Proposed Endangered Species Act Revisions: EDGI Information Packet – Environmental Data and Governance Initiative

History of the Endangered Species Act

In April 2025, the Trump Administration proposed to rescind the definition of “harm” as it applied to the Endangered Species Act, in an attempt to remove the implication that habitat modification constitutes harm. In November 2025, the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced four proposed rules, with the purpose of reversing the Endangered Species Act regulations to their 2019 and 2020 framework, which we discuss here. Two of these proposals were issued in coordination with the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The proposed rules pertain to listing and critical habitat, interagency cooperation, threatened species protections, and designating critical habitat exclusions.

Each of the four proposed rules focuses on a specific section of the Endangered Species Act. We summarize key elements of the corresponding sections below, in order of the Federal Register documents:

Section 4: Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Listing Endangered and Threatened Species and Designating Critical Habitat

Currently:

Creates listing requirements for species
Establishes how an animal is categorized as endangered or threatened
Recognizes the ability of individuals to petition to place an animal on the list
Designates critical habitat
Requires consultation process for actions occurring on critical habitat

As proposed:

Would reinstate the 2019 regulation, which would alter the definition of “foreseeable future” in endangered species determinations, and would determine cases when designating critical habitat is not necessary

Section 7: Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Interagency Cooperation Regulations

Currently:

Outlines the role of the federal government in a species’ conservation when that species holds the status of endangered or threatened
Establishes that consultation is required in cases where proposed projects need government authorization and there is an endangered species present that may be impacted by the proposed actions

As proposed:

Would remove provisions and definitions that emphasize the health of species or habitats over expedited permitting timelines for new projects

Section 4(d): Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Regulations Pertaining to Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants

Currently:

Outlines protective regulations for threatened species
Currently utilizes the “blanket rule,” which extended protections to all species listed as threatened by the Fish and Wildlife Service

As proposed:

Would replace the “blanket rule” for protecting all listed species with species-specific rules that factor in economic impacts

Section 4(b)(2): Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Regulations for Designating Critical Habitat

Currently:

Requires consideration of economic impact when designating an area as critical habitat
Outlines the ability to exclude areas from critical habitat on the grounds of cost-benefit analysis and certainty that the designation would not result in the species’ extinction

As proposed:

Would allow for cost-benefit analysis in determining whether an area should be designated as critical habitat, including considerations for national security or energy

In the sections below we provide a list of resources to contextualize the rules and gain information to write and submit your own public comments.

I. Federal Register Notices

The Federal Register is the official daily publication of the U.S. federal government. All proposed and final rules are required to be published in the Federal Register. When writing a public comment, the proposed rule is the most critical document to read thoroughly, since your public comment is in response to this document. The best place to start is the “Background” or “Introduction” section, as those sections of proposed rules provide useful information about the history of an issue and the agency’s assertion about its authority or responsibility to (de)regulate it, and they often provide information about assumptions that may underlie the proposed rule.

2025 Proposed Rule to Revise the Endangered Species Act

The Federal Register notices for the Department of the Interior’s November 2025 proposals to revise the Endangered Species Act can be found at the following four links:

II. Regulations.gov Docket

The docket on regulations.gov is the home for documents that are necessary for a rule, including the proposed or final rule itself, technical supporting documentation, regulatory or other impact analyses, and other documents the rulemaking working group deems necessary. Public comments that have already been submitted can also be found in the rule’s docket. To submit a public comment digitally, a commenter needs to submit their comment through the docket on regulations.gov.

Endangered Species Act Dockets

The four dockets for the Endangered Species Act rules can be found here:

Regulations.gov :: Listing and critical habitat
- Docket ID: FWS–HQ–ES–2025–0039 (Section 4)
Regulations.gov :: Interagency cooperation
- Docket ID: FWS–HQ–ES–2025–0044 (Section 7)
Regulations.gov :: Threatened species protections
- Docket ID: FWS–HQ–ES–2025–0029 (Section 4(d))
Regulations.gov :: Critical habitat exclusion
- Docket ID: FWS–HQ–ES–2025–0048 (Section 4(b)(2))

Within each docket, you may also view previously submitted public comments at each of the links below:

III. Federal Government Webpages

The Federal Government has resources, tools, and information on the Endangered Species Act across agencies websites. We share relevant pages below, categorized by agency.

Note: For links to websites that may be updated or taken down by the administration, we also provide access to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine (IAWM) view. To see this version, click on (IAWM Link) next to the website link.

A. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

B. Environmental Protection Agency

C. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

D. Department of the Interior November 2025 Press Release

Press Release: Administration Revises Endangered Species Act Regulations to Strengthen Certainty, Reduce Burdens and Uphold the Law | (IAWM Link)

IV. Contextual Information and Analysis

Congressional Research Service Reports

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) provides non-partisan research on policy issues to support debate and decision-making in Congress. Reports and other outputs from the CRS are consistently thorough and reliable, and provide sufficient background to be accessible by diverse audiences. We share the following resources for use in analysis and research:

V. Additional Analyses

Several scholars and environmental groups have published useful information about the importance of the Endangered Species Act, including the impact of the Nov. 2025 proposed revisions. Some useful resources include the following:

VI. EDGI Analysis

EDGI’s Web Governance team also documented that on November 14, 2025, during the Public Comment period for the proposed rule change, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed information from the website’s “Help” page, which previously included a phone number and additional contact information for concerns related to Threatened and Endangered Species. The removal of this information further impedes the protection of Threatened and Endangered Species.