{"success":true,"data":{"id":"fa80ed0a-49b6-43b4-bd50-4143f8883a2c","title":"U.S. cancels automatic protections for imperiled animals as critics warn of extinctions","summary":"U.S. cancels automatic protections for imperiled animals as critics warn of extinctions BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. Interior Department on Friday canceled a rule meant to protect plants and animals that are determined to be threatened with extinction, the latest step by President Donald Trump's ...","content":"# U.S. cancels automatic protections for imperiled animals as critics warn of extinctions\n\nBILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. Interior Department on Friday canceled a rule meant to protect plants and animals that are determined to be threatened with extinction, the latest step by President Donald Trump's administration to dismantle key provisions of the landmark Endangered Species Act at the behest of industry.\n\nInstead of receiving automatic protections, imperiled species will need individualized protection plans once they are added to the threatened species list. That's a potentially lengthy process in which companies could seek exemptions for oil and gas drilling, mining and other development where those species live.\n\n## Grow your mind\n\nSubscribe to our Science Newsletter to explore the wide worlds of science, health and technology.\n\nThank you. Please check your inbox to confirm.\n\nOpponents said it would make it harder to save wildlife that's awaiting federal protections and in danger of disappearing, such as monarch butterflies and alligator snapping turtles.\n\nInterior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement that the Endangered Species Act had been used for too long \"to stop almost any new project in America, driving up costs for families, weakening our competitiveness, and undermining our national security.\"\n\n\"Success should be measured by species recovery and delisting, not by adding more species to the list,\" Burgum added.\n\nA second change finalized Friday requires officials to analyze economic impacts when deciding whether habitat is critical to a species' survival. Critics say it gives corporations an opportunity to put their thumb on the scale so that officials will allow development in those areas.\n\n\"If you're exempting certain industries that cause habitat destruction, in many instances you'll be exempting the main threat to those species,\" said Noah Greenwald with the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity.\n\nOfficials made similar changes during Trump's first term but they were reversed under former Democratic President Joe Biden.\n\nThe rules that gave what some consider \"blanket protections\" to threatened species were first adopted for wildlife in 1975 and for plants in 1977.\n\nTwo groups, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Property and Environment Research Center, sued the Biden administration in 2024 after officials restored the blanket protections rule. They argued the rule unfairly imposed the same restrictions on landowners when a species' status improves from endangered, which is more dire, to threatened.\n\nThat removed incentives for landowners to participate in species recovery, said Jonathan Wood, vice president at the Montana-based research center.\n\nWood said the Trump administration's approach allows officials to \"better reward progress and encourage proactive conservation.\"\n\nThere have been no species added to the endangered or threatened lists in Trump's second term. By comparison, more than 20 species were added in Trump's first term, and about 60 during Biden's presidency.\n\nAbout 30 species are currently proposed to be listed as threatened. Besides monarchs and alligator snapping turtles, they include California spotted owls and various snakes, fish, clams and insects.\n\nChanges to government policies for endangered plants and wildlife have come faster and extended further in Trump's second term than in his first.\n\nThe administration in March exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said environmentalists' lawsuits threatened to hobble domestic energy supplies as the U.S. wages war against Iran.\n\nLast week, Interior officials sharply narrowed the definition of what constitutes \"harm\" to a species. The change would allow development on critical wildlife habitat so long as the animals themselves are not immediately killed or injured.\n\nThis week officials sharply reduced the amount of critical habitat in the U.S. Rocky Mountains designated for Canada lynx, forest dwelling wildcats that are threatened by climate change and other pressures.\n\nAlso this week, Burgum said in a visit to Montana that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would turn over more management authority for grizzly bears to states where the bruins live. That's been a longstanding priority for the Republican governors of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.\n\nThe Endangered Species Act is credited with bringing back iconic animals including the bald eagle and American alligator from the brink of extinction.\n\nBurgum noted Friday that 97% of the species that have been given protections still have them. That's a frustration for Republican lawmakers who say species should be taken off the endangered and threatened lists more quickly once they've recovered.\n\n A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy. \n\nSupport trusted journalism and civil dialogue.\n\nLeft: A monarch butterfly lies on grass in Miami on Jan. 23, 2026. Photo by Maria Alejandra Cardona/Reuters\n\nBy Tammy Webber, Associated Press\n\nBy Matthew Brown, Associated Press\n\nBy Alex Erwin, The Conversation\n\nBy Maura Currie\n\nBy Travis Loller, Associated Press\n\n## Go Deeper\n\nBy —\n\nSupport Provided By:[Learn more](https://help.pbs.org/support/solutions/articles/5000677869)\n\n### Educate your inbox\n\nSubscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else.\n\n1.   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Keller, Rebecca Boone, Associated Press\n\n[World](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world)Jul 18\n\nBy Prosper Heri Ngorora, Constant Same Bagalwa, Associated Press\n\nBy Associated Press\n\n[Health](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health)Jul 18\n\nBy Jennifer Peltz, Associated Press\n\nBy Jon Gambrell, Toqa Ezzidin, Konstantin Toropin, Associated Press\n\nBy Philip Marcelo, Associated Press","source_name":"PBS NewsHour","source_url":"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/u-s-cancels-automatic-protections-for-imperiled-animals-as-critics-warn-of-extinctions","url":"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/u-s-cancels-automatic-protections-for-imperiled-animals-as-critics-warn-of-extinctions","author":"Matthew Brown, Associated Press","author_name":"Matthew Brown, Associated Press","published_at":"2026-07-18T18:43:58.000Z","publication_date":"2026-07-18T18:43:58.000Z","image_url":"https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2026/07/2026-01-26T015433Z_685924281_RC2P8JAFMANB_RTRMADP_3_USA-BUTTERFLY-TRACK-1024x632.jpg","category":"world","topic":"world","tags":[],"political_bias":null,"bias_score":null,"confidence_score":null,"credibility_score":null,"factual_quality":null,"reading_time":5,"word_count":956,"view_count":0,"breaking":false,"breaking_news":false,"ai_analysis":null,"fact_check_status":"unverified","archive_status":"hot"}}