Donald Trump’s administration, backed by House Republicans and Elon Musk’s Doge agency, are carrying out an attack on the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and federal wildlife agencies that, if successful, will almost certainly drive numerous species into extinction, environmental advocates warn.
The three-pronged attack is designed to freeze endangered wildlife protections to more quickly push through oil, gas and development projects, opponents say.
In recent weeks, Donald Trump has said he will assemble a “God squad”, or committee empowered to effectively veto ESA protections for species on the brink of extinction. Meanwhile, in part at the behest of Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency”, hundreds of US Fish and Wildlife staff have been laid off, and hiring freezes implemented on hundreds more seasonal workers whom advocates say are critical to ensuring some species’ survival.
In the US House, Republicans recently held a hearing on the ESA and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, claiming the legislation needs to be revised to allow industry projects to be approved more quickly.
Wildlife advocates are girding for a fight in which species’ existence hangs in the balance.
“Scientists warn that we’re in an extinction crisis, and we ignore that at our own peril,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “As America’s wildlife dwindles, Elon Musk is swinging his wrecking ball at the skilled and dedicated people fighting to save our plants and animals from extinction. It’s beyond idiotic.”
Congress passed the ESA in 1973, and it has saved bald eagles, grizzly bears and American alligators from extinction, among other species. Some environmentalists say it’s among the nation’s strongest environmental laws because it’s explicit, and sets clear deadlines for federal agencies to act to protect species. The law also requires most federal initiatives to ensure the action or project doesn’t threaten protected species.
Nearly 99% of species listed as endangered under the law have survived, Greenwald said, and the law rarely derails energy or development projects.
Still, the ESA’s robust provisions “drive industry bananas” and the law has long been a GOP target, said Drew Caputo, an attorney with the Earthjustice non-profit who has litigated on issues involving endangered species.
“Industry cannot stand that their ability to profit is sometimes limited by the need to protect wildlife that has been on earth for millions of years,” Caputo said. GOP and industry attacks, including bills that attempted repeals and revisions in recent years, have “failed spectacularly”, he added.
But the “God squad” could present the biggest threat so far.
“It can behave as god and decide what species exist and which don’t,” Caputo said.
The squad, officially called the Endangered Species Committee, includes seven federal agency leaders, who, in the rare instances in which a federal action of significant public or economic interest comes into irresolvable conflict with the ESA, each vote on whether the project’s benefits outweigh the protected species’ wellbeing. If five of the seven votes are in favor of a project proceeding, it moves forward, which could drive species to extinction.
The “God squad” has only been convened three times, and the only project on which it overrode the ESA was a dam, but the plans included meaningful provisions that helped at-risk cranes survive.
However, Trump seems to be proceeding without regard to the law’s protocols, and ordering action outside the squad’s scope, advocates say. In one executive order, he directed the squad to meet quarterly instead of after the petitioning process had played out, as the law requires. When there are no projects to consider, the squad should “identify obstacles to domestic energy infrastructure” related to the ESA, another order states.
“He can’t just say: ‘I hereby undo the Endangered Species Act,’” Greenwald said. “There are really specific processes for how that works.”
The president may use the squad to divert water from northern to southern California at the expense of endangered salmon, Caputo said.
Meanwhile, Doge’s cuts to the federal workforce, and Trump funding freezes, are already directly affecting staffing and the solvency of projects to preserve red wolves in North Carolina, ‘akikiki birds in Hawaii, and black-footed ferrets. Greenwald said staff at the fish and wildlife service have learned that the initial cuts that affected hundreds of jobs are just the beginning, and that Trump is planning to cut 40% of the staff.
“What Doge is doing will result in species going extinct,” Greenwald said.
On Thursday, the GOP representatives on the US House Committee on Natural Resources attempted to chart a new course of attack in which they claimed that the US supreme court’s June reversal of the Chevron doctrine that stripped power from regulators also required the ESA to be reformed and made clearer.
“There is no denying that, after half a century, both laws need improvement, and the committee intends to do just that,” Harriet Hageman, the committee chair and Wyoming US representative, said. “Changes to the statutes will significantly improve the regulatory process.”
But Caputo called the rightwing Chevron claim “legal nonsense”. He said the GOP is specifically targeting the ESA’s deadlines for federal agencies to act to protect species, as well as a provision that only allows science and the species’ survival to guide decisions. Republicans also want economic impact on industry to be factored in to the equation, Caputo said.
There’s a chance some reforms could get through with Democratic support. Congress last year passed two out of eight bills that would have weakened the law, but Joe Biden vetoed them.
But the act remains popular among the nation’s public, and that could pressure lawmakers, Caputo said.
“The industry agenda is unpopular, but the right still keeps trying,” Caputo said. “The harsh reality is that extinction means forever. People understand that.”
