Who’s defending Endangered Species Act "Harm" Rule?

For decades the Endangered Species Act has defined “harm” to a listed species to include destroying the habitat it depends on, the single most important tool for stopping drilling, logging, mining, and development from wiping out endangered wildlife on public lands. In July 2026 the Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA finalized a rule rescinding that definition, narrowing “harm” to direct killing or injury alone. Habitat destruction would no longer count as illegal take. The change strips protection from the places threatened species need to survive across every acre of federal land.

1. 1975Interior defines "harm" to include habitat destruction
2. 1995Supreme Court upholds the habitat definition in Sweet Home
3. 2026FWS and NOAA publish final rule rescinding the "harm" definitionFederal Register · July 14, 2026
4. 2026Rescission takes effect

No public comment window is open on Endangered Species Act "Harm" Rule right now. A call script is ready on the Public Lands Action Network, and the groups above are how the fight gets funded and argued in the meantime.

Build my lineup around Endangered Species Act "Harm" Rule: the leading group here opens it, and the other seats fill from this record.