I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6008 

To prohibit the implementation of certain documents until the Assistant 

Administrator for Fisheries of the National Marine Fisheries Service 

issues documents relating to the Rice’s whale. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 20, 2023 

Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana (for himself, Mr. EZELL, Mr. CARL, and Mr. HUNT) 

introduced the following bill 

OCTOBER 25, 2023 

Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To prohibit the implementation of certain documents until 

the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries of the National 

Marine Fisheries Service issues documents relating to 

the Rice’s whale. 

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 ‘‘Requiring Integrity 

5 in Conservation Efforts Act’’ or as the ‘‘R.I.C.E.’s Whale 

6 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON IMPLEMENTATION OF CERTAIN 

2 DOCUMENTS UNTIL ISSUANCE OF DOCU3 MENTS RELATING TO RICE’S WHALE. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

5 (1) COMPLIANCE WITH BIOLOGICAL OPINION.— 

6 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, with re7 spect to current and future federally regulated oil 

8 and gas program activities in the Gulf of Mexico, 

9 compliance with the Biological Opinion shall serve to 

10 fully satisfy the requirements of applicable Federal 

11 environmental laws, including the Endangered Spe12 cies Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and the Marine 

13 Mammal Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 1371 et seq.). 

14 (2) STIPULATED AGREEMENT.—The Assistant 

15 Administrator and the Director may not implement, 

16 administer, or enforce the Stipulated Agreement or 

17 the Notice to Lessees, respectively, until the Assist18 ant Administrator issues a revised Biological Opin19 ion as a result of reinitiated consultation with the 

20 Director under section 7 of the Endangered Species 

21 Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536) and in accordance 

22 with this section. 

23 (b) REINITIATED CONSULTATION ON BIOLOGICAL

24 OPINION.— 

25 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Administrator 

26 and the Director may not request, commence, carry 


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1 out, or complete reinitiated consultation on the Bio2 logical Opinion under this section until— 

3 (A) the Assistant Administrator issues a 

4 final rule designating critical habitat for the 

5 Rice’s whale (Balaenoptera ricei) that is con6 sistent with— 

7 (i) the results of the study conducted 

8 pursuant to subsection (c); 

9 (ii) the requirements of the rule10 making process pursuant to subchapter II 

11 of chapter 5, and chapter 7, of title 5, 

12 United States Code (commonly known as 

13 the ‘‘Administrative Procedure Act’’); 

14 (iii) the requirement to conduct an 

15 economic impact analysis pursuant to Ex16 ecutive Order 12866 (5 U.S.C. 601 note; 

17 relating to regulatory planning and re18 view); 

19 (iv) section 307 of the Coastal Zone 

20 Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 

21 1456); 

22 (v) the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

23 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.); and 


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1 (vi) chapter 6 of title 5, United States 

2 Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Regulatory 

3 Flexibility Act’’); and 

4 (B) the Assistant Administrator revises 

5 and finalizes the proposed rule titled ‘‘Taking 

6 and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Ma7 rine Mammals Incidental to Geophysical Sur8 veys in the Gulf of Mexico’’ (88 Fed. Reg. 916; 

9 January 5, 2023) to include a correction of the 

10 erroneous estimates of incidental take of marine 

11 mammals anticipated from the activities ana12 lyzed in the final rule titled ‘‘Taking and Im13 porting Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mam14 mals Incidental to Geophysical Surveys Related 

15 to Oil and Gas Activities in the Gulf of Mexico’’ 

16 (86 Fed. Reg. 5322; January 19, 2021). 

17 (2) COOPERATION WITH STATES.—In carrying 

18 out this section, the Assistant Administrator and the 

19 Director shall cooperate with each State to resolve 

20 issues that threaten to impair the exploration, devel21 opment, production, transportation, servicing, or 

22 processing of offshore energy resources and related 

23 activities. 

24 (3) PUBLICATION AND REVIEW.—In carrying 

25 out any consultation or reinitiated consultation on 


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1 the Biological Opinion under this section, the Assist2 ant Administrator and the Director shall take steps 

3 to ensure— 

4 (A) that any scientific evidence considered 

5 and relied upon as a part of the consultation or 

6 reinitiation of consultation is— 

7 (i) made publicly available; and 

8 (ii) peer reviewed by the National 

9 Academies of Science, Engineering, and 

10 Medicine to ensure scientific rigor and 

11 independence; and 

12 (B) that any party directly impacted by 

13 the Stipulated Agreement or Notice to Lessees 

14 shall— 

15 (i) have routine and continuing oppor16 tunities to discuss and submit information 

17 to the action agency for consideration dur18 ing the development of any biological as19 sessment or proposed action; 

20 (ii) be informed by the action agency 

21 of the schedule for preparation of a biologi22 cal assessment or proposed action; 

23 (iii) receive a copy of any proposed ac24 tion and have the opportunity to review 

25 that document and provide comment to the 


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1 action agency (which shall be afforded due 

2 consideration during development); 

3 (iv) be informed by the consulting 

4 agencies, the Bureau of Ocean Energy 

5 Management, or the National Marine Fish6 eries Service, of the schedule for prepara7 tion of the biological opinion when the bio8 logical assessment is submitted to the con9 sulting agency by the action agency; 

10 (v) receive a copy of any draft biologi11 cal opinion and have the opportunity to re12 view that document and provide comment 

13 to the action agency (which shall be af14 forded due consideration during develop15 ment); 

16 (vi) have the opportunity to confer 

17 with the action agency regarding reason18 able and prudent alternatives prior to the 

19 action agency identifying 1 or more reason20 able and prudent alternatives for consider21 ation by the consulting agency; and 

22 (vii) where the action agency proposes 

23 a proposed action or a consulting agency 

24 suggests a reasonable and prudent alter25 native, be informed of— 


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1 (I) how each component of such 

2 proposed action or alternative will 

3 contribute to avoiding jeopardy or ad4 verse modification of critical habitat 

5 and the scientific data or information 

6 that supports each component of the 

7 proposed action or alternative; and 

8 (II) why other proposed alter9 native actions that would have fewer 

10 impairments to the supply of offshore 

11 energy and economic impacts are in12 adequate to avoid jeopardy or adverse 

13 modification of critical habitat. 

14 (4) MEETINGS.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—During any consulta16 tion or reinitiated consultation on the Biological 

17 Opinion carried out under this section, the As18 sistant Administrator and the Director shall, on 

19 a quarterly basis, hold stakeholder meetings to 

20 provide updates on the development of a new or 

21 revised biological assessment or biological opin22 ion. 

23 (B) PARTICIPANTS.—Each stakeholder 

24 meeting held under subparagraph (A) shall— 


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1 (i) be open to stakeholders identified 

2 by the Assistant Administrator and the Di3 rector; and 

4 (ii) include stakeholders that— 

5 (I) represent a broad range of in6 terests, including environmental, rec7 reational and commercial fishing, con8 ventional and renewable energy, ports, 

9 and other regional interests; and 

10 (II) are not State or local agen11 cies. 

12 (5) CLARIFICATION.—The Assistant Adminis13 trator and the Director may not use stakeholder 

14 meetings held under paragraph (3) to fulfill the re15 quirements of paragraph (2). 

16 (c) RICE’S WHALE STUDY.—The Assistant Adminis17 trator shall enter into an agreement with the National 

18 Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine to con19 duct a study to determine the occurrence and range of 

20 the Rice’s whale (Balaenoptera ricei) in the Central, East21 ern, and Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Areas. 

22 (d) LEASING ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary of the In23 terior may not rely on the Stipulated Agreement or the 

24 Notice to Lessees in carrying out offshore oil and gas leasVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:44 Nov 03, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6008.IH H6008

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1 ing activities under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

2 (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.). 

3 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 (1) ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR.—The term 

5 ‘‘Assistant Administrator’’ means the Assistant Ad6 ministrator for Fisheries of the National Marine 

7 Fisheries Service. 

8 (2) BIOLOGICAL OPINION.—The term ‘‘Biologi9 cal Opinion’’ means the document titled ‘‘Biological 

10 Opinion on the Federally Regulated Oil and Gas 

11 Program Activities in the Gulf of Mexico’’ (OPR– 

12 2017–00002; March 13, 2020). 

13 (3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

14 the Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Man15 agement. 

16 (4) NOTICE TO LESSEES.—The term ‘‘Notice to 

17 Lessees’’ means the document titled ‘‘Notice to Les18 sees and Operators of Federal Oil and Gas, and Sul19 phur Leases in the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental 

20 Shelf; Expanded Rice’s Whale Protection Efforts 

21 During Reinitiated Consultation with NMFS’’ 

22 (BOEM NTL No. 2023–G01; August 17, 2023), or 

23 a substantially similar document. 


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1 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

2 the States of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and 

3 Texas. 

4 (6) STIPULATED AGREEMENT.—The term 

5 ‘‘Stipulated Agreement’’ means the document titled 

6 ‘‘Stipulated Agreement to Stay Proceedings’’ (July 

7 21, 2023; Docket No. 8:20–cv–03060–DLB) and en8 tered into by the Sierra Club, Center for Biological 

9 Diversity, Friends of the Earth, and Turtle Island 

10 Restoration Network and the National Marine Fish11 eries Service and the Assistant Administrator. 

Æ 


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