II 

Calendar No. 231 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 899 

[Report No. 112–94] 

To provide for the eradication and control of nutria. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 5, 2011 

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

Mrs. HAGAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

NOVEMBER 15, 2011 

Reported by Mrs. BOXER, with an amendment 

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To provide for the eradication and control of nutria. 

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 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE. 

2 Section 2 of the Nutria Eradication and Control Act 

3 of 2003 (Public Law 108–16; 117 Stat. 621) is amend4 ed— 

5 (1) in subsection (a)— 

6 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and in 

7 Louisiana’’ and inserting ‘‘, the State of Lou8 isiana, and other coastal States’’; 

9 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘in 

10 Maryland and Louisiana on Federal, State, and 

11 private land’’ and inserting ‘‘on Federal, State, 

12 and private land in the States of Maryland and 

13 Louisiana and in other coastal States’’; and 

14 (C) by striking paragraphs (3) and (4) and 

15 inserting the following: 

16 ‘‘(3) This Act authorizes the Maryland Nutria 

17 Project, which has successfully eradicated nutria 

18 from more than 130,000 acres of Chesapeake Bay 

19 wetlands in the State of Maryland and facilitated 

20 the creation of voluntary, public-private partnerships 

21 and more than 406 cooperative landowner agree22 ments. 

23 ‘‘(4) This Act and the Coastal Wetlands Plan24 ning, Protection, and Restoration Act (16 U.S.C. 

25 3951 et seq.) authorize the Coastwide Nutria Con26 trol Program, which has reduced nutria-impacted 


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1 wetland acres in the State of Louisiana from 80,000 

2 acres to 23,141 acres. 

3 ‘‘(5) The proven techniques developed under 

4 this Act that are eradicating nutria in the State of 

5 Maryland and reducing the acres of nutria-impacted 

6 wetlands in the State of Louisiana should be applied 

7 to nutria eradication or control programs in other 

8 nutria-infested coastal States’’; and 

9 (2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 

10 following: 

11 ‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to au12 thorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide financial 

13 assistance to the States of Delaware, Louisiana, Mary14 land, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington 

15 to carry out activities— 

16 ‘‘(1) to eradicate or control nutria; and 

17 ‘‘(2) to restore nutria damaged wetlands.’’. 

18 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

19 The Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 

20 (Public Law 108–16; 117 Stat. 621) is amended— 

21 (1) by redesignating sections 3 and 4 as sec22 tions 4 and 5, respectively; and 

23 (2) by inserting after section 2 the following: 

24 ‘‘SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

25 ‘‘In this Act: 


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

2 State’ means each of the States of Delaware, Or3 egon, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington. 

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

5 the nutria eradication program established by sec6 tion 4(a). 

7 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP.—The 

8 term ‘public-private partnership’ means a voluntary, 

9 cooperative project undertaken by governmental en10 tities or public officials and affected communities, 

11 local citizens, nongovernmental organizations, or 

12 other entities or persons in the private sector. 

13 ‘‘(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

14 the Secretary of the Interior.’’. 

15 SEC. 4. NUTRIA ERADICATION PROGRAM. 

16 Section 4 of the Nutria Eradication and Control Act 

17 of 2003 (Public Law 108–16; 117 Stat. 621) (as redesig18 nated by section 3) is amended— 

19 (1) by striking subsection (a) and inserting the 

20 following: 

21 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may, subject to 

22 the availability of appropriations, provide financial assist23 ance to the States of Maryland and Louisiana and the 

24 coastal States to implement measures— 

25 ‘‘(1) to eradicate or control nutria; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) to restore wetlands damaged by nutria.’’; 

2 (2) in subsection (b)— 

3 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘the 

4 State of’’ before ‘‘Maryland’’; 

5 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘other 

6 States’’ and inserting ‘‘the coastal States’’; and 

7 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘marsh8 land’’ and inserting ‘‘wetlands’’; 

9 (3) in subsection (c)— 

10 (A) by striking ‘‘(c) ACTIVITIES’’ and in11 serting ‘‘(c) ACTIVITIES IN THE STATE OF

12 MARYLAND’’; and 

13 (B) by inserting ‘‘, and updated in March 

14 2009’’ before the period at the end; 

15 (4) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘financial as16 sistance provided by the Secretary under this sec17 tion’’ and inserting ‘‘the amounts made available 

18 under subsection (f) to carry out the program’’; and 

19 (5) by striking subsection (f) and inserting the 

20 following: 

21 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Subject 

22 to subsection (e), for each of fiscal years 2012 through 

23 2016, there are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec24 retary to carry out the program such sums as are nec25 essary. 


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1 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Subject 

2 to subsection (e), there is authorized to be appropriated to 

3 the Secretary to carry out the program $6,000,000 for each 

4 of fiscal years 2012 through 2016, of which— 

5 ‘‘(1) $2,000,000 shall be used to provide finan6 cial assistance to the State of Maryland; 

7 ‘‘(2) $2,000,000 shall be used to provide finan8 cial assistance to the State of Louisiana; and 

9 ‘‘(3) $2,000,000 shall be used to provide finan10 cial assistance, on a competitive basis, to other coast11 al States.’’. 

12 SEC. 5. REPORT. 

13 Section 5 of the Nutria Eradication and Control Act 

14 of 2003 (Public Law 108–16; 117 Stat. 621) (as redesig15 nated by section 3) is amended— 

16 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘2002 docu17 ment entitled ‘Eradication Strategies for Nutria in 

18 the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay Watersheds’; 

19 and’’ and inserting ‘‘March 2009 update of the doc20 ument entitled ‘Eradication Strategies for Nutria in 

21 the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay Watersheds’ and 

22 originally dated March 2002;’’; 

23 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

24 (A) by striking ‘‘develop’’ and inserting 

25 ‘‘continue’’; and 


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1 (B) by striking the period at the end and 

2 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

3 (3) by adding after paragraph (2) the following: 

4 ‘‘(3) develop, in cooperation with the State of 

5 Delaware Department of Natural Resources and En6 vironmental Control, the State of Virginia Depart7 ment of Game and Inland Fisheries, the State of Or8 egon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the State of 

9 North Carolina Department of Environment and 

10 Natural Resources, and the State of Washington De11 partment of Fish and Wildlife, long-term nutria con12 trol or eradication programs, as appropriate, with 

13 the objective of— 

14 ‘‘(A) significantly reducing and restoring 

15 the damage nutria cause to coastal wetlands in 

16 the coastal States; and 

17 ‘‘(B) promoting voluntary, public-private 

18 partnerships to eradicate or control nutria and 

19 restoring nutria-damaged wetlands in the coast20 al States.’’. 


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Calendar No. 231 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 899 

[Report No. 112–94] 

A BILL 

To provide for the eradication and control of 

nutria. 

NOVEMBER 15, 2011 

Reported with an amendment 


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