The Trump administration has finalized a rule that declares that habitat destruction no longer qualifies as ‘harm’ to threatened and endangered species. Additionally, they have rolled back protections for threatened species (known as the blanket 4d rule) and changed listing criteria to include economic considerations, making it harder to get protections for imperiled species if protecting them would impact industries like logging and mining.
Try telling a coho salmon that building a dam in their spawning habitat will have no adverse impact or that clearcutting a forest where imperiled marbled murelets live won’t affect their recovery. It’s absurd. It also fits squarely into the Trump extinction plan.
But we won’t let that happen. We’ve already joined our conservation partners across the country to challenge the administration over this decision to strip protections from vulnerable species. As Oregon Wild’s staff attorney, John Persell, said:
“Habitat loss is the leading driver of extinction. By eliminating the harm rule, the Trump Administration is literally attacking vulnerable wildlife where they live. This gutting of the Endangered Species Act is part of a broader assault on our bedrock environmental values. From public lands to wildlife to clean air and drinking water, the Trump administration is determined to waste, loot, and pollute America’s natural heritage.”
While we wait for that litigation to unfold, one thing you can do to help is email your members of Congress, letting them know you strongly disagree with this recent decision and asking them to cosponsor legislation to block the rescinded administrative rule.
