NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service and the Interior Department’s Fish & Wildlife Service today announced that they are seeking comments by Monday, May 19 on their proposal to rescind the regulatory definition of “harm” in their Endangered Species Act (ESA) regulations, which would apply to any permits issued after the regulation becomes final.
In seeking comments, the agencies note that while the ESA definition of “take” includes “harm,” the existing regulatory definition of harm “runs contrary to the best meaning of the statutory term ‘take,’” which they say is intended only to prohibit actions that actually kill or injure wildlife, rather than prohibiting actions that impair the habitat of protected species. In doing so, they conclude that the change would “adhere to the single, best meaning of the ESA.”