White House reviewing proposal that 'could strip protections for threatened species', according to experts

The proposal is considered to be part of Donald Trump's larger agenda to roll back regulations

A manatee baby swimming in the manatee tank of the Zoological parc of Beauval (AFP/Getty Images )

The White House is reviewing a proposal that experts fear would strip protections for hundreds of threatened species.

The proposal is considered to be part of Donald Trump’s larger agenda to roll back regulations, including those from Barack Obama’s administration that were aimed at protecting the environment and fighting climate change.

A listing in a government database shows that the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) sent the proposal – obscurely called the “Removal of Blanket Section 4(d) Rule” – to the White House office that reviews proposed rules, CNN reported.

The blanket section rule under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) covers about 300 animal and plant species, such as the northern spotted owl and manatee, that are at risk of becoming endangered.

The new proposal would remove the blanket application for the ESA’s section 4(d) decisions, which are used by FWS to designate a species as threatened. A species receiving a 4(d) designation usually means it’s one step away from being listed as endangered under the law.

A spokesman for the FWS told The Independent that the proposal has just gone into interagency review and is therefore subject to change.

It is “premature to discuss the rule in any detail,” said the spokesman, Gavin Shire.

Mr Shire told CNN that it would be inaccurate to suggest that the proposal would overturn protections for threatened species.

In a statement, FWS said it’s working with NOAA Fisheries “to develop regulations that improve our implementation of the ESA so that it is clear, unambiguous, consistent and flexible to the greatest extent possible”.

The agency added that “any proposed changes will go through a full and transparent public review process” that will give interested parties an opportunity to provide input.

That input will be considered “to help us ensure these regulations are effective in furthering the ESA’s ultimate goal – recovery of our most imperilled species to the point they no longer need federal protection,” the statement concludes.

But environmentalists fear that any repeal of the blanket section rule will have disastrous effects.

Dr Stuart Pimm, a conservation ecologist at Duke University, told The Independent that the section in which the 4(d) rule is located gives the Secretary of the Interior flexibility to help endangered species.

FWS is an agency within the Department of the Interior.

“Broadly, this is a section that gives deference to the Secretary of the Interior to act in the best interest of endangered species that he or she is charged with protecting”, he said. But it “could also be used to cause considerable harm.”

Dr Pimm added that his best guess for why the section rule may be removed is because the Trump administration has fallen prey to business interests.

“I think that behind this are some business interests that want to go and despoil nature so that they can make more money,” he said.

The Department of the Interior is led by Ryan Zinke, who has recently come under fire from conservation groups for his pick to head FWS, Susan Combs, a critic of endangered species protections.

Noah Greenwald, who leads the endangered species project at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the Trump administration “has more aggressively moved to roll back regulations for air, water and wildlife than any other administration”.

Weakening or removing the protections could aid the business of oil and agriculture companies who currently must avoid killing or harming the habitat of these at-risk species, he told CNN.

When naming a species as threatened, FWS determines whether to write specific protections for that species, or to cover it with the blanket rule protections. About 70 species have specific rules, while approximately 300 are covered by the blanket rule, Mr Greenwald said.