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PHOENIX — <\/span>The Trump administration finalized a rule Friday that changes how agencies enforce the Endangered Species Act<\/a> and eliminates a key protection for imperiled wildlife against logging, oil drilling and other activities.<\/p>\n The administration narrowed the definition of \u201charm\u201d under the landmark law \u2014 a change with broad implications.<\/p>\n For decades, the government defined harm broadly to include encroachments on places with threatened and endangered animals. The change announced Friday<\/a> would allow oil and gas drilling, mining, logging and and other development on critical wildlife habitats so long as the animals themselves aren\u2019t killed or injured.<\/p>\n Environmentalists warned the move could cause some species to go extinct by opening the door to habitat destruction<\/a>. Industry representatives and their Republican allies have long argued the landmark 1973 environmental law is wielded too broadly, to the detriment of economic growth. <\/p>\n Administration officials said they were returning the law to its original intent, following a 2024 Supreme Court<\/a> decision that limited the authority of federal agencies to interpret environmental statutes passed by Congress. They described the government’s prior definition of harm as an intrusion on private property rights.<\/p>\n