Washington D.C. — July 16, 2026 — Washington, D.C. — The Trump Administration weakened the Endangered Species Act (ESA) with a final rulemaking that could open the door to widespread destruction of habitat for endangered wildlife by rescinding the regulatory definition of “harm” under the ESA — blatantly defying a decision by the Supreme Court on the matter. This is the first in a series of rollbacks aimed at dismantling the law that has saved iconic American wildlife from going extinct and invaluable ecosystems from destabilizing.
An additional expected rule will deprive newly listed threatened animal and plant species from automatically receiving protections from killing, trapping, and other forms of prohibited “take” under the ESA. Another will give industry interests — like logging, mining, and oil companies — significant influence over whether critical habitat gets protected or is allowed to be destroyed.
The rules could directly impact species spanning Florida manatees, green sea turtles, Pacific Coast salmon, Monarch butterflies, polar bears, Canada lynxes, sage-grouse, and many more.
Hundreds of thousands of people sent in public comments opposing these rules. U.S. Senators, Tribes, scientists, faith leaders, legal scholars, and conservation groups also opposed them. The ESA continues to retain broad public support, with more than four in five Americans supporting the law that has saved 99% of species under its protection from going extinct. Leadership in the House of Representatives recognized this fact in April, on Earth Day, when it cancelled a vote for a proposed bill that would have severely undermined the ESA.
Even so, the Trump Administration has been steady in its determination to weaken the ESA and the species it protects. In addition to the rulemakings, the White House in March exempted all oil-and-gas activities in the Gulf of Mexico from having to comply with the ESA indefinitely.
“These weak Endangered Species Act rules continue the pattern of political appointees in the Trump administration distorting the law and sidelining science,” said Jewel Tomasula, national policy director at the Endangered Species Coalition. “The Endangered Species Act has prevented extinction for 99% of the species protected by it, but policies like these Trump ESA rules make it harder to protect our nation’s cherished wildlife, from Monarch butterflies to wolverines to sea turtles and more.”
Conservation groups representing millions of people across the country responded:
“This broad attack on endangered wildlife is un-American and extremely unpopular,” said Earthjustice attorney Kristen Boyles. “Unfortunately, it’s only the beginning of even more unwanted damage to come to the Endangered Species Act. Earthjustice will do everything in its power to protect and defend our wildlife and wild places.”
“Species don’t disappear because we lack the tools to protect them, they disappear when powerful industries convince politicians to put profits ahead of wildlife and the habitats they depend on,” said Josh Osher, public policy director for Western Watersheds Project. “At a time when America is facing a biodiversity crisis, the Trump Administration should be strengthening protections for imperiled wildlife, not making it easier to destroy the habitat they need to survive.”
“This disastrous recission attempts to pull the teeth out of the ESA and tries to allow widespread destruction of iconic habitats across the nation, like our treasured long-leaf pine ecosystems in South Carolina,” said Catherine Wannamaker, a senior attorney in SELC’s Charleston office. “The recission is not just illegal, it makes no sense. To protect and recover imperiled species, you must protect their homes.”
“The Trump administration continues to sell out our imperiled wildlife to the highest bidder,” said Jane Davenport, senior attorney at Defenders of Wildlife. “In the midst of an extinction crisis, with hundreds of species like the Florida manatee and the wolverine desperately needing stronger protections for both themselves and their habitats, the Trump administration is gutting protections to pander to industry interests. Where we see our nation’s irreplaceable wildlife, public waterways and oceans and old-growth forests, they see dollar signs.”
““Destroying or damaging habitats is just as lethal to endangered species as directly hurting them, said Bart Melton, senior wildlife program director for the National Parks Conservation Association. “This change in how the law is carried out defies common sense, science, and paves the way for mining, oil and gas drilling, logging, and development in areas that are crucial to the survival of some of our most vulnerable species. This rule ignores decades of conservation science and could undermine recovery efforts for more than 600 species, from salmon in Olympic to grizzlies in Yellowstone, that rely on lands and waters connected to our national parks.”
“Westerners across the political spectrum are in support of the Endangered Species Act and protections it provides to our treasured wildlife,” said Kristin Combs, executive director of Wyoming Wildlife Advocates. “Protecting critical habitat and preventing the killing of endangered species is more crucial than ever with increasing pressures from housing development, timber production, and energy extraction. Any weakening of the ESA will absolutely cause reductions in populations of endangered species as threats continue to mount. Americans are counting on our government to continue to protect species, not actively speed up their extinction for profit.”
“Here in Florida, manatees, sea turtles and coral are not only extremely important to us culturally, but also economically,” said Jasmin Graham, President and CEO of Minorities in Shark Sciences. “The Endangered Species Act not only protects Critical Habitat for our beloved wildlife, but also protects habitats, like mangroves and coral reefs, vital to protecting Floridians and their property from damaging hurricanes. The weakening of the ESA will have cascading effects that not only put our wildlife, but our communities at risk.”
“The forcing function and single most important conservation tool for protecting piping plovers and other iconic threatened and endangered species is the Endangered Species Act,” said Chris Allieri, founder and executive director, NYC Plover Project. “Today, the Trump Administration has weakened the ESA, in direct defiance of the will of the American people, who widely support this popular and effective law. This is neither for the sake of alleged ‘accountability’ or ‘common sense’, but rather a power grab by politicians beholden to big industry looking to fast track extinction.”
“The Endangered Species Act is one of the most popular and successful national laws, with a 99% track record at preventing extinction because it protects vulnerable species and their habitats. As the U.S. mechanism for enforcing CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), this crucial law has saved iconic animals and the environments they depend on, such as bald eagles and grizzly bears in the U.S., and helps protect endangered species such as tigers and orangutans around the globe,” stated Katherine Miller, Country Director for FOUR PAWS in the U.S. “The Trump Administration’s new rules would cause immense, long-term environmental damage and erase decades of progress, making protecting imperiled species more difficult at a time when habitat loss and climate change are causing more species to slip closer to extinction. Their revisions will jeopardize America’s wildlife, while also undermining U.S. credibility and compliance with international trade agreements. Overall, the ESA works–but only when we let it.”
“The Endangered Species Act has been one of our nation’s most successful conservation laws because it relies on science to determine what threatened and endangered species need to survive and recover. These new rules move us in the wrong direction by making it harder to provide protections for imperiled wildlife and by giving greater weight to corporate interests than to the biological needs of species facing extinction,” said Bradley Williams, Deputy Legislative Director for the Sierra Club’s Wildlife and Lands Protection campaign.“At a time when America is experiencing a biodiversity crisis, we should be strengthening protections for vulnerable species and the habitats they depend on, not weakening the safeguards that have helped prevent extinction for decades. Americans overwhelmingly support the Endangered Species Act and expect decisions about wildlife conservation to be guided by science, not by special interests.”
“New Mexico is already on the front lines of climate change and severe drought, putting immense stress on our vulnerable ecosystems,” said Joanna Zhang, Endangered Species Advocate with WildEarth Guardians. “Our rivers, public lands and wildlife need stronger protections now more than ever, and weakening the Endangered Species Act spells disaster. The ESA not only protects iconic species like the Mexican wolf or Gila trout, but preserves the natural systems that keep our water clean, our air breathable, and our planet resilient. Dismantling it is a reckless step backward that we cannot afford.”
“Sea turtles are a long-lived species and we are just now beginning to see the positive impacts of strong implementation of the Endangered Species Act on their populations,” said Stacey Gallagher, Policy Coordinator at the Sea Turtle Conservancy. “Weakening their protections now, as they face new threats to their survival, could undo decades of progress. The habitats used by sea turtles – our beaches and waterways – bring in billions of dollars per year to our communities and will also suffer from this decision.”
“Strong, commonsense protections are why the Endangered Species Act has been so successful at bringing species back from the brink,” said Drew Robertson, regulatory program manager at Humane World Action Fund. “We need to protect threatened species before they become endangered, and we need to defend against habitat loss, the number one driver of extinction. The alternative — losing species like southern sea otters and Florida manatees — is unacceptable.”
“Americans overwhelmingly support the ESA, which has succeeded in saving humpback whales, bald eagles and more than 99% of listed species from extinction,” said Nicholas Arrivo, managing attorney at Humane World for Animals. “These reckless rollbacks place private profit over the very existence of imperiled species.”
“This is yet another attempt by the Trump administration and its allies to further degrade the things that actually make America great, like grizzly bears, wolves, wolverines and thousands of other species of wildlife that were here long before we were,” said George Nickas, executive director of Wilderness Watch. “The move targets many of the species that define the quality and character of America’s National Wilderness Preservation System in order to appease special interests that hate the idea of sharing the landscape with other critters.”