Contacts: Contacts: Jewel Tomasula, [email protected], 202-903-3044, Susan Holmes, [email protected], (202) 329-1553, Chris Allieri, (646) 245-8937
WASHINGTON, D.C. — November 6, 2026 — New Yorkers from across the state are calling on Congress to reject sweeping environmental rollbacks in the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 (S. 5653), warning that the legislation would weaken protections for endangered wildlife, clean water, healthy ecosystems, and communities across New York.
From the Adirondacks and Catskills to New York City, Long Island, Niagara Falls, and the shores of Lake Ontario, New York’s forests, rivers, wetlands, beaches, and estuaries are home to some of the nation’s most vulnerable wildlife. The federally threatened piping plover, an important indicator of a healthy ecosystem, nests along beaches in Suffolk, Nassau, and Queens counties, sharing these coastal ecosystems with species including black skimmers, American oystercatchers, terns, and federally threatened seabeach amaranth. New York’s waterways also provide habitat for federally protected Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon and bog turtles. These vulnerable species and landscapes are part of New York’s heritage and support recreation, fisheries, tourism, coastal resilience, and communities across the state.
In a new letter to Congress, New Yorkers raise concerns that the Senate permitting reform deal would weaken longstanding safeguards under the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and other bedrock environmental laws. While the Senate permitting reform deal has been presented as an effort to modernize interstate transmission permitting, the letter urges Congress to ensure that efforts to build needed infrastructure and energy projects do not come at the expense of science-based wildlife protections, clean water, or the public’s ability to participate in decisions affecting their communities.
“The Endangered Species Act is America’s strongest, most effective law for preventing extinction, and its science-based protections have made a real difference for wildlife and the places we all depend on,” said Susan Holmes, executive director of the Endangered Species Coalition. “New Yorkers know that we do not have to choose between responsible development and protecting clean water, healthy ecosystems, and wildlife for future generations. Congress should defend these safeguards while working toward solutions that allow communities and wildlife to thrive.”
The letter highlights concerns about provisions in the Senate permitting reform deal that could weaken some of the Endangered Species Act’s most important safeguards, including requirements that decisions be grounded in the best available science, removing federal agencies from review of industry impacts on threatened and endangered species and moving that authority to state agencies, and access to public accountability through the courts.
“We need a consistent and committed application of the Endangered Species Act across all states wherever and whenever imperiled species like piping plovers are found,” said Chris Allieri, executive director, NYC Plover Project. “The ESA is the federal law of the land and was never meant to be something left to state agencies, many of which are cash-strapped and at the whim of the political winds across state capitols and legislatures from Bismarck to Tallahassee. If this dangerous bill becomes law, states could assume all ESA consultations, not only those for clean energy, but any industry activity – oil and gas leases, data centers, timber sales, beach dredging, and space exploration.”
The Endangered Species Coalition and New York signers are urging members of Congress to reject the Senate permitting reform deal and uphold the bedrock environmental laws’ (e.g., ESA, Clean Water Act, and NEPA) science-based framework to protect vulnerable species and habitats that are deeply connected to our public health, economy, and society.
The Endangered Species Act, supported by 84% of Americans across political ideology, is the nation’s strongest, most effective law for preventing extinction and protecting the natural systems all life depends on. The law has prevented extinction for 99% of species protected by it.
Current Senate Majority Leader Thune of South Dakota scheduled the Senate permitting reform deal for a vote on November 9, bypassing typical hearing and markup processes that allow for consideration and expert review. Ahead of the vote, Democrat House Leader Jeffries, representative for New York’s 8th Congressional district and the presumptive Speaker of the House for the new Congress, expressed his opposition to passing the Senate permitting reform deal into law. Senate Minority Leader Schumer, Senator for New York and presumptive Senate Majority Leader in the new Congress, has not indicated his position on the deal.
The full letter and list of signatories is available here.
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The Endangered Species Coalition is a national coalition of 480 member organizations and 540,000+ activists working together to protect and recover at-risk threatened and endangered species and to defend the Endangered Species Act and other wildlife laws and policies.