What Happened
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in part with the National Marine Fisheries Service, published four proposed rules on November 21, 2025, that would change aspects of Endangered Species Act implementation pertaining to:
- Section 7 interagency consultations (Docket Number: FWS–HQ–ES–2025–0044)
- Protections for threatened species (Docket Number: FWS–HQ–ES–2025–0029)
- Species listing and critical habitat determinations (Docket Number: FWS–HQ–ES–2025–0039)
- Exclusions from critical habitat (Docket Number: FWS–HQ–ES–2025–0048)
Read more in the full Regulatory Alert.
Why It Matters
The proposed rules would, if finalized:
- Clarify important definitions used in ESA compliance (e.g., effects of the action, reasonably certain to occur, environmental baseline, reasonable and prudent measures, foreseeable future).
- Remove offsets as a potential reasonable and prudent measure for addressing incidental take from federal actions.
- Remove automatic protections for threatened species.
- Illustrate circumstances that may warrant exclusions from critical habitat designations.
- Allow for review of economic impacts from with species listing decisions and special rules for threatened species.
In general, each of these proposed rules revises regulatory language, including reinstating certain 2019 provisions that were reversed or modified in 2024. The changes, if finalized, would apply only…
