Washington Timesabused the ESA, obstruct lawful land use
The Trump administration finalized a rule on Friday that repeals the regulatory definition of 'harm' under the Endangered Species Act, eliminating habitat modification from the scope of prohibited actions. The change reverses an interpretation in place for decades and upheld by the Supreme Court in 1995. Public comments opposing the rule numbered in the hundreds of thousands.
The rule opens protected lands to logging and mining by removing habitat protections that have prevented 99 percent of listed species extinctions.
“Regulatory capture prioritizing short-term extraction over biodiversity safeguards”
Conservative
The rule corrects decades of regulatory expansion that blocked lawful economic activity on the basis of indirect habitat effects.
“Restoration of property rights and reduction of bureaucratic overreach”
Libertarian
The change reduces federal power to dictate land use and restores control to property owners previously constrained without compensation.
“Limiting coercive state intervention in favor of individual rights and market mechanisms”
Devil's Advocate
All perspectives accept unverified success metrics and treat comment volume as a direct measure of public will without examining agency practice or statutory text.
“Overlooked questions of whether prior interpretation exceeded the 1995 precedent and statute”