The Trump administration finalizes a rule that changes how federal agencies apply the Endangered Species Act (ESA), narrowing key protections for imperiled wildlife and plants. Multiple outlets report the administration rescinds or revises prior regulatory language that treated certain actions as prohibited “harm” to listed species. Under the prior framework, “harm” included significantly altering a species’s habitat to the point that it actually kills or injures wildlife, and it also treated habitat impacts in ways that expanded what agencies had to prevent. According to reports, the new rule removes or narrows that definition, which can affect what activities are considered unlawful under the ESA and how agencies evaluate impacts on listed species. Several accounts also describe changes to how threatened species are treated in enforcement, including moving away from approaches that provided threatened species protections similar to those afforded to endangered species. Supporters of the change argue it updates regulatory standards, while critics contend it reduces habitat protections and could make it easier for projects involving land use and resource extraction to proceed. The rule is reported as taking effect as agencies implement the updated ESA enforcement approach.