The Trump administration the restore is complete of the Endangered Species Act on Friday, which paves the way for logging, mining and other human development in all protected wildlife areas.
The measure redefines “harm” under the Endangered Species Act, a landmark conservation law that protects endangered and threatened plants and animals. For many years, “harming” meant actions that hurt or kill wildlife, as well as actions that destroy protected areas.
Under this new law, destroying such habitats is no longer illegal.
The decision is in line with an ongoing effort by the Trump administration slash rules in the name of economic growth. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, whose department finalized the move, said the previous definition of damages “interfered with private property rights” and “turned a normal operation into a regulatory trap.”
Environmental groups have called the decision a disaster, saying it puts protected species on a path to extinction.
The movement seems poised to attack California, the most biodiverse region in the country, where more than 6,700 species are spread across mountains, forests, deserts and oceans. Almost 2,300 species protected by the Endangered Species Act, about 300 are found in California.
These types include amphibians such as tiger salamanders and Yosemite’s frogs; birds such as California condors and northern spotted owls; fish like Little Kern golden trout and Santa Ana suckers; insects such as Franklin’s bees and blue butterflies; mammals such as gray wolves and Santa Catalina Island foxes; and reptiles such as desert tortoises and green sea turtles.
The Endangered Species Act is widely credited with saving the California condor, which was nearly extinct in the 1980s due to several factors, including habitat destruction. Thanks to a recovery plan under this act, the condor population has since increased to several hundred. But under the new law, logging and human development led their imminent death it is now allowed.
A number of California species recoveries have been promoted as success stories under the Endangered Species Act, including southern sea otters, peregrine falcons, humpback whales, bald eagles and green sea turtles.
According to the report from the Center for Biological Diversity, the El Segundo blue butterfly has lost 90% of its coastal habitat due to the construction of LAX and the development of beachfront housing. The population declined to about 1,000 butterflies in the 1970s, when it was declared an endangered species. Now, the population has increased to over 120,000.
In California, the reversal could pave the way for more farming, mining, logging and drilling in areas that were once prohibited because of the potential for wildlife destruction. A report from Earthjustice estimates that increased oil drilling in California could threaten five marine species including whales, sea otters, leatherback sea turtles, marbled murrelets and wild salmon.
Several environmental groups are planning legal challenges to the decision.
“For the first time, a presidential administration is now saying that animals protected by the Endangered Species Act should not be safe from changing their habitat, raising their young, or seeking food,” Kristen Boyles, an attorney for the environmental nonprofit Earthjustice, said in a statement. “Let’s be clear: there is no legal support for the Trump administration – no scientific support, no legislative support, no public support. We will see the Trump administration in court.”
Ben Greuel, wildlife campaign manager at the Sierra Club, called the decision “an illegal attempt to give corporate polluters an opportunity to destroy critical habitats.”
“For more than four decades, the definition of ‘harm’ has recognized a simple truth: if you destroy the habitats that wildlife needs to survive, you are putting species on the path to extinction,” Greuel said in a statement.
This is not the first time Trump has aimed to control California’s environment.
Earlier this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom, along with the governors of Washington and Oregon, sent them legal objection on the Trump administration’s plans to expand drilling off the Pacific coast, Newsom says it’s leading to “dead wildlife.” In June, the Trump administration he ordered a review of the California Coastal Commission, which says “environmental overreach” prevents the development of spaceports and offshore oil production.
The day before the Endangered Species Act decision, the Trump administration signed off on a controversial plan to use an old oil pipeline to pump water from the Mojave Desert to cities. Environmental groups say the project threatens springs and local wildlife, as six pumps will need to be built in turtle habitats.
