Photo by Peter Neumann on Unsplash

By the Allegheny Sierran staff

On July 18, the Trump took the first step to stripping key provisions from the Endangered Species Act including a requirement compelling federal agencies to consult with scientists and wildlife agencies before approving permits allowing ventures such as drilling for oil and gas and logging.

The proposals, announced jointly by the Interior and Commerce departments, also "would end the practice of extending similar protections regardless of whether [species] were listed as endangered or threatened" according to the Washington Post. Instead "if the proposal is approved...protection for threatened plants and animals would be made on a case by case basis."

Another change the Administration wants is that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration strike language from their guidelines that orders them to ignore economic impact when determining how wildlife should be protected.

The Endangered Specie Act was passed by Congress in 1973 and signed into law by Republican President Richard Nixon. And Republican former New Jersey Governor and EPA administrator in the George W. Bush administration Christine Todd Whitman has written and spoken out against weakening the Endangered
Species Act.

Jamie Rappaport Clark, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service during the Clinton administration, has stated that the regulation Trump wants to gut "are the heart of how the Endangered Species Act is implemented…[i]mperiled species depend on them for their very lives."
The Sierra Club, along with several other environmental organizations, has filed suit in federal court to prevent implementation of Trump's proposals.