The Trump administration recently revised a couple key components of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). One of which has to do with how a critical habitat is handled in the case of new construction. In this case, critical habit pertains to wildlife, and not humans. The Department of the Interior states the following change:

Critical habitat exclusions (Section 4(b)(2)): Revises the “critical habitat” designation process to follow the law and consider the economic, national security and other relevant impacts following the designation of any particular area as “critical habitat.” The revision also allows an area to be excluded from a “critical habitat” designation if that exclusion will not cause the extinction of the species. 

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