ENVIRONMENT MAINE • February 11, 2021
Wildlife in the United States and around the globe is in peril. The UN biodiversity conference warns that one million species are at risk of extinction. There are 3 billion fewer birds in the skies in North American than in 1970, and scientists project that up to 30% of America’s wildlife species are at risk of extinction within decades. The situation is dire, but on his first day, President Joe Biden signed a string of executive orders to roll back some of the previous administration’s worst attacks on the environment. Biden put up for review eight actions by the last administration that had scaled back the Endangered Species Act, which has for decades been one of our most effective environmental laws, with an incredible track record at preventing extinction. Here is a breakdown of each of those rollbacks.