Overview
- The Interior and Commerce departments, which published the final rule on July 10, rescinded the long-standing regulatory definition that treated significant habitat modification or degradation as 'harm' under the Endangered Species Act.
- Under the new rule, the ESA's criminal and civil 'take' prohibitions remain for actions that directly kill or injure listed species but no longer extend to many forms of habitat damage that make survival harder.
- Officials cited the 2024 Supreme Court decision in Loper Bright as the legal reason for returning to a text-focused reading of the statute and said the change will reduce permitting delays and regulatory costs for industries and landowners.
- Conservation groups including Earthjustice, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Oceana have announced plans to sue and are preparing emergency injunction filings to try to prevent the rule from taking effect 30 days after its Federal Register publication.
- Scientists and advocates warn the change could remove protections relied on for about 1,300 listed species, increasing extinction risk by allowing development, logging, mining, and other activity to proceed without federal habitat review, while related legal fights will determine how the rule is applied.