Speak Up Now to Defend the Endangered Species Act!

Speak Up Now to Defend the Endangered Species Act!

The federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) was passed in 1973 with broad bipartisan support to protect the ecosystems that endangered and threatened species depend on and to conserve these species. Despite surveys showing that nearly 84% of Americans continue to express support for the ESA, political plans to weaken the landmark environmental statute are underway by changing several of the rules that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) uses to implement the ESA by limiting protections for species listed in the future and infusing political bias into the agency’s processes.

You have the power to stand with SOS and the endangered species we share our home with by submitting comments at the links below by 11PM on December 22nd and reminding the FWS that the ESA mandates that decisions be made on the “best scientific information,” not politics.

Below are brief summaries of the proposed rule changes and instructions on how to comment for each one.

Updated Regulation on Listing Species as Threatened
Currently under the ESA, with a few exceptions, species that are listed as threatened rather than endangered automatically receive almost all of the same protections that endangered species do. Such an approach gives threatened species immediate and important protections that will hopefully allow their populations to recover.
However, the proposed regulation seeks to make the exception the rule and under the new regulation, every newly listed threatened species would need the FWS to take additional action to set out any prohibitions designed to protect the species; threatened species will no longer automatically receive many of the same protections as endangered species, and under the new rule it would be up to FWS to decide what those protections would be. Unfortunately, these species specific rules are unlikely to be adequate, will leave threatened species unprotected from harassment and other forms of harm, and will take a long time to develop and finalize.

This rule’s proposals related to threatened species could impact SOS’s work in getting new salamander species listed if the FWS decides to list the Pedernales River springs salamander or Lipan salamander as threatened instead of endangered. If that happened, it would no longer be a guarantee that the salamanders would quickly receive adequate protections. 

To comment on this rule and tell the FWS that threatened species need to be protected just as much as endangered species, go to this link and fill out the form.

Updated Regulation for Designating Critical Habitat
When listing a species as endangered, the FWS often designates critical habitat for a species (critical habitat is habitat areas that are especially important for conserving a species) and any area designated as critical habitat receives special protections under the ESA. While the FWS is allowed to take into account the economic and national security impacts of a critical habitat designation, the critical habitat designation is supposed to be based on the best available science and prioritize the conservation of species in line with the purpose of the ESA.

But the new proposed critical habitat designation rule directs FWS to give more weight to the opinions of industry when deciding whether to exclude areas from a new critical habitat designation and encourages the FWS to rely on unreliable sources of information to find that the economic impact of a critical habitat designation outweighs the benefits. 

Since habitat loss is one of the main causes of extinction, regulations that limits or make habitat protection more difficult under the ESA are untenable.

This rule could impact SOS’s work by making it more difficult to get a critical habitat designation for the salamander species that will be listed under the ESA in the future, like the Pedernales River springs salamander and the Lipan salamander.

To comment on this rule and urge the FWS to keep politics out of endangered species conservation, go to this link and fill out the form.

Updated Regulation on Unoccupied Critical Habitat
This proposed rule will also impact how FWS designates critical habitat moving forward by directing the agency to no longer consider designating any currently unoccupied but historic range as critical habitat. This change represents a missed opportunity to protect historic habitat and give species a chance to recover during a time of rapid habitat loss. The proposed rule also invites the agency to make findings that the designation of critical habitat is not prudent on a more frequent basis, a move that leaves endangered species without important habitat protections.

This same rule also makes changes to the regulations on listing and delisting species by proposing to limit the phrase “foreseeable future” as it is used in the definition of endangered and threatened species. This could limit how impacts like climate change and resultant shifting species distributions are taken into account when listing a species. The proposed rule also will remove the regulatory language prohibiting the consideration of economic impacts when deciding whether to list a species.

To comment on this rule and remind the FWS that protecting habitat is key to protecting endangered species, go to this link and fill out the form.

Updated Rules on Section 7 Consultations
A key protection under the ESA happens under section 7 of the statute which requires federal agencies to consult with the FWS for any federal actions that may affect an endangered or threatened species to ensure that federal actions do not harm listed species or critical habitat. The proposed rule would limit which impacts are considered and how the impacts are considered during the course of a section 7 consultation. The changes would direct FWS to not consider many indirect, cumulative, or climate-driven effects from being considered.

This change could impact SOS’s work by making it more difficult to get TXDOT, CTRMA, and the FWS to take impacts from highway expansion on the Bartons Springs and Austin Blind salamanders into account and provide adequate protections for the species.

To comment on this rule and demand that FWS continue to take the impacts to endangered species from federal projects seriously, go to this link and fill out the form.

Thank you for submitting comments on these important issues! Our voices matter and can help to ensure continued protections for endangered and threatened species.
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Please also consider donating to SOS to support our work protecting threatened and endangered species in the Texas Hill Country.