Lucas Rhoads

Kemp's ridley sea turtle hatchlings crawling toward the Gulf of Mexico from Padre Island National Seashore, Texas Credit: NPS The Trump administration announced that on March 31, it will convene the Endangered Species Committee, or so-called God Squad, a rarely used panel that has the power to condemn an endangered species to extinction.

WASHINGTON, D.C.  — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service today proposed a rule that would eliminate the long-standing definition of “harm” under the Endangered Species Act, undermining core protections for endangered wildlife. The move would also strip habitat destruction from the list of prohibited actions under the law, making it easier for industry to pollute and degrade critical ecosystems—without consequence.

Media Contact Andrew Scibetta Press Secretary The Endangered Species Act is our most effective and important tool for combating the alarming decline of wildlife across the United States. But despite a million species at risk of extinction in coming decades and strong public support for the Endangered Species Act, the Trump administration and anti-environment legislators are intent again on gutting the law to line the pockets of dirty industry.