Endangered Species Act Under Fire | Philadelphia News

Philadelphia News Today | 2 Min News | The Daily News Now! · Jul 18, 2026 · 1m

The Interior Department just gutted a key part of the Endangered Species Act, stripping away automatic protections for at-risk species and forcing individualized, slower approval processes — a move that could let oil and gas industries dodge habitat restrictions. Critics warn this undermines conservation, letting the very industries that destroy habitats gain leverage through new economic impact reviews. With recent rollbacks including a narrowed definition of “harm” and slashed critical habitat for the Canada lynx, this wave of changes is moving faster and farther than ever before — even as…