and the North American wolverine.

“They’re trying to take us back to the first time they weakened the law,” said Rebecca Riley, managing director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “We fought that, and the Biden administration reversed many of the worst changes they made, and they are moving to put them back in place.”