Paul Weiland Discusses Potential ESA Rule Changes Under Trump Administration

Paul Weiland was quoted in the Law360 article “Key Environmental Policies to Watch In 2025” (subscription required). The article provides an overview of how the incoming Trump administration is likely to revise or eliminate a number of environmental policies instituted by the Biden administration.

Discussing the potential impact on the Endangered Species Act, Paul first spoke about the “blanket 4(d) rule,” which was restored by the Biden administration and automatically extends protections for endangered species to threatened species. The rule was eliminated during the first Trump administration, and Paul said, “The 4(d) rule certainly could be in jeopardy again.”

Two additional rules from the Biden administration that could be subject to revisions had modified regulations for listing species and designating critical habitats and altered the standards for interagency cooperation. These rules were adjusted to eliminate a number of the initial Trump administration's less protective policies. Paul commented that these rules are “likely to be revised.”

On the critical habitat piece, Paul said, “The Trump administration could take a starkly different approach to where such areas could be set aside. The Biden administration, for instance, said certain unoccupied habitat can be set aside.” He added, "That's an area where you tend to get a lot of pushback from the regulated community. If the service is saying areas are critical habitat, where the species hasn't been present for some period of time or maybe never, if you're the one whose land is covered by that rule, there's a natural reaction that's like, 'Well, the species isn't here. Why are you burdening me with this regulatory obligation?'"