Washington, July 18 -- The Trump administration finalized major changes to how the U.S. Endangered Species Act is implemented, removing automatic protections for threatened species and giving regulators more flexibility to weigh economic, energy and security considerations when making conservation decisions.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the revisions were aimed at improving "transparency, clarity, predictability and efficiency" in implementing the decades-old law while maintaining protections for threatened and endangered species.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the changes would return the agency to what he described as the law's original intent.
"We are following the original intent of the law, looking at the facts on th...