Virginia Cramer, virginia.cramer@sierraclub.org, 804-519-8449
WASHINGTON, D.C. --- The Trump administration today released a new proposal that would severely limit critical habitat protections for endangered wildlife. The proposal runs counter to warnings of scientists around the world who have identified habitat loss as the single largest driver of species imperilment and a major contributing factor to pandemics, such as COVID-19. The new proposed definition of “habitat” seeks to prevent former habitat from being designated as critical habitat, even when that habitat has irreplaceable characteristics vital to the recovery of a species. It would also prevent areas that will be the last refuge for species harmed by climate change from being designated as critical habitat until it’s too late.
In response Lena Moffitt, senior director of Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign issued the following statement.
“At a time when our country is demanding change and making real a positive and more inclusive vision for the future, the Trump administration is doubling down on decisions that value polluters over people, and wildlife and nature not at all. Already the administration has allowed economics instead of science to drive decisions about which species need protection, has made it harder to protect threatened species, has willfully ignored the threat climate change poses, and has opened the door to industrial projects that destroy habitat critical to species’ survival, including ours. Now the Trump administration is trying to further blunt our country’s most effective tool for saving endangered wildlife, limiting the power of the Endangered Species Act to protect species in the face of climate change and shrinking habitat.
“We need to protect more habitat, not less. Threatened and endangered species need habitat to survive. In fact, scientists say we need to protect 30% of lands and waters by 2030. We cannot afford to go backwards toward extinction. As the current pandemic has made abundantly clear, people’s health is directly tied to that of wildlife and wild places. Sierra Club remains committed to defending communities, wildlife and wild places. This latest attempt to even further gut the protections of the Endangered Species Act will undoubtedly result in legal challenges.”
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.