Trump Administration’s Rule Gutting Endangered Species Habitat Protections Goes Into Effect

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration’s final rule rescinding the regulatory definition of "harm" under the Endangered Species Act goes into effect today. Under the new policy, only actions that directly target an animal count as illegal "harm," while destroying the places species need to survive does not.

Following is a statement from Andrew Wetzler, senior vice president for Nature at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):

“You cannot protect a species while you destroy its home. With this rule, the administration has decided that bulldozing a nesting ground or draining a wetland somehow doesn't hurt the animals that live there. That is wrong, and endangered species will pay for it with their lives.

“Habitat loss is the biggest driver of extinction in this country, and Congress understood that when it passed the Endangered Species Act. The administration went ahead anyway, because the industries that want to log, mine, and drill these places asked it to.”

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NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).