ESA Amendments Act of 2024 Introduced
On September 10th, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and Western Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse (R-WA) introduced the ESA Amendments Act of 2024 (H.R. 9533). This bill would provide much-needed reform to the Endangered Species Act to incentivize species recovery and promote collaborative species conservation on private and public lands.
When it was created, the ultimate goal of the Endangered Species Act was to recover listed species to the point that they no longer need the act’s protections. However, in the 50 years since its implementation, the ESA has only recovered 3% of listed species while hundreds of species have remained listed indefinitely. The common-sense revisions in this bill to modernize the ESA will help improve species recovery efforts while providing a suite of other benefits.
Of note, this bill:
- Incentivizes wildlife conservation on private lands by providing flexibility in the conservation agreement process and protecting landowner information
- Prevents the Secretary of the Interior from designating privately owned or controlled land as critical habitat, protecting landowners’ rights.
- Directs the Secretary to establish incremental recovery goals when regulations are implemented to conserve that species, accompanied by regulatory relief when those recovery goals are met
- Empowers states to develop and enact species recovery strategies, as state and local officials know how best to manage populations without harming communities
- Repeals the “blanket” 4(d) rule, requiring the Service to instead create species-specific 4(d) rules
- Increases transparency in the species decision-making process
- Requires the US Fish and Wildlife Service to develop and submit to Congress a National Listing Working Plan with species prioritization
- Requires the Secretary to submit an annual report detailing Federal Government expenditures for covered suits
- Requires analysis of economic impacts and national security impacts resulting from species decisions
- Provides clarifying definitions for key terminology
“As forest management has become more sustainable over time, it is imperative that environmental regulations are also modernized to give landowners the incentive, flexibility, and regulatory certainty to keep doing good work on the ground,” says Katie Moss, Director of Stewardship Initiatives and Regulatory Affairs. “With over two-thirds of the nation’s at-risk and listed species supported by private lands, the Endangered Species Act must work with landowners rather than against them to achieve meaningful species conservation at scale.”
FLA provided the following statement in support of the bill:
“The Forest Landowners Association commends Chairman Westerman and Chairman Newhouse for introducing the ESA Amendments Act of 2024. This bill would provide much needed modernization to the Endangered Species Act to incentivize species recovery and collaborative conservation on private lands while recognizing the host of environmental and economic benefits that working forests provide. We look forward to working with the bill’s sponsors to streamline the ESA in a way that increases transparency and helps to achieve meaningful conservation outcomes on the ground.”
Read what other supporting organizations are saying about this bill.
Read the press release from the House Natural Resources Committee for more information and bill text.
Read the press release from the Congressional Western Caucus.