Trump Administration Guts Endangered Species' Protections - Rob Horowitz
Rob Horowitz, MINDSETTER™
Trump Administration Guts Endangered Species' Protections - Rob Horowitz
This past Friday, the Trump administration narrowed beyond recognition a long-standing federal regulation safeguarding the habitats of endangered species. The new rule directly contradicts the goals of the Endangered Species Act, putting the 1,300 species listed as endangered or threatened under this landmark environmental law at far greater risk of extinction.
The revised rule removes the destruction of the habitats of animals facing potential extinction from the definition of “harm” under the Endangered Species Act, opening up these lands to development and fossil fuel drilling without requiring measures to limit the impact on wildlife. “Under the rule, destroying an endangered species’ nest or habitat would no longer be considered illegal,” reported The New York Times.
As has become almost standard operating procedure for the Trump administration, particularly on environmental matters, the new rule was finalized without conducting the scientific research that was the practice in past Republican and Democratic administrations before proceeding with this kind of sweeping change. This will make the rule, which was promulgated by the Interior and Commerce Departments, more vulnerable to the court challenges that are bound to ensue.
Defenders of Wildlife, among other environmental organizations, immediately signaled their intent to take legal action. “The administration’s erroneous and nonsensical interpretation of the term ‘harm’ guts the ability of the Endangered Species Act and the federal government to protect the habitat of wildlife already at risk of extinction because the places they live have been said, Andrew Bowman, president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife. “We intend to fight back with the full force of the law to defeat this attack and innumerable others by the administration on the statutes and regulations that protect America’s cherished wildlife.”
Earthjustice sounded a similar note. “For the first time ever, a presidential administration now claims that species protected by the Endangered Species Act shouldn’t be safe from habitat modification that destroys where they live, raise their young, or search for food,” Earthjustice attorney Kristen Boyles said in a statement, picked up by CNN. “There is no support for the Trump Administration’s rule — no scientific support, no legal support, no public support.”
The gutting of the Endangered Species Act is only one aspect of the Trump administration’s comprehensive effort to roll back our nation’s basic environmental protections. Its determined actions go far beyond taking us backward on the climate, risking the resurgence of air and water pollution and damage to the open spaces and coastal waters that enrich our lives and should be handed down to future generations.
It takes looking back more than 40 years-- to the first couple years of the Reagan administration-- to find this level of assault on federal environmental protections. Realizing the political damage his efforts to reverse environmental progress were doing, however, President Reagan corrected course as he began to plan his 1984 reelection campaign.
Of course, the prospect of Mr. Trump making a similar course correction is remote. We must use all the levers at our disposal to fight back, including activating the broad majority of Americans who still support strong environmental protections. That is the only way to limit the damage the current administration is doing to the environment.