These three Advocacy Alerts were originally published here by the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement.
Support and co-sponsor HR 9901 to block the implementation of redefining “Harm” in the Endangered Species Act as excluding habitat destruction—limiting “harm” only to mean the direct killing of individual animals or species.
On July 10th, The Department of the Interior and Department of Commerce redefined the meaning of “harm” to mean only the killing of individual animals—and not to mean harming the habitat they depend on. The rule is set to go into effect on September 14th.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) introduced House Resolution (HR 9901) in July to make this change in definition null and void. The action has garnered five more co-sponsors (all Democratic) in the House.
Contact senators to introduce, co-sponsor, and vote for a similar resolution in that chamber.
Without liveable habitat, individual and whole species will be harmed because habitat loss is the leading reason for the extinction of species. Despite the Administration’s appeal to “common sense” justification for this redefining “harm,” it is contrary to common sense to think that habitat destruction and degradation should be excluded from the Endangered Species Act’s rules.
ACTION:
- Contact your representative and senators to support and/or co-sponsor HR 9901 as soon as possible. Ask them to vote on it when and if it comes to the House or Senate floor.
- Also sign on to petitions generated by the Center for Biological Diversity and/or EarthJustice contesting this change to the definition of “harm” in the ESA by the Interior and Commerce Departments.
Links for more information:
Reinstate the 2001 Roadless Rule and block the decision by Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, to rescind it entirely across the nation.
On August 18th, Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, announced that the US Forest Service has filed a proposal to rescind in its entirety the national 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Rollins and others in the Administration deem the “Roadless Rule” as outdated, burdensome to industries, and counterproductive to fighting fires and managing forests.
Critics point out that most wildfires are the result of human actions, and allowing more roads to be cut into wilderness areas will increase vehicle traffic that can cause fires. It will also undercut established tourism and ecotourism and lead to habitat destruction of wildlife.
Rescinding this rule only benefits timber, mining, and oil production industries, and not the general public, nor does it reduce wildfires. It is part and parcel of the Administration’s campaign to get rid of regulations that limit corporate profits.
ACTION:
- Make comments on this proposed rule change before September 21st and urge it not to be implemented, but to leave the 2001 Roadless Rule as is.
- Contact your representative and senators with a similar message.
Links for more information:
Demand that Congress Defend Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments
This is to reverse the drastic downsizing of the area set aside as national monuments by Presidents Obama and Biden by Trump’s executive order. The Sierra Club and Daily Kos are sponsoring this campaign.
By Executive order, Mr. Trump has attempted to slash nearly three million acres of protections and virtually eliminate Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in southern Utah.
These actions also disregard years of Indigenous and other local advocacy to protect these landscapes. Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante are a part of a larger cultural landscape—an interconnected Indigenous homeland that has been stewarded by Native Americans since time immemorial.
ACTION:
- Sign on to the petition by the Sierra Club (Daily Kos) to reverse the executive order to drastically reduce the size of these national monuments.
Links for more information: