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Trump Administration Weakens US Wildlife Protections; States,
Conservationists to Sue

Reuters

   The Trump administration took steps Monday to significantly weaken the
   U.S. Endangered Species Act, prompting state attorneys general and
   conservation groups to threaten legal action to protect at-risk
   species.

   The 1970s-era act is credited with bringing back from the brink of
   extinction species such as bald eagles, gray whales and grizzly bears,
   but the law has long been a source of frustration for drilling and
   mining companies, and other industries because new listings can put
   vast areas of land off-limits to development.

   The weakening of the act's protections is one of many moves by U.S.
   President Donald Trump, a Republican, to roll back existing regulations
   to hasten oil, gas and coal production, as well as grazing, ranching
   and logging on federal land.

   "These changes crash a bulldozer through the Endangered Species Act's
   lifesaving protections for America's most vulnerable wildlife," Noah
   Greenwald, the Center for Biological Diversity's endangered species
   director, said in a statement.

   "For animals like wolverines and monarch butterflies, this could be the
   beginning of the end."

   Changes

   The changes would end a practice that automatically conveys the same
   protections for threatened species as for endangered species, and would
   strike language that guides officials to ignore economic impacts of how
   animals should be safeguarded.

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