LANSING — The Trump administration is moving to weaken the federal Endangered Species Act, changes that environmental groups say could spell disaster for some wildlife.
The proposed changes would lift restrictions on the destruction of an endangered species’ habitat and require regulators to consider economic factors when designating a threatened species.
“They want to cost-benefit analysis,” said Marvin Roberson, a forest ecologist with the Michigan Sierra Club. “In other words, how much will it cost to not cause the species to go extinct, versus how much will it gain us financially to keep them alive, or to cause the species to go extinct?”
Currently, decisions are allowed to be made only based on scientific evidence. Roberson said the change would likely lead to the extinction of more species.
“The Endangered Species Act is one of the most successful pieces of legislation in environmental history — it has protected many, many species from going extinct, including a number here in Michigan,” he said. “Once a species goes extinct, that’s forever. There’s no monetary value you can place on the existence of a species.”
Another proposal would effectively change the definition of “harm” to not include habitat loss — but wildlife experts say that the destruction of an ecosystem will inevitably lead to harm for native wildlife.
“What this proposed change would do is it would say, ‘you can’t kill this endangered species, but you can go ahead and wipe out their habitat’,” said Bill Rapai, executive director of the Kirtland’s Warbler Alliance. “After the species goes extinct because it no longer has the habitat that it needs, we’re going to say, ‘oops, sorry. That wasn’t our fault.’ That’s just not right.”
Mike Leahy is senior director of wildlife, hunting and fishing policy for the National Wildlife Federation. He said that the changes would likely harm wildlife in the name of potential profit.
“It’s just inevitable that that’s going to influence the decisions on whether or not to list a species as endangered or threatened,” he said.
Some of the changes are open for public comment with the Department of Interior until Tuesday, Dec. 22.
Northern Michigan’s Kirtland’s warbler was once one of the most endangered species on the planet and was included in the first set of species to receive ESA protections.
While Kirtland’s warbler is no longer on the endangered species list, experts say the protections of the Endangered Species Act are what allowed the bird to regain a stable population.