House Republicans Delay Vote on Endangered Species Act Amendment Bill

House Republicans postponed a floor vote on the ESA Amendments Act on Earth Day, which fell on Wednesday. House leadership offered no explanation for the delay. Some Florida Republicans raised concerns about the bill's text, according to Politico.

The move came as Republicans have long pushed to amend the Endangered Species Act, enacted in 1973, which has imposed rules to protect imperiled wildlife from extinction for more than 50 years. Since its enactment, roughly 1,700 species have been listed as threatened or endangered, with only 3% classified as recovered or delisted, the bill's introducer said.

“The Endangered Species Act has consistently failed to achieve its intended goals and has been warped by decades of radical environmental litigation into a weapon instead of a tool,” the bill's introducer stated when introducing the bill.

The legislation would order the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service to submit a National Listing Work Plan, setting a five-year schedule for listing endangered and threatened species and designating critical habitats.

It would give these agencies more time to act on listing proposals, eliminating the 12-month requirement. The ESA Amendments Act would limit what may be designated as critical habitat for endangered or threatened species and restrict protections for threatened species.

It would grant states more authority to regulate the recovery of threatened species if federal agencies approve a state's proposed conservation plan. The bill would also create voluntary conservation agreements for private landowners and loosen environmental review requirements for 'take' permits, which allow accidental harming, harassing or killing of threatened or endangered species or their critical habitats.

Under the proposal, the removal of a species from threatened or endangered listings would not be subject to judicial review during the five-year monitoring period after delisting.

The legislation would rename the Endangered Species Act to the Endangered Species Recovery Act. Democrats and environmentalists have opposed attempts to amend the law, arguing the changes would strip protections for threatened species, increase extinction rates and prioritize industrial growth over wildlife conservation.

“If this bill becomes law, the consequences will be measured in lost protections, damaged ecosystems, and the irreversible extinction of species that can never be brought back,” said the policy director of the Endangered Species Coalition.

Even if the bill passes the House, it would need 60 votes in the Senate, requiring at least seven Democrats to support it. Some Democrats have shown willingness to discuss proposals to streamline federal permitting for clean energy and infrastructure projects.

A recent administration decision to lift endangered species protections in the Gulf of America to boost offshore oil and gas drilling may reduce Democratic willingness to negotiate. The postponed vote coincided with Earth Day, which environmental and conservation groups said was not coincidental, as the administration has rolled back climate- and environment-related rules to promote its pro-fossil fuel energy agenda.