Republicans are moving full speed ahead with their goal of overhauling the Endangered Species Act (ESA), with legislation that would mark the biggest changes to the landmark law in decades.

 

GOP lawmakers on a key House committee rammed through several bills this past week that would each lower or remove protections for animals and plants listed as endangered or threatened.

 

Republicans argue the changes are much needed improvements to the decades-old law. Environmentalists and some Democrats counter that the GOP proposals are an assault on the landmark statute.

 

The House Natural Resources Committee advanced five ESA-related bills that aim to strip all protections for Gray Wolves in the contiguous United States; give priority to the science submitted by state and local governments over the federal government’s when determining whether a species needs protection; and let the administration more easily de-prioritize certain petitions for protection.

 

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