Trump Administration Redefines ‘Harm’ Under Endangered Species Act to Exclude Habitat Damage

Overview

• The Departments of the Interior and Commerce finalized a rule Friday, July 11, 2026, that narrows the ESA by excluding habitat modification or degradation from the law’s definition of “harm” while keeping limited protections against direct injury or killing.
• Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the change restores the statute’s original text and reduces regulatory burdens that they say had turned routine land use into federal overreach.
• Environmental groups including Earthjustice and Oceana immediately pledged legal challenges, arguing the rule has no scientific or legal basis and that they will sue to preserve habitat safeguards.
• The rule clears the way for expanded drilling, mining, logging, agriculture and housing projects in sensitive forests, wetlands and coastal areas that had been shielded by the prior interpretation of harm.
• The dispute will move into the courts where a 1995 Supreme Court decision supported habitat-based protections but a more conservative current Court raises uncertain prospects for challengers.