Nutria Eradication and Control Reauthorization Act of 2024

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation by my colleague from northern California, Representative Josh Harder.

This bill would reauthorize the Nutria Eradication and Control Act through 2030. This will benefit Maryland, Louisiana, and California, enabling them to manage and eradicate this destructive, invasive species.

The chairman described a little bit about the nutria and how it came to the United States. The reason it is such a problem is it breeds very rapidly, has destructive tendencies towards native wetland vegetation, which has led to erosion and displacement of native species. It can lead to levee breaches and the introduction of diseases and parasites that threaten humans, livestock, and pets.

These effects pose severe threats to our national wetlands which are essential habitats for waterfowl and other wildlife and which act as buffers from extreme weather events.

To give you an example, according to estimates, had measures not been adopted to control and eradicate the species in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay, nutria could have destroyed 17 percent of the bay's marshes in just 50 years.

In 2003, the Nutria Eradication and Control Act authorized the Secretary of the Interior to provide financial assistance to Maryland and Louisiana for a program to eradicate or control nutria and restore marshland that they had damaged.

In 2020, my friend, Representative Josh Harder, passed a bill through Congress that amended that legislation to include California. That was a very timely law because California faced a rapidly expanding breeding population of nutria in the San Joaquin Valley and adjacent areas.

The Nutria Eradication and Control Act has significantly reduced nutria populations in all three States. In Maryland, they were entirely eradicated from the Chesapeake Bay in 2022. In California, nutria captures peeked in 2020 and have been steadily declining, but they are not yet fully eradicated. That is why this bill is needed. It would ensure the critical work of eradicating this destructive, invasive species can continue through fiscal year 2030.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. HUFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, when the last nutria in the United States is eradicated, it will not be missed, but the gentleman from Louisiana will be missed. It has been a pleasure serving with him. He is colorful, both in his rhetoric and in his fashion. We appreciate him and wish him well.

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Mr. HUFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this very important bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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