rajpurkar/squad huggingface dataset:
Title: Endangered_Species_Act

The Lacey Act of 1900 was the first federal law that regulated commercial animal markets. It prohibited interstate commerce of animals killed in violation of state game laws, and covered all fish and wildlife and their parts or products, as well as plants. Other legislation followed, including the Migratory Bird Conservation Act of 1929, a 1937 treaty prohibiting the hunting of right and gray whales, and the Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940. These later laws had a low cost to society–the species were relatively rare–and little opposition was raised.

Question: What was the first federal law that regulated wildlife commerce?
Answer: Lacey Act of 1900

Question: What did the first federal wildlife commerce law prohibit?
Answer: interstate commerce of animals killed in violation of state game laws

Question: What wildlife was covered by the first federal wildlife commerce regulation?
Answer: all fish and wildlife and their parts or products, as well as plants

Question: What law passed in 1940 regarding the population of the U.S. national bird?
Answer: Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940
Title: Endangered_Species_Act

It authorized the Secretary of the Interior to list endangered domestic fish and wildlife and allowed the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to spend up to $15 million per year to buy habitats for listed species. It also directed federal land agencies to preserve habitat on their lands. The Act also consolidated and even expanded authority for the Secretary of the Interior to manage and administer the National Wildlife Refuge System. Other public agencies were encouraged, but not required, to protect species. The act did not address the commerce in endangered species and parts.

Question: What did the Endangered Species Act authorize the Secretary of the Interior to do?
Answer: list endangered domestic fish and wildlife

Question: The Endangered Species Act permitted how much annual expenditure by the US Fish and Wildlife Service for habitat purchase?
Answer: $15 million per year

Question: The Endangered Species Act gave the Secretary of the Interior administrative power of what organization?
Answer: the National Wildlife Refuge System

Question: How did the Endangered Species Act impact wildlife commerce?
Answer: The act did not address the commerce in endangered species and parts

Question: How did the Endangered Species Act impact other agencies not specifically mentioned in the Act?
Answer: Other public agencies were encouraged, but not required, to protect species
Title: Endangered_Species_Act

This first list is referred to as the "Class of '67" in The Endangered Species Act at Thirty, Volume 1, which concludes that habitat destruction, the biggest threat to those 78 species, is still the same threat to the currently listed species. It included only vertebrates because the Department of Interior's definition of "fish and wildlife" was limited to vertebrates. However, with time, researchers noticed that the animals on the endangered species list still were not getting enough protection, thus further threatening their extinction. The endangered species program was expanded by the Endangered Species Act of 1969.

Question: What is the nickname given to the first listing of endangered species?
Answer: "Class of '67"

Question: How was the first listing limited in what species were listed?
Answer: It included only vertebrates

Question: What was concluded to be the biggest threat to the listed species?
Answer: habitat destruction

Question: How did being listed initially impact species?
Answer: the animals on the endangered species list still were not getting enough protection, thus further threatening their extinction
Title: Endangered_Species_Act

The Endangered Species Conservation Act (P. L. 91-135), passed in December, 1969, amended the original law to provide additional protection to species in danger of "worldwide extinction" by prohibiting their importation and subsequent sale in the United States. It expanded the Lacey Act's ban on interstate commerce to include mammals, reptiles, amphibians, mollusks and crustaceans. Reptiles were added mainly to reduce the rampant poaching of alligators and crocodiles. This law was the first time that invertebrates were included for protection.

Question: When was the Endangered Species Conservation Act passed?
Answer: December, 1969

Question: How did the Endangered Species Conservation Act benefit endangered species?
Answer: by prohibiting their importation and subsequent sale in the United States

Question: What did the Endangered Species Conservation Act add to the wildlife definition of the Lacey Act?
Answer: mammals, reptiles, amphibians, mollusks and crustaceans

Question: What two reptiles were particularly of interest for the inclusion of "reptiles" in the Endangered Species Conservation Act?
Answer: alligators and crocodiles

Question: What important precedent did this set for invertebrates?
Answer: This law was the first time that invertebrates were included for protection
Title: Endangered_Species_Act

President Richard Nixon declared current species conservation efforts to be inadequate and called on the 93rd United States Congress to pass comprehensive endangered species legislation. Congress responded with a completely rewritten law, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 which was signed by Nixon on December 28, 1973 (Pub.L. 93–205). It was written by a team of lawyers and scientists, including the first appointed head of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ),an outgrowth of NEPA (The "National Environmental Policy Act of 1969") Dr. Russell E. Train. Dr. Train was assisted by a core group of staffers, including Dr. Earl Baysinger at EPA (currently Assistant Chief, Office of Endangered Species and International. Activities), Dick Gutting (U.S. Commerce Dept. lawyer, currently joined NOAA the previous year (1972), and Dr. Gerard A. "Jerry" Bertrand, a marine biologist (Ph.D, Oregon State University) by training, who had transferred from his post as the Scientific Adviser to the U.S Army Corps of Engineers, office of the Commandant of the Corp. to join the newly formed White House office. The staff, under Dr. Train's leadership, incorporated dozens of new principles and ideas into the landmark legislation; crafting a document that completely changed the direction of environmental conservation in the United States. Dr. Bertrand is credited with writing the most challenged section of the Act, the "takings" clause - Section 2.

Question: Who led the team of lawyers and scientists who crafted the Endangered Species Act of 1973?
Answer: Dr. Russell E. Train

Question: The team leader was the first appointed head of what organization?
Answer: the Council on Environmental Quality

Question: Who wrote the most challenged section of the Act?
Answer: Dr. Gerard A. "Jerry" Bertrand

Question: Who was the core staffer to the legislation that worked for the EPA and continued to work in the Office of Endangered Species?
Answer: Dr. Earl Baysinger

Question: What Congress called for the drafting of the Endangered Species Act of 1973?
Answer: the 93rd United States Congress
Title: Endangered_Species_Act

A species can be listed in two ways. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) or NOAA Fisheries (also called the National Marine Fisheries Service) can directly list a species through its candidate assessment program, or an individual or organizational petition may request that the FWS or NMFS list a species. A "species" under the act can be a true taxonomic species, a subspecies, or in the case of vertebrates, a "distinct population segment." The procedures are the same for both types except with the person/organization petition, there is a 90-day screening period.

Question: How many different ways can a species be added to the endangered list?
Answer: two ways

Question: What federal program is used to list a species?
Answer: candidate assessment program

Question: How long is the screening period of an individual's or organization's petition to add a species to the list
Answer: 90-day screening period

Question: In the case of vertebrates, what is the most lenient interpretation of "species"?
Answer: a "distinct population segment."
Title: Endangered_Species_Act

During the listing process, economic factors cannot be considered, but must be " based solely on the best scientific and commercial data available." The 1982 amendment to the ESA added the word "solely" to prevent any consideration other than the biological status of the species. Congress rejected President Ronald Reagan's Executive Order 12291 which required economic analysis of all government agency actions. The House committee's statement was "that economic considerations have no relevance to determinations regarding the status of species."

Question: What word was added to the Endangered Species Act in 1982?
Answer: "solely"

Question: Because of the change to the Endangered Species Act in 1982, what is the only consideration for being listed as endangered?
Answer: the biological status of the species

Question: Which president issued an Executive Order that required financial consideration of all government actions?
Answer: Ronald Reagan

Question: What did Congress do to the Executive Order that would have included financial considerations as a factor for a species to be listed?
Answer: Congress rejected
Title: Endangered_Species_Act

Public notice is given through legal notices in newspapers, and communicated to state and county agencies within the species' area. Foreign nations may also receive notice of a listing. A public hearing is mandatory if any person has requested one within 45 days of the published notice. "The purpose of the notice and comment requirement is to provide for meaningful public participation in the rulemaking process." summarized the Ninth Circuit court in the case of Idaho Farm Bureau Federation v. Babbitt.

Question: How is public notice given regarding a listing?
Answer: through legal notices in newspapers, and communicated to state and county agencies within the species' area

Question: How long after a published notice of the listing may a public hearing regarding the listing be requested?
Answer: 45 days

Question: Do listing notices cross international soil?
Answer: Foreign nations may also receive notice of a listing
Title: Endangered_Species_Act

The provision of the law in Section 4 that establishes critical habitat is a regulatory link between habitat protection and recovery goals, requiring the identification and protection of all lands, water and air necessary to recover endangered species. To determine what exactly is critical habitat, the needs of open space for individual and population growth, food, water, light or other nutritional requirements, breeding sites, seed germination and dispersal needs, and lack of disturbances are considered.

Question: What section of the Endangered Species Act establishes critical habitat regulations?
Answer: Section 4

Question: Critical habitat regulation links what two topics?
Answer: habitat protection and recovery goals

Question: What does critical habitat regulation require?
Answer: the identification and protection of all lands, water and air necessary to recover endangered species

Question: What is an example of a critical habitat consideration that would apply to plant wildlife?
Answer: seed germination and dispersal needs
Title: Endangered_Species_Act

All federal agencies are prohibited from authorizing, funding or carrying out actions that "destroy or adversely modify" critical habitats (Section 7(a) (2)). While the regulatory aspect of critical habitat does not apply directly to private and other non-federal landowners, large-scale development, logging and mining projects on private and state land typically require a federal permit and thus become subject to critical habitat regulations. Outside or in parallel with regulatory processes, critical habitats also focus and encourage voluntary actions such as land purchases, grant making, restoration, and establishment of reserves.

Question: How are non-federal government activities that might impact critical habitat often subject to the Endangered Species Act?
Answer: require a federal permit

Question: What are some non-regulation actions that critical habitats encourage?
Answer: land purchases, grant making, restoration, and establishment of reserves

Question: What does the Endangered Species Act detail about government action regarding critical habitats?
Answer: federal agencies are prohibited from authorizing, funding or carrying out actions that "destroy or adversely modify" critical habitats
Title: Endangered_Species_Act

The ESA requires that critical habitat be designated at the time of or within one year of a species being placed on the endangered list. In practice, most designations occur several years after listing. Between 1978 and 1986 the FWS regularly designated critical habitat. In 1986 the Reagan Administration issued a regulation limiting the protective status of critical habitat. As a result, few critical habitats were designated between 1986 and the late 1990s. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a series of court orders invalidated the Reagan regulations and forced the FWS and NMFS to designate several hundred critical habitats, especially in Hawaii, California and other western states. Midwest and Eastern states received less critical habitat, primarily on rivers and coastlines. As of December, 2006, the Reagan regulation has not yet been replaced though its use has been suspended. Nonetheless, the agencies have generally changed course and since about 2005 have tried to designate critical habitat at or near the time of listing.

Question: What is the time limit for designating a species critical habitat after the species has been added to the endangered list?
Answer: within one year

Question: Which presidential adminstration limited the protective status of critical habitat in 1986?
Answer: the Reagan Administration

Question: After the limitations placed on critical habitat were lifted by the courts, where were critical habitats established primarily?
Answer: Hawaii, California and other western states

Question: Where have the majority of critical habitats in the Midwest and Eastern states been located geographically?
Answer: primarily on rivers and coastlines
Title: Endangered_Species_Act

Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) are required to create an Endangered Species Recovery Plan outlining the goals, tasks required, likely costs, and estimated timeline to recover endangered species (i.e., increase their numbers and improve their management to the point where they can be removed from the endangered list). The ESA does not specify when a recovery plan must be completed. The FWS has a policy specifying completion within three years of the species being listed, but the average time to completion is approximately six years. The annual rate of recovery plan completion increased steadily from the Ford administration (4) through Carter (9), Reagan (30), Bush I (44), and Clinton (72), but declined under Bush II (16 per year as of 9/1/06).

Question: What four topics are required in an Endangered Species Recovery Plan?
Answer: goals, tasks required, likely costs, and estimated timeline to recover endangered species

Question: What is the time limit for completing an Endangered Species Recovery Plan?
Answer: The ESA does not specify when a recovery plan must be completed.

Question: What Recovery Plan duration the does Fish and Wildlife Service plan for in their policies?
Answer: completion within three years

Question: What is the average time of completion of an Endangered Species Recovery Plan?
Answer: approximately six years

Question: Which president had the most completed Recovery Plans during their administration?
Answer: Clinton (72)
Title: Endangered_Species_Act

The question to be answered is whether a listed species will be harmed by the action and, if so, how the harm can be minimized. If harm cannot be avoided, the project agency can seek an exemption from the Endangered Species Committee, an ad hoc panel composed of members from the executive branch and at least one appointee from the state where the project is to occur. Five of the seven committee members must vote for the exemption to allow taking (to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or significant habitat modification, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct) of listed species.

Question: What is the primary consideration for determining if projects may be carried out in areas with endangered species?
Answer: whether a listed species will be harmed by the action and, if so, how the harm can be minimized

Question: If a species may be harmed, who holds final say on whether the project may proceed?
Answer: the Endangered Species Committee

Question: How many members are on the ad hoc panel that allows project exemptions for cases where a species may harmed?
Answer: seven

Question: How many votes must be in favor of the exemption in order to award the exemption?
Answer: Five

Question: What is one specific requirement regarding the make-up of the exmeption panel?
Answer: at least one appointee from the state where the project is to occur
Title: Endangered_Species_Act

Long before the exemption is considered by the Endangered Species Committee, the Forest Service, and either the FWS or the NMFS will have consulted on the biological implications of the timber harvest. The consultation can be informal, to determine if harm may occur; and then formal if the harm is believed to be likely. The questions to be answered in these consultations are whether the species will be harmed, whether the habitat will be harmed and if the action will aid or hinder the recovery of the listed species.

Question: Who reviews exemption considerations before the Endangered Species committee?
Answer: the Forest Service, and either the FWS or the NMFS

Question: During informal consultation, what is the goal?
Answer: to determine if harm may occur

Question: What prompts the need for formal consultation?
Answer: if the harm is believed to be likely

Question: What considerations are weighed during the consultations?
Answer: whether the species will be harmed, whether the habitat will be harmed and if the action will aid or hinder the recovery
Title: Endangered_Species_Act

There have been six instances as of 2009 in which the exemption process was initiated. Of these six, one was granted, one was partially granted, one was denied and three were withdrawn. Donald Baur, in The Endangered Species Act: law, policy, and perspectives, concluded," ... the exemption provision is basically a nonfactor in the administration of the ESA. A major reason, of course, is that so few consultations result in jeopardy opinions, and those that do almost always result in the identification of reasonable and prudent alternatives to avoid jeopardy."

Question: How many times has the exemption process been used, as of 2009?
Answer: six

Question: What were the results of those exemption petitions?
Answer: one was granted, one was partially granted, one was denied and three were withdrawn

Question: Why is this exemption provision often considered a nonfactor?
Answer: few consultations result in jeopardy opinions

Question: How can jeopardy opinions be dissuaded?
Answer: in the identification of reasonable and prudent alternatives to avoid jeopardy.
Title: Endangered_Species_Act

More than half of habitat for listed species is on non-federal property, owned by citizens, states, local governments, tribal governments and private organizations. Before the law was amended in 1982, a listed species could be taken only for scientific or research purposes. The amendment created a permit process to circumvent the take prohibition called a Habitat Conservation Plan or HCP to give incentives to non-federal land managers and private landowners to help protect listed and unlisted species, while allowing economic development that may harm ("take") the species.

Question: Who owns the majority of critical habitat?
Answer: non-federal property, owned by citizens, states, local governments, tribal governments and private organizations

Question: What program gives incentives to private landowners to protect species on their land?
Answer: Habitat Conservation Plan

Question: Before the amendment in 1982, under what situations could a listed species be displaced?
Answer: only for scientific or research purposes
Title: Endangered_Species_Act

The person or organization submits a HCP and if approved by the agency (FWS or NMFS), will be issued an Incidental Take Permit (ITP) which allows a certain number of "takes" of the listed species. The permit may be revoked at any time and can allow incidental takes for varying amounts of time. For instance, the San Bruno Habitat Conservation Plan/ Incidental Take Permit is good for 30 years and the Wal-Mart store (in Florida) permit expires after one year. Because the permit is issued by a federal agency to a private party, it is a federal action-which means other federal laws can apply, such as the National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA. A notice of the permit application action is published in the Federal Register and a public comment period of 30 to 90 days begins.

Question: An approved HCP results in what being issued for the species?
Answer: an Incidental Take Permit (ITP)

Question: How long do ITPs last?
Answer: allow incidental takes for varying amounts of time

Question: How is the public made aware of ITP applications?
Answer: A notice of the permit application action is published in the Federal Register

Question: How long does the public have to comment on ITP applications?
Answer: 30 to 90 days
Title: Endangered_Species_Act

The US Congress was urged to create the exemption by proponents of a conservation plan on San Bruno Mountain, California that was drafted in the early 1980s and is the first HCP in the nation. In the conference report on the 1982 amendments, Congress specified that it intended the San Bruno plan to act "as a model" for future conservation plans developed under the incidental take exemption provision and that "the adequacy of similar conservation plans should be measured against the San Bruno plan". Congress further noted that the San Bruno plan was based on "an independent exhaustive biological study" and protected at least 87% of the habitat of the listed butterflies that led to the development of the HCP.

Question: What location held the first HCP?
Answer: San Bruno Mountain, California

Question: What percentage of the critical habitat was protected for the area that received the first HCP?
Answer: 87%

Question: What type of animal was being protected in the area that received the first HCP?
Answer: butterflies
Title: Endangered_Species_Act

Growing scientific recognition of the role of private lands for endangered species recovery and the landmark 1981 court decision in Palila v. Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources both contributed to making Habitat Conservation Plans/ Incidental Take Permits "a major force for wildlife conservation and a major headache to the development community", wrote Robert D.Thornton in the 1991 Environmental Law article, Searching for Consensus and Predictability: Habitat Conservation Planning under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

Question: What 1981 court decision added to the power of HCPs and ITPs for conservation?
Answer: Palila v. Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources

Question: Who wrote the article "Searching for Consensus and Predictability: Habitat Conservation Planning under the Endangered Species Act of 1973."
Answer: Robert D.Thornton

Question: What did Thornton compare the scientific and legal advances to, from the viewpoint of the development community?
Answer: a major headache