The U.S. Interior Department has canceled a rule meant to protect plants and animals that are determined to be threatened with extinction.
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Attorney explains what the law says amid Jacksonville HOA disputeNewsBanners of former President George Washington and President Donald Trump hang above an entrance to the Department of the Interior, Thursday, June 25, 2026, in Washington. FILE - A monarch butterfly lands on a flower, Sept. 6, 2025, in Washington.
Banners of former President George Washington and President Donald Trump hang above an entrance to the Department of the Interior, Thursday, June 25, 2026, in Washington. – The U.S. Interior Department on Friday canceled a rule meant to protect plants and animals that are determined to be threatened with extinction, the latest step by President Donald Trump’s administration to dismantlewill need individualized protection plans once they are added to the threatened species list.
That's a potentially lengthy process in which companies could seek exemptions for oil and gas drilling, mining and other development where those species live. Opponents said it would make it harder to save wildlife that’s awaiting federal protections and in danger of disappearing, such as Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement that the Endangered Species Act had been used for too long “to stop almost any new project in America, driving up costs for families, weakening our competitiveness, and undermining our national security.
” “Success should be measured by species recovery and delisting, not by adding more species to the list,” Burgum added. A second change finalized Friday requires officials to analyze economic impacts when deciding whether habitat is critical to a species’ survival. Critics say it gives corporations an opportunity to put their thumb on the scale so that officials will allow development in those areas.
“If you're exempting certain industries that cause habitat destruction, in many instances you'll be exempting the main threat to those species,” said Noah Greenwald with the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity. The rules that gave what some consider “blanket protections” to threatened species were first adopted for wildlife in 1975 and for plants in 1977.to the endangered or threatened lists in Trump’s second term.
By comparison, more than 20 species were added in Trump’s first term, and about 60 during Biden’s presidency. About 30 species are currently proposed to be listed as threatened. Besides monarchs and alligator snapping turtles, they include California spotted owls and various snakes, fish, clams and insects.
Changes to government policies for endangered plants and wildlife have come faster and extended further in Trump's second term than in his first.in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said environmentalists’ lawsuits threatened to hobble domestic energy supplies as the U.S. wages war against Iran. Last week, Interior officials sharply narrowed the definition of what constitutes “harm” to a species.
The change would allow development on critical wildlife habitat so long as the animals themselves are not immediately killed or injured. Also this week, Burgum said in a visit to Montana that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would turn over more management authority for grizzly bears to states where the bruins live. That's been a longstanding priority for the Republican governors of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.
Burgum noted Friday that 97% of the species that have been given protections still have them. That’s a frustration for Republican lawmakers who say species should be taken off the endangered and threatened lists more quickly once they’ve recovered. Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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