II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1519 

To provide for the eradication and control of nutria in Maryland, Louisiana, 

and other coastal States. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 27, 2009 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. VITTER, Ms. LANDRIEU, Ms. MIKULSKI, and 

Mr. MERKLEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To provide for the eradication and control of nutria in 

Maryland, Louisiana, and other coastal States. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nutria Eradication 

5 and Control Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

8 (1) wetland and tidal marshes in the Chesa9 peake Bay, the State of Louisiana, and other coastal 


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1 States provide significant cultural, economic, and ec2 ological benefits to the United States; 

3 (2) the South American nutria (Myocastor 

4 coypus) is directly contributing to substantial marsh 

5 loss on Federal, State, and private land in the 

6 States of Maryland and Louisiana and other coastal 

7 States; 

8 (3) the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 

9 2003 (Public Law 108–16; 117 Stat. 621) author10 ized the Maryland Nutria Project, which has suc11 cessfully eradicated nutria from more than 130,000 

12 acres of Chesapeake Bay wetland in the State of 

13 Maryland; 

14 (4) the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 

15 2003 (Public Law 108–16; 117 Stat. 621) and the 

16 Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restora17 tion Act (16 U.S.C. 3951 et seq.) authorized the 

18 Coastwide Nutria Control Program, which has re19 duced nutria-impacted wetland acres in the State of 

20 Louisiana from 80,000 acres to 23,141 acres; and 

21 (5) proven techniques developed under the Nu22 tria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 (Public 

23 Law 108–16; 117 Stat. 621) that are eradicating 

24 nutria from the State of Maryland and are reducing 

25 the acres of nutria-impacted wetland in Louisiana, 


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1 should be applied to nutria eradication or control 

2 programs in other nutria-infested coastal States. 

3 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to author4 ize the Secretary of the Interior to provide financial assist5 ance to the States of Maryland, Louisiana, Delaware, Or6 egon, Virginia, and Washington to carry out activities— 

7 (1) to eradicate or control nutria; and 

8 (2) to restore nutria damaged wetland. 

9 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

10 In this Act: 

11 (1) COASTAL STATE.—The term ‘‘coastal 

12 State’’ means each of the States of Delaware, Or13 egon, Virginia, and Washington. 

14 (2) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 

15 the nutria eradication program established by sec16 tion 4(a). 

17 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

18 the Secretary of the Interior. 

19 SEC. 4. NUTRIA ERADICATION PROGRAM. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established a nutria 

21 eradication program under which the Secretary may, sub22 ject to the availability of appropriations, provide financial 

23 assistance to the States of Maryland and Louisiana and 

24 the coastal States to implement measures— 

25 (1) to eradicate or control nutria; and 


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1 (2) to restore wetland damaged by nutria. 

2 (b) GOALS.—The goals of the program shall be— 

3 (1) to eradicate nutria in the State of Mary4 land; 

5 (2) to eradicate or control nutria in the State 

6 of Louisiana and the coastal States; and 

7 (3) to restore wetland damaged by nutria. 

8 (c) ACTIVITIES IN THE STATE OF MARYLAND.—The 

9 Secretary shall require that the program carried out in 

10 the State of Maryland consist of management, research, 

11 and public education activities carried out in accordance 

12 with the document published by the United States Fish 

13 and Wildlife Service entitled ‘‘Eradication Strategies for 

14 Nutria in the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay Water15 sheds’’, dated March 2002, and updated March 2009. 

16 (d) COST-SHARING REQUIREMENT.— 

17 (1) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of 

18 the total cost of the program may not exceed 75 per19 cent. 

20 (2) IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS.—The non-Fed21 eral share of the total cost of the program may be 

22 provided in the form of in-kind contributions of ma23 terials or services. 

24 (e) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.— 

25 Not more that 5 percent of the financial assistance proVerDate Nov 24 2008 23:31 Jul 27, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1519.IS S1519

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1 vided by the Secretary under the program may be used 

2 for administrative expenses. 

3 SEC. 5. REPORT. 

4 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

5 of this Act, the Secretary and the National Invasive Spe6 cies Council shall— 

7 (1) for purposes of the program, give consider8 ation to— 

9 (A) the 2002 report for the Louisiana De10 partment of Wildlife and Fisheries entitled 

11 ‘‘Nutria in Louisiana’’; and 

12 (B) the March 2009 update of the docu13 ment entitled ‘‘Eradication Strategies for the 

14 Nutria in the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay 

15 Watersheds’’ and dated March 2002; 

16 (2) continue, in cooperation with the State of 

17 Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and 

18 the State of Maryland Department of Natural Re19 sources, a long-term nutria control or eradication 

20 program, as appropriate, with the objective to sig21 nificantly reduce and restore the damage nutria 

22 cause to coastal wetland in the States of Louisiana 

23 and Maryland; and 

24 (3) develop, in cooperation with the State of 

25 Delaware Department of Natural Resources and EnVerDate Nov 24 2008 23:31 Jul 27, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1519.IS S1519

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1 vironmental Control, the State of Virginia Depart2 ment of Game and Inland Fisheries, the State of Or3 egon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the 

4 State of Washington Department of Fish and Wild5 life, long-term nutria control or eradication pro6 grams, as appropriate, with the objective to signifi7 cantly reduce and restore the damage nutria cause 

8 to coastal wetland in the coastal States. 

9 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

10 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec11 retary for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014— 

12 (1) $4,000,000 to provide financial assistance 

13 under the program to each of the States of Mary14 land and Louisiana; and 

15 (2) $1,000,000 to provide financial assistance 

16 under the program to each of the coastal States. 

Æ 


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