SRC-MKV S.C.R. 51 77(R)   BILL ANALYSIS


Senate Research Center   S.C.R. 51
77R140038 CCK-DBy: Bivins
Natural Resources
5/3/2001
As Filed


DIGEST 

Under rules adopted on November 23, 1998, the Fish and Wildlife Service of
the U.S. Department of the Interior listed the Arkansas River shiner
(Notropis girardi), a minnow whose present range included portions of the
Canadian River in Texas, as a threatened species pursuant to the federal
Endangered Species Act.  Subsequent rules adopted on April 4, 2001, which
follow from policy reconsiderations stipulated in an agreed settlement
order, designate 1,148 miles of river segments in the Arkansas River basin
- including over 100 miles of the Canadian River in Oldham, Potter, and
Hempill counties in Texas - as critical habitat for the species.  This
state's Parks and Wildlife Department recommended against listing the
Arkansas River shiner as an endangered or threatened species because such a
listing was scientifically unsound and unnecessary.  The Fish and Wildlife
Service refused to enter a Memorandum of Understanding concerning recovery
of the Arkansas River shiner with the states of Texas and Oklahoma, yet in
its recent rule adoption notice concedes that ideally a recovery plan
should precede critical habitat designation.  Its designation, which
becomes effective on May 4, 2001, includes a portion of the Canadian River
that makes up the headwaters of Lake Meredith, and as such could
potentially interfere with the reservoir's water supply and flood control
functions. 


PURPOSE

As proposed, S.C.R. 51 submits the following resolutions:

Provides that the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas urges the U.S.
Department of the Interior to reconsider the necessity of  designating the
Arkansas River shiner as a threatened species and the necessity of
designating critical habitat in Texas for the Arkansas River shiner.
Provides that the 77th Legislature urges the Parks and Wildlife Department
and the Office of the Attorney General to take all reasonable steps to
ensure that portions of the Canadian River in Texas be designated as
critical habitat only to the extent that such designation is absolutely
necessary, scientifically justifiable, and economically prudent.  Provides
that the secretary of state shall forward official copies of this
resolution to the secretary of the interior, to the president of the United
States, to the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of
the senate of the United States Congress, and to all members of the Texas
delegation to the congress with the request that this resolution be
officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the
Congress of the United States of America.  Provides that the secretary of
state shall forward an official copy of this resolution to the executive
director of the Parks and Wildlife Department and to the attorney general
of Texas.