Washington, D.C. – Today House Republicans voted to destroy the Endangered Species Act (ESA) which has, for over 30 years, protected the nation’s threatened and endangered species.  The House-passed H.R. 3824 with a vote of (229-Y, 193-N) which will significantly reduce the ability of the government to enforce protections for habitat needed by endangered species for recovery. Representative Edward J. Markey, a senior member of the House Resources Committee, blasted the move to rollback these key environmental protections.

“We have arrived at a situation where this bill will designate habitat for endangered species, but provide no real way for those designations to be enforced. Ultimately, this bill will leave the responsibility to protect endangered species up to developers. It doesn’t take Dick Tracy to figure out that for these big companies, their desire to make a profit might outweigh their desire to protect endangered species. The only species not endangered by this bill’s changes to current law is the red herring,” Markey concluded.

For more information on how Representative Markey’s work to protect endangered species and wildlife check out: http://www.house.gov/markey/