South Florida Clean Coastal Waters Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 565 To require the Inter-Agency Task Force on Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia to develop a plan for reducing, mitigating, and controlling harm- ful algal blooms and hypoxia in South Florida, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 28, 2021 Mr. MAST (for himself, Mr. SOTO, and Mr. POSEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech- nology, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources, for a pe- riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con- sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned A BILL To require the Inter-Agency Task Force on Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia to develop a plan for reducing, mitigating, and controlling harmful algal blooms and hy- poxia in South Florida, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘South Florida Clean 4 Coastal Waters Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H565.IH H565 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 565 IH SEC. 2. SOUTH FLORIDA HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS AND 1 HYPOXIA ASSESSMENT AND ACTION PLAN. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Harmful Algal Bloom and 3 Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 (Public Law 4 105–383; 33 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.) is amended— 5 (1) by redesignating sections 605 through 609 6 as sections 606 through 610, respectively; and 7 (2) by inserting after section 604 the following: 8 ‘‘SEC. 605. SOUTH FLORIDA HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS AND 9 HYPOXIA. 10 ‘‘(a) SOUTH FLORIDA.—In this section, the term 11 ‘South Florida’ means— 12 ‘‘(1) all lands and waters within the administra- 13 tive boundaries of the South Florida Water Manage- 14 ment District; 15 ‘‘(2) regional coastal waters, including Biscayne 16 Bay, the Caloosahatchee Estuary, Florida Bay, In- 17 dian River Lagoon, and St. Lucie River Estuary; 18 and 19 ‘‘(3) the Florida Reef Tract. 20 ‘‘(b) INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT.— 21 ‘‘(1) INTERIM INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT.—Not 22 later than 540 days after the date of enactment of 23 the South Florida Clean Coastal Waters Act of 24 2021, the Task Force, in accordance with the au- 25 thority under section 603, shall complete and submit 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H565.IH H565 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 565 IH to Congress and the President an interim integrated 1 assessment. 2 ‘‘(2) FINALIZED INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT.— 3 Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment 4 of the South Florida Clean Coastal Waters Act of 5 2021, the Task Force shall finalize, and submit to 6 Congress and the President, the interim integrated 7 assessment required by paragraph (1). 8 ‘‘(3) CONTENTS OF INTEGRATED ASSESS- 9 MENT.—The integrated assessment required by 10 paragraphs (1) and (2) shall examine the causes, 11 consequences, and potential approaches to reduce 12 harmful algal blooms and hypoxia in South Florida, 13 and the status of, and gaps within, current harmful 14 algal bloom and hypoxia research, monitoring, man- 15 agement, prevention, response, and control activities 16 that directly affect the region by— 17 ‘‘(A) Federal agencies; 18 ‘‘(B) State agencies; 19 ‘‘(C) regional research consortia; 20 ‘‘(D) academia; 21 ‘‘(E) private industry; 22 ‘‘(F) nongovernmental organizations; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H565.IH H565 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 565 IH ‘‘(G) Indian tribes (as defined in section 4 1 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education 2 Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)). 3 ‘‘(c) ACTION PLAN.— 4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years and 5 180 days after the date of the enactment of the 6 South Florida Clean Coastal Waters Act of 2021, 7 the Task Force shall develop and submit to Con- 8 gress a plan, based on the integrated assessment 9 under subsection (b), for reducing, mitigating, and 10 controlling harmful algal blooms and hypoxia in 11 South Florida. 12 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—The plan submitted under 13 paragraph (1) shall— 14 ‘‘(A) address the monitoring needs identi- 15 fied in the integrated assessment under sub- 16 section (b); 17 ‘‘(B) develop a timeline and budgetary re- 18 quirements for deployment of future assets; 19 ‘‘(C) identify requirements for the develop- 20 ment and verification of South Florida harmful 21 algal bloom and hypoxia models, including— 22 ‘‘(i) all assumptions built into the 23 models; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H565.IH H565 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 565 IH ‘‘(ii) data quality methods used to en- 1 sure the best available data are utilized; 2 and 3 ‘‘(D) propose a plan to implement a re- 4 mote monitoring network and early warning 5 system for alerting local communities in the re- 6 gion to harmful algal bloom risks that may im- 7 pact human health. 8 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS.—In developing the action 9 plan, the Task Force shall— 10 ‘‘(A) consult with the State of Florida, and 11 affected local and tribal governments; 12 ‘‘(B) consult with representatives from re- 13 gional academic, agricultural, industry, and 14 other stakeholder groups; 15 ‘‘(C) ensure that the plan complements 16 and does not duplicate activities conducted by 17 other Federal or State agencies, including the 18 South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task 19 Force; 20 ‘‘(D) identify critical research for reducing, 21 mitigating, and controlling harmful algal bloom 22 events and their effects; 23 ‘‘(E) evaluate cost-effective, incentive- 24 based partnership approaches; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H565.IH H565 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 565 IH ‘‘(F) ensure that the plan is technically 1 sound and cost-effective; 2 ‘‘(G) utilize existing research, assessments, 3 reports, and program activities; 4 ‘‘(H) publish a summary of the proposed 5 plan in the Federal Register at least 180 days 6 prior to submitting the completed plan to Con- 7 gress; and 8 ‘‘(I) after submitting the completed plan to 9 Congress, provide biennial progress reports on 10 the activities toward achieving the objectives of 11 the plan.’’. 12 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT AND CORRECTION.—The 13 table of contents in section 2 of the Coast Guard Author- 14 ization Act of 1998 (Public Law 105–383) is amended by 15 striking the items relating to title VI and inserting the 16 following new items: 17 ‘‘TITLE VI—HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS AND HYPOXIA ‘‘Sec. 601. Short title. ‘‘Sec. 602. Findings. ‘‘Sec. 603. Assessments. ‘‘Sec. 603A. National Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Program. ‘‘Sec. 603B. Comprehensive research plan and action strategy. ‘‘Sec. 604. Northern Gulf of Mexico hypoxia. ‘‘Sec. 605. South Florida harmful algal blooms and hypoxia. ‘‘Sec. 606. Great Lakes hypoxia and harmful algal blooms. ‘‘Sec. 607. Protection of States’ rights. ‘‘Sec. 608. Effect on other Federal authority. ‘‘Sec. 609. Definitions. ‘‘Sec. 610. Authorization of appropriations.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H565.IH H565 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS