Dear NRDC Activist,

Grizzly bears… Florida panthers… manatees… All these animals and countless others already at risk of extinction face even more existential attacks from the Trump administration.

WHAT’S HAPPENING
The administration announced four different proposals to weaken Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections—the most recent in a slew of anti-environmental federal rollbacks in the last few weeks on everything from clean water to reckless offshore drilling.

The administration’s alarming proposals would:

• Eliminate common-sense, automatic protections for threatened species
• Make it easier to greenlight projects like logging and drilling that harm listed species and their habitat
• Prioritize industry profits over species’ needs
• Undermine protections for the places that species call home — and sometimes allow these special areas to go without any ESA protections at all

But before the administration can finalize these disastrous proposals, they are required to solicit public comments. They are only giving us until December 22 to get all our comments in — so we need as many people as possible to speak out now.

Submit your public comment opposing the Trump administration’s deadly plans to gut vital protections for our most imperiled wildlife and their homes.

WHY IT MATTERS
These rollbacks undermine nearly every aspect of ESA protections. They would pave the way for the oil and gas, logging, and mining industries to wreak havoc on wildlife habitat by giving industry outsized influence over where critical habitat is designated. They would also force wildlife agencies to accept potentially biased industry estimates of the economic impacts of habitat protection.

The message couldn’t be clearer: Drill, baby, drill, no matter the cost — to wildlife, to our lands, and to our climate.

We need your help to generate a massive public outcry and get it on the record: Act now to protect wildlife at risk of extinction.

WHAT WE ARE DOING
If the administration illegally finalizes these harmful proposals, NRDC is prepared to use every appropriate tool at our disposal — including going to court, if needed — to defend imperiled species.

NRDC sued the first Trump administration when it finalized these same dangerous rollbacks. The Biden administration reversed them, and now the Trump administration wants to put them back in place. But nothing has changed: the rollbacks were unlawful then, and they’re unlawful now.

We need your voice to help protect wildlife at risk. Public comments are important to build the best case possible against these dangerous proposals. They create a public record showing broad support for endangered and threatened species, and they can give NRDC the power to challenge federal agencies in court if they disregard your input.

Thanks to supporters like you, we have consistently opposed the many attacks on wildlife and the environment by the Trump administration this past year. Let’s keep up the pressure by expressing our opposition to this latest attack on imperiled wildlife.

WHAT’S AT STAKE
Without strong ESA protections in place, it will be easier for industry to recklessly destroy wildlife habitat, the main cause of species extinction worldwide, in pursuit of dirty energy profits.

Protections under the ESA are our most effective tool for combating the appalling decline of wildlife across the nation. Hundreds of species were almost extinct until they were saved by this law’s protections, including the bald eagle, black-footed ferret, and gray wolf. And a million species are at risk of extinction in the coming decades.

While the Trump administration moves to gut protections, species face increasingly dire threats like climate change, habitat destruction, and pollution. We must defend the ESA because it helps keep all life on earth in balance.

Show the Trump administration that the public overwhelmingly supports protecting imperiled wildlife.

Sincerely,

Lucas Rhoads
Senior Attorney, Nature, NRDC