Washington, D.C.— Senate Western Caucus Chair Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) applauded President Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum for taking decisive action to restore balance to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by proposing four rules from President Trump’s first administration and clawing back the Biden administration’s most cumbersome ESA rules.
“For far too long, the Biden administration weaponized outdated ESA rules to punish western landowners and sideline local experts, holding them hostage rather than inviting them to be partners in species recovery,” said Lummis. “Instead of emboldening radical D.C. bureaucrats and environmentalists like the previous administration did, President Trump and Secretary Burgum are taking a logical approach to land management. This administration understands that the people who live on and work the land are our greatest allies in conservation, not our enemies.”
In May of 2024, Chair Lummis led Vice Chair Dan Sullivan (R-AK) and Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) in introducing three Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions to overturn the Biden administration’s reversal of key Trump-era improvements to the Endangered Species Act.
In July, Chair Lummis introduced the Endangered Species Recovery Act, legislation that would rename the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to better reflect the law’s original intent.
The proposed rules are:
- Listing determinations and habitat designation (50 CFR part 424): A proposal to reinstate regulatory language from 2019 that governs how species are added to or removed from protected status and how a habitat is designated. This approach prioritizes decisions grounded in sound science while also considering economic impacts. It reestablishes the longstanding two-step process for designating unoccupied habitat, clearly defines “foreseeable future,” and reinstates flexibility when designating critical habitat is not prudent.
- Interagency cooperation (50 CFR part 402): A joint proposal to reestablish the 2019 consultation structure by reintroducing specific definitions for “effects of the action” and “environmental baseline,” eliminating the offset provisions introduced in 2024, and realigning section 7 procedures with statutory language. These changes are in direct response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which overturned the Chevron deference standard and reaffirmed that agencies must adhere strictly to the law as written.
- Threatened species protections (50 CFR part 17; section 4(d)): The Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to remove the blanket rule approach and instead mandate individualized 4(d) rules are tailored to each threatened species. This methodology represents the most accurate interpretation of the statute following Loper Bright and ensures that protections are necessary and advisable to conserve each species without imposing unnecessary restrictions on others. It also aligns service policy with the National Marine Fisheries Service’s longstanding species-specific approach.
- Critical habitat exclusions (50 CFR part 17; section 4(b)(2)): The Fish and Wildlife Service seeks to restore its 2020 regulatory framework that establishes how economic, national security, and other relevant impacts are weighed when determining whether to exclude areas from critical habitat. The revised framework provides transparency and predictability for landowners and project proponents while maintaining the service’s authority to ensure that exclusions will not result in species extinction.
The 2024 regulatory packages had reimposed provisions previously deemed inconsistent with the ESA’s statutory text. The Trump administration’s proposed rules would replace those provisions with standards that reflect decades of implementation experience, consistent judicial precedent and the Supreme Court’s reaffirmation that agencies must follow the law as written.
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