Ella Nilsen and Kit Maher, CNN
“Habitat loss is the number one cause of extinction,” Gib Brogan, senior campaign director at Oceana, said in a statement. “When you remove habitat protections, you remove one of the law’s most important safeguards.”
The Trump administration reversed decades of longstanding environmental law protecting endangered species on Friday, opening up sensitive habitats of those protected species to drilling, mining, farming and real estate development.
The change, finalized by the Interior and Commerce Departments, redefines what constitutes “harm” to endangered species and habitats under the 1973 Endangered Species Act. The longstanding law had long prohibited “habitat modification or degradation” because it could harm or kill endangered animals by impacting their ability to breed and find food or shelter. That definition of harm was upheld by the US Supreme Court in a 1995 ruling.
Read more at https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/10/climate/trump-endangered-species-habitats-rule-change