Endangered Species Act Reform

Improving the ESA so it works better for species and landowners.

Wildlife conservation issues have a significant impact on our farmers, ranchers, energy producers, and even landowners.  Smart conservation strategies are important for species conservation, our economy, and for our freedom.

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was created in 1973 to preserve and protect wildlife with low populations.  Unfortunately, the law has shown little success in the last four decades.  Decisions about listing species are often driven by activist litigation rather than hard science, which has been costly and contrary to the original intent of the law.  Current implementation imposes costly requirements on businesses, restricts property rights for landowners, and does not successfully recover the targeted species. 

I'm working on solutions that will help us protect the livelihoods of individuals while maintaining healthy wildlife populations.  I joined a Congressional Working Group dedicated to ESA reform, and I’ve introduced two bills to restore fairness and transparency to the system:

• H.R. 4317, the State, Tribal, and Local Species Transparency and Recovery Act would require the federal government to disclose to affected states all data used prior to any ESA listing decisions and require that the “best available scientific and commercial data” used by the federal government include data provided by affected states, tribes, and local governments.  This bill was incorporated into a larger ESA reform bill, H.R. 4315, the 21st Century Endangered Species Transparency Act.  I’m pleased to report that the House passed this bill on July 29, 2014 by a vote of 233-190.

• H.R. 4284, the ESA Improvement Act of 2014 encourages greater state input and authority over species and habitat management.  By requiring the Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) to coordinate with states on a “State Protective Action” and approve if it meets established criteria, this bill would preclude the need for a listing in many circumstances.  It would keep species management authority at the state and local level where stakeholders and species can be better protected simultaneously.  The Natural Resources Committee held a full Committee hearing on the benefits of this bill in September 2014.

I’ll continue working for common sense reforms to ensure listings are open and transparent, and I’ll certainly keep your views in mind as Congress continues to improve the endangered species listing process.