Democratic lawmakers and environmentalists protested the Trump administration’s proposed overhaul of the Endangered Species Act on Thursday in a rally outside the Interior Department.
The rally — coming just ahead of the Dec. 22 end of a public comment period on the proposal — drew about 30 people opposing wide-ranging plans to change how the Fish and Wildlife Service handles critical habitat designations to protections for threatened species.
Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said the proposal would “weaken science-based decision making, and instead pave [the] way towards a path of a future without the tools needed to save the last of a species.”
“The Endangered Species Act has long served as a science-based backstop, ensuring that federal actions account for the ecological reality before irreversible harm occurs,” she said. “This bill weakens that backstop.”
