The Trump administration is quietly moving to strip a core protection of the Endangered Species Act, according to an internal memo obtained by The New York Times. Under a new interpretation, only actions specifically intending to target an animal would be illegal, not accidental killing or injury.

The change would be transformative because in the United States, the killing of endangered animals almost always happens incidentally during economic activity. Until now, industries could be held accountable for foreseeable deaths, incentivizing them to avoid harm. The memo, signed by Brian Nesvik, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, redefines what it means to "take" an endangered animal.

"A vessel that inadvertently strikes a whale has not taken it, because the vessel's course was not set against the whale," the memo states. It appears to upend the current permitting system that balances protection with economic activity.

"This is really an assault on the act like we've never seen before," said Andrew Mergen, a law professor at Harvard University. The move follows the administration's July decision to rescind the law's definition of "harm."