[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 18 (Tuesday, January 28, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H617-H623]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CONGRESSIONAL WESTERN CAUCUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2019, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Newhouse) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. NEWHOUSE. Madam Speaker, before I begin, I ask unanimous consent 
that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and 
extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the topic of 
my Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Washington?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. NEWHOUSE. Madam Speaker, I rise this afternoon to lead a Special 
Order alongside my colleagues from the Congressional Western Caucus to 
discuss important efforts to modernize one of our Nation's bedrock 
conservation laws that has sorely grown outdated and ineffective.
  The Endangered Species Act was signed into law 47 years ago to 
protect and revitalize species of endangered or threatened animals and 
wildlife, truly, a worthy goal.
  Unfortunately, the ESA has earned a recovery rate of only about 3 
percent, a staggering failure to protect the very species that it was 
intended to aid.

                              {time}  1745

  And while it has failed to safeguard those species, the law has been 
used as a political spearhead for frivolous litigation that threatens 
private property rights, public land use decisions, local communities, 
and American jobs.
  Fortunately, there are ongoing efforts in the people's House here and 
within the White House to update and modernize the Endangered Species 
Act to better protect species, all while treating States, property 
owners, and local stakeholders as partners rather than obstacles to 
species conservation.
  The Western Caucus recently unveiled a package of 18 bills introduced 
by members across the rural West and beyond to strengthen the ESA. 
These bills reflect our intention to bring this arcane law into the 
21st century, aiming to create a more comprehensive and streamlined 
approach to support species recovery while ensuring our communities are 
not burdened by overregulation and misleading data.
  This package includes my legislation, the Weigh Habitats Offsetting 
Locational Effects Act, to ensure all conservation measures are 
considered when Federal decisions that impact ESA-listed species are 
being made.
  By establishing a process that considers the totality of conservation 
efforts, we can incentivize private investment in species recovery, 
streamline Federal decisionmaking, and promote the comprehensive 
efforts of States, local communities, and Tribes.
  We should not tie our hands when it comes to species recovery. Using 
the best available science, considering all ongoing conservation 
measures, streamlining the process for listing decisions, and 
empowering State and local efforts creates a comprehensive approach to 
advance species recovery and fulfills the true intent of the Endangered 
Species Act.
  Madam Speaker, with this package of bills, you will hear more from 
many of my colleagues in the Western Caucus. We are taking a very 
important step toward truly strengthening the ESA.
  The Trump administration has also unveiled improvements to the 
implementation of ESA regulations developed to increase transparency 
and effectiveness of the law.
  Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt has rightly focused on 
updating the administration of ESA to target the areas where resources 
will do the most good, which, of course, are the direct, on-the-ground 
conservation measures.
  Much like legislation in the Western Caucus package that I and my 
colleagues have championed, the updates direct listing decisions to be 
based solely on the best science available as well as commercial 
information. Only when sound science, not politics, determine 
conservation measures can we truly begin to turn the tide to achieve 
successes under the ESA.
  The revisions also establish greater certainty for timely 
decisionmaking by Federal agencies and applicants, therefore providing 
streamlined actions and coordination for conservation efforts.
  With partners like President Trump, Interior Secretary Bernhardt, and 
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Director, Aurelia Skipwith, I believe we 
truly can reverse the abysmal track record currently set under the 
Endangered Species Act.
  Unfortunately, we are seeing efforts right here in the people's House 
to completely undermine and halt these important steps being taken by 
the administration. Our conversation this afternoon is quite timely, I 
believe, because tomorrow the lead Democrat in the House Natural 
Resources Committee is marking up legislation to thwart the 
administration's rule to

[[Page H618]]

bring more transparency and modernization into the ESA.
  Why anyone would be proud of the status quo in which only 3 percent 
of the species that have been listed under this law have recovered 
truly does baffle me. That 3 percent is quite the meager report card, 
so it is disappointing to see so many of my colleagues on the other 
side of the aisle advocate for the status quo. I would hope they join 
me and my colleagues who are working to strengthen this law in order to 
provide real results, not simply evoking political talking points aimed 
at appeasing litigious environmental groups.
  Madam Speaker, like far too many regulations that come from our 
Nation's Capitol, relying on top-down decisions from bureaucrats only 
serves to limit economic prosperity. These decisions have not only 
negatively impacted local communities, they have done close to nothing 
to recover and protect threatened animals and wildlife.
  I am looking forward to partnering with many of my colleagues from 
the Western Caucus this afternoon to describe our efforts here in the 
people's House to finally modernize the Endangered Species Act, 
something that is far overdue for our wildlife, for our environment, 
and for all of our communities.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Montana (Mr. Gianforte), 
my colleague and good friend, who is a true leader for conservation.
  Mr. GIANFORTE. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Washington for 
yielding. He has been a leader in our efforts to reform the Endangered 
Species Act and to return management of wolves back to the States.
  I also thank the chairman of the Western Caucus, the gentleman from 
Arizona (Mr. Gosar). Congressman Gosar has been instrumental in putting 
together this package of 17 bills to modernize the Endangered Species 
Act.
  I wish we were here tonight to celebrate the successful recovery of 
the grizzly bear in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem and elsewhere. 
The great news is the grizzly has recovered. Unfortunately, constant 
litigation has prevented the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from 
delisting the bear and returning management to the States.
  I brought Secretary Bernhardt of the Department of the Interior to 
meet with families, ranchers, and local leaders in Choteau, Montana, 
just last fall. Parents told us how they put bars on their windows 
because the grizzly bears were looking in their children's bedrooms. 
One mom told me of a grizzly bear that chased her into her home when 
the bear heard the sound of her child crying.

  At the point bears view children as a food source, we need to make 
changes. We have to put human safety ahead of the recovered grizzly 
bear.
  Misuse and abuse of the Endangered Species Act are also shutting down 
responsible forest management. Every forest service project in Montana 
seemingly ends up in court. The result: We are unable to manage our 
forests, improve wildlife habitat, and reduce the severity of 
wildfires.
  We must put commonsense guardrails on the Endangered Species Act. We 
must restore it to its original purpose of recovering species, not 
serving as a tool for frivolous lawsuits from extreme special interest 
groups that work to shut down critical projects in our State.
  To address these abuses of the ESA, I introduced the Less Imprecision 
in Species Treatment Act, or the LIST Act. The LIST Act helps modernize 
the ESA. The LIST Act empowers the Fish and Wildlife Service to 
promptly act on sound, established science to delist species that have 
recovered--and that should be our goal.
  The bill allows the Fish and Wildlife Service to reverse listings 
that were made due to bad data, and the bill prohibits abuses of the 
listing process. It will ban those who intentionally submit false 
information from submitting listing petitions for 10 years.
  These are commonsense reforms. I am proud to sponsor the LIST Act and 
support the rest of the package to better protect species, increase 
collaboration, and improve forest health.
  These pieces of legislation focus efforts on recovering species 
native to the U.S. They ensure that data used to make listing decisions 
is publicly available on the internet, and they promote voluntary 
wildlife conservation agreements and candidate conservation agreements 
with assurances.
  We can and must modernize the Endangered Species Act to work better, 
and the Western Caucus has offered a path forward.
  Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Washington State 
for his leadership on this.
  Mr. NEWHOUSE. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Gianforte; his legislation, 
the LIST Act, is exactly the kind of update we need. It is a 
straightforward, science-based tool that equips Fish and Wildlife with 
exactly the kind of ability to make decisions based on facts regarding 
listing decisions. I thank the gentleman for his leadership. He is a 
great spokesman for the State of Montana, and I appreciate his help 
here this evening.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith), my 
good friend.
  Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Newhouse for 
yielding and for organizing this Special Order. I thank him for 
presenting to this body this piece of legislation with all the reforms 
of the Endangered Species Act. It is something that is extremely 
important.
  Coming from the State of Missouri, we have folks who come from all 
over the country to hike our trails and to float our rivers. We are 
also home to the first Ozark National Scenic Riverway designated by a 
national State park in southern Missouri. So we have many people who 
come to southeast and south central Missouri to look at our nature, to 
see the native plants and the native species, which several of them are 
designated within the Endangered Species Act.
  Mr. Newhouse made a comment earlier about only 3 percent of the 
species come out of the Endangered Species Act, that they come back. By 
any other measure, that would be a complete failure, and that is why we 
need these reforms. That is why we need these revisions.
  Nowhere is the pain of the Endangered Species Act regulations, no 
greater place are those burdens felt than in local communities, and 
that is why we have the legislation, the EMPOWERS Act. And it 
mandates--not mandates the communities, it mandates the Federal 
Government to make sure that they get local input from communities in 
any kind of designation for an Endangered Species Act.
  It is common sense. It is an easy approach. It is something that I 
think we can all get behind since they know their area better.
  When you talk about the Endangered Species Act, this is something 
that is very personal to me, and it is personal to the people that I 
represent in southern Missouri.
  Just a few years ago, we had a young lady, 13 or 14 years old, who 
was floating with her family on the White River, and a very unfortunate 
event happened where she got caught up underneath a broken dam and she 
lost her life. That family outing turned into a day that they will 
never forget, a day that I won't forget.
  The big issue here is that dam shouldn't have been there, or it 
should have been rebuilt or replaced. You see, the dam was broken in a 
flood several years earlier but was never replaced and couldn't be torn 
out, even with the local community wanting to tear out the dam, the 
reason being because of an endangered species, one called the Ozark 
hellbender. It is a salamander. It was found in the White River near 
the dam, so that could be a resting place for this endangered species.
  Because of that, a young lady will never graduate high school. She 
will never go to college. She will never walk down the aisle.
  That is unacceptable. We are fortunate now that dam no longer exists, 
but it shouldn't have taken the loss of a life for Federal bureaucrats 
to get their act together to get that dam removed.
  So this is one example that is extremely personal to the people I 
represent and it is extremely personal to me why we need these reforms 
in the Endangered Species Act.

                              {time}  1800

  Government should not stand in the way of safety. An endangered 
species should not have more importance than a human life.

[[Page H619]]

  I am looking forward to these reforms. These reforms bring sanity 
back to the Endangered Species Act through commonsense reforms, 
Missouri commonsense reforms, reforms such as transparency of the 
rulemaking process.
  It helps put a stop to nuisance lawsuits from extreme environmental 
groups, using the best science available and, critically, bringing 
local communities into the decision-making process through my bill, the 
EMPOWERS Act.
  We all agree commonsense review is needed, but what we don't need is 
redundant and unnecessary paperwork that only serves to keep Washington 
bureaucrats employed.
  Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Newhouse for having me here tonight. He is 
doing the Lord's work, and I appreciate the honor of being here with 
him.
  Mr. NEWHOUSE. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Smith, and I appreciate him 
for sharing some really personal impacts of a law that--can anyone 
think of another law that has been in place for 47 years without any 
kind of improvements or changes? It doesn't happen very often.
  When we see impacts like that, that impact people's lives--they truly 
do--not only species that we are trying to protect but the people who 
are trying to live in concert with those species, it is something that 
really speaks, I think, to a lot of us. So I thank the gentleman very 
much for his bill.
  The EMPOWER Act, I think, will give a lot of much-needed change and 
improvement to this process so that States and local communities can 
have a say. We should have more positive results from the ESA and move 
forward from that abysmal 3 percent success rate that we should not be 
proud of.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tipton), 
my good friend.
  Mr. TIPTON. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Washington for 
yielding.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today to be able to highlight the importance of 
modernizing the Endangered Species Act.
  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service states that it implements the 
Endangered Species Act by working with others to conserve the 
ecosystems upon which the Endangered Species Act and threatened species 
depend upon and by developing and maintaining conservation programs for 
these species to improve their status to the point that the protection 
of the ESA is no longer necessary.
  I wholeheartedly agree with that mission, and we should do everything 
possible to be able to grant the Fish and Wildlife Service the ability 
to be able to better protect at-risk or endangered species. I believe 
this can be done by utilizing local and State officials in a greater 
capacity.
  Much of that legwork doesn't have to be done at the Federal level and 
can instead be taken over by landowners who are out on the ground every 
day, working their land for farming, ranching, and for other purposes. 
They know the challenges that the threatened and endangered species 
face. They are in a unique position to be able to provide input on the 
best conservation strategies.
  That is why, with this concept in mind, I have introduced the LOCAL 
Act, to be able to incorporate that hands-on local experience, to make 
sure that we are achieving what the ultimate goal is: to actually 
rehabilitate the species, to be able to take it off the endangered 
species list, and to be able to protect others from being added.
  In the past 46 years of the law's existence, there is one glaring 
statistic that points to reforms being necessary. Since the ESA was 
first signed into law, there have been over 1,660 species listed. Of 
those, only 54 species have fully recovered, or an underwhelming 3 
percent.
  These numbers speak volumes that a one-size-fits-all mentality does 
not always result in the way that it is intended to. Not only that, but 
the red tape, timeframe, and expense to be able to recover a species is 
astronomical.
  It is important to note that the goal of the ESA is to be able to 
keep species off the list in the first place, not keep them on for 
undetermined lengths of time.
  Madam Speaker, I am glad to join my colleagues in the Congressional 
Western Caucus to be able to highlight the necessity of ESA reform.
  In Colorado, we are proud to be able to have an abundance of 
wildlife, wildlife that resides on our public lands and, in many cases, 
in our own backyards. As residents of the State, we self-promote taking 
extra caution in our lands so that they may be preserved for future 
generations to enjoy.
  After almost 50 years of lackluster results of recovering endangered 
species, I believe it is time that we rethink our strategy and place 
more trust in the local stewards of the land, not just bureaucrats in 
Washington.
  If the goal is truly to recover species and to be able to protect 
species, let's make sure that we have programs in place that are going 
to achieve those results that we can all embrace.
  Mr. NEWHOUSE. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Tipton for his comments. I 
have to say that he just hit the nail right on the head.
  The ESA should encourage and incentivize voluntary conservation 
efforts. Species recovery, habitat recovery agreements, along with 
private property conservation grants and habitat conservation loan 
programs for State and local governments, will save money and resources 
while boosting conservation.
  The more we can do this locally, the more we can direct these 
measures, the more impact they will have on accomplishing what we want 
from this conserving of species.
  Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for this commonsense approach, 
this collaborative approach that he has taken, and for showing 
leadership on all of these crucial issues that are important to us in 
the West and all over the country, to the whole Nation.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Gosar), the 
leader of the Congressional Western Caucus, someone who has shown a 
true sense of commitment to make the ESA something that it should be, 
something that is successful that we can all be proud of.

  Mr. GOSAR. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Washington (Mr. 
Newhouse), my friend, for yielding.
  I would like to first look at the Special Order and give a big 
``thank you'' to Mr. Newhouse for his passion for solving these issues 
affecting the Western States.
  Madam Speaker, I have been honored to be the chairman of the 
Congressional Western Caucus for the past 3 years. In that time, the 
caucus has been the leading voice in the charge to modernize the 
decades-old Endangered Species Act.
  It is clear that the ESA simply isn't working the way it should. 
Statistics show that only 3 percent of species listed under the act 
have been delisted.
  Madam Speaker, if only 3 percent of the patients admitted to a 
hospital walked out healthy, that hospital would be shut down 
immediately. This rate of ineptitude is not sustainable.
  Back in September, I was proud to organize and chair a forum of 
Members of Congress and more than 30 stakeholders from across the 
country to hear firsthand testimonials about how the ESA is broken and 
to hear suggestions for modifications and reform to make it work 
better. These testimonies hit home, exposing the fact that the 
Endangered Species Act is in disrepair and in desperate need of reform.
  There have been several very positive developments in modernizing ESA 
in the last year alone. The administration, with the full support of 
the Congressional Western Caucus, proposed three new rules for the ESA.
  This new rulemaking is the first substantial amending of the act 
since the 1980s. These new rules make the ESA more transparent and 
efficient, and they act more in line with Congress' intent.
  In addition, I am excited about the Congressional Western Caucus' 
Endangered Species Act reform package for the 116th Congress, which 
currently comprises 17 separate pieces of legislation. This package 
includes six bills that were included in a similar package in the 115th 
Congress and three other bills from Western Caucus members offered in 
the 115th Congress. It seeks to codify the three regulations recently 
finalized by the Trump administration. It also includes six new bills. 
These bills protect private property rights, encourage voluntary 
conservation, improve forest health in order to

[[Page H620]]

preserve and protect species and local communities, increase multiple-
use activities, and protect critical infrastructure.
  The sponsoring Members of these bills come from nearly every 
geographic corner of the United States. These Members are taking 
constituent-driven initiatives and working to make them law.
  The need for a package like this is obvious. For example, forests are 
burning across the West on a yearly basis, in part because of ludicrous 
ESA restrictions.
  Similarly, I am sure everyone in this Chamber is familiar with some 
of my Democratic colleagues' sentiments that if we do not pass the 
Green New Deal, the world will end in 12 years. What they do not talk 
about is that there is no way that their already unrealistic renewable 
energy goals can be met without large-scale buildup of new power lines 
and other energy transmission infrastructure. Under current 
environmental regulations, including the ESA, building pieces of that 
very infrastructure could take at least 12 years, so I guess we are all 
doomed anyway.
  As I mentioned earlier, great steps have been taken by the Trump 
administration to bring the ESA into the 21st century. My Democratic 
colleagues, however, Madam Speaker, cannot help themselves and are 
preparing to fight these commonsense proposals instead of helping and 
getting onboard.
  Tomorrow, the Natural Resources Committee will mark the bill that 
will undo these landmark reforms to the ESA. This is, once again, a 
purely political act by this House, and it has no chance of going 
anywhere.
  Instead, I call on my Democratic colleagues to work with us to build 
on the new regulations from the Trump administration to get the ESA 
working again and better protect species.
  Once again, Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague, Mr. Newhouse, for 
allowing me to speak during this important Special Order today and for 
his leadership in highlighting the need to reform the Endangered 
Species Act.
  Mr. NEWHOUSE. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Gosar for being here 
tonight. He truly has been a leader in this effort to modernize the 
ESA. I thank him for his commitment to that.
  Legislation like he is proposing is going to be a huge step in 
improving the situation that we have in this country. So, I thank the 
gentleman for being here, again, very much.
  If I could just say, I think it will improve the predictability for 
endangered species listings and critical habitat designations, but it 
will also level the playing field by applying the same standards for 
listing as we do for delisting a species.
  If a species is recovered, we should celebrate that. It should be a 
happy day, something that is a good thing. That is our goal. Then we 
can remove it from the endangered list so that resources can then be 
directed toward species that still need to be protected and brought 
back. It just makes sense.
  I think the best example that comes to mind is the gray wolf. We 
should be celebrating that. They are back, and they are back strong. 
The science is clear about that. They are recovered, and it should be 
removed from the list so that we can better come to the aid of other 
endangered species.
  Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman very much for being here 
tonight.
  Mr. GOSAR. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for hosting this 
Special Order.
  Mr. NEWHOUSE. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California 
(Mr. LaMalfa), my good friend and fellow farmer.

  Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Newhouse for his leadership 
on this and for providing this time for us here this evening to be able 
to talk about this issue in a very real and constructive way.
  The ESA passed in 1973, I think with a pretty strong bipartisan 
effort, signed by President Nixon. It was very well intentioned at the 
time, as were some of the other protection measures that were put in 
place for air and water.
  As we saw the other day here with the changing of the WOTUS rule, the 
waters of the United States rule, over time, regulations can get out of 
control. They can be used for politics. They can be used for 
controlling people, for NIMBYism, and for no-growth and all that. I 
think that is really what these have expanded into.
  Our job is to provide oversight. Our job is to provide course 
corrections, to make sure the ship is on the course it was intended 40-
plus years ago.
  The package of reforms that are being talked about by my colleagues 
and the bills that are being offered aren't here to gut the Endangered 
Species Act or to eliminate species. It is to bring back that course 
correction that we are looking for.
  Though it was signed 40 years ago, it is our job to constantly 
monitor it and make sure it is working.
  We talked earlier about that 3 percent of species that were listed 
that have recovered. Now, 3 percent doesn't give you a very good 
batting average, I think, in any league, so that would be considered a 
failure.
  It is not because of a lack of effort or lack of spending. Certainly, 
in my own State of California, where species have been listed, we have 
issues with fish, with delta smelt, with salmon, and yet trillions of 
gallons of water are expended flushing the delta each year to find a 
lower result. Only two smelt have been caught in their check traps in 
the last five quarters, I think. That doesn't show success, but it 
shows a lot of damage to the people who need that water for other 
purposes as well.

                              {time}  1815

  So, let's find and focus on things that are going to be helpful to 
the species to be recovered and doesn't have to damage people and their 
livelihoods along the way.
  Reform is necessary to refocus the efforts of the Federal Government 
to help them recover more timely. One of the longtime listed in 
California, the valley elderberry longhorn beetle, was listed for 
approximately 40 years. And, yet, in 2012, the Fish and Wildlife 
Service was saying: Okay, we think it is time to pull that from the 
list. Let's do the work involved to remove it from the list because 
they had seen some success in that time period.
  An important part that we don't talk about enough is what is known as 
critical habitat. Critical habitat is any host plant or other vehicle 
for a possible endangered species that might take residence there.
  So the bush itself, the elderberry bush, any one of those, basically 
cannot be touched because it might be a potential habitat for a 
traveling elderberry beetle, although maybe none of them have ever been 
tracked in that particular area. Yet, every single bush--it is a 
battle. It is a fight.
  Now, why are we fighting over the bushes? It is because many of these 
grow in floodplain areas, on levees that need to be maintained, 
rebuilt, and upgraded. We have a lot of potential for flooding in 
northern California.
  Indeed, it wasn't so much potential as several times we have had bad 
floods result. And I would mention in the Yuba City-Marysville area, 
two very big floods in 1986 and 1997 that happened from crumbling 
levees.
  Why don't they maintain the levees?
  Because they can't. It is getting the permits and getting through the 
process and then being able to afford it by the time you have done that 
with all the requirements that are put on to maintain this habitat.
  To maintain these elderberry bushes, in this case, makes it cost 
prohibitive for these local levee districts to be able to do their job.
  So, what happens?
  Nothing happens.
  And so, in 1986 there was a giant flood, hundreds, thousands of homes 
in 1986. In 1997, it happened again. If the lesson wasn't learned, 11 
years later in 1997, it happened again in the Yuba City-Marysville 
area. And at this point, three lives were lost in addition to all of 
that other damage. Three lives were lost needlessly because we couldn't 
learn the lessons and get the permits done to get the levee work done.
  Why does that have to be?
  Because of roadblocks, because of endless lawsuits and slow-moving 
bureaucracies that won't issue the permits and help with the funding 
that needs to get done.
  So, finally, after all that was litigated, the government had to pay 
approximately $400 million in damages for the losses of life and 
property in these floods.
  It is pretty disgusting. But still, every single bush is litigated as 
a potential for critical habitat, even

[[Page H621]]

though there may not ever be one of the species you are talking about, 
in this case the valley elderberry longhorn beetle, that might 
potentially use it.
  So what happened with the delisting in 2012?
  Well, they finally gave up because of litigation and about how they 
do the sampling of the beetle; how they do the sampling of the habitat 
of the beetle.
  They said, Well, we can't tell if it is the valley elderberry 
longhorn beetle or the California elderberry longhorn beetle that might 
be making these boreholes in the plants and in the ground there.
  So they just gave up and said, We are not going to delist it anymore.
  That is similar to the situation my colleagues were talking about 
with the gray wolf. You can find plenty of gray wolves all over the 
upper Midwest and those other States. Yet, the standard seems to be in 
the Endangered Species Act, you have to find two or four remaining 
pairs in every single county, otherwise it is still listed as 
endangered in California or anywhere else.
  The rules have gone too far. We need caps on the attorney's fees that 
make it not such an incentive for environmental groups to use this as a 
way to get paid as well as the way to stop progress, stop things that 
people need.
  So I hope this package of bills at least can be a light and example 
of a direction we are trying to take back to reasonableness and how the 
Endangered Species Act is interpreted and used; not abused, not used as 
a weapon, weaponized against what we need for flood control to save 
peoples' lives or water storage.
  If we are going to play the climate-change game, then we need to be 
able to have more of these tools available to us to store water.
  It would certainly help if we had more input from our local 
stakeholders on this who actually know how to get a project done.
  Finally, the Marysville-Yuba City area I was talking about, using 
local districts and local efforts, they did some amazing work after a 
lot of roadblocks were overcome.
  So finally, the last bit--which is up to the Army Corps of 
Engineers--is going to be completed in that area of rebuilding the 
levees and putting the slurry wall in that is going to make them much 
less likely to erode and blow out. In 2020, the last piece is going to 
be done, if the Army Corps stays on their own unique schedule.
  This is many years after those two floods. So I commend the great 
work that has been done up to this point, but how many needless years 
of risk in these flood zones have to happen because we can't get out of 
our own way because of a permit or because of somebody's interpretation 
of a critical habitat for a creature that doesn't even show up to these 
critical habitat areas?
  I am tired of fighting the fight against people who don't seem to 
care how it affects the people who they govern.
  And so this is, I hope, a true effort that everybody can see to 
reform this act into something that actually works for people, works 
for the species, and gets a little better batting average than 3 
percent recovery rate, which is pathetic, especially for the trillions 
of gallons of water we lose to the delta each year, the risk we have 
for people in flood zones, the high cost, the loss of potential, and 
the anguish that all of that brings.

  Madam Speaker, I am glad we had this time to be able to share this 
with the public that is watching and our colleagues who are hopefully 
listening that we can reform the act and still have it pursue the goals 
of making the endangered species, that we talk about and care about, 
come off those lists because they are thriving once again.
  We have seen some successful examples. The bald eagles, which I can 
see outside the window of my home in my rice field there, that is 
pretty tremendous. But we have got to get our batting average up, 
especially when you look at what it is costing society in lost 
potential and, unfortunately, sometimes in lost lives.
  Madam Speaker, I appreciate Mr. Newhouse yielding me the time, and I 
appreciate his efforts on this.
  Mr. NEWHOUSE. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. LaMalfa and have to say that 
he has been a true leader in the Congressional Western Caucus and in 
the House of Representatives. It is awesome to be able to have someone 
contribute as much as the gentleman does that has the experience and 
the knowledge of how these laws impact real people.
  Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield to the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. Olson), my friend who actually serves on the important, powerful 
Committee on Energy and Commerce.
  Mr. OLSON. Madam Speaker, I want to thank my friend, Mr. Newhouse, 
for yielding. He is from my birth State of Washington, Fort Lewis, the 
old Madigan Army Medical Center in 1962. That was a long, long time 
ago.
  I thank the gentleman for coming to see the Petra Nova project in my 
district, the only viable carbon capture project in the whole world.
  I thank the gentleman on behalf of the Congressional Western Caucus 
for taking the time to see real solutions to real problems.
  My bride is a girl from Los Angeles, California--Hollywood. This is a 
big time back home for my Nancy: the Screen Actors Guild, the SAG 
Awards, which happened last weekend, and before that, the Golden 
Globes. The granddaddy of them all, the Oscars, is coming up this 
weekend.
  If the success of the ESA was a movie, it would get a 0.0 Rotten 
Tomatoes score.
  It would be a horror story that surpasses Hannibal Lecter, Freddy 
Krueger, and Jason. It would be a story of how misused ESA is a threat 
to our national security, global freedom, and guarantees more 
greenhouse gases plaguing our world.
  This story will be set in west Texas and southeast New Mexico. It 
stars an unremarkable creature named the dunes sagebrush lizard with 
best supporting actor played by a radical, antigrowth environmental 
activist.
  The lizard lives on top of the Permian Basin, the most powerful force 
America has had for peace and clean air in the past two decades. That 
happened because of reemergence of American oil and gas as the number 
one producer in the entire world. That is because of the hydraulic 
fracturing revolution that has swept our Nation and the world.
  The Permian Basin is leading the hydraulic fracturing revolution. 
Experts expect it to produce, by itself, 8 million barrels of oil per 
day in the next 4 years. That is up from its high, a mere 2 million 
barrels per day just 10 years ago.
  That means, one, American shale play will be a bigger producer of oil 
and gas than every country in the world. That means bigger than Saudi 
Arabia, bigger than Russia, bigger than OPEC.
  Two countries that emit the most greenhouse gases, they are China and 
India. Their only natural power source is coal. Right now, as I speak, 
megatons of American liquefied natural gas coming from the Permian 
Basin, the Bakken shale play in South Dakota, and Marcellus shale play 
here out East are going to China and India. Their air will be cleaner 
because of American energy.
  It is a win-win for the jobs here in America, exporting technology to 
our friends for cleaner air and cleaner air in the global context.
  You would think the environmental groups would love this, but, sadly, 
you would be wrong. For 10 years, people who have never been to the 
Permian Basin and can't spell Odessa if I spot them O-D-E-S-S, are 
pushing actively to have the dunes sagebrush lizard listed as an 
endangered species.
  In 2012, they pushed President Barack Obama hard to have that 
listing. President Obama said, No, it is unnecessary. The locals are 
taking care of the issue by themselves. President Obama was right. The 
species is still with us today. But that hasn't stopped these liberals 
from using the Endangered Species Act to support OPEC and Russian 
energy.
  They filed another lawsuit this past summer that is going through the 
courts. They know by doing that, they hinder growth because people are 
afraid to invest in the place that may have a pop-up endangered species 
that is not actually endangered.
  These groups follow someone from Hollywood who is not a real person. 
His name is Forrest Gump. His motto is: ``Stupid is as stupid does.''
  Enough of the stupidity. The ESA must focus on species, not political

[[Page H622]]

dreams: My bill, the Listing Reform Act, H.R. 5585, addresses this 
exact problem.
  I close by saying something we all know: ``Ye shall know the truth, 
and the truth shall set you free.''
  Mr. NEWHOUSE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments. 
I did have the privilege of visiting the gentleman's district and 
seeing firsthand the Parish Generating Station, a state-of-the-art 
carbon capture and sequestration facility. It was amazing and truly 
helped me understand the potential of the technology that we now have 
at our disposal.
  It is that kind of thing that will allow our Nation to truly lead in 
the American energy renaissance.

                              {time}  1830

  Unfortunately, all too often, some of the complications from the 
bureaucracy get in the way, and things like the ESA can prevent us from 
reaching our full potential.
  I thank the gentleman for his leadership and ensuring that the 
economic effects are something too that we need to take into account. I 
appreciate the gentleman's contributions here this evening.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the Fifth Congressional 
District of the great State of Arizona (Mr. Biggs).
  Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Washington (Mr. 
Newhouse). I appreciate his leadership and work on these very important 
issues.
  I am grateful to have a few minutes to speak and to address some of 
these issues that confront us as a nation and confront us in the 
Western part of this country, particularly in Arizona.
  Land management and species management are critically important 
issues everywhere in this country, especially so in the West. 
Nationwide, the Federal Government owns one out of every three acres. 
But when you go to the West, Madam Speaker, it is one out of every two 
acres. In fact, in my State of Arizona, only about 20 percent of the 
total land area is in private hands. Federal holdings actually exceed 
the size of the State of Virginia.
  Of course, Federal control over land means that bureaucrats in 
Washington, D.C., rather than knowledgeable State and local officials 
get to set the rules, and that certainly is the case when it comes to 
the Endangered Species Act.
  ESA listings, in theory, are meant to give short-term support for 
species recovery. They are not supposed to turn into permanent 
classifications. However, as we have been hearing a litany of stories 
in this Special Order tonight--and as everyone who participates in this 
country knows--the reality is far different. In fact, less than 2 
percent of species have been removed from the ESA list.
  Another significant problem is that current Fish and Wildlife Service 
policies make it far easier to list a new species than to examine the 
current list for potential removal.
  Excessive ESA listings place enormously costly requirements on 
private landowners and even State and local government agencies.
  For this reason, I introduced the LIST Act in the last Congress to 
greatly speed up the rate in which recovered species may be taken off 
the ESA list once the Secretary of the Interior receives objective data 
that the species in question has recovered. I am pleased to see that my 
good friend from Montana, Representative   Greg Gianforte, is 
championing the LIST Act this year. It is a great piece of legislation.
  Meanwhile, I am aiming to reform the ESA from an entirely different 
perspective with a new bill I introduced last week that I am calling 
the American Sovereignty and Species Protection Act.
  I would bet that most Americans would be surprised to learn that the 
ESA currently allows the U.S. Government to buy foreign land--that is 
right, non-U.S. land, land in foreign nations--to protect endangered 
species in other countries. While this may be a well-intentioned 
policy, it is tragically naive. Remember that just because a Department 
of the Interior official purchases foreign land with the hope that it 
will be used to protect an endangered species, it does not mean that a 
foreign government will see things in the same way. Because the U.S. 
does not have sovereignty over the internal affairs of other nations, 
and exerts especially little influence over the developing nations in 
which so many endangered species live, I would much rather see taxpayer 
dollars used to advance domestic priorities.
  The American Sovereignty and Species Protection Act, the LIST Act, 
and all the other ESA modernization efforts we have been talking about 
today in this packet of bills will help us to scale back bureaucratic 
overreach and still ensure that critically endangered species are 
protected. Both aims are achievable.
  As the Western Caucus' chief regulatory officer, I will work with 
great leaders like those who have spoken and like our host today,   Dan 
Newhouse from Washington, to ensure that our goals are met.
  Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Newhouse for his leadership and for 
yielding.
  Mr. NEWHOUSE. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman helping us 
here this evening as we get down to the final few minutes of our hour.
  While the thought behind foreign land acquisition in the ESA may have 
been well-intentioned, we need accountability, and we need to be able 
to determine whether results are being achieved.
  The point the gentleman made about investing in our efforts 
domestically makes a lot of sense where we can focus on a results-
driven approach using science and not emotion. So I thank my friend 
very much for that thought.
  In trying to accommodate schedules, if I may, I yield to the 
gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Norman) for a few thoughts that he 
has on this. He is a member of the Western Caucus. We are happy to 
adopt South Carolina as a Western State.
  Mr. NORMAN. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend for his leadership on 
this issue and for what he has done over a long period of time to help 
this all-important issue.
  Let me just echo what has already been said. I am a real estate 
developer. I have felt the effects of the bureaucratic overreach of the 
Endangered Species Act. I have seen where a heelsplitter snail can slow 
up projects for as many as 4 to 5 years.
  I have been watching from a distance, and now, finally, we have 
decided to take action. I rise in support of the long-overdue efforts 
to modernize the Endangered Species Act and specifically my bill that 
would help continue protections for species while, more importantly, 
protecting the rights of individual property owners. My bill, the 
Property Rights Protection Act, would do just that.

  Everyone agrees that it is important to protect these species that 
are threatened or endangered, but far too often, it comes at the 
expense of the constitutional rights of landowners.
  This vital piece of legislation would ensure that we achieve both 
goals. We protect species, but we also protect our rights as property 
owners.
  If the Federal Government deems land to be critical habitat because a 
species is endangered, then they ought to compensate the landowners, 
plain and simple. I believe that there needs to be a more equitable way 
to treat property owners who far too often find themselves in this type 
of situation. This legislation will be an excellent step in that 
direction.
  Many landowners cannot afford the litigation costs that so many of 
these groups put before the landowners to get the rights that they 
deserve.
  I really hope that all of my colleagues can come together to support 
this important piece of legislation to protect our rights and species 
and, more importantly, come together to update an antiquated law that 
is the Endangered Species Act that has been in need of modernization 
for far too long.
  Mr. NEWHOUSE. Madam Speaker, I appreciate Mr. Norman's thoughts. We 
should be doing everything in our power to incentivize landowners to be 
active participants in conservation efforts for threatened and 
endangered species.
  Without oversight over whether current restrictions set by the 
Federal Government would actually help these species, and with very 
little recourse available for the property owner, this legislation 
takes a very important step forward to ensure there is a collaborative 
approach.

[[Page H623]]

  Madam Speaker, I yield to the good gentleman from the First 
Congressional District of the great State of Texas (Mr. Gohmert).
  Mr. GOHMERT. Madam Speaker, I appreciate my friend from Washington, 
who is a great Member of Congress and who knows exactly some of the 
damage that the Endangered Species Act has done. We certainly have 
experienced that in Texas.
  We did, in the House, modernize the Endangered Species Act in my 
first term, 2005 and 2006, and it was quite an education to me because 
I thought the Endangered Species Act was all about trying to save 
endangered species. But I got an education. I found out that was not 
what the Endangered Species Act was about because if it was just about 
saving endangered species, we would have saved a lot more than 1, 2, 
and 3 percent of the endangered species.
  One of the things that we did in that bill that I thought was common 
sense because I know there are landowners--I hear about these 
situations--and that is what they rely on to feed their families. There 
is a doctrine that is not an official doctrine known as shoot, shovel, 
and shut up. Somebody sees an endangered species, and they are scared 
if somebody sees it, then the use of their land will be taken away, and 
they will no longer be able to provide for their family.
  Even though I believe that it is a taking anticipated under the Bill 
of Rights, which requires remuneration, that is not what the courts 
have found. But in that modernized bill back in my first term, we said: 
Look, if you are going to tell a landowner he can't use his land, or 
she can't use her land, then you ought to pay them because you have 
taken away the use.
  I was shocked to find that there were people on the other side of the 
aisle who said: No, no, no. We don't want that in there.
  But that will save species; people will be more willing to volunteer 
that they found an endangered species.
  The answer was: Well, they shouldn't even have that land anyway.
  I appreciate the efforts of the gentleman from Washington. Hopefully, 
we can work together because we do indeed care about endangered 
species, and modernization will allow us to save a whole lot more than 
1, 2, or 3 percent.
  Mr. NEWHOUSE. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Gohmert. The gentleman knows 
full well from his time serving on the House Natural Resources 
Committee just how ineffective the current ESA is performing. I thank 
the gentleman for his leadership and for spearheading the SAVES Act, as 
he described, to enhance our conservation measures for endangered 
species.
  Madam Speaker, you just heard from a variety of members from the 
Congressional Western Caucus who represent not only rural districts in 
the West but also communities across the Nation, from Montana to 
Missouri, from South Carolina to California. Their message was clear: 
We must modernize the ESA. Doing so will be good for the species. It 
will be good for communities. It will be good for taxpayers. And it 
will be good for our economy.

  A few Members were unable to join us tonight. I want to list some of 
the bills that they are sponsoring: Congresswoman Cheney's Increasing 
Access and Multiple Use Act, Congressman Westerman's PETITION Act, 
Congressman   Mike Johnson's Critical Habitat Improvement Act, 
Congressman Young's LAMP Act, Congressman Stewart's Critical 
Infrastructure Act, Congressman Calvert's FISH Act, Congressman 
McClintock's Endangered Species Transparency and Reasonableness Act, 
and Congressman Buck's Threatened Species Protection Improvement Act.
  All of these bills are critical for a comprehensive update to ensure 
the ESA accomplishes what it was designed to do: recover threatened and 
endangered animals and wildlife.
  This package is supported by dozens of organizations, including the 
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the U.S. Chamber of 
Commerce, the National Association of Counties, the Family Farm 
Alliance, the National Endangered Species Act Reform Coalition, the 
American General Contractors Association, the Independent Petroleum 
Association of America, the National Association of Home Builders, the 
Western Energy Alliance, the United Snowmobile Association, the 
National Mining Association, American Agri-Women, and the National 
Cotton Council, amongst many, many, many others.
  As we continue to push for reforms to the ESA in the people's House 
and work with the administration and the White House to support the 
Department of the Interior's updated implementation regulations, I hope 
that my colleagues will join us in recognizing that we can do so much 
better to recover our Nation's magnificent flora and fauna.
  The Western Caucus will remain at the forefront of this effort. A 3 
percent success rate is failing our wildlife across this beautiful 
country. We must do better.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________