1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

Pass legislation immediately to restore the Endangered Species Act's habitat protections. The Trump administration's rule change — stripping "harm" of its habitat destruction meaning — guts the law's core purpose. A species cannot survive without the habitat it depends on. That is not a regulatory opinion; it is basic biology. This interpretation stood for 50 years and was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1995. It helped protect more than 1,700 species and prevented 99% of listed species from going extinct. Limiting enforcement to only direct injury or killing of individual animals was never the intent of the ESA — and Interior Secretary Burgum's claim otherwise has no scientific or legal basis. Earthjustice attorney Kristen Boyles put it plainly: there is "no scientific support, no legal support, no public support" for this rule. Eighty percent of registered voters support full ESA funding. Hundreds of thousands of public comments opposed this change. The administration is dismantling the most effective wildlife protection law in American history to clear the way for logging, mining, and energy extraction. Congress cannot sit on the sidelines while wolverines, monarch butterflies, and Florida manatees are handed a death sentence. Fix this now.