WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) with 15 of their colleagues introduced a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to retain the regulatory definition of habitat within the Endangered Species Act (ESA). By defining habitat, this CRA will provide clarity and transparency to landowners and businesses in Idaho and throughout the west.
“The Biden administration has cast a net so broad that nearly anywhere could qualify as a critical habitat. This misguided definition will have far reaching effects on Idaho’s farming, ranching, land management, and mining projects, and it will delay numerous projects vital to our rural communities. This resolution of disapproval provides the Senate with an opportunity to return some much needed common sense to critical habitat designation,” said Risch.
“Providing an exact definition for ‘habitat’ is necessary for transparency and clarity as stakeholders make decisions regarding wildlife and proper management practices,” said Crapo. “The Biden Administration’s rollback of the definition of ‘habitat’ is unnecessary and only adds confusion when dealing with important wildlife issues.”
“There is an important distinction between ‘habitat’ and ‘critical habitat’ for an endangered species,” said Lummis. “By scrapping the definition of habitat within the ESA, the Biden administration is causing chaos and confusion among private property owners throughout Wyoming and the west. Two-thirds of all endangered species are located on private lands, so private property owners need to be partners in species recover, not the enemy. This CRA will ensure that Wyoming landowners are not unfairly targeted by the administration and that habitat designations are based on science, not on politics.”
Joining Risch, Crapo, and Lummis were Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W. Va.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Dan Sullivan (R-Ark.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) cosponsored the CRA.
The CRA is supported by the American Farm Bureau, the National Cattleman’s Beef Association, the Public Lands Council, the National Mining Association, the Western Energy Alliance, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, Property and Environmental Policy Research Center (PERC) and the Dallas Safari Club.
A critical habitat designation has major impacts on landowners, as it reduces the value of any private property within a designation because prospective landowners recognize the burdens that accompany a designation. It also greatly impacts any land with a federal nexus through permits or funding, as a critical habitat triggers significant scrutiny, resulting in burdensome limitations on land use and costly mitigation requirements.
In December 2020, citing Weyerhaeuser Co. v. U.S. FWS , the Trump administration finalized a rule that defined the term “habitat” as “the abiotic and biotic setting that currently or periodically contains the resources and conditions necessary to support one or more life processes of a species.”
On June 24, 2022, the Biden administration finalized a rule that rescinded the 2020 rule, eliminating the habitat distinction, leaving regulated parties in the dark and undermining the ESA’s purpose of protecting endangered or threatened species.
The Endangered Species Act directs the Secretary of Interior through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and/or the Secretary of Commerce through the National Marine Fisheries Services to designate critical habitat for listed species.
