In the fall, the Trump administration began attacking the Endangered Species Act, picking up where it left off during Donald Trump's first term as president. Four rule changes were proposed that would affect how the law is implemented by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service.
Amendments to the 53-year-old legislation memorializing the rule changes, widely seen as weakening the act, could come up for a vote in the House Wednesday. The changes allow for an economic analysis when deciding to list a species as endangered or threatened and make it harder to list new species as endangered or threatened, easier to remove species from the list, and harder to designate and protect critical habitats that threatened and endangered species rely on.
"The November and December actions went through the executive branch," explained Jewel Tomasula, a national policy director at the Endangered Species Coalition. "What's happening now is through Congress, changing the law itself is the attempt here. It's really concerning they would even put forth such an extreme proposal. It's the first time Congress has taken such a vote on the E.S.A. in the last decade at least."
"It's not one of those bills the House votes on every year. They didn't even vote on this in the first Trump administration," she said.
Ahead of Wednesday's vote, Representative Nick LaLota refused to indicate where he stood on the bill. Instead, a spokeswoman for the congressman referred to remarks he made about the amendments in December.
"I support a strong Endangered Species Act that protects the species and habitats Long Islanders care about, and I support clear, predictable rules that follow the law and don't weaponize regulation against affordable energy or infrastructure," he said in a December statement. "I'm going to listen to local scientists, fishermen, environmental groups, and employers before deciding whether this specific bill gets that balance right, and I will oppose any final rule that gets that balance wrong."
The changes are expected to be decided by one or two votes, meaning his vote could determine whether the bill passes or fails.
Mr. LaLota has recently shown a willingness to vote for and against environmental causes. For example, a vote he cast in December removed Endangered Species Act protections for the gray wolf, outside of Alaska.
Yet closer to home, the House recently passed an amended American Water Stewardship Act co-sponsored by the congressman that reauthorized existing federal environmental programs like the Long Island Sound Program, the National Estuary Program, and coastal water quality monitoring under the BEACH Act, through 2031.
"I think this is just a winning issue for Suffolk County. No one who lives in Suffolk County is coming to LaLota and saying, 'You need to modernize the E.S.A.,' " said Chris Allieri, executive director of the NYC Plover Project.
"Long Island is pro-wildlife. This issue is something that unites people. Should the congressman vote 'yes' to the changes, that's going to be a really consequential and bad vote that will scar the legacy that he's tried to build as a pro-environment conservative. When the E.S.A. was signed in 1973, it was supported unanimously by Republicans. People will remember this vote."
