Endangered Species Transparency and Reasonableness Act of 2022
This bill revises requirements concerning determinations on whether a species is a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) and caps attorney's fees to prevailing parties in ESA citizen suits.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) must publish online, subject to privacy or administrative limitations, the best scientific and commercial data available that are the basis for each determination.
The bill states that the term best scientific and commercial data available includes all data submitted by a state, tribal, or county government. Thus, the USFWS and NMFS would no longer consider whether data from those sources are the best scientific and commercial data available. Instead, the data would be automatically deemed the best scientific and commercial data available regardless of the quality of the data.
Before making a determination on whether a species is an endangered or threatened species, the USFWS and NMFS must provide affected states with all of the data that is the basis of the determination.
The Department of the Interior must also publish and maintain an online searchable database that discloses federal expenditures related to litigation under the ESA.