LIST Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3973 To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to provide for improved precision in the listing, delisting, and downlisting of endangered species and potentially endangered species. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 17, 2021 Mr. BIGGS (for himself, Mr. PERRY, Mr. ROSENDALE, Mr. STEWART, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. MANN, Mrs. BOEBERT, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. NEWHOUSE, and Ms. CHENEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources A BILL To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to provide for improved precision in the listing, delisting, and downlisting of endangered species and potentially endan- gered species. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Less Imprecision in 4 Species Treatment Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘LIST Act of 5 2021’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:44 Jul 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3973 IH SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT TO INITIATE DELISTING. 1 (a) REQUIREMENT IN CASE OF RECOVERY.—Section 2 4(b) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 3 1533(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(9)(A) The Secretary shall initiate the proce- 5 dures in accordance with subsection (a)(1) to remove 6 a species from a list published under subsection (c) 7 if— 8 ‘‘(i) the goals of a recovery plan for the 9 species developed under subsection (f) have 10 been met; or 11 ‘‘(ii) the goals for recovery of the species 12 have not been developed under subsection (f), 13 and the Secretary determines that the species 14 has recovered sufficiently to no longer require 15 the protection of the Act. 16 ‘‘(B) Notwithstanding the requirement of sub- 17 section (c)(2) that each determination under sub- 18 paragraph (B) of that subsection shall be made in 19 accordance with the provisions of subsections (a) 20 and (b), the Secretary shall remove a species from 21 any list published under subsection (c) if the De- 22 partment of the Interior has produced or received 23 substantial scientific or commercial information 24 demonstrating that the species is recovered or that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:44 Jul 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3973 IH recovery goals set for the species under subsection 1 (f) have been met. 2 ‘‘(C) In the case of a species removed under 3 subparagraph (A) from a list published under sub- 4 section (c), the publication and notice under sub- 5 section (b)(5) shall consist solely of a notice of such 6 removal.’’. 7 (b) REQUIREMENT IN CASE ERRONEOUSLY OR 8 WRONGFULLY LISTED.—Section 4(b)(3) of the Endan- 9 gered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(a)), as amend- 10 ed by subsection (a), is further amended by adding at the 11 end the following: 12 ‘‘(H)(i) Not later than 90 days after the 13 date the Department of the Interior receives or 14 produces under this subsection information de- 15 scribed in clause (ii) regarding a species in- 16 cluded in a list under subsection (c), the Sec- 17 retary shall to the maximum extent practicable 18 find whether the inclusion of such species in 19 such list was less than likely to have occurred 20 in the absence of the scientific or commercial 21 information referred to in clause (ii). 22 ‘‘(ii) Information referred to in clause (i) is 23 any information demonstrating that the listing 24 was determined on the basis of scientific or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:44 Jul 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3973 IH commercial information available to, or received 1 or produced by, the Department under para- 2 graphs (1) and (3) of subsection (b) that at the 3 time the scientific or commercial information 4 was available to or received or produced by the 5 Department it was— 6 ‘‘(I) inaccurate beyond scientifically 7 reasonable margins of error; 8 ‘‘(II) fraudulent; or 9 ‘‘(III) misrepresentative. 10 ‘‘(iii) Notwithstanding the requirement 11 under subsection (c)(2)(B) that each determina- 12 tion under subparagraph (B) shall be made in 13 accordance with the provisions of subsections 14 (a) and (b), the Secretary shall— 15 ‘‘(I) remove from any list published 16 under subsection (c) any species for which 17 a positive finding is made under clause (i); 18 and 19 ‘‘(II) promptly publish in the Federal 20 Register notice of such finding that in- 21 cludes such information as was received or 22 produced by the Department under such 23 clause. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:44 Jul 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3973 IH ‘‘(iv) Any positive finding by the Secretary 1 under clause (i) shall not be subject to judicial 2 review. 3 ‘‘(v) Any negative finding by the Secretary 4 under clause (i) shall be subject to judicial re- 5 view. 6 ‘‘(vi) In the case of a species removed 7 under clause (iii) from a list, the publication 8 and notice under subsection (b)(5) shall consist 9 solely of a notice of such removal. 10 ‘‘(vii) If the Secretary finds that a person 11 submitted a petition that is the subject of a 12 positive finding under clause (i) knowing that it 13 contained scientific or commercial information 14 described in clause (ii), then during the 10-year 15 period beginning on the date of the finding 16 under this clause the person shall not be consid- 17 ered an interested person for purposes of sub- 18 paragraph (A) with respect to any petition sub- 19 mitted by the person after the date the person 20 submitted such scientific or commercial infor- 21 mation.’’. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:44 Jul 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3973 IH SEC. 3. EXPANDED CONSIDERATION DURING FIVE-YEAR 1 REVIEW. 2 Section 4(c) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 3 (16 U.S.C. 1533(c)) is amended by adding at the end the 4 following: 5 ‘‘(3) Each determination under paragraph 6 (2)(B) shall consider one of the following: 7 ‘‘(A) Except as provided in subparagraph 8 (B) of this paragraph, the criteria required 9 under subsection (f)(1)(B) in the recovery plan 10 for the species. 11 ‘‘(B) If the objective, measurable criteria 12 under subsection (f)(1)(B)(ii) are not estab- 13 lished, the factors for the determination that a 14 species is an endangered species or a threatened 15 species set forth in subsections (a)(1) and 16 (b)(1). 17 ‘‘(C) A finding of error in the determina- 18 tion that the species is an endangered species, 19 a threatened species, or extinct. 20 ‘‘(D) A determination that the species is 21 no longer an endangered species or threatened 22 species or in danger of extinction, based on an 23 analysis of the factors that are the basis for 24 listing in subsections (a)(1) and (b)(1).’’. 25 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:44 Jul 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3973.IH H3973 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS