House Republicans passed a measure Thursday that would repeal the government’s decision to place California’s longfin smelt, a finger-sized fish, on the endangered species list.
House members passed the resolution, introduced by California Rep. Doug LaMalfa (D-Richvale), in a 216-195 vote that followed party lines. The resolution now goes to the Republican-controlled Senate.
“We want to block the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s misguided decision to list the San Francisco Bay Delta population of the longfin smelt as being endangered,” LaMalfa, who represents a rice-growing region in Northern California, said before the vote.
He said the agency’s decision last year to declare the fish species endangered was “unscientific” and said it’s making it harder to deliver water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to farmers.
The resolution was condemned by Democrats, who said the resolution goes against science and years of study by federal wildlife officials.
“They’re turning a small fish into a very large scapegoat, pretending it will somehow provide real support to farmers,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael).
“The longfin population has declined over 99% since the 1980s,” Huffman said. “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service followed the law, the data and the science, just as Congress intended.”
The resolution would repeal the Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2024 decision under provisions of the 1996 Congressional Review Act, which enables Congress to review and disapprove rules adopted by agencies under certain circumstances.
Opponents said they fear the Senate may also pass the measure. If approved and signed by President Trump, it would be the first action by Congress to use its authority under the 1996 law to strip protections from a species under the Endangered Species Act.
Longfin smelt, which live in bays and estuaries along the Pacific Coast, are the sixth fish species in the San Francisco Bay estuary to be added to the federal endangered species list. The fish once filled the bay, but federal wildlife officials declared the population endangered after determining it had suffered a drastic decline.
The agency’s decision followed a lengthy process that began with a 2007 petition submitted by environmental groups and that involved several lawsuits. The fish were listed by California as threatened in 2009.
Environmental groups said the decline of the longfin smelt, along with other fish species including Delta smelt and Chinook salmon, is linked to water management policies that have reduced flows through the estuary and contributed to worsening water quality.
“The resolution would essentially condemn San Francisco Bay’s longfin smelt to extinction,” said Jon Rosenfield, science director for the group San Francisco Baykeeper. “Removing protections for this fish would also be a blow to other imperiled fish populations, fisheries, and clean water in the Delta.”
Supporters of the measure include a group called Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley, a coalition including local leaders, farmers and businesses. Austin Ewell, the group’s executive director, said in a letter to Congress that the government’s listing of the species exacerbates water scarcity in the valley and that repealing the endangered status is “an important step toward ensuring water resources remain available for our communities.”
Environmentalists, however, accused Republicans of violating the criteria in the Congressional Review Act, which includes strict timelines for legislators to act. The group Earthjustice argued the measure was introduced too late, saying Congress cannot legally overturn the protections under the legislation at this point.
Cameron Walkup, the group’s associate legislative representative, said the action by Republicans could “unleash a Pandora’s box of deregulatory attacks.” He urged the Senate to oppose what he called a “dangerous attack” on the Endangered Species Act.
