A coalition of Florida House Democrats has called on the Trump administration to immediately repeal its agencies’ recent rescission of the “regulatory definition of ‘harm’” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), Darren Soto (D-Fla.), Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), and Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) banded together to issue a letter to both Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and Secretary of Commerce opposing their agencies’ recent rollbacks.
These Rollbacks Will Cause Irreversible Damage, Group Argues
In the letter, the Democratic congressmembers argue that the Trump administration’s decision to strip “habitat modification and degradation” from the long-held definition of “harm,” essentially “amounts to an endorsement of habitat destruction.”
The members argued that the rescission of the definition “directly threatens the unique habitats that support the plants and animals for which” Florida “is renowned.”
The coalition also asserted that both climate change and “unprecedented urban growth” in the Sunshine State and across the country have already “pushed out wildlife to the brink.”
“This rule will significantly weaken the ESA and usher in the often-irreversible loss of habitat, hastening the extinction of plants and animals that are a vital part of our state’s culture and tourism economy,” they wrote.
DOI Makes Revisions To Endangered Species Act
The group’s letters come as the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced changes to ESA regulations.
According to a press release from the agency, DOI has eliminated the “burdensome ‘Blanket Rule’” that placed all “threatened” species of plants and animals under the “endangered” category.
It also revises the “critical habitat” designation, ensuring that the process “follows the law and consider[s] the economic, national security and other relevant impacts following the designation of any particular area.” The update also allows certain regions to be excluded from the designation if such exclusion does not lead to species’ extinction.
“These commonsense reforms will enhance transparency, clarity, predictability and efficiency in administering the Endangered Species Act while remaining consistent with the statute’s purposes,” the DOI claimed.
