Defenders Denounces Appalling ESA Amendments Act Ahead of 3/25 House Hearing

Defenders of Wildlife denounced the appalling ESA Amendments Act of 2025 ahead of a hearing for the bill in the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries this coming Tuesday, March 25. The bill, sponsored by Representative Bruce Westerman (R-AR), would gut the most important provisions of the ESA, resulting in catastrophic damage to American wildlife and inviting the extinction of imperiled species.  

“This bill would eviscerate the Endangered Species Act and push imperiled species to extinction,” said Ellen Richmond, Senior Attorney at Defender’s Biodiversity Law Center. “The Endangered Species Act is the backstop for our nation’s wildlife already at the brink of extinction and this bill would sanction their swift descent into nothingness. We urge our representatives in Congress to listen to the American public’s overwhelming support for the Endangered Species Act and reject this disastrous bill which does nothing to strengthen wildlife protections and instead reverses decades of conservation success.”

Included in the proposed bill is a provision that would eliminate the current requirement for the federal government to ensure, in consultation with wildlife agencies, that the federal government does not take actions likely to destroy the critical habitat of the imperiled species that it is charged with protecting. The bill also would slow down the process of listing species under the ESA, while at the same time fast-tracking endangered species for delisting. It also paves the way for endangered species to be killed or harmed without adequate review or repercussion, essentially declaring open season on imperiled wildlife.

“This bill is part of a larger series of attacks on our nation’s wildlife,” said Richmond. “Our government and elected representatives should be working to protect and restore imperiled species. Instead, a hostile administration and its allies are pushing through an extreme anti-wildlife agenda without regard for science and research. The Endangered Species Act is a practical and effective law and should not be broken under the guise of ‘optimizing’ it.”

Defenders of Wildlife has been tracking attacks on the ESA by the 119th Congress. There have already been 17 pieces of legislation introduced that would undermine the ESA and other protections for imperiled wildlife.

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