Insult to science and logic
Imagine that Congress passed a law saying that it would be legal for someone to burn down your neighborhood as long as you and your neighbors weren’t killed in the process. Sounds crazy. But essentially that is exactly what the Trump administration just did to the wildlife protected by the Endangered Species Act.
Because the act has, since it’s original passage, been interpreted by the federal government and the Supreme Court to define “harming” an endangered species to include damaging or destroying its habitat, the current administration had redefined the term “harm” to exclude destroying habitat of endangered species. So, it’s now okay to destroy the habitat of the Karner Blue Butterfly and dozens of other endangered species as long as you don’t kill them directly in the process. They will just die later.
This is just another of this administration’s blatant insults to science and logic in order to benefit the corporations and developers who are favored by the president. The vast majority of Americans support the act and its long standing work to protect and recover endangered and threatened species. They did not ask for this insult to the nation’s natural heritage.