Biden administration moves to restore endangered species protections dropped by Trump
By MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Biden administration is expected to propose new rules for protecting imperiled plants and animals that would reverse changes under former President Donald Trump that weakened the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to reinstate a decades-old regulation that mandates protections for species that are newly classified as threatened. That measure was dropped under Trump as part of a suite of changes to the species law that was encouraged by industry. Energy companies, ranchers and farmers and many Republicans in Congress have long viewed the Endangered Species Act as an impediment to economic development.
