Trump Administration Escalates Full-Scale Assault on the Endangered Species Act

Contacts: Jewel Tomasula ([email protected]); Susan Holmes, ([email protected])  (202) 329-1553 

Washington D.C. — September 17, 2026  According to an internal memo, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Nesvik, a political appointee of the Trump administration, is advancing a sweeping and dangerous reinterpretation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that will allow activities to injure or kill threatened and endangered species without violating federal law—so long as no one can prove that the harm was specifically intended. 

The reinterpretation abandons species precisely when they are most vulnerable and allows harm to wildlife so long as that harm is not their stated intent. Many endangered and threatened species are not imperiled by deliberate hunting or killing. They are pushed toward extinction by large-scale industry activities that destroy habitat, disrupt migration, pollute ecosystems, or cause unintended injury and death. Under the administration’s interpretation, only actions intended to harm an endangered animal are considered unlawful. That narrow and dangerous standard eliminates core protections for species across the country, including piping plovers nesting along coastal beaches, salmon struggling to reach spawning grounds, and grizzly bears whose habitat is increasingly fragmented and threatened.

It is not an isolated assault on protections for the nation’s most vulnerable species and sensitive ecosystems. The memo follows the administration’s ESA “Harm” Rule, which officially went into effect on September 14, and several other drastic regulatory changes. In March, Trump political appointees convened the Endangered Species Committee—widely known as the “God Squad”—to exempt offshore oil and gas activities in the Gulf, likely dooming endangered species from sea turtles to the Rice’s whale to extinction. Earlier in September, President Trump directed the wildlife agencies to determine whether wolves can be protected under the ESA while joking about shooting them. Together, these actions seek to dismantle the Endangered Species Act, our most important tool for protecting wildlife.

Susan Holmes, Executive Director of the Endangered Species Coalition, issued the following statement:

“This is an all-out assault on the Endangered Species Act and the wildlife it was created to save. For more than 50 years, the ESA has stood as a barrier between imperiled species and extinction. It has prevented 99% of the species listed under its protection from disappearing forever. The Trump administration is now tearing that barrier down.

“Under this interpretation of the law, it does not matter if an endangered species is injured or killed. Unless someone can prove that the harm was intentional, the administration will allow the damage to continue. That is not conservation. It is a license to destroy habitat, disrupt migration, pollute ecosystems, and drive endangered species toward extinction. 

“The administration has already eliminated habitat protection for endangered species with its extreme ESA ‘Harm’ Rule. It is using the so-called ‘God Squad’ to exempt oil and gas drilling in the Gulf from the ESA and is threatening to eliminate protections for wolves. This coordinated effort aims to strip the ESA of its power.

“If the Trump administration has its way, piping plovers will lose the beaches where they nest. Salmon will be pushed closer to extinction by dams, pollution, water diversions, and destroyed habitat. Grizzly bears will lose the connected landscapes they need to survive as roads, energy development, logging, and other activities fragment their habitat. Rice’s whale – the only whale to live only in American waters – will be lost forever.

“The Endangered Species Act is our most popular and effective wildlife law, with support from 84% of Americans. We must not accept the destruction of a law that has protected our natural heritage for generations. The ESA must be defended, strengthened, and fully enforced—not gutted by political appointees acting on behalf of powerful industries.”