BILLINGS, Mont. (NEWSnet/AP) — The Biden administration on Wednesday proposed restoring rules to protect imperiled plants and animals, as officials move to reverse changes made to the Endangered Species Act under former President Donald Trump.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it would reinstate a decades-old regulation that mandates blanket protection for species newly classified as threatened.

That regulation was dropped in 2019 as part of a change to the application of the law, encouraged by industry.

Officials also no longer would consider economic impact when determining if species require protection. The rules make it simpler to designate areas as critical for a species’ survival, even if it no longer is found in those locations.

Gary Frazer, assistant director at Fish and Wildlife Service, said Wednesday’s proposal would restore “baseline” protection so species don’t get pushed further toward extinction.

Details about the proposed rules, which could require a year to finalize, were obtained by The Associated Press in advance of public release.

The restoration effort is likely to face pushback from some lawmakers who say President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration has hampered oil, gas and coal development, and favors conservation over development.

Historically, industry groups have viewed the 1973 Endangered Species Act as an impediment. Under Trump, they successfully lobbied to reduce the law’s level of regulation. Trump officials rolled back endangered species protection for several species, including northern spotted owl and gray wolf.

The spotted owl decision was reversed in 2021. Protection for wolves across most of the U.S. were restored by a federal court in 2022. The Biden administration has said it will decide by in February 2024 if that should remain in place.

Many changes under Trump were finalized during his final weeks in office. Since then, officials imposed less-restrictive protection for more than a dozen animals and plants compared to what they would have received, said Jonathan Wood with the Property and Environment Research Center, a free-market policy group based in Bozeman, Montana.

But Wood said the Biden administration changes could hurt efforts by state and private landowners to recover species, by imposing more punitive regulations that undermine the incentive to work voluntarily for conservation.

Administration officials said the goal is to bring the law into alignment with its original intent.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams said the changes “reaffirm our commitment to conserving America’s wildlife and ensuring the Endangered Species Act works for both species and people.”

Various industry groups, including livestock and ranching organizations and trade associations representing oil, gas and mining,  have maintained economic impact is not given enough consideration in U.S. government wildlife decisions. T

The Endangered Species Act is credited with helping to save the bald eagle, California condor and other species from extinction since President Richard Nixon signed it into law. It currently protects more than 1,600 species in the U.S. and its territories.

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