Protect the Endangered Species Act Now

The Administration is proposing a big change to the Endangered Species Act (ESA). They want to rescind the current regulatory definition of “harm” so that it no longer includes impacts to species’ essential habitats. To put it simply, this is like someone bulldozing your house while you’re away, and saying you weren’t harmed because you weren’t physically there at the time.

This change would seriously impact hundreds of endangered and threatened species, but it’s especially bad news for amphibians. The new definition would make it legal to destroy upland habitats while a species is away breeding - or the other way around - especially since many isolated and temporary wetlands are no longer protected under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. Likewise, this would be extremely bad news for migratory birds as their habitats would become eligible for destruction when they migrate away for the season. Indeed, when you look more closely, you can find hundreds of listed species whose continued existence would be thrown into doubt.

The Administrative Procedures Act requires that the public be given sufficient opportunity to provide “meaningful” input into regulatory actions. Typically, this results in 60-day public comment periods; however, for controversial issues the typical time allotted for public comment is 90 days. Despite this,, the Administration is only allowing 32 days for public comment. Species experts need more time to assess the resulting impacts and put together meaningful comments.

Though the Administration’s public comment period has closed, please use the link below to request that your Congressional representatives request the Administration to reopen the comment period for an additional 60 days.

Immediate Need

How to Contact Congressional Representatives

Note: You do not have to be a U.S. citizen to contact Congressional representatives. Anyone can call, write, or email members of Congress to express their views on legislation or policy matters