II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 386
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to provide exemptions from
the consultation requirements required under that Act for agency actions
that fulfill critical human water needs, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY4, 2025
Ms. L
UMMIS(for herself, Mr. BARRASSO, and Mr. SHEEHY) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on En-
vironment and Public Works
A BILL
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to provide
exemptions from the consultation requirements required
under that Act for agency actions that fulfill critical
human water needs, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Critical Water Re-4
sources Prioritization Act of 2025’’. 5
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•S 386 IS
SEC. 2. CRITICAL WATER RESOURCES EXEMPTIONS UNDER 1
THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT OF 1973. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 7 of the Endangered Spe-3
cies Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536) is amended by adding 4
at the end the following: 5
‘‘(q) H
UMANNEEDSEXEMPTIONS FOR WATERRE-6
SOURCES.— 7
‘‘(1) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 8
‘‘(A) C
RITICAL HUMAN WATER NEED .— 9
The term ‘critical human water need’ means 10
water required— 11
‘‘(i) for a municipal drinking water 12
supply; 13
‘‘(ii) for emergency services, including 14
firefighting; 15
‘‘(iii) to maintain public health and 16
safety, as determined by the Secretary or 17
a relevant water management agency; or 18
‘‘(iv) for food security, as determined 19
by the Secretary. 20
‘‘(B) W
ATER MANAGEMENT AGENCY .—The 21
term ‘water management agency’ means any 22
Federal, State, or local agency with authority to 23
manage or allocate water resources. 24
‘‘(2) E
XEMPTIONS FOR CRITICAL HUMAN 25
WATER NEEDS.—Notwithstanding any other provi-26
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•S 386 IS
sion of this Act, the Secretary may grant an exemp-1
tion from the requirements of subsection (a)(2) for 2
any agency action carried out by a water manage-3
ment agency to fulfill a critical human water need 4
if— 5
‘‘(A) those requirements would directly 6
conflict with the fulfillment of the critical 7
human water need; 8
‘‘(B) the water management agency has— 9
‘‘(i) implemented all reasonable water 10
conservation measures; 11
‘‘(ii) explored all feasible alternative 12
water sources; and 13
‘‘(iii) determined no other reasonable 14
alternatives exist to meet the critical 15
human water need; and 16
‘‘(C) the water management agency sub-17
mits to the Secretary— 18
‘‘(i) documentation of the conditions 19
described in subparagraphs (A) and (B); 20
‘‘(ii) a plan to minimize adverse im-21
pacts on affected species; and 22
‘‘(iii) a timeline for reinstating those 23
requirements. 24
‘‘(3) D
URATION AND RENEWAL .— 25
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‘‘(A) INITIAL PERIOD.—An exemption 1
granted by the Secretary under paragraph (2) 2
shall be valid for a period of not more than 180 3
days. 4
‘‘(B) R
ENEWAL.—The Secretary may 5
renew an exemption under paragraph (2) for 6
additional 180-day periods if the conditions de-7
scribed in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of para-8
graph (2) continue to exist and the applicable 9
water management agency resubmits the infor-10
mation described in subparagraph (C) of that 11
paragraph. 12
‘‘(4) R
EPORTS.— 13
‘‘(A) W
ATER MANAGEMENT AGENCY RE -14
PORTS.—A water management agency operating 15
under an exemption granted under paragraph 16
(2) shall submit to the Secretary monthly re-17
ports describing— 18
‘‘(i) the ongoing critical human water 19
need for which the exemption was made; 20
‘‘(ii) efforts to develop alternative 21
water sources; and 22
‘‘(iii)(I) impacts on affected species; 23
and 24
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‘‘(II) measures taken to minimize 1
those impacts. 2
‘‘(B) S
ECRETARY REPORTS .—The Sec-3
retary shall submit to Congress an annual re-4
port describing— 5
‘‘(i) all exemption made under this 6
subsection; 7
‘‘(ii) the cumulative impact of those 8
exemptions on affected species; and 9
‘‘(iii) recommendations for improving 10
the balance between critical human water 11
needs and species protection. 12
‘‘(5) J
UDICIAL REVIEW.—Any action taken 13
under this subsection shall be subject to judicial re-14
view only for arbitrary and capricious agency action 15
under section 706 of title 5, United States Code.’’. 16
(b) R
EGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 17
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary (as de-18
fined in section 3 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 19
(16 U.S.C. 1532)) shall promulgate regulations to imple-20
ment the amendments made by this section. 21
Æ
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