GoKawiilThe Trump administration and congressional Republicans have spent the last year trying to defang the Endangered Species Act, the country’s bedrock conservation law. But one of the most aggressive and far-reaching attempts just faced a major setback—and concerns from within the party were at least part of the reason.
Republicans in the US House of Representatives abruptly canceled a vote that had been scheduled for Wednesday—Earth Day—on legislation that aims to codify into law many of President Donald Trump’s moves to weaken endangered species protections. Some lawmakers, mostly in tourism-dependent areas along the Gulf of Mexico, expressed concerns about the bill.
“Don’t tread on my turtles. Protected means protected,” US Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) wrote in a social media post on Monday ahead of the then-pending vote.
The vote cancellation came weeks after the Trump administration issued a controversial—and legally dubious—exemption for oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from conservation measures required by the Endangered Species Act.
The ESA Amendments Act, introduced by US Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), would limit habitat protections, require agencies to conduct economic and national security analyses when determining whether to list a plant or animal as endangered or threatened, extend the deadlines required for listing decisions and fast-track the delisting process. Westerman’s office did not respond to a request for comment on why the vote was canceled.
The nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife released a letter on Monday signed by more than 275 organizations urging representatives to vote no, citing concerns that it would “prioritize politics over science.” The group sees the canceled vote as a signal that “the proponents of this bill finally got the message that this bill is just wildly out of step with where the American public is,” said Mary Beth Beetham, director of legislative affairs at Defenders of Wildlife.