I am very disturbed by the…

I am very disturbed by the proposed changed to the Endangered Species Act. It is vitally important that we do everything we can to protect the species living here, especially as the environment gets more and more challenging for their survival. Maintaining the protection of these species and their habitat relies very much on the valuable work of scientists, and this must not be opened up to being subject to the uninformed opinions of those with other political and economic agendas. It is unacceptable to change this Act to reflect an attitude that our endangered species are something for developers to mess with at will, as long as they pay. There is no substitute for the natural world that can be bought by developer dollars. The "landscape agreements," the decoupling of Endangered Species list and automatic protections, ministerial veto powers, strategic delays in applying protections, reduction of required expert consultation, and abandonment of edge-of-range species, all betray the integrity of this important Act. We must do more, not less, to protect the species that live here, while we still can. These proposed changes are unacceptable.