S.Amdt. 175

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.).
______