Wildlife agencies to cancel endangered species rollbacks

BILLINGS, Mont. — President Joe Biden’s administration announced Tuesday plans to cancel two environmental rollbacks under former President Donald Trump that limited habitat protections for imperiled plants and wildlife.

The proposal to drop the two Trump-era rules by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service is part of a broad effort by the Biden administration to undo regulations that Democrats and wildlife advocates say favored industry over the environment.

The designation of lands and waters as critical for the survival of vulnerable species can limit mining, oil drilling and other development. That’s made the designations a flashpoint for conflict between environmental and business interests.

Industry groups and Republicans in Congress have long viewed the Endangered Species Act as an impediment to economic development. Under Trump, they successfully lobbied to weaken the law’s regulations with changes that gave added weight to economic development and other interests.

The Trump administration changes had backing from an array of industry groups that said economic impacts had not been given enough consideration in past U.S. government wildlife decisions. Those groups ranged from livestock and ranching organizations to trade associations representing oil, gas and mining interests.

Biden administration officials acknowledged in documents published to the federal register that in canceling Trump’s rules, they were adopting views that federal wildlife agencies rejected just months ago.

But the Biden administration officials said a reevaluation of the Trump policies showed them to be “problematic” because they limited the government’s ability to advance conservation by protecting areas where plants and animals are found.

The rule changes under Trump were finalized during his last weeks in office, meaning they’ve had little time to make a significant impact.