EXCLUSIVE: The Interior and Commerce Departments are scrapping a sweeping Endangered Species Act (ESA) rule that officials say past administrations “weaponized” to block energy production, logging, infrastructure projects and private citizens’ land use.
Officials pointed to several ESA-listed species they say triggered undue or burdensome restrictions by treating habitat modification as potential “harm” to protected species, purportedly expanding the ESA’s “harm” provision.
“For years, federal agencies abused the ESA to obstruct lawful land use and burden American families and businesses,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Fox News Digital.
“That approach turned routine activity into a regulatory trap, drove up costs that impacted people’s lives, and expanded federal authority beyond what Congress intended.”
On Friday, the Interior and Commerce Departments announced they are rescinding the ‘outdated’ regulatory definition of ‘harm’ and returning the Endangered Species Act’s interpretation to its original intent to end years of federal overreach.
The administration is relying in part on the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Loper Bright v. Raimondo, which overturned “Chevron deference” and held that courts must use independent judgment when interpreting federal statutes rather than deferring to an agency’s preferred reading of ambiguous law.
The rule change therefore aims to align regulations with the “single best” meaning of a statute rather than letting it be “contort[ed] to fit a political agenda,” officials said.
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Officials pointed to the dunes sagebrush lizard, which the Biden administration listed as endangered in 2024, as an example of what they view as speculative habitat-based restrictions.
Officials argued the change led to unnecessary restrictions on energy projects in Texas’ lucrative Permian Basin, most recently depicted in the acclaimed Billy Bob Thornton series “Landman.”
Under Section 9 of the ESA, it is unlawful to “take” endangered wildlife, a term Congress defined to include actions such as harming, harassing, wounding or killing protected species.
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Federal materials tied the species’ decline to surface-disturbing activities, including energy development and sand mining, which officials and industry representatives say can trigger costly permitting and compliance burdens.
Officials also cited the lesser prairie-chicken, a grassland bird whose federal protections have drawn opposition from farmers, ranchers and energy developers across New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado.
The fight over habitat-based “harm” dates back decades, including the northern spotted owl, whose 1990 ESA listing fueled a long-running battle over timber harvesting in the Pacific Northwest and was blamed for job losses.
A 2021 study in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management estimated the owl’s ESA listing reduced timber employment by roughly 16,000 to 32,000 jobs in the Pacific Northwest and northern California.
Timber interests and landowners challenged the federal definition, arguing that “harm” should cover direct injury to wildlife, not habitat modification that indirectly affects a species.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Clinton Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in 1995, upholding a definition of “harm” that included significant habitat modification when it actually kills or injures protected wildlife.
Officials say the change is designed to narrow the regulation after Loper Bright and prevent agencies from using habitat-based theories to block lawful activity far beyond what Congress authorized.
The agencies argued the previously broadened definition of “harm” became an unlawful intrusion on private property rights.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick added that fishermen in particular have been burdened by the regulation for “too long.”
Returning the ESA to its original purpose protects both the environment and economic development, Lutnick said.
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“This administration is committed to protecting wildlife using Gold Standard Science, the law and the tools Congress actually gave us,” added U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik. “We can protect species and respect communities at the same time.”
Administration officials stressed that core ESA protections remain in place, including prohibitions on directly injuring or killing protected wildlife.
The administration said the change is intended to reduce permitting and compliance costs while providing greater legal clarity for landowners, energy producers and developers, advancing President Donald Trump’s vision of domestic energy dominance and a regulatory state that works for, not against, the average American.
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