[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4558 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4558

   To authorize the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to seek 
  compensation for injuries to trust resources and use those funds to 
   restore, replace, or acquire equivalent resources, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 12, 2016

 Mr. Thompson of California (for himself, Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Costello 
 of Pennsylvania, Mr. Kind, Mr. LoBiondo, and Mr. Wittman) introduced 
  the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
 Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Appropriations, for a 
 period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To authorize the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to seek 
  compensation for injuries to trust resources and use those funds to 
   restore, replace, or acquire equivalent resources, 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 ``United States Fish and Wildlife 
Service Resource Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Damages.--The term ``damages'' means--
                    (A) compensation for--
                            (i)(I) the cost of replacing, restoring, or 
                        acquiring the equivalent of a system resource; 
                        and
                            (II) the value of any significant loss of 
                        use of a system resource, pending--
                                    (aa) restoration or replacement of 
                                the system resource; or
                                    (bb) the acquisition of an 
                                equivalent resource; or
                            (ii) the value of a system resource, if the 
                        system resource cannot be replaced or restored; 
                        and
                    (B) the cost of any relevant damage assessment 
                carried out pursuant to section 4(c).
            (2) Response cost.--The term ``response cost'' means the 
        cost of any action carried out by the Secretary--
                    (A) to prevent, minimize, or abate destruction or 
                loss of, or injury to, a system resource;
                    (B) to abate or minimize the imminent risk of such 
                destruction, loss, or injury; or
                    (C) to monitor the ongoing effects of any incident 
                causing such destruction, loss, or injury.
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior.
            (4) System resource.--The term ``system resource'' means 
        any living, nonliving, historical, cultural, or archeological 
        resource that is located within the boundaries of--
                    (A) a unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System;
                    (B) a unit of the National Fish Hatchery System; or
                    (C) any other land managed by the United States 
                Fish and Wildlife Service, including any land managed 
                cooperatively with any other Federal or State agency.

SEC. 3. LIABILITY.

    (a) In General.--Subject to subsection (c), any individual or 
entity that destroys, causes the loss of, or injures any system 
resource, or that causes the Secretary to carry out any action to 
prevent, minimize, or abate destruction or loss of, or injuries or risk 
to, any system resource, shall be liable to the United States for any 
response costs or damages resulting from the destruction, loss, or 
injury.
    (b) Liability in Rem.--Any instrumentality (including a vessel, 
vehicle, aircraft, or other equipment or mechanism) that destroys, 
causes the loss of, or injures any system resource, or that causes the 
Secretary to carry out any action to prevent, minimize, or abate 
destruction or loss of, or injury or risk to, a system resource shall 
be liable in rem to the United States for any response costs or damages 
resulting from the destruction, loss, or injury, to the same extent 
that an individual or entity is liable under subsection (a).
    (c) Defenses.--An individual or entity shall not be liable under 
this section, if the individual or entity can establish that--
            (1) the destruction or loss of, or injury to, the system 
        resource was caused solely by an act of God or an act of war; 
        or
            (2)(A) the individual or entity exercised due care; and
            (B) the destruction or loss of, or injury to, the system 
        resource was caused solely by an act or omission of a third 
        party, other than an employee or agent of the individual or 
        entity.
    (d) Scope.--The liability established by this section shall be in 
addition to any other liability arising under Federal or State law.

SEC. 4. ACTIONS.

    (a) Civil Actions for Response Costs and Damages.--The Attorney 
General, on request of the Secretary, may commence a civil action in 
the United States district court of appropriate jurisdiction against 
any individual, entity, or instrumentality that may be liable under 
section 3 for response costs or damages.
    (b) Administrative Actions for Response Costs and Damages.--
            (1) Action by secretary.--
                    (A) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the 
                Secretary, after making a finding described in 
                subparagraph (B), may consider, compromise, and settle 
                a claim for response costs and damages if the claim has 
                not been referred to the Attorney General under 
                subsection (a).
                    (B) Description of findings.--A finding referred to 
                in subparagraph (A) is a finding that--
                            (i) destruction or loss of, or injury to, a 
                        system resource has occurred; or
                            (ii) such destruction, loss, or injury 
                        would occur absent an action by the Secretary 
                        to prevent, minimize, or abate the destruction, 
                        loss, or injury.
            (2) Requirement.--In any case in which the total amount to 
        be recovered in a civil action under subsection (a) may exceed 
        $500,000 (excluding interest), a claim may be compromised and 
        settled under paragraph (1) only with the prior written 
        approval of the Attorney General.
    (c) Response Actions, Assessments of Damages, and Injunctive 
Relief.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary may carry out all necessary 
        actions (including making a request to the Attorney General to 
        seek injunctive relief)--
                    (A) to prevent, minimize, or abate destruction or 
                loss of, or injury to, a system resource; or
                    (B) to abate or minimize the imminent risk of such 
                destruction, loss, or injury.
            (2) Assessment and monitoring.--
                    (A) In general.--The Secretary may assess and 
                monitor the destruction or loss of, or injury to, any 
                system resource for purposes of paragraph (1).
                    (B) Judicial review.--Any determination or 
                assessment of damage to a system resource carried out 
                under subparagraph (A) shall be subject to judicial 
                review under subchapter II of chapter 5, and chapter 7, 
                of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the 
                ``Administrative Procedure Act''), on the basis of the 
                administrative record developed by the Secretary.

SEC. 5. USE OF RECOVERED AMOUNTS.

    (a) In General.--An amount equal to the total amount of the 
response costs and damages recovered by the Secretary under this Act 
and any amounts recovered by the Federal Government under any provision 
of Federal, State, or local law (including regulations) or otherwise as 
a result of the destruction or loss of, or injury to, any system 
resource shall be made available to the Secretary, without further 
appropriation, for use in accordance with subsection (b).
    (b) Use.--The Secretary may use amounts made available under 
subsection (a) only, in accordance with applicable law--
            (1) to reimburse response costs and damage assessments 
        carried out pursuant to this Act by the Secretary or such other 
        Federal agency as the Secretary determines to be appropriate;
            (2) to restore, replace, or acquire the equivalent of a 
        system resource that was destroyed, lost, or injured; or
            (3) to monitor and study system resources.

SEC. 6. DONATIONS.

    (a) In General.--In addition to any other authority to accept 
donations, the Secretary may accept donations of money or services for 
expenditure or use to meet expected, immediate, or ongoing response 
costs and damages.
    (b) Timing.--A donation described in subsection (a) may be expended 
or used at any time after acceptance of the donation, without further 
action by Congress.

SEC. 7. TRANSFER OF FUNDS FROM NATURAL RESOURCE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT AND 
              RESTORATION FUND.

    The matter under the heading ``Natural resource damage assessment 
and restoration fund'' under the heading ``United states fish and 
wildlife service'' of title I of the Department of the Interior and 
Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1994 (43 U.S.C. 1474b-1), is 
amended by striking ``Provided, That'' and all that follows through 
``activities.'' and inserting the following: ``Provided, That 
notwithstanding any other provision of law, any amounts appropriated or 
credited during fiscal year 1992 or any fiscal year thereafter may be 
transferred to any account (including through a payment to any Federal 
or non-Federal trustee) to carry out a negotiated legal settlement or 
other legal action for a restoration activity under the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (42 U.S.C. 9601 
et seq.), the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et 
seq.), the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.), the Act 
of July 27, 1990 (16 U.S.C. 19jj et seq.), or the United States Fish 
and Wildlife Service Resource Protection Act, or for any damage 
assessment activity: Provided further, That sums provided by any 
individual or entity before or after the date of enactment of this Act 
shall remain available until expended and shall not be limited to 
monetary payments, but may include stocks, bonds, or other personal or 
real property, which may be retained, liquidated, or otherwise disposed 
of by the Secretary for the restoration of injured resources or to 
conduct any new damage assessment activity.''.
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