[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2677 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2677

 To reverse the listing by the Secretary of the Interior of the lesser 
 prairie chicken as a threatened species under the Endangered Species 
Act of 1973, to prevent further consideration of listing of the species 
 as a threatened species or endangered species under that Act pending 
    implementation of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife 
Agencies' Lesser Prairie-Chicken Range-Wide Conservation Plan and other 
             conservation measures, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 29, 2014

 Mr. Inhofe (for himself, Mr. Coburn, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Moran, 
 and Mr. Roberts) introduced the following bill; which was read twice 
     and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To reverse the listing by the Secretary of the Interior of the lesser 
 prairie chicken as a threatened species under the Endangered Species 
Act of 1973, to prevent further consideration of listing of the species 
 as a threatened species or endangered species under that Act pending 
    implementation of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife 
Agencies' Lesser Prairie-Chicken Range-Wide Conservation Plan and other 
             conservation measures, 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. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Lesser Prairie Chicken Voluntary 
Recovery Act of 2014''.

SEC. 2. IMPLEMENTATION OF LESSER PRAIRIE-CHICKEN RANGE-WIDE 
              CONSERVATION PLAN AND OTHER CONSERVATION MEASURES.

    (a)  Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Candidate conservation agreements.--The terms 
        ``Candidate Conservation Agreement'' and ``Candidate and 
        Conservation Agreement With Assurances'' have the meaning given 
        those terms in--
                    (A) the announcement of the Department of the 
                Interior and the Department of Commerce entitled 
                ``Announcement of Final Policy for Candidate 
                Conservation Agreements with Assurances'' (64 Fed. Reg. 
                32726 (June 17, 1999)); and
                    (B) sections 17.22(d) and 17.32(d) of title 50, 
                Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the date 
                of enactment of this Act).
            (2) Range-wide plan.--The term ``Range-Wide Plan'' means 
        the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Range-Wide Conservation Plan of the 
        Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, as endorsed 
        by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service on October 23, 
        2013, and published for comment on January 29, 2014 (79 Fed. 
        Reg. 4652).
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior.
    (b) Prohibition on Treatment as Threatened or Endangered Species.--
            (1) In general.--Notwithstanding any prior action by the 
        Secretary, the lesser prairie chicken shall not be treated as a 
        threatened species or endangered species under the Endangered 
        Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) before January 31, 
        2020.
            (2) Prohibition on proposal.--Beginning on January 31, 
        2020, the lesser prairie chicken may not be treated as a 
        threatened species or endangered species under the Endangered 
        Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) unless the 
        Secretary publishes a determination, based on the totality of 
        the scientific evidence, that conservation (as that term is 
        used in that Act) under the Range-Wide Plan and the agreements, 
        programs, and efforts referred to in subsection (c) have not 
        achieved the conservation goals established by the Range-Wide 
        Plan.
    (c) Monitoring of Progress of Conservation Programs.--The Secretary 
shall monitor and annually submit to Congress a report on progress in 
conservation of the lesser prairie chicken under the Range-Wide Plan 
and all related--
            (1) Candidate Conservation Agreements and Candidate and 
        Conservation Agreements With Assurances;
            (2) other Federal conservation programs administered by the 
        United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land 
        Management, and the Department of Agriculture;
            (3) State conservation programs; and
            (4) private conservation efforts.
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