To the Editor:

The bald eagle has been the national symbol of the United States since our founding. However, it almost went extinct.

Thankfully, efforts by Rachael Carson, citizens, and something called the Endangered Species Act all helped to bring it back. However, the Endangered Species Act is now in trouble. While the recovery of the bald eagle is a great success story, and the eagle has been removed from the list, hundreds of other animals on the list are in jeopardy!

A proposed rule to rescind the definition of “harm” in the Endangered Species Act is an effort to fast track this rule to redefine the word “harm” in the act and only provides a 30-day comment period, which will end on May 19.

The existing Endangered Species Act has protected countless numbers of species since 1973 but has been under attack from private landowners and powerful interest groups like logging, mining, and oil and gas.

Under this proposed rule, destroying the habitat of an endangered animal would no longer qualify as “harm” unless someone physically injures or kills the animal directly. Bulldozing nesting grounds, logging migration corridors, draining wetlands where endangered frogs breed, none of it would count.

This guts the very mechanism that has protected species like the black rhino, California condor, various whales, grizzly bears, and countless others from oblivion.

However, there is precedent and 30 years ago the United States Supreme Court agreed that “harm” includes not allowing any significant habitat modification. However, this Supreme Court is hostile to any regulation, including environmental, and is willing to overturn any and all precedent.

So, are we simply helpless and is this a fait accompli? Hell no!

The following link is your way to respond during the public-comment period: bit.ly/4jzKyHw. Your comments matter and can help provide support for potential lawsuits if this rule goes forward.

We owe it to our children and future generations to help protect our water, air, and animals from further degradation and harm!

Kurt Larson

Altamont