December 4, 2024 — The incoming Trump administration and its emboldened congressional allies could soon reshape the Endangered Species Act without really touching the 1973 law.
The GOP-controlled Congress could rescind last-minute ESA-related actions. Appropriations bill riders and targeted legislation could block Biden-era moves.
Office budgets could be cut, if Congress goes along. By themselves, the Interior Department’s new political appointees could rewrite Biden administration regulations.
“I expect they will just have a knee-jerk reaction and pull back regs, shooting themselves in the foot on a policy that could be incredibly useful for infrastructure and agriculture,” said Timothy Male, executive director of the Environmental Policy Innovation Center.
Male cited as an example a Biden-era rule change that gives the Fish and Wildlife Service the power to require compensatory mitigation, also known as offsets, as part of the ESA consultations conducted with other federal agencies.
If history is any guide, a congressional rewrite of the law will remain a bridge too far.
The ESA regulations, by contrast, are a ripe target for every new administration.
The first Trump administration, starting in 2017, rewrote crucial ESA regulations that covered issues from how critical habitat is designated to how costs are taken into account when a species is proposed for listing as threatened or endangered.
This package of ESA revisions drew hundreds of thousands of mostly critical comments. Once implemented, they were entangled in litigation. Some, though not all, were subsequently withdrawn and rewritten in the Biden administration.