Endagered Species Coalition

Contacts: Jewel Tomasula (); Susan Holmes, ()  (202) 329-1553 Washington D.C. — September 17, 2026According to an internal memo, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Nesvik, a political appointee of the Trump administration, is advancing a sweeping and dangerous reinterpretation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that will allow activities to injure or kill threatened and endangered species without violating federal law—so long as no one can prove that the harm was specifically intended.

On Wednesday, August 12, dozens of South Texas residents gathered outside the Brownsville office of U.S. Representative Vicente Gonzalez to oppose offshore oil and gas drilling activities that are moving forward without key Endangered Species Act (ESA) safeguards for endangered marine life.

Washington D.C. — September 14, 2026 — Washington, D.C. — Today, the Trump administration’s unprecedented move to strip imperiled species of protections for the places where they live went into effect. American wildlife including Florida manatees, grizzlies, salmon and steelhead, bird species like rufa red knots, golden-cheeked warblers and northern spotted owls, Hawaiian monk seals, and insect pollinators that allow farmers to raise crops — all face a new threat to their survival.

Seven former leaders of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries have sent a letter to Interior Secretary Douglas Burgum and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick urging the administration to withdraw its recent rollback of the Endangered Species Act’s definition of “harm.” The bipartisan group, whose service spans Democratic and Republican administrations, argues that excluding habitat destruction from the definition of “harm” would undermine one of the law’s most important...

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 10, 2026 — Seven former heads of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries, appointed by presidents of both parties, are calling on the Trump administration to reverse its reinterpretation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which would narrow the law’s ability to prevent habitat destruction for protected wildlife.

From 3-inch fireworms to 6-foot nurse sharks, these reefs are alive. That statement is subjectively true, but what does it mean for a reef to be alive in today’s world? Growing up on the water in the U.S. Virgin Islands, I saw firsthand the rapid degradation of our reefs in a way that was personally devastating.

Throughout my career as a conservationist, I’ve often been asked some version of the same question: “Where do you find the motivation? How do you keep from losing hope?” I’ve answered that question differently over the years, because the truth is that conservation work is always changing. The campaigns change. The species change. The threats change.

As Congress considers H.R. 9436, a bill that would further delay protections for the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, opposition is clear from constituents and conservation leaders across the East Coast. Letters from community leaders across the Southeast and from New York and New Jersey, coupled with new polling data from voters in New York, highlight concerns that Congress may postpone actions necessary to protect a species that is already on the brink of extinction.

There is something mesmerizing about fireflies. When my children were young, we would sit in our tiny backyard in Washington, D.C., at dusk and wait for the twinkling lights to appear. The slow-flying insects were once so plentiful that they would land on us, flashing from our heads and hands before lifting off in search of a mate more their size. This year, I watched and waited. But what had once been a dazzling show had become just a few brave blips in the darkness. Perhaps you have noticed it too.

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 24, 2026 — Today, Congressmen Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-1 and Mike Quigley (D-IL-5), ), Co-Chairs of the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus, introduced the Safeguarding Endangered Species Act, bipartisan legislation to nullify the Administration’s recently finalized rule weakening the Endangered Species Act’s protections against destructive habitat loss.