I just wanted to remind you before it’s too late: Donald Trump and his corrupt, racist Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke have declared war on the Endangered Species Act. We have until September 24 to file comments opposing this dangerous, unethical, backwards plan. Will you help? File a comment with us and we’ll make sure it’s delivered to DOI and the Trump team before the deadline.
Donald Trump and his Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke have declared war on the Endangered Species Act. It’s a terrible policy motivated by greed, blood-lust and a disdain for the natural world.
One part of the policy seems designed to support trophy hunters like Trump’s sons, and follows a pattern of Trump supporting the most extreme and cruel forms of sport hunting. But the real reason they’re pushing this rollback to one of the most successful environmental laws in history is to help the fossil fuel industry to a once-in-a-lifetime chance to profit off our planet at the expense of literally every living thing on earth.
We have until September 24 to file comments opposing this dangerous, unethical, backwards plan. Will you help? File a comment with us and we’ll make sure it’s delivered to DOI and the Trump team before the deadline.
For 45 years the ESA has kept plant and animal species in decline from going extinct. It’s credited with saving the hump back whale, the bald eagle, and dozens of other species.
But in the last few years, protecting threatened species like the Sage Grouse have run afoul of the avaricious plans of the oil and gas industry. Fossil fuel companies want unfettered access to mine, drill, frack and despoil every inch of our land and coastline. And the Trump team’s plan gives them everything they could ever want, and more.
The plan put forward by Zinke and his team at Trump’s DOI would end the protection for species that are called threatened, meaning they’re on the cusp of being endangered, but haven’t actually gone extinct and need to be re-populated in zoos or using other extreme measures. It would also give Trump and Zinke the chance to review which plants and animals are protected on a case-by-case basis — sure to result in many fewer protections for a tiny fraction of the species that need it.
In another part of the plan, Trump and Zinke propose to require a cost benefit analysis when deciding what species and habitat to protect. The direction of the policy is clear — if the oil industry can make a buck by driving a species extinct, they’re free to do it. But the idea of saving wildlife for wildlife’s sake is abolished from our laws.
I won’t lie, there’s very little chance Zinke and Trump can be made to listen to reason. We saw in their plan to open up ALL our coasts to oil and gas drilling that the public comment periods they held were less about public input, and more about protecting their deeply corrupt and unethical administration from legal challenges.
But there is a chance to trip them up in procedure, slow down this disastrous plan, and give our allies in Congress (yes, there are some) time to mobilize and block this plan. Submitting comments to the public record is sort of like making a permanent record of our dissent. When we combine it with protests and public outcry in the press and online, it creates a deep and rich story of how the American public is deeply opposed to these policies. That story, in turn, can be used by our allies in the legal system to sue, challenge, delay and block the implementation of this and other parts of Trump and Zinke’s agenda.
Tl;Dr if enough of us speak out right now, we CAN stop this plan. But we’ve got to file the comments right, and right now. Please, we need your help. Send a comment to the Department of Interior telling them you oppose the Trump/Zinke plan to gut the Endangered Species Act.
Stop the insanity. Some things are more important than corporate profits.
Save the endangered species act. The damage done by the trump administration will be irreversible and it’s incredibly irresponsible. Animals and our environment need to come before big money and special interests- they are not for sale!
Arrêter de vouloir faire du mal aux animaux< les loups y compris
We vehemently oppose any cutbacks to the Endangered Species Act. It was established for an extremely important reason and history shows us it is crucial to protect our fragile planet. PLEASE do not touch this existing policy. You have children and grandchildren, think of their future instead of your immediate gratification.
LEAVE THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT ALONE. YOUR PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE ESA WILL HARM EVERY LIVING THING ON THE PLANET. YOUR PLAN IS STUPID AND SHORTSIGHTED.
The Endangered Species Act was enacted by Congress in 1973 and Donald Trump (the Man Who Calls Himself An “Environmentalist”) and cohorts want to cut parts of it out to appease personal and business interests. It was a damn good law Congress passed in 1973 and it remains a damn good law today. LEAVE IT ALONE!
As I have said for over 50 years we all inhabit this planet and we all must share it and to me that means leaving all creatures to live their lives and raise their families alone without our interference.
I, along with the vast majority of Americans, very strongly DISAPPROVE of any attempt to gut or weaken the Endangered Species Act!
You must act on the wishes of the public and constituents and abandon any thoughts of such an ignorant & insulting plan!
Leave the Endangered Species Act alone!
I vehemently oppose any plan to gut any part of the endangered species act. Money is not more important than our environment and the living creatures that inhabit it.
It will be next to impossible to reverse the effects of this and all the environmental roll backs Trump is demanding and this will change the Earth forever. We’re in the 6th Extinction right now. Over 100 specials are gone forever every single day. Specialist scientists should be making enviro laws based upon reality as wildfires, hurricanes and all weather conditions will get worse and cause death, polllution and destruction. In the long run it’s not economic good sense in any definition of success.
Please don’t kill everything in Nature we don’t have to do this and should not!!!
We cannot forget our endangered species which need our continued protection. All of our animals need to be protected from predators!
Please don’t do away with The Endangered Species Act. Don’t our grandchildren have the right to enjoy these species ? They were here before we were and deserve a chance to survive.
Save and strengthen the Endangered Species Act!
This is a terrible direction that our country is going in, because of people being pleased with somewhat lower prices for gasoline, after the prices had gone up, the drilling on our public lands and in our natural areas for wildlife; we will be sicker, with less health insurance. And the water supply that we will have will be more polluted, the areas for wildlife will be dug up, and wildlife themselves will not have the natural protection from the elements that they use with earth being dug up and altered: no trees, shrubs, vegetation. We must think further out than just the immediate supply of gasoline, the mining of uranium (of which the effects last several lifetimes). We must act to demand that our environment is protected and that we, as citizens, can still enjoy nature, wildlife, clear water, skies, and safe land to walk on.
Please don’t gut this plan. Losing these animals, creating mass extinction, harms the entire ecosystem. We, as humans, rely heavily on that very ecosystem for sustainable balance. It will hurt us and future generations. Stop now before this is irreparable.
Look at all the damage done environmentally over the last 2 years!!!
It is appalling. What matters worse, is that animals of all species have been affected!!
Look at Florida, look at California, look at Flint Mich., look at Hawaii, look at N.C./ S.C, look at Texas, and a lot more than that.
It just keeps getting worse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This has to stop before there is nothing left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Save the endangered species act!!!!!