Definitions

Section 3 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1532) is amended— (1) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (10) as paragraphs (3) through (11), respectively; (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following: (2) The terms best scientific and commercial data available and best scientific data available — (A) mean all relevant and objective scientific and commercial information available at the time of the agency action; and (B) include credible and reliable data, quantitative analyses, conceptual and numerical models, and model results that— (i) account for known or potential sources of error; (ii) are applied using prevailing principles, methods, tools, and professional standards of practice; and (iii) are impartially gathered and objectively applied without presumptions or policy prescriptions that bias the application.; and (3) in paragraph (17), by striking the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and inserting the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.