In the waning days of the Trump administration, the Endangered Species Act was under attack — the administration made up its own definition of “habitat,” and put in place a new process that made it easier for industry to destroy essential wildlife habitat. Earthjustice filed lawsuit after lawsuit to stop Trump from gutting the law, and tens of thousands of Earthjustice supporters rose to the occasion and pushed back during multiple public comment periods. Together we held the line. Now we need your help to encourage the Biden administration to move as quickly as possible to restore the Endangered Species Act.
This is a critical first step — but unfortunately, it only addresses some parts of the last administration’s damage. In 2019, the Trump administration weakened the Endangered Species Act by allowing economic concerns to be considered in scientific decision-making, among other harmful changes, and those changes have not yet been reversed by President Biden. Earthjustice, our partners, and our supporters did not back down. Less than two weeks after the last administration finalized this rollback, we took them to court. Shortly after, thousands of Earthjustice supporters pushed Congress to pass the PAW and FIN Act, which would have rolled back the rollback.
Our efforts in Congress and in court are ongoing, but we now have a new opportunity, with President Biden, to begin the process of restoring the Endangered Species Act. It will take much of next year and will happen in multiple parts, but with your help we will see this through. Join us in calling on the administration to work as quickly as possible so it can move on to restore the rest of the Endangered Species Act.