House subcommittee debates broad changes to Endangered Species Act in HR 1897

The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries spent its hearing on March 27, 2025, examining HR 1897, the ESA Amendments Act of 2025, a bill Chairman Bruce Westerman said would reauthorize and change the Endangered Species Act to prioritize species recovery and provide regulatory certainty.

"The Endangered Species Act is broken," said Chairman Bruce Westerman in his opening remarks, arguing HR 1897 "builds greater incentives into the ESA by pairing species recovery goals with regulatory relief." Westerman described provisions that would define previously ambiguous terms, require incremental and objective recovery goals and limit judicial review during a five‑year post‑delisting monitoring period.

Why it matters: The subcommittee heard competing accounts of what the ESA should do next. Supporters told the panel the bill would encourage private‑land conservation and reduce litigation delays that they say frustrate delisting. Opponents warned HR 1897 narrows legal protections and could accelerate removals without sufficient scientific capacity at federal agencies to track outcomes.

Committee debate and testimony: Ranking Member Jared Huffman said, "the Endangered Species Act is not broken, it's just inconvenient for certain industry polluters," and argued…