WildEarth Guardians

Thursday, July 19, 2018
Trump Administration Continues Attacks on Imperiled Species

Federal Wildlife Agencies Propose Rollbacks of Endangered Species Act Protections
Contact: Taylor Jones, (720) 443-2615, tjones@wildearthguardians.org

Washington, DC—The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), jointly with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) today proposed three rules that would undermine the strong protections of the Endangered Species Act. The rules would rescind protections for species listed as threatened, weaken the consultation process, and curtail the designation of critical habitat.

“These attacks on the Endangered Species Act do not reflect the will of the American people, who overwhelmingly support the law,” said Taylor Jones, endangered species advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “Instead of rollbacks in the guise of ‘reform,’ the administration should be fully funding the implementation of the Endangered Species Act and the recovery of species.”

Protection under the ESA is an effective safety net for imperiled species: more than 99 percent of plants and animals protected by the law exist today. The law is especially important as a defense against the current extinction crisis; species are disappearing at a rate much higher than the natural rate of extinction due to human activities. Scientists estimate that 227 species would have gone extinct by 2006 if not for ESA protections. The ESA is a wildly successful and popular law, which has nonetheless been under constant attack by the Trump administration. Guardians strongly opposes all attempts to weaken this landmark conservation law and rob future generations of their natural heritage.