Endangered Species Law & Policy

On August 10, 2018, the representative from Indiana's 4th Congressional District introduced a bill entitled: "To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to remove freshwater mussels from the list of endangered and threatened species."  While the text of the bill isn't yet available, based on the title of the bill one can reasonably surmise that the author of the bill believes that freshwater mussels are not deserving of Endangered Species Act protection.  Further, this interpretation is supported by recent articles detailing the representative's long-running opposition to freshwater mussel protection.  For example, one recent article implies that the bill's author believes that prior actions taken under the Endangered Species Act have damaged the community he represents, and that when weighing the interests of his community against freshwater mussels, the scales tip decidedly against Endangered Species Act protection for freshwater mussels.  (See, e.g., Greenwire Story entitled "House Republican bill would strip protection for mussels" dated August 13, 2018.)  While bills like this often fail to make it to a full floor vote, stay tuned as we will continue to follow the bill's progression or lack thereof.