Environmental Groups and Tribes Sue to Block ESA Rule Change

The Trump administration has rescinded a 50-year-old regulatory definition of "harm" under the Endangered Species Act, removing protections that prohibited "significant habitat modification or degradation." The new rule, effective September 14, means habitat destruction is no longer prohibited unless it results in the direct death or injury of a protected species. Doug Burgum, Secretary of the Interior, defended the move as a restoration of common sense that respects private property and reduces regulatory burdens for landowners and energy producers.

In response, a coalition of nine environmental groups led by Earthjustice, alongside the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and the Squaxin Island Tribe, filed lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for Western Washington in Seattle. The plaintiffs argue the rule is "arbitrary and capricious" and defies scientific research, threatening the survival of species such as grizzly bears, northern spotted owls, and Chinook salmon. The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community specifically alleged that federal agencies violated the law by rejecting a consultation request.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service based the rescission on a dissenting opinion by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, concluding that maintaining a freestanding definition of harm was unnecessary and unlawful. While the American Petroleum Institute supported the move to enhance American energy leadership, conservationists maintain that protecting the areas where wildlife live, eat, and sleep is the basic foundation of the act.