Trump administration seeks to narrow Endangered Species Act by redefining 'harm'

The Trump administration's proposed rule seeks to limit the definition of 'harm' under the Endangered Species Act to only direct actions resulting in the killing or injury of endangered species. This change could lead to significant habitat degradation without consequence, defying a 1995 Supreme Court ruling that defined harm to include habitat modifications. Conservationists argue that such a change will jeopardize vulnerable species, strip away protections for critical habitats, and undermine decades of conservation efforts originally established to safeguard endangered species.

The proposal advanced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would limit the meaning to taking direct action to kill or injure endangered or threatened wildlife.

According to Greenwald, the previous definition prevented acts like cutting down swaths of old-growth forests in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest where federally threatened northern spotted owls nest.

If adopted, the change could significantly curtail the reach of the Endangered Species Act, passed in 1973 under former President Nixon.

What they're proposing will just fundamentally upend how we've been protecting endangered species in this country.

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