Republicans Attempt Major Rollbacks of Endangered Species Act

A new set of bills introduced to the House would decimate the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The bill would overhaul the species listing process, making it more difficult for at-risk plants and wildlife to get protection. This is because the bill would make it easier to remove species from the list and more difficult for groups to see the agency for doing so. Most Democrats oppose the bill that they say favors corporate supporters over actually protecting wildlife and plants. Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, released the following statement:

“It’s shameful that Republicans are going after the Endangered Species Act with these rollbacks. They care more about making money and helping corporations and polluters than protecting wildlife or our ecosystems. The ESA is an important piece of legislation meant to protect our ecology and biodiversity. These species are disappearing because of habitat loss, pollution, and overharvesting. The purpose of the Act is to protect these species for future generations and to preserve the biodiversity of our country. The Bald Eagle, which represents our country, would have gone extinct had it not been for the Endangered Species Act. Thanks to the ESA, it’s recovered enough to be removed from the list. This is one of the cornerstone pieces of American legislation created to protect our environment and biodiversity.

“Protecting species and their habitat prevents areas from being destroyed from development including dams and roads, and allows for balanced growth. Many medical breakthroughs also come from protecting endangered plant species and their habitats. These bills would essentially gut the law, taking away the people’s ability to participate in protecting threatened species. This would allow the government to remove at-risk species without opposition and make it easier to privatize important conservation efforts. The reason we protect endangered species is because they act as our ‘canary in the coal mine.’ They tell us when our ecosystems are dying so that we can protect them and by doing so, protect ourselves.

“The only reason why Republicans are continuing to attack the ESA is to cater to special interests and the fossil fuel industry. With these rollbacks, it can increase development and fossil fuel exploration such as mining in important wildlife habitat. Trump and Pruitt have been dismantling environmental and wildlife protections bit by bit and this one is a huge hit to the ESA. In May, a memorandum prevented the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) staff from advising builders they need to obtain a permit mandated by law to maintain endangered species habitat. If you can’t mention a species, you can’t protect it. The purpose of this rule was to gut the ESA altogether and now they’ve taken the next step with these bills.

“Richard Nixon signed the ESA in the middle of Watergate because it was such an important piece of legislation. We protect endangered species to protect important habitat that has high-quality waterways and biodiversity. We cannot let Republicans push through this dangerous and terrible set of bills meant to kill the ESA and side with special interests. This anti-wildlife bill package would take away the important ability of the ESA to protect at-risk species and the habitat that is vital to them. We need our Representatives to stand up to this, and all, environmental rollbacks that put our environment, ecology, and communities at risk.”