I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 97 
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to further restrict the Sec-
retary of the Interior from designating certain lands used for national 
defense-related purposes as critical habitats for any species under that 
Act and to broaden exclusions and exemptions from that Act for such 
defense-related purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 9, 2023 
Mr. BIGGS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to further 
restrict the Secretary of the Interior from designating 
certain lands used for national defense-related purposes 
as critical habitats for any species under that Act and 
to broaden exclusions and exemptions from that Act for 
such defense-related purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Armed Forces Endan-
gered Species Exemption Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. EXCLUSION OF MILITARY INSTITUTIONS AS CRIT-
ICAL HABITAT. 
Section 4(a)(3)(B) of the Endangered Species Act of 
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(a)(3)(B)) is amended to read as 
follows: 
‘‘(i) The Secretary shall not designate 
as critical habitat— 
‘‘(I) any military installation or a 
State-owned National Guard installa-
tion, or any portion thereof, as such 
terms are defined in section 100 of 
the Sikes Act (16 U.S.C. 670); or 
‘‘(II) any other lands, waters, or 
geographical area not described in 
clause (i) that is otherwise designated 
for use by the Secretary of Defense 
including by any contractor of the De-
partment of Defense, if the Secretary 
of Defense determines in writing and 
submitted to the Secretary of the In-
terior that such area is necessary for 
military training, weapons testing, or 
any other reason determined appro-
priate by such Secretary of Defense. 
‘‘(ii) The Secretary of Defense shall 
not be required to consult with the Sec-
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retary of the Interior, under section 
7(a)(2) of this Act with respect to agency 
action, regardless of whether the area de-
scribed in clause (i) is subject to an inte-
grated natural resources management plan 
prepared under section 101 of the Sikes 
Act (16 U.S.C. 670a).’’. 
SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL EXCLUSIONS AND EXEMPTIONS FROM 
THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT FOR DE-
FENSE-RELATED OPERATIONS. 
Section 10 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 
(16 U.S.C. 1539) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new subsection: 
‘‘(h) EXCLUSION FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE-RELATED 
OPERATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) EXCLUSIONS.—The prohibitions under sec-
tion 9 shall not apply with respect to— 
‘‘(A) the taking of any endangered species 
or threatened species, or the importation or ex-
portation of any such species taken as prohib-
ited by such section, by military personnel en-
gaged in a national defense-related operation; 
‘‘(B) damaging or destroying any threat-
ened or endangered species, or removing, cut-
ting, digging up, damaging, or destroying any 
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