House Committee Approves Bills Threatening Endangered Species Protections

The U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Natural Resources today voted in favor of six bills and resolutions that could remove protections from grizzly bears, gray wolves, and other endangered species, as well as weaken the Endangered Species Act.

Key Legislation

The bills include: The Trust the Science Act (H.R. 764), which would remove Endangered Species Act protection for gray wolves in the lower 48 states; The Grizzly Bear State Management Act (H.R. 1245), which would remove Endangered Species Act protection for grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem; The Comprehensive Grizzly Bear Management Act (H.R. 1419), which would remove Endangered Species Act protection for grizzly bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem; House Joint Resolution 29, which would nullify a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to protect the lesser prairie-chicken; House Joint Resolution 46, which would nullify a decision to expand Endangered Species Act protections; and House Joint Resolution 49, which would nullify a tentative decision to protect the northern long-eared bat.

Critics argue these measures would significantly harm the Endangered Species Act by using the Congressional Review Act to overturn recent protections, setting a dangerous precedent and potentially prohibiting future protections without Congressional action. The removal of protections for wolves in Montana and Idaho since 2011 has already resulted in significant population declines and increased killing of wolves, including pups.

Grizzly bears, once numbering as many as 50,000 in the lower 48 states in the early 1800s, dwindled to around 135 individuals by the 1930s before being granted Endangered Species Act protections in 1975. Numbers have since slowly recovered, but these new bills pose a serious threat to their continued survival.