The Department of Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced new rules last week to “strengthen American energy independence, improve regulatory predictability and ensure federal actions align with the best reading of the law.”
Secretary Doug Burgum said: “This administration is restoring the Endangered Species Act to its original intent, protecting species through clear, consistent and lawful standards that also respect the livelihoods of Americans who depend on our land and resources. These revisions end years of legal confusion and regulatory overreach, delivering certainty to states, tribes, landowners and businesses while ensuring conservation efforts remain grounded in sound science and common sense.”
The four proposed rules include:
- Ensure regulatory text governing listing, delisting and critical habitat determinations are based on the best scientific and commercial data available while considering economic impacts.
- Restores section 7 procedures consistent with the statutory text requiring the agency to strictly adhere to the law as written per the Supreme Court’s ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo that overturned the Chevron Deference standard.
- Eliminate the “blanket rule” option and require species-specific 4(d) rules tailored to each threatened species.
- Requires economic, national security and other relevant impact to be weighed when determining whether to exclude areas from critical habitat.
These new rules overturn provisions implemented by the Biden administration that were deemed inconsistent with the ESA’s statutory text and reaffirms that agencies must follow the law as written.
Go here to read the new proposed rules.
