Trump administration proposal threatens Endangered Species Act habitat protections
New Haven, CT — This week, Save the Sound filed comments opposing the proposal by the Trump administration to remove the definition of “harm”—which includes habitat degradation and modification—from longstanding Endangered Species Act regulations. The regional nonprofit organization also joined other comments that will be submitted by national group Earthjustice. The proposed change would clear the way for rampant habitat destruction, preventing the recovery of endangered and threatened species populations in the Long Island Sound region and across the United States and hastening mass extinction.
“The Endangered Species Act is one of our bedrock environmental laws. Enacted in 1973, it declares a broad purpose and federal policy to conserve endangered and threatened species and the ecosystems on which they depend,” said Dara Illowsky, New York staff attorney at Save the Sound. “Regulations developed just two years later make it clear that under the law, harm to the habitats that endangered species depend on is considered harm to the species. In densely developed areas like the Long Island Sound region, we see that truth every day: endangered species have limited, if any, options to simply move elsewhere. Restoring habitat once it is lost is often impossible. At best, it is complicated, takes years, is expensive, and generally fails to attain the same functionality of what was once naturally there in the first place.”
Save the Sound’s comments emphasized that the Roseate Tern, the Piping Plover, and the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle are among the species in the Long Island Sound region that would be put at further risk by the proposed regulation change.
- The endangered northeastern population of the Roseate Tern has only three remaining major breeding colonies, the largest of which is Great Gull Island in eastern Long Island Sound. Further habitat loss for the tern or for the sand lance, the tern’s primary prey source, could prevent this species from ever recovering.
- The threatened Atlantic Coast Piping Plover’s mid-20th century decline was driven by shoreline development that damaged or destroyed breeding habitat. Management and protection of nesting beaches in recent years has led to modest population increases, demonstrating the importance of habitat protections for this species.
- The critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle is considered the most seriously endangered sea turtle in the world. Destruction of its foraging habitat, which includes New York’s waters, by bottom trawling, dredging, and other activities that directly impact bottom habitats threaten the species’ survival.
When President Richard M. Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act into law in 1973, he stated, “Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed.” Save the Sound is committed to upholding this vision.
# # #
Background:
- Save the Sound’s submitted comments: https://www.savethesound.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/2025.05.19_SaveTheSound_ESA-harm-comment-final.pdf
- National Park Service on Kemp’s ridley sea turtles: https://www.nps.gov/gate/learn/news/rarest-sea-turtle-nests-on-queens-beach.htm
- President Nixon’s statement: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/statement-signing-the-endangered-species-act-1973