Trump’s Interior Department Wants to Gut Endangered Species Act

FEATURING REBECCA RILEY – The Trump Administration’s Interior Department has decided to rewrite big sections of the law that helped to save the Bald Eagle from extinction. Secretary Ryan Zinke on Thursday announced the changes to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that would make it easier for new construction projects to be approved in what is being denounced as a corporate giveaway.

The changes will also mean that species that are currently considered “threatened” will not receive the same care as species that are considered “endangered.” The administration is casting its changes to the 1973 law as “streamlining” it to make it work better. But environmental groups are up in arms about what they see as a weakening of protections.

Rebecca Riley, senior attorney in the Nature Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council.