WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tuesday by a vote of 233 to 190, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4315 “The Endangered Species Transparency & Reasonableness Act.” This legislation is a package of four separate bills focused on common sense and specific updates to the Endangered Species Act (ESA), including a requirement for the federal government to disclose to affected states prior to listing, protecting taxpayer dollars by placing caps on attorney’s fees, and requiring the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to track, report to Congress, and make available to the public information on funds used to respond to lawsuits. Congressman Tim Huelskamp (KS-01), an original co-sponsor of all four bills, issued the following statement:

“Western Kansas specifically has seen and continues to see major disruptions as a result of the listing of the Lesser Prairie Chicken earlier this year. Farmers, ranchers, oil and gas producers, and our electric cooperatives are facing tremendous uncertainty and costs because of this federal mandate. It is even so silly that the federal bureaucrats identified specific times of the day that no oil and gas activity can take place in certain areas – for fear it might disturb the bird. This one-size-fits-all policy is costing jobs and hurting Kansas families. We must protect the rural way of life and the Kansas economy from the massive grips of these bureaucrats and their attorneys.

“I salute my colleagues for joining me in passage of the ESA Transparency Act. Although this is only one step in the right direction, it is an important one in reforming an ESA that does not work. There must be transparency and accountability at the federal level—especially because of the overreach we continue to see from the Obama Administration. This bill sends a message to the USFW and their liberal environmental allies who are targeting hundreds of other species to list under outrageous “sue and settle” agreements — we will fight to protect our economy and our jobs.”