Biden urged to fully restore the Endangered Species Act
Current Biden administration plans call for reinstating only a handful of Trump's rollbacks to the ESA
In August 2019, the Trump administration severely weakened the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Economic assessments, such as calculating lost revenue when wetlands are not turned into shopping malls, were allowed in determining whether a species deserves protection. As the effects of our ever-warming world may not become manifest for decades, Trump’s new rules made it harder to factor in the results of climate change when listing a species as endangered. Trump also weakened general protections for species listed as threatened.
Besides making it more difficult to list species for protections, Trump’s changes applied retroactively, allowing for easier delisting of plants and animals, thereby losing their protections under the law that turns 50 this year. Trump’s changes were expected to open up more mining and drilling for fossil fuels.
The GOP has tried legislatively for years to curtail the ESA. George W. Bush worked to weaken all environmental regulations, including the ESA. Now that they are in the majority in the House, the GOP’s efforts continue, as seen in this lengthy video (over two hours) of hearings on the act:
Biden’s rollback of Trump’s rollback began two months ago, in June, which is good news, but there is only so much good news. The Biden administration is only partially restoring the law—only seven of the 38 changes Trump made to the ESA.
The Biden administration is rescinding the requirement that economic considerations become part of the listing process. This is good. The administration also removed some roadblocks to designating habitat for species. Also good. The rest … not so much.
Species that require large habitats—polar bears that range over vast areas of the Arctic, northern spotted owls that rely on large swaths of old growth forests to live and reproduce—these species and others could be imperiled through “death by a thousand cuts” now allowed by the ESA. Biden is leaving in place a Trump ESA modification that requires critical habitats to be considered “as a whole.” This means large swaths of clearcutting could be approved in the Northwest because each separate logging project does not affect the entire nine million acres of the northern spotted owl’s critical habitat.
The Trump changes also limit the designation of habitat for “species occurring primarily outside the jurisdiction of the United States.” That could further spell trouble for the polar bear, whose habitat spans the U.S., Canada, and Russia. Retained as well are other “gimmes” for developers, mining companies, and loggers. The historic ranges and habitats that species occupied for millennia can be disregarded for new “environmental baselines” that include the encroachment of dams, highways, and other development.
In public comments, more than 150,000 individuals called on the Biden administration to fully restore the ESA to its pre-Trump powers. The Center For Biological Diversity, EarthJustice, and more than 120 other organizations submitted joint comments.
The press doesn’t do its job
The press is not doing its job in accurately portraying what is going on here. For casual readers—the headline glancers and those reading only the first few paragraphs of a news story; i.e., most people—they might have thought that Biden had fully restored the act, as noted toward the end of this ABC News story. Similarly, CNN’s reporting might give readers the impression that the ESA was fully restored from this story. CNN does not include any criticism of Biden’s actions in the story.
Even if it were fully restored, the ESA would have limited ability to protect endangered and threatened species. The listing process is too long and drawn out; some species go extinct before they are listed. While we welcome the few rollbacks made by the Biden administration, the remaining restrictions on the ESA will just mean more jeopardy for the natural world around us.
Public comments are closed, but if you want to do something, you can call the White House. I suggest rehearsing a brief statement, about 20 to 30 seconds long, before making the call.
White House: 202-456-1414.
The Interior and Commerce Departments are the two agencies charged with enforcing the ESA. You can also voice your opinion with them.
Interior Department: 202-208-3100
Commerce Department: 202-794-7788
You can also voice your opinion here by clicking “Leave a comment” below.
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