The latest rules end automatic protections for newly listed threatened species and revise how economic impacts are weighed when designating critical habitats.
The “blanket rule” (also known as the blanket 4(d) rule) went into effect for wildlife in 1975 and was extended to plants in 1977. This came just a few years after the ESA was signed into law in 1973, when the FWS found itself dealing with a backlog of imperiled species that did not have individualized protection plans. The blanket rule allowed the FWS to quickly extend baseline protections to threatened species while proceeding to develop species-specific regulations, and the ESA has since been credited with preventing the extinction of 99% of listed species.
Read More: Bald Eagles Are Thriving. Could Trump Change That?
She said that the implementation of species-specific regulations offers “no comfort,” writing: “That process is far more time-consuming and resource-intensive, making delays in protecting vulnerable wildlife all but inevitable.”
At the time, the FWS also adopted a rule changing how economic impacts are evaluated when deciding whether to exclude areas from critical habitat designation—a policy that was reinstated on July 17.
Supporters say allowing greater consideration of the economic impacts of the designation will reduce unnecessary burdens on landowners and development projects. However, conservation groups counter that it will make it easier to exclude habitats in the name of cost effectiveness.
Burgum also said that 97% of threatened species are still on the list today—a source of frustration for Republican lawmakers, who say that longstanding habitat protections hamper economic development in their districts.
After Biden’s reversal, two groups—the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, a pro-hunting organization, and the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), which researches free-market environmentalism—sued the Administration, arguing that the rule unfairly imposed those restrictions on landowners even after a species’ status improves.
The rollback also comes amid a broader effort to reinterpret the ESA.
In response, a coalition of nine environmental groups and two Native American tribes filed lawsuits saying that the move violates the ESA’s statutory language and inhibits its fundamental goals.
‘A one-way ticket to extinction’
The Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit working to protect endangered species, said that these new rules could leave many species with little to no protection.
The organization said that it will challenge the ruling in court.
“Rather than automatically protecting threatened species, like Florida manatees, so they don’t slip closer to extinction, the new rule leaves them unprotected while the agency does potentially years more paperwork to decide what protections they should receive,” Samford said.
The Earthjustice statement also said that the Trump Administration is allowing resource extraction industries to put their thumb on the scale when it comes to which habitat gets protected or destroyed.
The Humane World for Animals and the Humane World Action Fund released a joint statement calling the new rules a “profound failure,” explaining that they make way for oil and gas, mining, logging, and other resource extraction industries to pursue new projects on land that the ESA has safeguarded for decades.
Habitat loss is the “primary threat to the survival of wildlife in the United States,” according to the National Wildlife Federation. The FWS itself said in 2023 that habitat protection has saved species like the bald eagle from the brink of extinction.
Currently, the ESA protects 1,662 species in the U.S. It also safeguards 638 species abroad through restrictions on trade, import, and export, along with other conservation measures.
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