Demand the DOI halt policy changes during the COVID-19 crisis

Even in the midst of a global crisis, the Trump administration continues to barrel forward with its anti-environmental agenda.

The Department of the Interior is rushing to finalize damaging rollbacks to our bedrock conservation laws like the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). They’re also moving to auction off controversial oil and gas lease sales in places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

These proposals come while the public is hard-hit by the disruptions that COVID-19 has brought into our daily lives. The Interior Department is counting on Americans being distracted from their efforts to suppress science, slash environmental protections and give away our natural resources to industry giants.

We can’t let this administration exploit this disaster to further degrade our natural world! Sign below to demand that the Interior suspend policy changes and comment periods until the end of the COVID-19 crisis!

*Defenders will submit your name, city, state and comment. All comments become part of the public record.

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Defenders of Wildlife

Dear Secretary Bernhardt,

The COVID-19 global pandemic is significantly disrupting life and daily routines for all Americans. Businesses and schools are closing, people are forced to social distance and work from home, and communities across the country are faced with daily uncertainties of how to keep their families safe.

Major disruptions to daily life will certainly impact Americans ability to engage in the democratic process and adequately weigh in on issues we care deeply about.

I write to respectfully ask that the Department of Interior suspend all controversial policy changes and comment periods until the COVID-19 crisis comes to an end, including:

- Regulatory changes to the Endangered Species Act that undermine science and will send vulnerable species towards the brink of extinction; 
- Cementing into law a controversial legal opinion that undermines the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and lets industry off the hook for harming or killing birds if industry claims their actions were unintentional; and
- Auctioning a final lease sale for an oil and gas program in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's ecologically significant coastal plain, home to the world's most imperiled polar bear population due to climate change.

Please do not exploit a national public health emergency by rushing forward anti-science and anti-wildlife rollbacks while the public and experts are ill-prepared to respond adequately. Government attention and resources should be focused on battling the national health emergency, not on doubling-down on advancing policies that weaken protections for our wildlife and the habitats on which they depend.

Sincerely,
{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

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