Defenders Opposes Amendments That Undercut Endangered Species Act in Interior Appropriations

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations today took up the Interior and Environment funding bill for the FY24. As proposed, the bill drastically decreases the necessary funding for important wildlife conservation programs across the country. Anti-wildlife politicians also added additional poison pill riders onto the bill that would undercut the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and public lands management. The underlying bill already includes a number of anti-wildlife riders.

“Combatting the joint threat of biodiversity and climate crises and the costly impacts they are already having on our society will not be overcome by designating pennies on desperately needed dollars,” said Mary Beth Beetham, legislative director for Defenders of Wildlife. “Our nation’s wildlife needs our help more now than ever, yet some in Congress seem determined to accelerate species extinction through paltry funding, cruel riders and now attempts to rewrite bedrock protections including the landmark Endangered Species Act.” 

Funding Cuts Include: 

•    The bill cuts funding for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s endangered species program by nearly $26 million below current levels. This will impact the more than 200 species currently awaiting listing decisions and limit recovery funding for hundreds of other species. 
•    The bill cuts National Wildlife Refuge System funding by $54 million below current levels. This will sharply limit spending on these federal lands which have seen a 34 percent increase in visitation since 2010 and will hinder work seeking to expand refuge programs in historically excluded communities as well as conservation of the 513 threatened or endangered species that rely on the Refuge System for protection. 
•    The bill also contains a disturbing lack of detail in funding levels that are not—or only partially—specified for some programs that make it more difficult to discern the true impacts of the bill’s draconian funding. 

Anti-Wildlife Riders Include: 

•    Language that would prevent listing the Dunes Sage Brush lizard as endangered under the ESA has been added to the bill in an en bloc amendment added by Interior appropriations subcommittee Chair Mike Simpson (R-ID).
•    Language that would block the Bureau of Land Management’s Conservation and Landscape Health rule was added to the bill by Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA). This rule would modernize land management processes in the face of climate change and attempts to correct the imbalance between conservation and extraction on public lands.
•    Language that would block protections for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem population of grizzly bears under the ESA was added to the bill by Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT).