Today’s Action: Stop Trump from destroying the Endangered Species Act

Democrats are fighting back on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves and need our help: endangered plants and animals.

The Endangered Species Act is supported by 83% of Americans (yes, that includes a ton of conservatives). And since it’s induction in 1973, it has saved 99% of the species it protects from extinction, including the bald eagle, humpback whale, and grizzly bear.

Trump wants to change that. Paving the way for his business pals to make extra cash, and utterly against public opinion, Trump has made new changes to the Endangered Species Act, significantly weakening protections against the nearly 1 million species currently under threat of eradication due to human activity.

The new rules will go into effect by the end of the month…but Congress has 60 days to reverse it with a simple majority vote, and pass legislation to block him. For all the polar bears, grey wolves, caribou, the Florida Key deer, and so many more precious forms of life in serious danger of disappearing from our planet forever, it’s crucial that we act fast to save them.

Call or email your Members of Congress and tell them to 1. use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to reverse Trump’s devastating changes to the Endangered Species Act and 2. cosponsor the bill to stop him (S.2491/H.R.4348).

The benefactors of Trump’s actions are fossil fuels, mining, logging, coal – major climate-change influencers that require more and more land and sea currently — homes to endangered and threatened species. And those plants and animals lucky enough to survive the immediate devastation of their environment will be under further threat in the decades to come if these greenhouse gas-producing industries are allowed to expand.

Two of the major changes include:

• Weakening threatened species by allowing leeway on what a threat in the “foreseeable future” may entail. In other words, the administration may choose not to take future climate change projections into account while assessing a species’ threat level. Polar bears, for example, may not be given the courtesy of projected disappearing sea ice to decide whether they are at risk today.
• Allowing the government to present the public with the potential financial gain, in juxtaposition with the loss of a species’ protection…opening the doors for Trump’s business buddies to make sales pitches over which species are worth losing to gain some profit.

The Endangered Species Act should never have been touched, and it needs to return to the state that has functioned so well for 46 years. If anything, it should be strengthened, to further protect the delicate balance of biodiversity that keeps our Earth in balance…but we’ll save that battle for the Democrat who takes the White House in 2020.

Email or call (202.224.3121) your Members of Congress and demand they 1. cosponsor the legislation to stop Trump’s actions (S.2491/H.R.4348) and 2. use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to restore the Endangered Species Act to its previous form.