AP News53%
US cancels automatic protections for imperiled animals as critics warn of extinctions 68%
By MATTHEW BROWN19%
7/17/2026, 4:41:13 PM
Topics: Endangered Species Act, Wildlife Protection, Conservation, Environmental Policy, Trump Administration, Biden Administration
Keywords: Endangered Species, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Doug Burgum, Animals, Energy Industry, Wy State Wire, Mt State Wire, Idaho, Wyoming, La State Wire, Florida, Tx State Wire, Fl State Wire, Texas, Id State Wire, California, Louisiana, Montana, Endangered Species Trump Extinction, Climate And Environment, Jonathan Wood, Noah Greenwald, Pete Hegseth, Politics, Iran, United States Government, U S Department Of The Interior, Climate
BS Summary: This article contains 24 faulty reasoning types, including Biased Writer Voice, Unattributed Quote, and Framing Effect, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 13.3% saturation with 74 hits. Analysis detected 854 faulty-reasoning hits from 556 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 61% and a BS Rank of 68% (7,177 of 21,887 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 67.20% of the article peer group.
US cancels automatic protections for imperiled animals as critics warn of extinctions
BILLINGS, Mont.
(AP) — The U.S.
Interior Department on Friday canceled a rule meant to protect plants and animals that are determined to be threatened with extinction, the latest step by President Donald Trump’s administration to dismantle key provisions of the landmark Endangered Species Act at the behest of industry.
Instead of receiving automatic protections, imperiled species will need individualized protection plans once they are added to the threatened species list.
That’s a potentially lengthy process in which companies could seek exemptions for oil and gas drilling, mining and other development where those species live.
Opponents said it would make it harder to save wildlife that’s awaiting federal protections and in danger of disappearing, such as monarch butterflies and alligator snapping turtles.
Officials made similar changes during Trump’s first term but they were reversed under former Democratic President Joe Biden.
The rules that gave what some consider “blanket protections” to threatened species were first adopted for wildlife in 1975 and for plants in 1977.
Two groups, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Property and Environment Research Center, sued the Biden administration in 2024 after officials restored the blanket protections rule.
They argued the rule unfairly imposed the same restrictions on landowners when a species’ status improves from endangered, which is more dire, to threatened.
Wood said the Trump administration’s approach allows officials to “better reward progress and encourage proactive conservation.”
There have been no species added to the endangered or threatened lists in Trump’s second term.
By comparison, more than 20 species were added in Trump’s first term, and about 60 during Biden’s presidency.
About 30 species are currently proposed to be listed as threatened.
Besides monarchs and alligator snapping turtles, they include California spotted owls and various snakes, fish, clams and insects.
Changes to government policies for endangered plants and wildlife have come faster and extended further in Trump’s second term than in his first.
The administration in March exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said environmentalists’ lawsuits threatened to hobble domestic energy supplies as the U.S. wages war against Iran.
Last week, Interior officials sharply narrowed the definition of what constitutes “harm” to a species.
The change would allow development on critical wildlife habitat so long as the animals themselves are not immediately killed or injured.
This week officials sharply reduced the amount of critical habitat in the U.S.
Rocky Mountains designated for Canada lynx, forest dwelling wildcats that are threatened by climate change and other pressures.
Also this week, Burgum said in a visit to Montana that the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service would turn over more management authority for grizzly bears to states where the bruins live.
That’s been a longstanding priority for the Republican governors of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.
The Endangered Species Act is credited with bringing back iconic animals including the bald eagle and American alligator from the brink of extinction.
Burgum noted Friday that 97% of the species that have been given protections still have them.
That’s a frustration for Republican lawmakers who say species should be taken off the endangered and threatened lists more quickly once they’ve recovered.
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