Protect America's Wildlife and Fish in Need of Conservation Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2491 To terminate certain rules issued by the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce relating to endangered and threatened species, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 Mr. UDALL (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BOOKER, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. MERKLEY, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. SAND- ERS, Mr. MENENDEZ, and Ms. WARREN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To terminate certain rules issued by the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce relating to en- dangered and threatened species, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Protect America’s 4 Wildlife and Fish in Need of Conservation Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds that— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:22 Sep 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2491.IS S2491 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2491 IS (1) global wildlife populations have fallen by 60 1 percent over 4 decades due to habitat loss, pollution, 2 deforestation, climate change, and other anthropo- 3 genic factors; 4 (2) current rates of species extinction are up to 5 1,000 times greater than the natural rate of extinc- 6 tion; and 7 (3) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 8 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) is one of the most popular and 9 successful environmental laws of the United States. 10 SEC. 3. TERMINATION OF REGULATIONS RELATING TO EN- 11 DANGERED AND THREATENED SPECIES AND 12 RESTORATION OF PRIOR REGULATIONS. 13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The amendments to parts 17, 14 402, and 424 of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations, 15 made by the following final rules are void: 16 (1) The final rule promulgated by the Secretary 17 of the Interior entitled ‘‘Endangered and Threatened 18 Wildlife and Plants; Regulations for Prohibitions to 19 Threatened Wildlife and Plants’’ (84 Fed. Reg. 20 44753 (August 27, 2019)). 21 (2) The final rule promulgated by the Secretary 22 of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce enti- 23 tled ‘‘Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:22 Sep 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2491.IS S2491 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2491 IS Plants; Regulations for Interagency Cooperation’’ 1 (84 Fed. Reg. 44976 (August 27, 2019)). 2 (3) The final rule promulgated by the Secretary 3 of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce enti- 4 tled ‘‘Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and 5 Plants; Regulations for Listing Species and Desig- 6 nating Critical Habitat’’ (84 Fed. Reg. 45020 (Au- 7 gust 27, 2019)). 8 (b) EFFECTIVENESS.—Parts 17, 402, and 424 of 9 title 50, Code of Federal Regulations, shall be in effect 10 as if the amendments voided under subsection (a) had not 11 been made. 12 (c) PROMULGATION OF NEW RULES.—Any rule pro- 13 posed by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary 14 of Commerce after the date of enactment of this Act to 15 amend part 17, 402, or 424 of title 50, Code of Federal 16 Regulations (other than any rule that is necessary to carry 17 out subsections (a) and (b))— 18 (1) shall analyze and incorporate the impacts of 19 climate change, including long-term impacts, on— 20 (A) species listed as threatened species or 21 endangered species under the Endangered Spe- 22 cies Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and 23 species that are candidates to be so listed; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:22 Sep 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2491.IS S2491 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2491 IS (B) the habitats of species described in 1 subparagraph (A); 2 (2) may analyze and incorporate alternatives 3 for providing automatic protections under section 4 9(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 5 U.S.C. 1538(a)) in the case of species listed as 6 threatened species under that Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 7 et seq.); and 8 (3) may not— 9 (A) analyze or incorporate any positive or 10 negative economic impacts associated with the 11 decision of whether to list a species as a threat- 12 ened species or an endangered species under the 13 Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 14 1531 et seq.); 15 (B) limit the authority of the Secretary of 16 the Interior or the Secretary of Commerce to 17 consider the impacts of climate change, includ- 18 ing the long-term impacts; or 19 (C) interfere in any manner with the best 20 available science. 21 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 22 It is the sense of Congress that— 23 (1) Congress recognizes the potential benefit of 24 clarifying inconsistencies in— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:22 Sep 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2491.IS S2491 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2491 IS (A) the past practices of the United States 1 Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Ma- 2 rine Fisheries Service under the Endangered 3 Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); 4 and 5 (B) interpretations by those agencies of 6 regulations under that Act, especially under 7 section 7 of that Act (16 U.S.C. 1536); and 8 (2) Congress acknowledges the importance of 9 providing incentives for landowners to conserve spe- 10 cies, especially by rewarding the landowners for— 11 (A) helping to prevent the need to add spe- 12 cies to the list of threatened species or endan- 13 gered species under that Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 14 et seq.); and 15 (B) successfully conserving species listed 16 as endangered species under that Act to the 17 point that the species can be downlisted to the 18 list of threatened species under that Act. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:22 Sep 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2491.IS S2491 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS