1. United States
2. N.H.
3. Letter

I am writing as your constituent to urge you to oppose the ongoing rollback of Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections currently being advanced through federal rulemaking. The proposed and recently finalized changes — including restoring the pre-2019 framework that allows “economic and other impacts” to be weighed in listing, delisting, and critical habitat decisions, along with elimination of the “blanket 4(d) rule” that extended endangered-level protections to threatened species — represent a fundamental departure from the scientific basis on which the ESA was built. For nearly 50 years, listing decisions have rested on the best available science, not cost-benefit calculations. Allowing economic considerations into that determination means a species’ survival could be weighed against a company’s bottom line, rather than assessed on whether it is, in fact, at risk of extinction. The ESA has a documented success rate of over 99% in preventing the extinction of listed species. That is not a coincidence — it is the direct result of decisions insulated from short-term economic pressure. Weakening that insulation now, particularly by narrowing protections for “threatened” species and permitting national security or economic exemptions through mechanisms like the Endangered Species Committee, risks reversing decades of progress. I ask that you: • Publicly oppose the finalization of these rules through USFWS and NOAA Fisheries. • Support legislation that codifies science-based listing determinations, free from economic override. • Push for oversight hearings on the cumulative impact of these regulatory changes on biodiversity. Protecting endangered species is not just an environmental issue — it reflects our responsibility to future generations and to the ecosystems we all depend on. I urge you to take a strong public stand against these changes. Thank you for your time and attention to this critical issue.