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[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 493 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 493

To update avian protection laws in order to support an all-of-the-above 
           domestic energy strategy, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 22, 2015

 Mr. Duncan of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. Jones, Mrs. Black, Mr. 
    Johnson of Ohio, Mr. Bucshon, and Mr. Mulvaney) introduced the 
    following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
                               Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To update avian protection laws in order to support an all-of-the-above 
           domestic energy strategy, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Clarification of Legal Enforcement 
Against Non-criminal Energy Producers Act of 2015'' or the ``CLEAN 
Energy Producers Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) was enacted in 
        1918 to protect the migratory bird population from overhunting 
        and poaching and has not been updated to reflect the societal 
        changes that have occurred in our Nation over the last 95 
        years.
            (2) Anyone involved in an otherwise legal activity may be 
        subject to criminal liability for the unintentional death of 
        any one of over 1,000 species of birds protected under the 
        MBTA.
            (3) The Act of June 8, 1940 (chapter 278; 16 U.S.C. 668), 
        popularly known as the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act 
        (BGEPA), was first enacted in 1940 to protect the dwindling 
        population of bald eagles and amended in 1962 to cover golden 
        eagles in order to provide additional protective measures for 
        bald eagles and for other purposes.
            (4) The BGEPA includes a program for the Federal Government 
        to issue permits in order to protect companies from legal 
        liability if eagles are unintentionally injured or killed, but 
        the Federal Government has failed to issue permits issued under 
        the program.
            (5) Among other goals, the BGEPA's permit program was 
        established to assure the protection of interests fundamental 
        to the basic operation of our society like agriculture and 
        energy infrastructure development and maintenance.
            (6) The BGEPA was successful in helping the overall eagle 
        population recover, leading to bald eagles being removed from 
        the list of threatened and endangered species in 2007.
            (7) There are differing legal and judicial interpretations 
        regarding the scope of criminality in those statutes.
            (8) It appears criminal prosecution under those statutes 
        has been subjective, selective, and not applied uniformly and 
        fairly across all sectors of society.
            (9) Those statutes need to be updated to reflect 
        significant changes in our Nation over the last half century, 
        including the urbanization of rural areas and how domestic 
        energy is produced, transmitted, and distributed.
            (10) Protecting the avian population and its habitat is 
        important.
            (11) Federal enforcement actions should be appropriate, 
        uniform, nondiscriminatory, and just.

SEC. 3. PERMITS FOR INCIDENTAL TAKE.

    Section 1 of the Act of June 8, 1940 (chapter 278; 16 U.S.C. 668), 
popularly known as the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, is amended 
by adding at the end the following:
    ``(d) Permits for Incidental Take.--Upon submission of a 
substantially completed application, the Secretary shall issue or deny 
an eagle take permit for no less than 30 years under section 22.26 of 
title 50, Code of Federal Regulations, that authorizes taking of any 
bald eagle or golden eagle that is incidental to, but not the purpose 
of, an otherwise lawful activity. Failure to issue or deny such a 
permit within a reasonable time (which shall not exceed one year) is 
deemed issuance of such permit, and the applicant shall not be subject 
to liability for any incidental take of a bald eagle or golden eagle 
that is in conformity with the information submitted to the Secretary 
as part of the application for the permit.''.

SEC. 4. MIGRATORY BIRD TREATY ACT.

    Section 6(a) of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 707(a)) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``shall'' the first and second place it 
        appears and inserting ``shall with intent knowingly''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following: ``For the purposes 
        of this subsection, `with intent knowingly' does not include 
        any taking, killing, or other harm to any migratory bird that 
        is accidental or incidental to the presence or operation of an 
        otherwise lawful activity.''.
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