The Interior Secretary compared the Endangered Species List to an inescapable hotel, noting that about 97 percent of listed species remain listed. More than 1,600 imperiled plants and animals receive legal protections under the Endangered Species Act. Since January, the administration has pushed regulatory changes, arguing that strict ESA rules hinder development and energy projects and issuing executive orders to ease environmental reviews, especially for fossil fuel firms. Critics say the law is being blamed for slow recoveries, while biologists and conservationists point to chronic underfunding and political inconsistency amid mounting threats such as climate change.
"The Endangered Species List has become like the Hotel California: once a species enters, they never leave," Burgum wrote in an April post on X. He's referring to the roster of more than 1,600 species of imperiled plants and animals that receive protections from the federal government under the Endangered Species Act to prevent their extinctions. "In fact, 97 percent of species that are added to the endangered list remain there. This is because the status quo is focused on regulation more than innovation."
Since January, the Endangered Species Act has been a frequent target of the Trump administration, which claims that the law's strict regulations inhibit development and "energy domination." Several recent executive orders direct the federal government to change ESA regulations in a way that could enable businesses-fossil fuel firms in particular-to bypass the typical environmental reviews associated with project approval.
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