The Trump administration amended some longstanding federal protections for wildlife under threat of extinction Monday, in a move that could expand oil and gas drilling and other development across America’s wilderness.

American Oilfield Caps

More than 40 years after Congress passed the Endangered Species Act, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the changes were necessary to make more efficient and transparent a bureaucratic process that oil companies, ranchers and other industries have long complained about.

Puro Pinche Oilfield

“The revisions finalized with this rule-making fit squarely within the President’s mandate of easing the regulatory burden on the American public, without sacrificing our species’ protection and recovery goals,” Ross said in a statement. [read more]