The US government ratified Monday the substantial relaxation of a federal law that has protected since 1973 many endangered species on American soil. This law has helped to save from extinction the emblem of the country, the bald eagle. According to polls, a large majority of US citizens are committed to the Endangered Species Act, a global environmental protection law under the chairmanship of Richard Nixon.
The amended law presented as an "improvement"
But the administration of Republican President Donald Trump wanted to make significant changes, removing a clause automatically granting the same protection to so-called "endangered" species that species "in danger of extinction" immediate. The amended law also deletes a sentence stating that economic considerations should not be taken into account in decisions to protect wildlife.
"An efficiently administered law allows to allocate more resources where they will be most useful: the conservation in the field," Interior Minister David Bernhardt, former representative of the hydrocarbon lobby, said in a statement on Monday. these amendments of "improvements".
These "revisions" are part of President Trump's policy of "easing the regulatory squeeze on the American public without sacrificing the objectives of protecting and restoring our species". launched the Minister of Commerce Wilbur Ross.
The wolf and the bald eagle in danger?
Many environmental organizations have denounced these changes, which they say will lead to a gradual destruction of the habitat of protected species. The wolf, whose population was decimated at the beginning of the 20th century, was probably saved from extinction by the Endangered Species Act, as was the bald eagle, also known as the fish eagle, from 417 specimens in 1963 to some 10,000 couples today. Since the election of Donald Trump in 2016, the US government has amended more than 80 texts relating to human health or the environment, citing the need to relax regulations governing businesses.