Congressional Western Caucus Fights to Retain Trump-era Changes to Environmental Species Act

Members of the Congressional Western Caucus are pushing legislation that would set out several of the Trump Administration's previous modernizations of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Chairman and 4th District Representative Dan Newhouse said the goal of the ESA should be to restore species populations instead of placing them on a list indefinitely.

"We've got some of those species in our own state." stated Newhouse, "We've had a mixed record of success and I think we can point to every time we have more local involvement and control, versus control from Washington D.C., we have better success."

Specifically, Newhouse introduced legislation to maintain the Trump Administration’s Section 4 regulations that require the economic impact of an ESA listing decision to be considered.

Newhouse added that the previous administration's regulations ensured that the U.S. was directing its conservation efforts and resources effectively. However, that has not been the opinion of the Biden Administration, which recently moved to reverse those Trump-era changes.

According to the EPA, there are 1,300 endangered or threatened species in the U.S.