II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 899 

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 

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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE. 

7 Section 2 of the Nutria Eradication and Control Act 

8 of 2003 (Public Law 108–16; 117 Stat. 621) is amend9 ed— 

10 (1) in subsection (a)— 


rfrederick on DSKD9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 899 IS

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

2 Louisiana’’ and inserting ‘‘, the State of Lou3 isiana, and other coastal States’’; 

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

5 Maryland and Louisiana on Federal, State, and 

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

7 and private land in the States of Maryland and 

8 Louisiana and in other coastal States’’; and 

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

10 inserting the following: 

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

12 Project, which has successfully eradicated nutria 

13 from more than 130,000 acres of Chesapeake Bay 

14 wetlands in the State of Maryland and facilitated 

15 the creation of voluntary, public-private partnerships 

16 and more than 406 cooperative landowner agree17 ments. 

18 ‘‘(4) This Act and the Coastal Wetlands Plan19 ning, Protection, and Restoration Act (16 U.S.C. 

20 3951 et seq.) authorize the Coastwide Nutria Con21 trol Program, which has reduced nutria-impacted 

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

23 acres to 23,141 acres. 

24 ‘‘(5) The proven techniques developed under 

25 this Act that are eradicating nutria in the State of 


rfrederick on DSKD9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 899 IS

1 Maryland and reducing the acres of nutria-impacted 

2 wetlands in the State of Louisiana should be applied 

3 to nutria eradication or control programs in other 

4 nutria-infested coastal States’’; and 

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

6 following: 

7 ‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to au8 thorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide financial 

9 assistance to the States of Delaware, Louisiana, Mary10 land, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington 

11 to carry out activities— 

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

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

14 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

15 The Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 

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

17 (1) by redesignating sections 3 and 4 as sec18 tions 4 and 5, respectively; and 

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

20 ‘‘SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

21 ‘‘In this Act: 

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

23 State’ means each of the States of Delaware, Or24 egon, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington. 


rfrederick on DSKD9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 899 IS

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

2 the nutria eradication program established by sec3 tion 4(a). 

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

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

6 cooperative project undertaken by governmental en7 tities or public officials and affected communities, 

8 local citizens, nongovernmental organizations, or 

9 other entities or persons in the private sector. 

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

11 the Secretary of the Interior.’’. 

12 SEC. 4. NUTRIA ERADICATION PROGRAM. 

13 Section 4 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) by striking subsection (a) and inserting the 

17 following: 

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

19 the availability of appropriations, provide financial assist20 ance to the States of Maryland and Louisiana and the 

21 coastal States to implement measures— 

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

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

24 (2) in subsection (b)— 


rfrederick on DSKD9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 899 IS

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

2 State of’’ before ‘‘Maryland’’; 

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

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

5 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘marsh6 land’’ and inserting ‘‘wetlands’’; 

7 (3) in subsection (c)— 

8 (A) by striking ‘‘(c) ACTIVITIES’’ and in9 serting ‘‘(c) ACTIVITIES IN THE STATE OF

10 MARYLAND’’; and 

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

12 2009’’ before the period at the end; 

13 (4) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘financial as14 sistance provided by the Secretary under this sec15 tion’’ and inserting ‘‘the amounts made available 

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

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

18 following: 

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

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

21 2016, there are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec22 retary to carry out the program such sums as are nec23 essary.’’. 


rfrederick on DSKD9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 899 IS

1 SEC. 5. REPORT. 

2 Section 5 of the Nutria Eradication and Control Act 

3 of 2003 (Public Law 108–16; 117 Stat. 621) (as redesig4 nated by section 3) is amended— 

5 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘2002 docu6 ment entitled ‘Eradication Strategies for Nutria in 

7 the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay Watersheds’; 

8 and’’ and inserting ‘‘March 2009 update of the doc9 ument entitled ‘Eradication Strategies for Nutria in 

10 the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay Watersheds’ and 

11 originally dated March 2002;’’; 

12 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

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

14 ‘‘continue’’; and 

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

16 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

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

19 Delaware Department of Natural Resources and En20 vironmental Control, the State of Virginia Depart21 ment of Game and Inland Fisheries, the State of Or22 egon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the State of 

23 North Carolina Department of Environment and 

24 Natural Resources, and the State of Washington De25 partment of Fish and Wildlife, long-term nutria conVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:06 May 06, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S899.IS S899

rfrederick on DSKD9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 899 IS

1 trol or eradication programs, as appropriate, with 

2 the objective of— 

3 ‘‘(A) significantly reducing and restoring 

4 the damage nutria cause to coastal wetlands in 

5 the coastal States; and 

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

7 partnerships to eradicate or control nutria and 

8 restoring nutria-damaged wetlands in the coast9 al States.’’. 

Æ 


rfrederick on DSKD9S0YB1PROD with BILLS