Overview
- The Interior Department proposed rescinding multiple Biden-era regulations and reviving Trump’s first-term approaches through a comprehensive rule package.
- The plan would end the Fish and Wildlife Service’s blanket 4(d) protections for all threatened species in favor of species-by-species rules.
- The draft lifts Biden-era limits on referencing economic impacts in listings, directs officials to weigh economic and national-security factors in critical-habitat decisions, and removes offset requirements for project impacts.
- Environmental groups warned of risks to species such as monarch butterflies, Florida manatees, wolverines and the California spotted owl, while property-rights and industry advocates praised the changes as a needed course correction.
- Observers questioned whether FWS and NOAA can implement species-specific rules effectively given reported staffing and budget cuts.