On September 4, Donald Trump issued an executive order targeting the Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections of gray wolves and Mexican gray wolves. In the Oval Office he stated to an Arizona rancher that “you can shoot them as of today.” Video of this statement has now gone viral, with massive amounts of social media posts stating that he has made the shooting of endangered wolves legal.
Except, this is blatantly both illegal and a lie. This executive order doesn’t grant anyone permission to hunt them and killing a federally protected wolf still remains a federal crime. An executive order cannot magically erase a statutory law passed by Congress, and attempting to do so violates decades of established constitutional and environmental law.
Here’s a brief summary of why this executive action is both illegal and a dangerous precedent for conservation if it is not vehemently opposed.
Why this executive order is illegal
The most basic rule of American civics is that the executive branch enforces laws; it does not write or delete them. The Endangered Species Act is a federal statute, passed by Congress in 1973. An executive order can only direct federal agencies on how to implement existing legislation, within the bounds that Congress allowed. It cannot override or delete the text of a statute.
Moreover, the text of the order itself actually directs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to initiate a review to determine if wolves meet the criteria for delisting. It does not (and legally cannot) instantly remove them from the list by presidential decree.
To officially delist a species, federal agencies must follow a strict administrative process mandated by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). When Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins suggested that the Interior Department just needs to do “a little magic” to make wolf culling legal, she ignored the strict legal framework governing wildlife management.
The ESA states that decisions must rely solely on the best available scientific and commercial (i.e. information on sales of species that may inform whether they are being depleted) data. However, the executive order is explicitly aimed at boosting rancher profits and, somehow magically, lowering domestic beef prices. As if killing wolves would have any impact at all on beef value and sales in the US.
Moreover, under the ESA the public and scientific community must have a formal window to review and contest proposals. A brief, invitation-only Oval Office ceremony does not count, and entirely bypasses the legally required scrutiny by non-governmental scientists, environmental groups, tribes and the public at large.
In the past, there have been many attempts to delist wolves, but under US law, wildlife advocates can sue if an agency decision is deemed to be “arbitrary and capricious” (i.e., not based on science and evidence). Historically courts have repeatedly struck down previous wolf delisting attempts for lacking scientific merit. The Trump Administration is clearly trying to circumvent established law and administrative procedures.
The dangerous precedent: targeting “inconvenient” species
If the administration attempts to enforce this order by ignoring the formal ESA delisting process, it opens a catastrophic Pandora’s box for US biodiversity. If a president can order the immediate lethal removal of wolves, simply because a special interest group finds them inconvenient, the exact same logic can be applied to any other protected animal blocking commercial activities.
For example:
- imperiled fish such as the Delta smelt for preventing dams or water diversion projects;
- the critically endangered Rice’s whale for preventing drilling for oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico; or
- the endangered North Atlantic right whale for dictating shipping lane speeds, limiting lobster fisheries or offshore oil and gas development.
By encouraging citizens to “take care of it” before the legal process has even begun, Donald Trump and his Administration is blatantly encouraging illegal activities and subverting the rule of law. Legally, the wolves still remain protected by the ESA, and any rancher taking the president’s advice should immediately be arrested and be prosecuted, regardless of what the president said on TV.
