Sierra Club Statement on Biden Administration ESA Regulations Announcement

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Biden Administration announced a new slate of proposed regulations regarding implementation of the Endangered Species Act. The proposed regulations are a long-awaited response from the White House to Donald Trump’s hollowing-out of critical components of the ESA in 2019. Those regulations made it more difficult to extend protections to threatened species, allowed economic factors to be considered when deciding if a species should be saved from extinction, and made it easier for companies to construct roads, pipelines, and other industrial projects in critical habitat areas that are essential to imperiled species' survival.

In response, Sierra Club National Wildlife Campaign Manager Bonnie Rice issued the following statement: 

“Today’s announcement is a necessary first step toward undoing the harms to wildlife caused by the Trump Administration’s gutting of the Endangered Species Act. While these proposed regulations would reinstate some of the most important protections afforded to species prior to 2019, the current biodiversity crisis makes it clear that more is needed to reverse the rapid loss of species caused by ongoing habitat destruction. 

“The Endangered Species Act is one of the most successful conservation laws in the history of the country. In the face of overwhelming loss of species, the Biden Administration must do more to address the biodiversity crisis, including fully restoring this bedrock  environmental law.”