[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 724 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 724

To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to temporarily prohibit the 
 Secretary of the Interior from considering global climate change as a 
    natural or manmade factor in determining whether a species is a 
       threatened or endangered species, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 26, 2009

  Mr. Barrasso (for himself and Mr. Vitter) introduced the following 
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment 
                            and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to temporarily prohibit the 
 Secretary of the Interior from considering global climate change as a 
    natural or manmade factor in determining whether a species is a 
       threatened or endangered species, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. REQUIREMENT RELATING TO GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) without the cooperation of other countries, the United 
        States cannot reverse global climate change to ensure the 
        recovery of species that are listed as threatened or endangered 
        species on the list of threatened species or the list of 
        endangered species published under section 4(c)(1) of the 
        Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(c)(1)); and
            (2) the ratification of an international agreement by each 
        major carbon emitting country is the likely path towards--
                    (A) reversing global climate change; and
                    (B) ensuring through applicable laws (including 
                regulations) the recovery of species described in 
                paragraph (1) that are affected by global climate 
                change.
    (b) Requirement Relating to Global Climate Change.--Section 4(a) of 
the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)(E), by inserting ``subject to 
        paragraph (4),'' before ``other natural''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4) Requirement relating to global climate change.--
                    ``(A) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
                            ``(i) Administrator.--The term 
                        `Administrator' means the Administrator of the 
                        Environmental Protection Agency.
                            ``(ii) Global climate change.--The term 
                        `global climate change' includes any 
                        significant increase in--
                                    ``(I) global air temperatures; or
                                    ``(II) global sea levels.
                            ``(iii) Greenhouse gas.--The term 
                        `greenhouse gas' has the meaning given the term 
                        in section 1610(a) of the Energy Policy Act of 
                        1992 (42 U.S.C. 13389(a)).
                            ``(iv) Major emitter of greenhouse gas.--
                                    ``(I) In general.--The term `major 
                                emitter of greenhouse gas' means any 
                                country that the Administrator 
                                determines to be a major emitter of 
                                greenhouse gas.
                                    ``(II) Inclusions.--The term `major 
                                emitter of greenhouse gas' includes--
                                            ``(aa) China;
                                            ``(bb) India; and
                                            ``(cc) the United States.
                    ``(B) Duties of secretary.--
                            ``(i) Ratification of international 
                        agreement.--In determining whether any species 
                        is a threatened or endangered species under 
                        paragraph (1), the Secretary shall not consider 
                        global climate change as a natural or manmade 
                        factor under paragraph (1)(E) until the date on 
                        which the Administrator notifies the Secretary 
                        that each major emitter of greenhouse gas has 
                        ratified an international agreement to reduce 
                        the quantity of greenhouse gases emitted from 
                        each major emitter of greenhouse gas.
                            ``(ii) Compliance with international 
                        agreement.--
                                    ``(I) Annual determinations.--The 
                                Secretary shall, on an annual basis, 
                                request the Administrator to determine 
                                whether each major emitter of 
                                greenhouse gas is in compliance with 
                                the international agreement described 
                                in clause (i).
                                    ``(II) Effects.--If the 
                                Administrator determines that any major 
                                emitter of greenhouse gas is not in 
                                compliance with the international 
                                agreement described in clause (i) for 
                                the period covered by the 
                                determination--
                                            ``(aa) the Secretary shall 
                                        not consider global climate 
                                        change as a natural or manmade 
                                        factor under paragraph (1)(E) 
                                        until the date on which the 
                                        Administrator notifies the 
                                        Secretary that each major 
                                        emitter of greenhouse gas is in 
                                        compliance with the 
                                        international agreement; and
                                            ``(bb) each species that 
                                        the Secretary has determined to 
                                        be a threatened or endangered 
                                        species under paragraph (1) as 
                                        the result of global climate 
                                        change shall not be considered 
                                        to be a threatened or 
                                        endangered species until the 
                                        date described in item (aa).''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (b) take 
effect on January 1, 2006.
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