[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[H.R. 1829 Introduced in House (IH)]
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1829
To provide for the eradication and control of nutria.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 11, 2011
Mr. Boustany introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for the eradication and control of nutria.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Nutria Eradication and Control Act
of 2011''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE.
Section 2 of the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 (Public
Law 108-16; 117 Stat. 621) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)--
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``and in
Louisiana'' and inserting ``, the State of Louisiana,
and other coastal States'';
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``in Maryland and
Louisiana on Federal, State, and private land'' and
inserting ``on Federal, State, and private land in the
States of Maryland and Louisiana and in other coastal
States''; and
(C) by striking paragraphs (3) and (4) and
inserting the following:
``(3) This Act authorizes the Maryland Nutria Project,
which has successfully eradicated nutria from more than 130,000
acres of Chesapeake Bay wetlands in the State of Maryland and
facilitated the creation of voluntary, public-private
partnerships and more than 406 cooperative landowner
agreements.
``(4) This Act and the Coastal Wetlands Planning,
Protection, and Restoration Act (16 U.S.C. 3951 et seq.)
authorize the Coastwide Nutria Control Program, which has
reduced nutria-impacted wetland acres in the State of Louisiana
from 80,000 acres to 23,141 acres.
``(5) The proven techniques developed under this Act that
are eradicating nutria in the State of Maryland and reducing
the acres of nutria-impacted wetlands in the State of Louisiana
should be applied to nutria eradication or control programs in
other nutria-infested coastal States''; and
(2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the following:
``(b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to authorize the
Secretary of the Interior to provide financial assistance to the States
of Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, and
Washington to carry out activities--
``(1) to eradicate or control nutria; and
``(2) to restore nutria damaged wetlands.''.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
The Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-16;
117 Stat. 621) is amended--
(1) by redesignating sections 3 and 4 as sections 4 and 5,
respectively; and
(2) by inserting after section 2 the following:
``SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
``In this Act:
``(1) Coastal state.--The term `coastal State' means each
of the States of Delaware, Oregon, North Carolina, Virginia,
and Washington.
``(2) Program.--The term `program' means the nutria
eradication program established by section 4(a).
``(3) Public-private partnership.--The term `public-private
partnership' means a voluntary, cooperative project undertaken
by governmental entities or public officials and affected
communities, local citizens, nongovernmental organizations, or
other entities or persons in the private sector.
``(4) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the Secretary
of the Interior.''.
SEC. 4. NUTRIA ERADICATION PROGRAM.
Section 4 of the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 (Public
Law 108-16; 117 Stat. 621) (as redesignated by section 3) is amended--
(1) by striking subsection (a) and inserting the following:
``(a) In General.--The Secretary may, subject to the availability
of appropriations, provide financial assistance to the States of
Maryland and Louisiana and the coastal States to implement measures--
``(1) to eradicate or control nutria; and
``(2) to restore wetlands damaged by nutria.'';
(2) in subsection (b)--
(A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``the State of''
before ``Maryland'';
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``other States''
and inserting ``the coastal States''; and
(C) in paragraph (3), by striking ``marshland'' and
inserting ``wetlands'';
(3) in subsection (c)--
(A) by striking ``(c) Activities'' and inserting
``(c) Activities in the State of Maryland''; and
(B) by inserting ``, and updated in March 2009''
before the period at the end;
(4) in subsection (e), by striking ``financial assistance
provided by the Secretary under this section'' and inserting
``the amounts made available under subsection (f) to carry out
the program''; and
(5) by striking subsection (f) and inserting the following:
``(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--Subject to subsection (e),
for each of fiscal years 2012 through 2016, there are authorized to be
appropriated to the Secretary to carry out the program such sums as are
necessary.''.
SEC. 5. REPORT.
Section 5 of the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 (Public
Law 108-16; 117 Stat. 621) (as redesignated by section 3) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``2002 document entitled
`Eradication Strategies for Nutria in the Chesapeake and
Delaware Bay Watersheds'; and'' and inserting ``March 2009
update of the document entitled `Eradication Strategies for
Nutria in the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay Watersheds' and
originally dated March 2002;'';
(2) in paragraph (2)--
(A) by striking ``develop'' and inserting
``continue''; and
(B) by striking the period at the end and inserting
``; and''; and
(3) by adding after paragraph (2) the following:
``(3) develop, in cooperation with the State of Delaware
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, the
State of Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the
State of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the State of
North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources,
and the State of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife,
long-term nutria control or eradication programs, as
appropriate, with the objective of--
``(A) significantly reducing and restoring the
damage nutria cause to coastal wetlands in the coastal
States; and
``(B) promoting voluntary, public-private
partnerships to eradicate or control nutria and
restoring nutria-damaged wetlands in the coastal
States.''.
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