Trump administration reduces protections for endangered species again

The Trump administration has further reduced protections for endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

That law prohibits any “take” of endangered species, which it defines as to “harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct.”

The administration recently repealed a previous definition of prohibited “harm” under the law, now saying that in implementing that regulation, it will only consider an action “taking” a species if it is intentional.

“The Harm Rule rescinded the Services’ regulatory definitions of ‘harm,’ and adopted Justice [Antonin] Scalia’s interpretation of ‘take’ set out in the dissent in Babbitt v. Sweet Home Chapter of Communities for a Great Oregon,” the memo states.

“Under Justice Scalia’s interpretation, ‘take’ reaches only an affirmative act that is intentionally and purposefully directed at a particular animal,” it said.

The administration says, for example, that a ship that “inadvertently” strikes a whale “has not taken it,” and that felling a tree is not a take of bats residing in it.

The internal Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) memo was obtained and made public by the Center for Biological Diversity on Thursday.

Brett Hartl, the group’s government affairs director, said “Fish and Wildlife is going to effectively, I think, be entirely muzzled by this memo.”

“They are basically going to be told … ‘Look the other way on virtually all types of harmed or endangered species. We are not in the business of enforcing that anymore,'” he told The Hill.

The Interior Department, which oversees FWS, said via email that that the memo “accurately reflects the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s guidance for implementing the Endangered Species Act following the final rule rescinding the regulatory definition of ‘harm.'”

“Under the guidance, the ESA’s prohibition on ‘take’ continues to prohibit conduct including harassing, pursuing, hunting, shooting, wounding, killing, trapping, capturing or collecting protected wildlife,” said an unsigned statement from the department.

The move is the latest of multiple bites the Trump administration has taken out of the ESA. In July, it rolled back protections for at-risk animals considered “threatened,” a step below endangered.