Environmental rule changes planned

BILLINGS, Mont. — The Biden administration on Tuesday announced 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 President Joe Biden to undo regulations that Democrats and wildlife advocates say favored industry over the environment.

One allows the government to deny habitat protections for endangered animals and plants in areas that could see greater economic benefits from development. Democratic lawmakers and wildlife advocates complained that would potentially open lands to more drilling and other activities.

The other rule provided a definition of “habitat” that critics said would exclude locations species might need to use in the future as climate change upends ecosystems.

The two rules came in response to a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving a highly endangered Southern frog — the dusky gopher frog.

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 flash point 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.

The rule changes under Trump were finalized during his last weeks in office, meaning they’ve had little time to make a significant impact, Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Brian Hires said.