Washington, D.C. - Today, House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) introduced the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Amendments Act of 2025 to make critical reforms to the ESA. Westerman issued the following statement in response:
"The Endangered Species Act has consistently failed to achieve its intended goals and has been warped by decades of radical environmental litigation into a weapon instead of a tool. With the reforms we are introducing today, we can look forward to a future where the ESA works to support the continued abundance of America's rich and diverse wildlife."
Background
Since Congress enacted the ESA in 1973, approximately 1,700 species have been listed as threatened or endangered, not counting experimental populations. Only 3 percent of listed species have ever been classified as recovered and subsequently delisted.
The ESA Amendments Act of 2025 makes critical reforms to the ESA by establishing clear statutory definitions, focusing on species recovery and streamlining the ESA permitting process. The legislation also provides incentives for the recovery of listed species, promotes accountability for agency actions, and creates a backstop against frivolous litigation.
- Codifies the listing work plan structure to establish flexible deadlines, which will allow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service (Services) to make better-informed listing decisions.
- Streamlines the approval of voluntary conservation agreements and incidental take permits by removing duplicative permitting processes.
- Gives regulatory certainty that critical habitat will not be designated if a private landowner is working to implement a plan that conserves the listed species in question.
- Allows states to develop and submit recovery strategies for species that are candidates for listing or listed as threatened.
- Requires federal agencies to establish objective, incremental recovery goals for threatened species and provide regulatory relief as recovery goals are met. Once all recovery goals are met, the Services shall provide for state management of the species in preparation for delisting.
- Requires agencies to act on five-year review determinations of listed species.
- Prohibits judicial review within the five-year monitoring period after a species is delisted.
- Requires agencies to disclose to Congress all costs associated with ESA-related lawsuits.
- Streamlines the ESA Section 7 permitting process by clarifying the meaning of jeopardy, eliminating agency bias towards the species during the permitting process, requiring retrospective review of agency-recommended modifications to federal projects, and prohibiting mandatory mitigation.
- Removes duplicative permitting processes related to non-native species.
- Clarifies that the Services lack the authority to prohibit lawful activities through regulations aimed at reducing the mere potential impact on a species.
