For more than 50 years, the Endangered Species Act has saved thousands of animals and plants from threats like poaching, habitat loss, and pollution. It brought bald eagles back from the brink of extinction, reestablished grizzly bear populations on public lands, and safeguarded the redwood forests that play host to dozens of vulnerable animals. In total, it has prevented the extinction of 99 percent of the species it has protected.
Last week, President Donald Trump announced that his administration is weakening or eliminating key provisions of the bedrock environmental law that protect vulnerable species from extractive activities like oil drilling.
This isn’t the first time Trump has gutted the Endangered Species Act, or ESA. Back in 2019, his administration changed the act to make it easier to remove a species from the list and to allow economic factors to be considered when determining whether to list a new species. Many of those changes were reversed during Joe Biden’s presidency, but may now be overturned once again. The new rollbacks were announced by... Read more
