GoKawiilFWS memo narrows Endangered Species Act to only intentional harm to wildlife
A September 14 memo from Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik instructs staff to only enforce ESA prohibitions when an action specifically intends to target an animal, exempting incidental deaths like a ship striking a whale or a tree-felling that kills roosting bats. This follows an earlier 2024 rule change that removed habitat destruction from the ESA's definition of harm, which officials said was meant to reduce costs for landowners.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
Incidental takings are the leading cause of death for endangered species, so narrowing enforcement to only intentional harm could effectively legalize most preventable killings tied to development, shipping and logging. Conservation groups say this second rule change reveals that assurances given during the earlier harm-definition change were misleading, weakening one of the US's core environmental protection laws through administrative memos rather than public rulemaking.
- FWS will now only enforce ESA violations for actions intentionally targeting animals, not incidental harm.
- The change builds on a prior 2024 rule that removed habitat destruction from the ESA's harm definition.
- Conservationists warn this could gut protections since most endangered species deaths result from incidental, not intentional, human activity.
Source: arstechnica.com, 2026-09-22
Published there as: “Trump’s sneaky plan to gut Endangered Species Act draws from 1995 Scalia dissent”
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