Trump Admin Opens 50 Years of Endangered Species Protections to Logging and Mining
The Trump administration has finalized a rule that removes key protections from the Endangered Species Act, allowing logging, mining, and other development in habitats critical for the survival of imperiled wildlife.
For 50 years, the law defined “harm” to animals to include damage to their habitat. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld this definition in 1995, protecting places like forests needed by the endangered spotted owl. Habitat destruction is the leading cause of species loss, and the Endangered Species Act has prevented 99% of listed species from going extinct. Critics now call the new rule a “death sentence” for vulnerable wildlife [194077].
At the same time, the administration has issued new rules that make federally funded research far more difficult. Federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health (NIH) face grant freezes and administrative chaos. Political appointees now review projects for banned keywords such as "disparity" and "marginalized," and new rules make international collaboration nearly impossible. "It’s death by a thousand cuts," said Daniel Malinsky, assistant professor of biostatistics at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, who questioned whether the goal is to make scientists simply give up [194061].