Interior Department removes habitat destruction from Endangered Species Act harm rule
The Interior and Commerce departments on Friday finalized a rule removing habitat modification from the definition of “harm” under the Endangered Species Act. Since 1981, “harm” has been read to include actions that degrade or destroy the places listed species depend on; under the new rule, destroying a nest or clearing habitat would no longer count as prohibited harm so long as the animals are not directly killed or injured.
The practical effect is to open critical wildlife habitat to oil and gas drilling, mining, logging and other development that the prior interpretation constrained. The administration grounds the change in the Supreme Court’s 2024 Loper Bright decision, which directs agencies to adopt the single best reading of a statute rather than a permissible one; it concluded the older habitat-inclusive definition was an unlawful stretch that intruded on property rights. The 1995 Supreme Court decision Babbitt v. Sweet Home, which upheld the habitat reading, looms over that argument and is likely to anchor the legal challenges from conservation groups.
Because habitat loss — not direct killing — is the primary driver of extinction risk for most listed species, the redefinition narrows one of the ESA’s central protections. Environmental organizations including Earthjustice and the Center for Biological Diversity signaled they would sue, so the rule’s real reach will be set in court.