{"id":757593,"date":"2026-07-12T00:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T00:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/757593\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T00:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T00:09:09","slug":"trumps-endangered-species-act-rollback-puts-california-wildlife-at-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/757593\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s Endangered Species Act rollback puts California wildlife at risk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Trump administration finalized a rollback<\/a> of the Endangered Species Act on Friday, paving the way for drilling, mining and other human development across protected wildlife habitats.<\/p>\n

The move redefines \u201charm\u201d under the Endangered Species Act, the landmark conservation law that protects threatened and endangered plants and animals. For years, \u201charm\u201d meant actions that injure or kill wildlife, as well as actions that destroy protected habitats. <\/p>\n

Under the new rule, destroying those habitats is no longer illegal.<\/p>\n

The decision aligns with the Trump administration\u2019s ongoing effort to slash regulations<\/a> in the name of economic growth. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, whose department finalized the move, said the prior definition of harm \u201cinterfered with private property rights\u201d and \u201cturned routine activity into a regulatory trap.\u201d<\/p>\n

Environmental groups called the decision a disaster, saying it puts protected species on a path to extinction.<\/p>\n

The move seems especially poised to hit California, the most biodiverse state in the country, where more than 6,700 species are spread across mountains, forests, deserts and oceans. Of the roughly 2,300 species<\/a> protected by the Endangered Species Act, nearly 300 are found in California.<\/p>\n

These species include<\/a> amphibians such as tiger salamanders and Yosemite toads; birds such as California condors and northern spotted owls; fish such as Little Kern golden trout and Santa Ana suckers; insects such as Franklin\u2019s bumble bees and Mission blue butterflies; mammals such as gray wolves and Santa Catalina Island foxes; and reptiles such as desert tortoises and green sea turtles.<\/p>\n

The Endangered Species Act is widely credited with saving the California condor, which almost went extinct in the 1980s due to several factors, including habitat destruction. Thanks to a recovery program<\/a> under the act, the condor population has since soared to several hundred. But under the new law, the logging and human development that led to their near demise<\/a> is now allowed.<\/p>\n

A handful of California species recoveries have been championed as success stories under the Endangered Species Act, including southern sea otters, peregrine falcons, humpback whales, bald eagles and green sea turtles.<\/p>\n

According to a report<\/a> from the Center for Biological Diversity, the El Segundo blue butterfly lost 90% of its oceanside habitat due to the construction of LAX and beachfront housing developments. The population dwindled to about 1,000 butterflies in the 1970s, when it was named an endangered species. Now, the population has climbed above 120,000.<\/p>\n

In California, the rollback could pave the way for more farming, mining, logging and drilling in areas that were once forbidden due to the potential for wildlife habitat destruction. A report from Earthjustice<\/a> estimates that expanded oil drilling in California could threaten five marine species including humpback whales, sea otters, leatherback sea turtles, marbled murrelets and wild salmon.<\/p>\n

Several environmental groups are planning legal challenges to the ruling.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time ever, a presidential administration now claims that species protected by the Endangered Species Act shouldn\u2019t be safe from habitat modification that destroys where they live, raise their young, or search for food,\u201d Kristen Boyles, attorney for the environmental nonprofit Earthjustice, said in a statement. \u201cLet\u2019s be clear: there is no support for the Trump administration\u2019s rule \u2014 no scientific support, no legal support, no public support. We will see the Trump administration in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben Greuel, wildlife campaign manager at the Sierra Club, called the decision \u201can unlawful attempt to open the door for corporate polluters to degrade vitally important habitats.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor more than four decades, the definition of \u2018harm\u2019 recognized a simple truth: if you destroy the places wildlife need to survive, you are putting species on a path to extinction,\u201d Greuel said in a statement.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the first time Trump has taken aim at California environmental regulation.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom, along with the governors of Washington and Oregon, submitted a formal opposition<\/a> to the Trump administration\u2019s plans to expand drilling off the Pacific Coast, with Newsom saying it leads to \u201cdead wildlife.\u201d In June, the Trump administration ordered a review<\/a> of the California Coastal Commission, claiming the state\u2019s \u201cenvironmental extremism\u201d obstructs spaceport development and offshore oil production.<\/p>\n

A day before the Endangered Species Act decision, the Trump administration signed off on a controversial plan<\/a> to use an old oil pipeline to pump water from the Mojave Desert into cities. Environmental groups said the plan threatens springs and local wildlife, since six pumps would need to be built in desert tortoise habitats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Trump administration finalized a rollback of the Endangered Species Act on Friday, paving the way for drilling,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":757594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[2356,324442,25405,324441,48624,42629,226449,77851,35574,8159,15652,79,324443,44215,3479,201,20124],"class_list":["post-757593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-california","tag-condor-population","tag-decision","tag-endangered-species-act-rollback","tag-environmental-group","tag-extinction","tag-green-sea-turtle","tag-harm","tag-humpback-whale","tag-move","tag-plan","tag-science","tag-southern-sea-otter","tag-specie","tag-trump","tag-wildlife","tag-wildlife-habitat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=757593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/757594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}