text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
      This Act may be cited as the ``Discredit Eternal Listing Inequality 
  of Species Takings Act'' or the ``DELIST Act''.
  
  SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
  
      Congress finds the following:
              (1) The Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly (Rhaphiomidas 
          terminates abdominalis) was listed as an endangered species 
          under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 
          seq.) on September 23, 1993 (58 Fed. Reg. 49881).
              (2) Nineteen years have passed since the Delhi Sands 
          Flower-loving Fly was listed as an endangered species.
              (3) The Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly's listing was based 
          on a high degree of threat and a low potential for recovery for 
          a listed subspecies that may be in conflict with construction 
          or other development projects or other forms of economic 
          activity.
              (4) On September 14, 1997, a recovery plan was issued for 
          the Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly. The plan claimed that the 
          resolution of current population data is too poor to 
          effectively evaluate abundance trends or population 
          distributions due to the cryptic nature and rarity of the Delhi 
          Sands flower-loving Fly. Thus, the recovery plan by definition 
          could not establish delisting criteria.
              (5) The United States Fish and Wildlife Service's report 
          entitled ``Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly (Rhaphiomidas 
          terminatus abdominalis) 5-Year Review: Summary and Evaluation'' 
          (March 2008; referred to in this section as the ``5-year review 
          report'') establishes that down-listing criterion 2 cannot be 
          evaluated with current knowledge of the Delhi Sands Flower-
          loving Fly.
              (6) None of the Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly conservation 
          areas are currently managed to maintain perpetual sand supply. 
          There is currently insufficient information to determine the 
          extent or long-term importance of this impact to maintaining 
          the dune ecosystem.
              (7) The cryptic nature and low density of Delhi Sands 
          Flower-loving Fly complicate efforts to effectively monitor 
          population abundance.
              (8) To date, it has proven difficult to conduct surveys 
          that reliably quantify relevant population variables (e.g., 
          density and relative abundance), and no populations are 
          regularly surveyed with sufficient effort to effectively 
          monitor population trends.
              (9) Public support for conservation of the sand dune system 
          upon which the Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly depends is 
          limited.
              (10) The life history of the Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly 
          is largely unknown.
              (11) The 5-year review report asserts that the Delhi Sands 
          Flower-loving Fly was not used to explain larval stages of such 
          fly because the population was too low. Instead, a comparison 
          of entomologists observed several larvae of Rhaphiomidas 
          trochilus, and because R. trochilus is closely related to the 
          Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly, these observations were used to 
          understand larval biology of the Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly.
              (12) A commenter mentioned in the 5-year review report 
          suggested that the Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly may be non-
          native to the Riverside/San Bernardino area and may have been 
          accidentally introduced by the early settlers.
              (13) There is no new information in the scientific 
          literature suggesting that the range of the Delhi Sands Flower-
          loving Fly is more extensive than initially identified.
              (14) Although the area of potentially suitable habitat has 
          expanded, no newly discovered occupied site supports a major 
          population of the Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly that was not 
          known at the time of the listing.
              (15) Within the section of the 5-year review report 
          relating to abundance, it stated that no clear trends emerge 
          from the demographic data that have been generated since the 
          listing of the Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly. Due to the 
          cryptic nature and rarity of the Delhi Sands flower loving fly, 
          it is difficult to accurately estimate abundance or density for 
          this subspecies.
              (16) The 5-year review report claims range-wide surveys 
          have not been attempted due to lack of funding and issues with 
          access to privately owned properties.
              (17) The 5-year review report indicated that United States 
          Fish and Wildlife Service biologists initiated a study in 2004 
          designed to improve Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly survey 
          protocol recommendations. This study required the effort of 3 
          biologists working 6 days a week during the peak of the flight 
          season, and the data were only marginally adequate to estimate 
          abundance, density, and detection probability. This effort 
          indicated that measurement of population demographic trends 
          will likely require substantial effort unless new techniques 
          prove effective.
              (18) Because most Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly habitat is 
          in private ownership and no regulations are in place to address 
          loss of unoccupied Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly habitat, the 
          permanent loss of potential and restorable Delhi Sands Flower-
          loving Fly habitat important to recovery often proceeds.
              (19) Most of the existing Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly 
          conservation sites are likely too small and fragmented to 
          sustain Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly populations through time.
              (20) In addition, while protected from development, most of 
          the existing conservation areas remain susceptible to invasion 
          by nonnative grasses, off-road vehicle use, and other 
          disturbances.
              (21) Most conservation areas do not have monitoring 
          programs to track Delhi Sands flower-loving fly occupancy or 
          habitat quality.
              (22) With at least 90 percent loss of historical Delhi 
          Soils, potential and suitable Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly 
          habitat available for conservation and restoration is extremely 
          limited.
              (23) At the time of listing in 1993, there were only five 
          small, isolated, extant populations of Delhi Sands Flower-
          loving Fly.
              (24) The 5-year review report states that recent 
          observations, and the continued habitat loss and fragmentation, 
          all suggest that population sizes of the Delhi Sands Flower-
          loving Fly are likely to be very small. Here, it is clear that 
          the United States Fish and Wildlife Service does not know the 
          size of the population. It may be possible that there is no 
          longer a population to protect.
              (25) It is commonly accepted in conservation biology that 
          small populations have higher probabilities of extinction than 
          larger populations because their low numbers make them 
          susceptible to inbreeding, loss of genetic variation, high 
          variability in age and sex ratios, demographic stochasticity, 
          and random naturally occurring events such as wildfires, 
          floods, droughts, or disease epidemics.
              (26) Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly populations were 
          considered to be at risk at the time the subspecies was listed 
          because of their small size and habitat fragmentation. We have 
          no information suggesting that these threats have been 
          ameliorated since the time of listing.
              (27) Monitoring efforts since the time of listing, though 
          limited, do not suggest population increases, and it is 
          reasonable to believe that Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly 
          populations are likely to be very small.
              (28) Together, small population size, isolation, 
          populations in fragmented habitat, and increased vulnerability 
          to introduced predators and competitors increase the risk of 
          extirpation of the remaining Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly 
          populations.
              (29) Continued listing of the Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly 
          as an endangered species is not based on the best scientific 
          and commercial data available. The 5-year review report relied 
          on research conducted in 1993 or 2002. The research is 19 and 9 
          years old, respectively. The 5-year review report has not shown 
          that the Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly exist nor has there been 
          a substantial increase of population during the 19 years of 
          protection by the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 
          1531 et seq.).
  
  SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN SPECIES AS EXTINCT.
  
      Section 4(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 
  et sq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
      ``(4) Treatment of Certain Species as Extinct.--(A) A limited 
  listed species shall be treated as extinct for purposes of this Act 
  upon the expiration of the 15-year period beginning on the date it is 
  determined by the Secretary to be an endangered species, unless the 
  Secretary publishes a finding that--
              ``(i) there has been a substantial increase in the 
          population of the species during that period; or
              ``(ii) the continued listing of the species does not impose 
          any economic hardship on communities located in the range of 
          the species.
      ``(B) In this paragraph the term `limited listed species' means any 
  species that is listed under subsection (c) as an endangered species 
  for which it is not reasonably possible to determine whether the 
  species has been extirpated from the range of the species that existed 
  on the date the species was listed because not all individuals of the 
  species were identified at the time of such listing.''.
target: Discredit Eternal Listing Inequality of Species Takings Act or the DELIST Act - Amends the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) to treat a limited listed species as extinct for purposes of this Act upon the expiration of the 15-year period beginning on the date it is determined by the Secretary of the Interior to be an endangered species, unless the Secretary publishes a finding that: (1) there has been a substantial increase in the population of the species during that period; or (2) the continued listing of the species does not impose any economic hardship on communities located in the range of the species.
  
  Defines "limited listed species" as any species that is listed as an endangered species for which it is not reasonably possible to determine whether the species has been extirpated from the range of the species that existed on the date the species was listed because not all individuals of the species were identified at the time of such listing.
feat_title: To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to require that certain species be treated as extinct for purposes of that Act if there is not a substantial increase in the population of a species during the 15-year period beginning on the date the species is determined to be an endangered species, and for other purposes.