Perez mulls bill to change endangered species act

Local officials and environmental advocates have urged U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, to vote “no” this week on a House bill they said would decimate federal protections for endangered wildlife.

The House is expected to vote Wednesday, which also happens to be Earth Day, on the ESA Amendments Act of 2025 (HR 1897), sponsored by Republican Arkansas Rep. Bruce Westerman.

Supporters of the bill have said the legislation is a way to streamline the Endangered Species Act permitting process and eliminate barriers to wildlife conservation. The House Committee on Natural Resources — a committee chaired by Westerman — said in a news release that HR 1897 makes “critical reforms to the Endangered Species Act,” including incentives for the recovery of listed species and prevention of frivolous lawsuits.

But opponents, including many locally elected officials in Washington’s 3rd District, have argued that the bill would destroy the landmark 1973 Endangered Species Act and imperil thousands of threatened and endangered species.

“It would gut the Endangered Species Act, an extremely popular law supported by 84 percent of Americans across both sides of the political aisle,” Sierra Club spokesperson Ginny Roscamp said last week in an emailed statement. “This bedrock environmental law was passed decades ago with strong bipartisan support and under a Republican president. If passed, (HR 1897) could impact protections for endangered Coho salmon and steelhead on the Lower Columbia River.”

Roscamp pointed to a 2023 poll that showed 84 percent of Americans polled, including 89 percent of Democrats and 80 percent of Republicans, support the Endangered Species Act and 67 percent believe protecting biodiversity should be a national priority.

“Advocacy groups, including the Sierra Club, are watching closely to see how representatives in certain districts will vote, including Rep. Perez,” Roscamp said.

Perez falls behind other congressional Democrats when it comes to support for the environment. The 3rd District representative scored lower than all but one other House Democrat in the League of Conservation Voters’ most recent congressional scorecard after she cast 17 votes the organization deemed anti-environment to 17 pro-environment votes in 2025.

Perez said Monday afternoon in an emailed statement that she has not yet decided her position on the bill.

“My team and I have spent the weekend considering this legislation and are still waiting for a response from experts on some of the definitions and impacts,” Perez said. “This bill is far from perfect, but we are waiting to see if the positives outweigh the negatives.”

Local lobbying

In March, a group of 23 officials, small-business owners, community organizers and environmental groups from Washington’s 3rd District wrote to Perez to voice their concerns about HR 1897.

The group included representatives from the Washington state chapter of the Sierra Club, Vancouver Audubon, Cascade Forest Conservancy, Columbia Riverkeeper, the Vancouver Wildlife League and Chehalis River Basin Land Trust. It also included Clark County Council Chair Sue Marshall, Washougal Mayor and Republican state Rep. David Stuebe, Camas Mayor Steve Hogan and city councilors from Battle Ground, Camas, Centralia, Chehalis and Washougal.

In their letter to Perez, they argued the region’s outdoor recreation economy, fishing industry and many businesses like breweries that depend on access to clean water “cannot afford the uncertainty and environmental degradation” they fear HR 1897 might generate.

“HR 1897 would make many of the (Endangered Species Act’s) most important protections virtually meaningless,” the group’s letter stated, “and set the precedent of using politics, rather than science, for conservation decision-making, creating opportunities for special interests to have undue influence in species conservation.”

The officials, business owners and conservationists touted the Endangered Species Act’s benefits for Southwest Washington in their letter.

“The Endangered Species Act is a highly successful law that has prevented nearly all listed species from extinction. This includes numerous runs of salmon and steelhead still present in the Pacific Northwest and Southwest Washington that support our fishing industry, the bald eagle that draws tourists to our region, and maintaining pristine upper watersheds supporting clean water our breweries and residents depend on,” they said. “This policy supports both our environment here in Southwest Washington and our economy.”

Tyler Troelsen, senior field organizer for the Sierra Club’s Southwest Washington region, said the Endangered Species Act has been critical to the protection of steelhead and salmon populations in the Lower Columbia River and other endangered animals in the Pacific Northwest such as the Northern spotted owl, bald eagles and southern resident orcas.

“We are at risk of losing protections for these species, which hits very close to home because fishing on the Columbia River is central to the identity of the region and the local economy,” Troelsen said Friday.

Troelsen said the local Sierra Club chapter wants Perez to understand that the Endangered Species Act has broad support across Washington’s 3rd District and that the representative has a chance to protect both the environment and the economy if she votes “no” Wednesday.

“These decisions need to be science-based and not at the whim of political interests that prioritize wealthy corporations and industries,” Troelsen said. “It’s clear Rep. Perez understands how important protecting the environment — and protecting steelhead and salmon in this region — is. We are urging her to stand with Southwest Washingtonians.”