News

A recent decision to roll back protections built into the federal Endangered Species Act could have impacts on life in the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds.

“The Endangered Species Act is a crucial federal law that protects aquatic life, habitat and ecosystems,” said Sound Rivers Executive Director Heather Deck, adding that a change to a key definition in the Act could do away with many of those protections.

The current administration has changed the definition of “harm,” limiting the word to actions that directly kill, injure or capture an endangered species, and removing protections for the habitats they rely on for survival.

“Anybody understands that if you don’t have a habitat, it’s kind of hard to survive,” Heather said.

Because North Carolina’s Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Wildlife Species of Special Concern Act does not provide the power or authority to enact wildlife management plans in a manner that would result in actual species protection, the change to the federal definition of harm could have a cascading effect.

“Without these protections, we will lose endangered species in our rivers, like the Carolina Madtom or Tar River spinymussel,” Heather said. “It will also mean poorer habitat and water quality for all other species, creating a cascading effect of more harm. This will not only impact species, like mussels and small fish, but all other aquatic life as well, all of which is critical for healthy fisheries and clean drinking water sources.” 

Heather pointed to a past example, in which the Endangered Species Act was instrumental in protecting habitat, and by extension, water quality on the Tar River.

“When Creedmoor was considering adding a new wastewater treatment plant and to discharge into the upper Tar, it provided an additional level of review, with a broader view of impacts,” she said. “That review is meant to ensure not only are we looking at water quality, which is the purview of Division of Water Resources, but provides a more holistic look at the impacts of these projects that could do harm to aquatic habitat and species.”

With the rollbacks, industry and developers will no longer need to consider or explain impacts to the habitat of endangered species — habitats shared by many other species that will be impacted.

The Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973 under the Nixon administration with near-unanimous, bipartisan support.

“People care about protecting species and the stewardship side of things, but this change to the Endangered Species Act benefits developers and the oil and gas industries,” Heather said. “It doesn’t just mean we’re going to lose protection for these species, it means everything’s going to impacted.”

Earth Justice and the Southern Environmental Law Center have filed lawsuits challenging the rollbacks. Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Conservation Law Foundation, National Wildlife Federation, North Carolina Wildlife Federation, Conservation Council for Hawaii and National Park Conservation Association are some of the organizations represented in both lawsuits.

“I hope the court system gets this right, because this is important,” Heather said.

Like the work Sound Rivers is doing to protect your waterways and the habitat they provide? We love it! Donate today to support the fight for clean water!