Draft Endangered Species Rules Show Regulatory Pendulum’s Swing

Endangered species rules proposed this week amount to a re-run from the first Trump administration and a sign of the regulatory pendulum swinging dramatically from one president to the next, environmental attorneys say.

The proposals reinstate regulatory rollbacks that haven’t been fully tested in court, and they’re likely to face litigation again, the attorneys say. The first Trump administration finalized the rules in 2019 and 2020, and the Biden administration rolled them back before courts could reach the merits of legal challenges.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Wednesday the second Trump administration is restoring them to protect species according to ...