Deadline: Ongoing Action
Why this Matters
The Endangered Species Act is the reason the marbled murrelet still nests in the old-growth of the Coast Range, the reason Oregon Coast coho still run in our streams, and the reason western snowy plovers still raise chicks on our beaches. For 50 years it has been the last line of defense for wildlife on the brink, and 99 percent of the species it protects have been spared from extinction.
Updated September 12, 2026. When this page first went up, the rewrite of what counts as "harm" was still a proposal and there was a comment period to weigh in on. That stage is over. The Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries published the final rule rescinding the regulatory definition of harm on July 14, 2026, and the Federal Register lists it as taking effect September 14, 2026. Habitat destruction will no longer count as harming a listed species under that definition, and habitat loss is the single biggest threat to the animals we share this coast with.
So the ask has moved from the agencies to Congress, where two measures would undo it. Both were read off Congress.gov on September 12, 2026.
H.R. 9901 would give the harm rescission no force or effect. Its sponsor is Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican from Pennsylvania, which is worth saying out loud to anyone who assumes this is a party-line fight. It was referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources on July 23, 2026.
S.J. Res. 204 is a Congressional Review Act disapproval resolution, sponsored by Sen. Adam Schiff. Mechanically it is the faster route, because Congressional Review Act resolutions clear the Senate on a simple majority rather than needing sixty votes. Politically it is nowhere near that yet: it has one co-sponsor and has sat in the Environment and Public Works Committee since August 3, 2026.
Which is the honest case for writing. Neither measure is moving on its own, the favorable mechanism exists, and the thing that closes the gap between those two facts is offices hearing from constituents.
Earthjustice is also litigating these rollbacks, and their action form is still worth signing as a show of public opposition even though the comment window it was built for has closed.
Steps to Take
Write your members of Congress through the Endangered Species Coalition letter, asking them to support H.R. 9901 and S.J. Res. 204 and to restore the habitat protections the harm rule removed. Naming the bill numbers is the part that makes a message hard to file away.
Name what you would lose here. Marbled murrelets nesting in Coast Range old-growth, coho in the Alsea, snowy plovers on the beach south of Waldport. The harm rule matters precisely because all three are habitat stories rather than hunting stories, and habitat is what the change stops protecting.
Send a second message if you have another minute. The Sierra Club's form makes the same general case to Congress and reaches a different set of offices. Adding your name to Earthjustice's action form counts you alongside their litigation, though note that one was built for the comment stage, which has closed.
Pass it on. This one got much less attention than the Roadless Rule rescission and it takes effect in days, which is exactly the combination that lets a rollback through quietly.
