House Committee Advances Bills That Gut the Endangered Species Act

WASHINGTON – The House Natural Resources Committee moved forward a series of bills that would gut protections for endangered and threatened wildlife and their habitat under the Endangered Species Act. The bills – H.R. 424, “Gray Wolf State Management Act;” H.R. 717 “Listing Reform Act;” H.R. 1274 “State, Tribal, and Local Species Transparency Recovery Act;” H.R. 2603 “Saving America’s Endangered Species Act;” and H.R. 3131 “Endangered Species Litigation Reasonableness Act” – would undermine the Endangered Species Act and the species that benefit from its protections by prioritizing politics over science and undercutting citizens’ ability to help enforce the law.

Committee chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT 1) originally scheduled the markup for September 13 but delayed the markup to today for unknown reasons. The legislation now moves to the House of Representatives for full consideration.

The following statement is from Jamie Rappaport Clark, Former president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife:

“Today’s vote is another step towards repealing America’s most successful law in protecting wildlife in danger of extinction. The Endangered Species Act has proven time after time that it can help save species on the brink of extinction. But if these bills become law, the Endangered Species Act will itself become extinct.

“The Endangered Species Act works. States and local municipalities can’t recover species on their own. It takes a coordinated effort among all stakeholders, public and private, to save imperiled species from extinction. What some in Congress doesn’t seem to understand is that the Endangered Species Act is already enormously flexible, requiring that federal, state, local and tribal officials work together to prevent extinction.

“Rather than spending their time attacking a law that works, Congress should improve the law’s implementation by fully funding recovery efforts for endangered species.”