A bill to amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to establish an Endangered Species Interagency Committee to review certain actions to determine whether exemptions from certain requirements of that act should be granted for such actions

!lfrrn CONOTIEK.S ~u SF.s.s1c1N

S.2899

IN THE SBNA'l'E 0]' r:rnF~ UNI'l'ED STA'l'I~S APRIL 12 (kgisln.lirn day, F1-:unuA1n-6), 1078

~fr. Cur.VEn (fo1· himself, and Ul'. B,mm:, Mr. R.\Nnou•u, Ml'. "\VALr.01·, l\fl'. GuAVEL1 and :Mr. IIoncms) introduce1l the following Lill; which was 1·Nid twice and referl'ed to the Committee 011 EnYiro11mcnt. nnd l'uulie " 'nrks

A BILL

'l'o a.a1c1ul the Endangorod Sp<'('it•s Ad of l H7:3 to c:--tabli:,d1 an J'!Jndangere<l Species Iukrageucy Com111ittteo to rcYicw <·crtniu act.ions to dderminc whl'llwr cxc111ptiuns fro111

cPr-tain requirements of tlrnt Al't should be granted for 8ud1 actions.

1 Be -it enacted by the Senate and }louse of Rep1·cscnta-2 t-ives of the United States of Ame?'ica in Congress assembled, 3 1'lrnt this Act may be cited n~ the "~ndaugerd Speci('S .Ad 4 Amendments of 1978".

5 SEC. 2. Section 3 of the Endangered Species .A. ct of 6 H.)73 ( 16 U.S.0. 1536) is

nmcnded-7 ( 1) by inserting nftcr pnrngrn1lh (-+) t.lierrnf the

8 following new pnrngrapl1: TI

2

1 " ( 5) Tue tt·rnt · 11\·tlcrnl _ilg't'rn·y' ml',llls any t1e-:2 pnrtU10111", 11geney, or iustrnme1llnlity of tlw Uttik<l

3 Stntes.";

4 (2) by inserti11g after pnrngrnph (7) !hereof the 5 following 11ew p:1rngr:1ph:

G " ( 8) 'J..1he term 'irresolvable co1dli('t' mcn1ts, \\'ith 7 rt>:-;p{'d to ,my udion ttullwrizell, ftuH1(•t1, or l'anied out S by a }'cdcrnl 11gl'1h·y, a set of cireumst..HH.:es nuder !J whid1 completion of such aetjun wuukl (A)

jeopnr-10 <li:1,c the coutiuucd l'Xtstencc of 1u1 c1ahlllgen1 or thre. ,t-11 enc<l species, or (B) result in the dt•slnt<'tion of a 1,) . . 11. ,. ' " d

. ... cnt1c:n uau1tnt. ; an

1:~ ( 3) Ly rcnmn beriug the purngru.phs tltr rcof, iuclud-14 ing nny references tlwreto, as pnmgrupl1s ( 1) through 15 ( 18) , rcspecti vely.

lG SEC. 3. Section 7 of the Embngered Species Act of 17 1973 (1 G U .S.C. 153G) is amended to rea<l as fullo\\'s:

18 "lN'.l'ERA<lENCY COOPERA'l'JON

1 !) "SEC. 7. (ti) CoKSUL'L'-\.TION .-'l'!tc Secretary ::drnll 20 review other programs aJ111iuistercd by hi111 au<l uLiliie sneh 2 t programs i11 furt.lrnniace of the purposes of this ... \.ct. All other 22 Federal ageneies shall, in consultation with u.uJ with the

23 assistance of the Secretary, utilize their au tlioritics in furthor-2·1 auce of the purposes of this Act by carrying out programs for 25 the conservation of endangered species and threatened

1 cies listed pursuant to scctio11 4 of this Act. Ead1 :Fc«lerul 2 agency shall insure that any 11Ction authorized, fmulcd, or

3 carried out by such agency docs not jeopardize the contintt('d 4 existence of any encfa11gNcd s1weies or threatcued species or 5 result in the destrnetion or modification of habitat of such G species which is determined Ly the Secretary as appropriate 7 with the affected States, to Le critical, nulcss such a.geury is

8 granted an exemption for such action by the Committee pur-9 suant to subsection ( e) of this section.

10 " ( b) ( 1) Es'rABLISHl\rn~'l' <W Co:ul\Il'r'l'EE.-'l'lwre is

11 established a committee to Le kno_wn as the l~nd:111gt'rcd 12 Species Committee (hereinafter in this section referred to us

13 the 'Oounuittee') .

]4 " ( 2) The Committee shall review any application ~

nh-15 mitted to it pursuaut to subsection ( d) of this section and

16 determine in accordance with subsection ( e) of this section 17 whether or not to grant an exemption from the requirements

18 of subsection (a) of this scctio11 for the -action set forth iu

19 such application.

20 " ( 3) The Committee shall be composed of seven

mcm-21 hers as follows:

22 " (A) The Secretary of Agriculture.

23 "(B) TheSecreta.ryofthe Army.

24 " ( 0) The Chairman of the Council on Environ~

1 " ( D) The Atlmiuistrator of the l~n viro11mentnl

2 ProtecLion Agency.

:{ '' (E) Tho Secretary of tho Iutcrior.

4 "(F) Tho Secretary of the SrniLhsoni.111 Illslil11!io11.

f> " ( G) 'l'hc Sccrela.ry of ~frn,11sportalio11.

G "(-t) (A) 1\Iemhcrs o( the Corrnnittec shall rcc<·1,·o no

7 n.tldi!ionnl pay on acronnt. of their service ou lhc Committee.

s " ( B) '\Yhile a way from thl•ir homes or regnla.r pLwcs

D of lm::;inc:ss in the performance of seryices for the Conunit.tl'C, JO members of the Committee shall Le allow<"il travel expcu;:;es, Jl indncling prr diem in lil•n of ::;11Lxistr.11cc, in the snmc m1;11111r1· 12 as pt•rsons employed intermi l tenLly in the G 0Yrrnu1ent scrv -13 ice nre allowed cxpenst'S m1cl(·r s<.'dion !YiO:J of title 5 of the l·i Uuit.cJ. States Code.

15 "(5) (A) Except n~ lH·o,·iu<.·d iu ::iuhpnrngraph (Il) of 16 this pnragrnph, five members of Llrn Committee shall

con-17 stitute a quorum for the trunsaclion of any functio11 of the

18 Committee.

19 " ( B) rrhe Committee shall not g-rnnt any exemption

20 from the requirements of suLsection ( a) of this section to

21 the hciul of ,my Federal agl'ucy fur any action anthorizt•d, 22 fnndccl, or carri<.'d ont by snd1 agency nnh'ss fi,,c members

2~3 of tho Committee vote t·o grnnt snch cxPmpLion. The vote of 24 the Committee mrn1L<•rs slin.11 not be dl'lt'ga.trd to otlwr 2G persons.

1 "(C) 'l'hc Secrl'L.nry of tlie Iult'rior ::;lull be the Chair-2 m1111 of tho Committee.

3 "(]>) 'rlic Conuuit-tee slwll 111t•1:t.11t the enll of tl10 4 OJminuan of fhe of its members.

5 " ( U) 'l'he Committee ma.y n11poiut mid fix the pny of

6 such person11cl as it deems clesi ralilP.

7 " ( 7) 'l'he staII of the Commiltt'C m.a.y be appoi11tNl 8 without regard to the provisions of Litle 5, United States 9 Code, go,·e111ing appoiutmrnts in the compctitiYe sen·iec,

10 and nlily be paid without regnnl to the pro,·isions of chapter

11 51 antl sulid1apLer III of chnplcr 53 of such title r<>lating 12 to classification an<l Genc·ral Service pi-ty rntes, except thut 13 no individnal so appoi11teJ mny n•ceive pay in excess of the 1.J. annual rate of L,lsic pny in rITtd for grade GS-18 of the 15 Ucm'ntl Sehednk.

16

,i (

8) ~rho Committee may pr<H·11ro imuporary und intN-17 miUeHL servic<.•s lo the same extt•11t 1lS is ftllthorized by scc-18 tiou :HOU ( l,) of tit.le 5 of the United States Code, but at

19 rates for inclivjdlli1ls not to exceed tho daily equivalent of the 20 annual rnte of basic pay in efioct for grade GS-18 of the 21 General Schedule.

22 "(9) Upon riequcst of the Committee, the head of any 23 Fctlrrnl agPncy is aubhorizcd to th'tnil, on a reimLursablo 24 hnsi:-:, .111y of tltc 1wrsomwl of sLwh ng,·ncy to the Com111iUt>c 25 to assist iL iu rarryi11g ont its d11tit'R nudt•r this Rrr~·1011.1

1 " ( l O) ( A ) 'l'he Committee may for the purpose of tarry-2 ing out its duties und(1r this section hold snrh lwarings, ::.it nnd

3 a(·t nt sueh tii110s and plaer:-:, hike surh te!:itirno11y, and re(·civc 4 such <.n-id<·n<·<', as the Oomrnittee tll'cmi- advi:-al>le.

:; "(I~) ,vhcn so authorized by the Oounnittec, any

mem-G her or agent of the Commi88ion nrny take any action whieh

7 the Committee is authorized to take by this parograph. 8 "(0) Subject to the Privacy Art, the Committee may 9 secure directly from any Federal agency infonnntion

neces-10 sary to enable it to curry ont its duties under this section. 11 Upon request of the Chairmnn of the Committee, the head of 12 snch Federal agency shall inrnish such information to the 13 Committee.

J4 "(D) The Committee may use the U nitcd States mails

15 in the same manner and upon the same conditions ns other lG Federal -ngencies.

17 " (E) The Administrator of Gcnernl Sen·iecs shall

pro-18 vide to the Committee 011 a rcirnlntr:-<ahlc linsi~ sud1

adrninis-19 trativc support service::; ns tlic Committee mny request.

20 " ( 11) In carrying ont its

cu

ties under this section, the 21 Committee may promulgate and amend such rules,

regnla-22 tions, aud procedures, and issue and amend such orders as it 23 deems necessary.

1 suhpeuas reqniri11g the attcmlnucc and tcstimouy of witucsscs ~ and the produttiou of nny crideuc·e that .relnt cs to nuy mail er ~l \\'liid1 is the snl,jcd of nny re\'iew or tll'tt•n11i11n tiun l1y the

4 Cu1urnittce pm:,;unut to :-1dJ:,;l1dio11 (e) of this sedio11.

~11d1

5 attcu<l .. mcc of witncssc:,; and tl10 protlndion of criden('c may

G Lo required from any place ,,·ithiu the United State::; to nny

7 plaro of hcnring withjn the Unjtcd St!ltcs.

S " (B) Ir a person issued n subpena under subparagraph 9 (A) of this p,1ragraph refuses to obey snch suLpena or is 10 guilty of contumacy, any court of the United States within

11 the judicial district ,vithin which the hearing is rondnct<.)d or 12 within the judicial disLrict ,vithin which snch person is found

J 3 or resides or transacts bn~ine::::s 11wy ( upon npplicatiou Ly the

14 Con11nitlcc) order snch pcn;o11 to appear before ih<.1

Co11m1it-15 tee to produc.:e evidence or giYc tcsLi1110ny rdati11g to the 16 matter which is the suhjcct of the review or dctcrminntion l,y 17 the Committee pursuaut to subscdion ( c) of this scl'liou.

18 Any fn ilure to ohcy such order of the c:ourt may he punished 19 by such conrt as a contempt thereof.

20 '' ( c) The subpona of the Committee slrnll be served in

21 the manner proYided for subpena~ issued by a distrioL court of

22 the United States under Lhe l!'etlern.1 Hules of Civil Procc<lnrc 23 for the district courts of the Unite<l States.

1 be made un<ler this section urn,y be served in the jlu1icial tfo,-~ trict. wheroin tLe person rc11t1i rcu to be serve cl rcsiclt•s or may

3 be found.

4 "(13) "No persou sl111ll be cxcm;cd from allemliug aull

5 kslifying or from produeiug books, records, corn:sponde11ce,

G tlocuments, or other evidence in obcdieucc to a subpena, 011

7 tho ground tha,t the testimony or evidence required of ltim 8 rna.y tend to incriminalo him or subject him to a penalty for

D forfeitnre; but no individual shall Le prosecnted or subjected

10 to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any

trans-11 action, matter, or thing concerning which lm is compelled, 12 after having claimed his priYikge a.gainst self-incriminu,tion, 13 to testify or produce evidence, cxct'IJt that snch individual so 1.1 tl·stifying shall not be exempt from prosecution arnl pnuis

h-] 5 meat for perjury conunittcJ iu so testifying.

lG "(c) Hm:uL.\'L'IOJ\S.-Xot lafor t]i:111 11i1H'Ly ,lays after

17 tlw dafo of C'1tn.el11wnt of tliis :-.(•diou, tlw Cou1111ill<•e sltall lt; promulgate n·g·ulatious wl1ich sd forth Ilic form nntl uw.1111er

lU iu whieh applications by tho head::; of lfcdt'rnl u.grucics for

:.m rcYic.·w of actions by such agencies shall be suumilt.c'u. lo the

21 Conuni ttc.>e antl the i11fonna tiou to bo eou t.1 i ll('U iu sul'h n p pli-2:3 cu.tions. Such regulations shall require tlint information snb-2:J mi I trd in au application by tire hrad of any Federal agrncy ~-.I: with respect to any action of snch agency inr.lndc, hut not be 2G lirnileJ

to-1 " ( 1) a description of the consultation process

2 carrie<l ont pursuant to subsection (a) of this sPction

Le-3 tween the head of such Federal agency and the

Seen.i-4 tary of the Iuterior, acting through the Director of the

5 Uuikd Stal'es Ifish and ,vihllife Service; and

6 " ( 2) a statement describing why such actiou

can-7 uot be aHcred or mo(lifh,d to conform with the

rc<1nire-8 ment~ of subsection (a) of Lhis section.

D " ( d) Sun::HISSION OF ..\l'PLTCATIONS.-( 1) ~J..1lic head 10 of any Fe<leral agency may ::;nbrnit au ap1llication for rcYiew

11 of any action of such a.gency to the Committee if, in the

opin-12 ion of the hen,d of such agency, such agency has complied

13 with the requirements of subsection (a) of this section and 14 that an irrcsol vublc conflict ex i~ts with respect to such action.

15 Such application for review sl1n.ll be Stlbmittcd in acconln.nco

Hi witl1 the rrgnlations prom11lg11lcd by tho Committee under 17 su Lsl'ution ( c) of this section.

18 (:3) 'l'lw J)ircctor of tlw li'isl1 nml "~iMlifo Sl'nil'e ~ltn.11 19 propa.rc arnl suLmit to the Committee within thirty days of

.

20 any snLmission made under paragraph ( 1) of this

snbscc-21 tion his comments concerning such submission.

22 " ( e) ( 1) REVIEW AND DETER MIN .\.TION .-Not later

2:3 than one hundred nnd eighty <lays ufter tho Committee

1 to subsection ( d) of this section, the Committee shall review

~ such applioution nnd comments

and-3 "(A) detcrminr, with respect to the nctiou which

4 is the suhject of such applieatiou, whether or

not-5 "(i) the requirements of the consultation proc-6 css described in subsection (a) of this section have

7 been met; and

8 "(ii) an irresolvable conflict exists; and

9 " ( B) if it makes both determinations in clauses

10 (A) (i) and (ii), determine after notice and

oppor-11 tunity for public hearing whether or not to graut au

ex-12 emption from the requirements of subsection ( n) of this

13 section to the head of such Federal agency for sueh

14 action.

15 "(2) 'rhe Committee may only grant an exemption for

16 any action under subsection ( e) of this section

if

it deter-17 mines

that-18 "(A) there is no reasonable and prudent

alterna-19 tive to such action; nnd

20 " ( B) the project is of national or regional

signifi-21 cance; and

22 " ( C) the benefits of such action clearly outweigh

23 the benefits of conserving the species or its critical

hab-24 itat, and that such action is in the public interest.

•

1 final determination of the Committee under snbscction ( t')

'> of this section shall Le considered a mnjor :Federal net.ion

~3 1111der the terms of tlie Nnt-ionnl Euviro1tn1e11tal I'o]icy Act -:1. of 1!)6!) (4~ U.S.C. 4321 et S<'<J.). ;) 6 7 8 D 10 11 12 13 14 15 ]6 17 18 19 20 21 23 23 24

25

" ( g) 1\fl'rioATION .-In those instarnws where the 00111-mittcc determines that an exception is wa,rrnntcd under sub-section ( e) of this section the Committee must assnre that the action approved for such exemption incorporates all rea-sonable mit.igation measures deemed necessary by the Sec-retary to minimize adverse impacts upon the affected endan-gered or threatened species or its critical habitat including but not limited to live propagation, transplantation, and

hab-itat ncqnisition and improvement. Tilie Federal agency or

de-partment recci ving such exemption should include the costs of such mitigation mousnres within the overall costs of con-tinuing the proposed action and the Federal agency or de-partment shall transfor to the United States Fish nnd ,¥ild-life Service out of appropriations or other funds, such money as may be necessary to implement the conservation pro-grnms or mitigation measures required by this section for endangered or thrnatened species or their critical habitats.

"(h) ExcEP'l'ION ON TAICING.-Notwithstaudiug sec -tions 4 ( d) und 9 (a) of this Act or any regulations promul-gn ted pursuant to such sections, any action for which an e;xcmption is granted under subsec'tion ( e) of this section

1 shull uut Le consitlered a taking of any end,tngl·rcd or thrcat-2 cncd species with respect to any netivity which is ucc·cssury

3 to <:nrry out such action.

4: "(i) AU'fIIOinZA'l'JO;\.-'l'here is nntlwrizl'tl to 1,e ap-G proprialed to carry out this scetil>n not to cxccet1 $:?,500 ,-6 000 for fiscnl year ID7D, 11ol to exceed $2,500,000 for fiscal 7 year IDSO, and not to exceed $2,500,000 for fowal year 8 H)81.".

D SEO. 4. Section 15 of the Endangered Spt•tics Act uf

10 197j ( 16 U .S.C. 1542) is amended to read as follows: 11 "Except as authorized in scciions G and 7 of this Ad, 12 there are-authorized to l>e uppn>JJ

riuted-13 " ( 1) not to exceed $25,000,000 for the fiscal yl'nr 1.J: cudiug September 30, 1977, und the fiscal yonr endiug

15 Scvten1bcr 30, 1978, 11ot tu exceed $23,000,000 for tlw lo fist·al year endi.ug St·ptc111hcr 30, H)7!), 11ot to cx,·Pcd 17 $~G,OOO,OOO for the fi~1..:al year <•1uli11g 8q,temLer

:w,

18 J USO, aud uot to exceed $27,000,000 fur the 1ise:1l year

19 cu<liug September 30, 1981, to enable the Department ~O of the Interior to carry out such functions and responsi-21 bilities us it may hu ve been given under this Act; and 22 " ( 2) not to exceed $5,000,000 for the fiscal year ~3 en<ling September 30, 1977, and the fiscal yenr ending 24 Sept.l·mhcr 30, 1978, uot to excrcd $2,fi00,000 for tho 25 fiscnl

year ending

Septcmher 30, H)79, not to exceed

1 $3,000,000 for the fiscal ycnr ending September 30,

2 1980, und not to exceed $3,500,000 for the fiscal year

3 ending Scplembcr 30, 198 l, to 011ahlc the Depnrtmr.11t

4 of Commerce to carry 011t such functions mHl rr::;po11s i-5 hilities ns it rnny hrwc 1,rcn gi \'Oil nnder this Art.".