Statement from Riverkeeper President Tracy Brown on the Trump Administration’s attempt to further gut Endangered Species Act protections
September 18, 2026
Tracy Brown
President and Hudson Riverkeeper
Riverkeeper strongly condemns the Trump Administration’s unlawful attempt to rewrite the Endangered Species Act behind closed doors, without public input or Congressional approval. Under the proposed change, the Administration would look the other way when protected animals are “unintentionally” killed.
The proposal, outlined by the head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, represents a license to kill our most threatened wildlife. Without the protections of the ESA, iconic species such as the bald eagle, humpback whale, and American alligator might not be with us today.
This effort could have serious consequences for the recovery of animals like the Hudson's iconic Atlantic sturgeon, which has already been pushed to the brink of extinction by human activity. Critical safeguards for sturgeon and other imperiled species should not be undercut simply because polluters and developers claim they did not intend to kill or injure them.
Riverkeeper will challenge every human-caused sturgeon death and continue fighting for the wildlife that depends on a healthy Hudson River ecosystem, in the courts and in Washington. The Endangered Species Act has brought species back from the edge of extinction for over 50 years. We will not let it be quietly dismantled.
Background
On September 14, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service quietly issued an internal memo aiming to reinterpret what it means to "take" — harm or kill — a protected animal under the Endangered Species Act. Under the new proposed interpretation, “take” would apply only to intentional acts aimed at a particular animal. This means that the killing or injuring of an endangered species during development, logging, construction, mining, or shipping would not violate the ESA unless the animal was the intended target.
The memo was issued the same day as a related new regulation came into effect that redefines "harm" under the ESA to exclude habitat destruction — even though habitat loss is the leading cause of species extinction in the U.S. Together, the changes would make protecting wildlife the exception rather than the rule.
The Hudson River is home to several species that depend on the ESA's protections, including Atlantic sturgeon — ancient, slow-to-reproduce fish that were nearly wiped out by overfishing and habitat loss before their 2012 federal listing. Riverkeeper has spent decades fighting for these species: pushing for sturgeon's endangered listing, monitoring projects like the Tappan Zee Bridge for harm to sturgeon habitat, working with state and federal agencies to track and protect their spawning grounds, and supporting protections through lawsuits in multiple states.
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