[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 119 (Wednesday, July 12, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2377-S2378]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 175. Mr. LEE submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him 
to the bill S. 2226, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2024 
for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the appropriate place in subtitle G of title X, insert 
     the following:

     SEC. 10__. GREATER SAGE-GROUSE PROTECTION AND RECOVERY; 
                   LESSER-PRAIRIE CHICKEN CONSERVATION; AMERICAN 
                   BURYING BEETLE LISTING STATUS.

       (a) Greater Sage-grouse Protection and Recovery.--
       (1) Purposes.--The purposes of this subsection are--
       (A) to facilitate implementation of State management plans 
     over a period of multiple, consecutive greater sage-grouse 
     life cycles; and
       (B) to demonstrate the efficacy of the State management 
     plans for the protection and recovery of the greater sage-
     grouse.
       (2) Definitions.--In this subsection:
       (A) Federal resource management plan.--The term ``Federal 
     resource management plan'' means--
       (i) a land use plan prepared by the Bureau of Land 
     Management for public land pursuant to section 202 of the 
     Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 
     1712); and
       (ii) a land and resource management plan prepared by the 
     Forest Service for National Forest System land pursuant to 
     section 6 of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources 
     Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1604).
       (B) Greater sage-grouse.--The term ``greater sage-grouse'' 
     means a sage-grouse of the species Centrocercus urophasianus.
       (C) State management plan.--The term ``State management 
     plan'' means a State-approved plan for the protection and 
     recovery of the greater sage-grouse.
       (3) Protection and recovery of greater sage-grouse.--
       (A) Endangered species act of 1973 findings.--
       (i) Delay required.--The Secretary of the Interior may not 
     modify or invalidate the finding of the Director of the 
     United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced in the 
     proposed rule entitled ``Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 
     and Plants; 12-Month Finding on a Petition to List Greater 
     Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) as an Endangered or 
     Threatened Species'' (80 Fed. Reg. 59858 (October 2, 2015)) 
     during the 10-year period beginning on the date of enactment 
     of this Act.
       (ii) Effect on other laws.--The delay required under clause 
     (i) is and shall remain effective without regard to any other 
     statute, regulation, court order, legal settlement, or any 
     other provision of law or in equity.
       (iii) Effect on conservation status.--The conservation 
     status of the greater sage-grouse shall be considered not to 
     warrant listing of the greater sage-grouse as an endangered 
     species or threatened species under the Endangered Species 
     Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) during the 10-year 
     period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act.
       (B) Coordination of federal land management and state 
     conservation and management plans.--
       (i) Prohibition on withdrawal and modification of federal 
     resource management plans.--On notification by the Governor 
     of a State with a State management plan, the Secretary of the 
     Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture may not make, 
     modify, or extend any withdrawal or amend or otherwise modify 
     any Federal resource management plan applicable to Federal 
     land in the State in a manner inconsistent with the State 
     management plan for, as specified by the Governor in the 
     notification, a period of not fewer than 5 years beginning on 
     the date of the notification.
       (ii) Retroactive effect.--In the case of any State that 
     provides notification under clause (i), if any withdrawal was 
     made, modified, or extended or any amendment or modification 
     of a Federal resource management plan applicable to Federal 
     land in the State was issued after June 1, 2014, and the 
     withdrawal, amendment, or modification altered the management 
     of the greater sage-grouse or the habitat of the greater 
     sage-grouse--

       (I) implementation and operation of the withdrawal, 
     amendment, or modification shall be stayed to the extent that 
     the withdrawal, amendment, or modification is inconsistent 
     with the State management plan; and
       (II) the Federal resource management plan, as in effect 
     immediately before the withdrawal, amendment, or 
     modification, shall apply instead with respect to the 
     management of the greater sage-grouse and the habitat of the 
     greater sage-grouse, to the extent consistent with the State 
     management plan.

       (iii) Determination of inconsistency.--Any disagreement 
     regarding whether a withdrawal, amendment, or other 
     modification of a Federal resource management plan is 
     inconsistent with a State management plan shall be resolved 
     by the Governor of the affected State.
       (C) Relation to national environmental policy act of 
     1969.--With regard to any major Federal action consistent 
     with a State management plan, any findings, analyses, or 
     conclusions regarding the greater sage-grouse and the habitat 
     of the greater sage-grouse under section 102(2)(C) of the 
     National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 
     4332(2)(C)) shall not have a preclusive effect on the 
     approval or implementation of the major Federal action in 
     that State.
       (D) Reporting requirement.--Not later than 1 year after the 
     date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter 
     through the date that is 10 years after that date of 
     enactment, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 
     Agriculture shall jointly submit to the Committee on Energy 
     and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on 
     Natural Resources of the House of Representatives a report 
     describing the implementation by the Secretaries of, and the 
     effectiveness of, systems to monitor the status of greater 
     sage-grouse on Federal land under the jurisdiction of the 
     Secretaries.
       (E) Judicial review.--Notwithstanding any other provision 
     of law (including regulations), this paragraph, including any 
     determination made under subparagraph (B)(iii), shall not be 
     subject to judicial review.
       (b) Implementation of Lesser Prairie-chicken Range-wide 
     Conservation Plan and Other Conservation Measures.--
       (1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
       (A) Candidate conservation agreement; candidate 
     conservation agreement with assurances.--The terms 
     ``Candidate Conservation Agreement'' and ``Candidate 
     Conservation Agreement with Assurances'' have the meanings 
     given those terms in 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)).
       (B) Lesser prairie-chicken.--The term ``lesser prairie-
     chicken'' means a prairie-chicken of the species Tympanuchus 
     pallidicinctus.
       (C) 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 
     described in the proposed rule of the United States Fish and 
     Wildlife Service entitled ``Endangered and Threatened 
     Wildlife and Plants; Listing the Lesser-Prairie Chicken as a 
     Threatened Species with a Special Rule'' (79 Fed. Reg. 4652 
     (January 29, 2014)).
       (D) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of the Interior.
       (2) Prohibition on treatment as threatened or endangered 
     species.--
       (A) In general.--Notwithstanding any prior action by the 
     Secretary, the lesser prairie-chicken shall not be treated as 
     a threatened species or an endangered species under the 
     Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) 
     before the date that is 10

[[Page S2378]]

     years after the date of enactment of this Act.
       (B) Prohibition on proposal.--Effective beginning on the 
     date that is 10 years after the date of enactment of this 
     Act, the lesser prairie-chicken may not be treated as a 
     threatened species or an 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 described in paragraph 
     (3) have not achieved the conservation goals established by 
     the Range-Wide Plan.
       (3) Monitoring of progress of conservation programs.--The 
     Secretary shall monitor and annually submit to Congress a 
     report on the conservation progress of the lesser prairie-
     chicken under the Range-Wide Plan and all related--
       (A) Candidate Conservation Agreements and Candidate 
     Conservation Agreements with Assurances;
       (B) Federal conservation programs administered by the 
     Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the 
     Director of the Bureau of Land Management, and the Secretary 
     of Agriculture;
       (C) State conservation programs; and
       (D) private conservation efforts.
       (c) Removal of Endangered Species Status for American 
     Burying Beetle.--Notwithstanding the final rule of the United 
     States Fish and Wildlife Service entitled ``Endangered and 
     Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Determination of Endangered 
     Status for the American Burying Beetle'' (54 Fed. Reg. 29652 
     (July 13, 1989)), the American burying beetle (Nicrophorus 
     americanus) may not be listed as a threatened species or an 
     endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 
     (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
                                 ______