Please copy and paste into the forms on the websites of your members of Congress and share with friends.
https://www.congress.gov/contact-us
Dear Sen/Rep -
I need you to amend the Endangered Species Act to fix the loophole that is allowing this Republican Administration to redefine harm. For decades, federal officials have scrutinized projects that harm habitats - logging projects that cut old-growth trees and agriculture operations that divert water from streams where salmon return to spawn.
But now, harm only applies to actions that directly injure or kill the animals.
Under this rule change, you can now destroy the resources a species requires as long as you don’t do it when the species is at home. If you drain a salmon river during the summer when the salmon aren’t in it, that is allowed. What happens when the salmon arrive in the fall to swim upstream to spawn and there's no water?
A 2019 study of endangered species from 1975 to 2017 found that only 17% faced threats from direct killing, while 81% faced habitat loss.
Across the West, federal public lands provide critical habitat for many species. If the US Forest Service were to permit a logging operation on old-growth forest under the new “harm” definition, state wildlife officials could do nothing to stop it.
You can fix this. Amend the Endangered Species Act to protect vital habitats. We can’t save a species unless we save the places that they live.
#Resist #ResistOfTheDay #EndangeredSpecies
