Interior Budget Trades Species Protection for ‘Energy Dominance’

The Interior Department is proposing to zero-out grant programs that help recover endangered species and cut its budget to add new protections to imperiled species by two-thirds, according to the agency’s fiscal 2026 budget request justification published Monday.

The proposal would cut Interior’s total budget by 30.5%, from $16.8 billion in fiscal 2025 to about $11.7 billion. It outlines the Trump administration’s vision to expand fossil fuels development and mining, end renewable energy and climate programs, sell off federal lands, transfer parts of the National Park System to states, and drastically reduce support for endangered species protections and conservation.

The ...