WYOMING — Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) introduced a Congressional Review Act (CRA) that disapproves of habitat regulations and new critical habitat designation under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
The CRA was introduced along with 17 of Senator Lummis’ colleagues, including Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), and seeks “to retain the regulatory definition of habitat” within the ESA.
In June 2022, the Biden administration got rid of the Trump administration’s rule that held that an area must be “habitat” before it can meet the ESA’s narrower definition of “critical habitat.” This gave the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service greater flexibility to designate unoccupied areas as critical habitat.
The CRA argues that defining habitat will provide clarity and transparency to landowners and businesses in Wyoming and throughout the west.
“There is an important distinction between ‘habitat’ and ‘critical habitat’ for an endangered species,” said Senator Lummis in a press release. “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.”
According to Senator Lummis, a critical habitat designation has major impacts on landowners and reduces the value of any private property. Two-thirds of endangered species are located on private lands, which in Wyoming include the grizzly bear, whooping crane, black-footed ferret, gray wolf, yellow-billed cuckoo and Canada lynx among others.
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.
