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The U.S. Interior Department moved to weaken the Endangered Species Act with a proposal to change how the Fish and Wildlife and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration consider whether species will qualify for protections, CNN reported.
The Trump administration’s reforms could lengthen how long it takes for a species to become protected, which critics argue could further endanger them. But the administration says it will allow the focus to be on the “rarest species,” while the agencies will also prolong decision making on which habitats deserve federal protection.
“The best way to uphold the Endangered Species Act is to do everything we can to ensure it remains effective in achieving its ultimate goal — recovery of our rarest species,” Interior Secretary David Bernhard.
Environmental groups are expected to challenge the administration’s move in court.
“This effort to gut protections for endangered and threatened species has the same two features of most Trump administration actions: it’s a gift to industry, and it’s illegal. We’ll see the Trump administration in court about it,” Drew Caputo, Earthjustice vice president of litigation for lands, wildlife, and oceans said in a statement.
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