IIB 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1447 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 19, 2021 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation AN ACT To amend the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act of 2009 to establish an Ocean Acidifica- tion Advisory Board, to expand and improve the research on Ocean Acidification and Coastal Acidification, to es- tablish and maintain a data archive system for Ocean Acidification data and Coastal Acidification data, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H1447.RFS H1447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 HR 1447 RFS 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 ‘‘Coastal and Ocean 4 Acidification Stressors and Threats Research Act of 5 2021’’ or the ‘‘COAST Research Act of 2021’’. 6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 12402(a) of the Federal 8 Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act of 2009 9 (33 U.S.C. 3701(a)) is amended— 10 (1) in paragraph (1)— 11 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 12 (A), by striking ‘‘development and coordina- 13 tion’’ and inserting ‘‘coordination and imple- 14 mentation’’; 15 (B) in subparagraph (A), by striking 16 ‘‘acidification on marine organisms’’ and insert- 17 ing ‘‘acidification and coastal acidification on 18 marine organisms’’; and 19 (C) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘es- 20 tablish’’ and all that follows through the semi- 21 colon and inserting ‘‘maintain and advise an 22 interagency research, monitoring, and public 23 outreach program on ocean acidification and 24 coastal acidification;’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1447.RFS H1447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 HR 1447 RFS (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘establish- 1 ment’’ and inserting ‘‘maintenance’’; 2 (3) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘and coastal 3 acidification’’ after ‘‘ocean acidification’’; and 4 (4) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘and coastal 5 acidification that take into account other environ- 6 mental and anthropogenic stressors’’ after ‘‘ocean 7 acidification’’. 8 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 9 Section 12402 of the Federal Ocean Acidification Re- 10 search and Monitoring Act of 2009 (33 U.S.C. 3701(a)) 11 is amended by striking ‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—’’. 12 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 13 Section 12403 of the Federal Ocean Acidification Re- 14 search and Monitoring Act of 2009 (33 U.S.C. 3702) is 15 amended— 16 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘of the 17 Earth’s oceans’’ and all that follows before the pe- 18 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘and changes in the 19 water chemistry of the Earth’s oceans, coastal estu- 20 aries, and waterways caused by carbon dioxide from 21 the atmosphere and the breakdown of organic mat- 22 ter’’; 23 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘Joint Sub- 24 committee on Ocean Science and Technology of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1447.RFS H1447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 HR 1447 RFS National Science and Technology Council’’ and in- 1 serting ‘‘National Science and Technology Council 2 Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology’’; 3 (3) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and 4 (3) as paragraphs (2), (3), and (4), respectively; 5 (4) by inserting before paragraph (2), as so re- 6 designated, the following new paragraph: 7 ‘‘(1) COASTAL ACIDIFICATION.—The term 8 ‘coastal acidification’ means the combined decrease 9 in pH and changes in the water chemistry of coastal 10 oceans, estuaries, and other bodies of water from 11 chemical inputs (including carbon dioxide from the 12 atmosphere), freshwater inputs, and excess nutrient 13 run-off from land and coastal atmospheric pollution 14 that result in processes that release carbon dioxide, 15 acidic nitrogen, and sulfur compounds as byproducts 16 which end up in coastal waters.’’; and 17 (5) by adding at the end the following new 18 paragraph: 19 ‘‘(5) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each 20 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 21 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American 22 Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern 23 Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands of the United 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1447.RFS H1447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 HR 1447 RFS States, and any other territory or possession of the 1 United States.’’. 2 SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP. 3 Section 12404 of the Federal Ocean Acidification Re- 4 search and Monitoring Act of 2009 (33 U.S.C. 3703) is 5 amended— 6 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘SUB- 7 COMMITTEE’’ and inserting ‘‘WORKING GROUP’’; 8 (2) in subsection (a)— 9 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘Joint 10 Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Tech- 11 nology of the National Science and Technology 12 Council shall coordinate Federal activities on 13 ocean acidification and establish’’ and insert 14 ‘‘Subcommittee shall establish and maintain’’; 15 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘Wildlife 16 Service,’’ and inserting ‘‘Wildlife Service, the 17 Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the En- 18 vironmental Protection Agency, the Department 19 of Agriculture, the Department of State, the 20 Department of Energy, the Department of the 21 Navy, the National Park Service, the Bureau of 22 Indian Affairs, the National Institute of Stand- 23 ards and Technology, the Smithsonian Institu- 24 tion,’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1447.RFS H1447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 HR 1447 RFS (C) in paragraph (3), in the heading, by 1 striking ‘‘CHAIRMAN’’ and inserting ‘‘CHAIR’’; 2 (3) in subsection (b)— 3 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, in- 4 cluding the efforts of the National Oceanic and 5 Atmospheric Administration to facilitate such 6 implementation’’ after ‘‘of the plan’’; 7 (B) in paragraph (2)— 8 (i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 9 ‘‘and coastal acidification’’ after ‘‘ocean 10 acidification’’; and 11 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 12 ‘‘and coastal acidification’’ after ‘‘ocean 13 acidification’’; 14 (C) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 15 and inserting a semicolon; 16 (D) in paragraph (5)— 17 (i) by striking ‘‘developed’’ and insert- 18 ing ‘‘and coastal acidification developed’’; 19 and 20 (ii) by striking the period at the end 21 and inserting ‘‘and coastal acidification; 22 and’’; and 23 (E) by adding at the end the following new 24 paragraph: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1447.RFS H1447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 HR 1447 RFS ‘‘(6) ensure that each of the Federal agencies 1 represented on the interagency working group— 2 ‘‘(A) participates in the Ocean Acidifica- 3 tion Information Exchange established under 4 paragraph (5); and 5 ‘‘(B) delivers data and information to sup- 6 port the data archive system established under 7 section 12406(d).’’; 8 (4) in subsection (c), in paragraph (2)— 9 (A) by inserting ‘‘, and to the Office of 10 Management and Budget,’’ after ‘‘House of 11 Representatives’’; and 12 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘the 13 interagency research’’ and inserting ‘‘inter- 14 agency strategic research’’; 15 (5) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub- 16 section (d); and 17 (6) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol- 18 lowing: 19 ‘‘(c) ADVISORY BOARD.— 20 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Chair of the Sub- 21 committee shall establish an Ocean Acidification Ad- 22 visory Board. 23 ‘‘(2) DUTIES.—The Advisory Board shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1447.RFS H1447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 HR 1447 RFS ‘‘(A) not later than 180 days before the 1 Subcommittee submits the most recent report 2 under subsection (d)(2)— 3 ‘‘(i) review such report; 4 ‘‘(ii) submit an analysis of such report 5 to the Subcommittee for consideration in 6 the final report submitted under subsection 7 (d)(2); and 8 ‘‘(iii) concurrently with the Sub- 9 committee’s final submission of the report 10 under subsection (d)(2), the Advisory 11 Board shall submit a copy of the analysis 12 provided to the Subcommittee to the Com- 13 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Trans- 14 portation of the Senate, the Committee on 15 Science, Space, and Technology of the 16 House of Representatives, and the Com- 17 mittee on Natural Resources of the House 18 of Representatives; 19 ‘‘(B) not later than 180 days before the 20 Subcommittee submits the most recent strategic 21 research plan under subsection (d)(3) to Con- 22 gress— 23 ‘‘(i) review such plan; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1447.RFS H1447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 HR 1447 RFS ‘‘(ii) submit an analysis of such plan 1 and the implementation thereof to the Sub- 2 committee for consideration in the final 3 strategic research plan submitted under 4 subsection (d)(3); and 5 ‘‘(iii) concurrently with the Sub- 6 committee’s final submission of the stra- 7 tegic research plan under subsection 8 (d)(3), the Advisory Board shall submit a 9 copy of the analysis provided to the Sub- 10 committee to the Committee on Commerce, 11 Science, and Transportation of the Senate, 12 the Committee on Science, Space, and 13 Technology of the House of Representa- 14 tives, and the Committee on Natural Re- 15 sources of the House of Representatives; 16 ‘‘(C) provide ongoing advice to the Sub- 17 committee and the interagency working group 18 on matters related to Federal activities on 19 ocean acidification and coastal acidification; 20 ‘‘(D) advise the Subcommittee and the 21 interagency working group on— 22 ‘‘(i) efforts to coordinate research and 23 monitoring activities related to ocean acidi- 24 fication and coastal acidification; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1447.RFS H1447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 HR 1447 RFS ‘‘(ii) the best practices for the stand- 1 ards developed for data archiving under 2 section 12406(e); 3 ‘‘(E) publish in the Federal Register a 4 charter; 5 ‘‘(F) provide the Library of Congress 6 with— 7 ‘‘(i) the charter described in subpara- 8 graph (E); 9 ‘‘(ii) any schedules and minutes for 10 meetings of the Advisory Board; 11 ‘‘(iii) any documents that are ap- 12 proved by the Advisory Board; and 13 ‘‘(iv) any reports and analysis pre- 14 pared by the Advisory Board; and 15 ‘‘(G) establish a publicly accessible web 16 page on the website of the National Oceanic 17 and Atmospheric Administration, that contains 18 the information described in clauses (i) through 19 (iv) of subparagraph (F). 20 ‘‘(3) MEMBERSHIP.—The Advisory Board shall 21 consist of 24 members as follows: 22 ‘‘(A) Two representatives of the shellfish 23 and crab industry. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1447.RFS H1447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 HR 1447 RFS ‘‘(B) One representative of the finfish in- 1 dustry. 2 ‘‘(C) One representative of seafood proc- 3 essors. 4 ‘‘(D) Three representatives from academia, 5 including both natural and social sciences. 6 ‘‘(E) One representative of recreational 7 fishing. 8 ‘‘(F) One representative of a relevant non- 9 governmental organization. 10 ‘‘(G) Six representatives from relevant 11 State, local, and Tribal governments. 12 ‘‘(H) One representative from the Alaska 13 Ocean Acidification Network or a subsequent 14 entity that represents the same geographical re- 15 gion and has a similar purpose. 16 ‘‘(I) One representative from the California 17 Current Acidification Network or a subsequent 18 entity that represents the same geographical re- 19 gion and has a similar purpose. 20 ‘‘(J) One representative from the North- 21 east Coastal Acidification Network or a subse- 22 quent entity that represents the same geo- 23 graphical region and has a similar purpose. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1447.RFS H1447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 HR 1447 RFS ‘‘(K) One representative from the South- 1 east Coastal Acidification Network or a subse- 2 quent entity that represents the same geo- 3 graphical region and has a similar purpose. 4 ‘‘(L) One representative from the Gulf of 5 Mexico Coastal Acidification Network or a sub- 6 sequent entity that represents the same geo- 7 graphical region and has a similar purpose. 8 ‘‘(M) One representative from the Mid-At- 9 lantic Coastal Acidification Network or a subse- 10 quent entity that represents the same geo- 11 graphical region and has a similar purpose. 12 ‘‘(N) One representative from the Pacific 13 Islands Ocean Observing System or a subse- 14 quent entity that represents the island terri- 15 tories and possessions of the United States in 16 the Pacific Ocean, and the State of Hawaii and 17 has a similar purpose. 18 ‘‘(O) One representative from the Carib- 19 bean Regional Association for Coastal Ocean 20 Observing or a subsequent entity that rep- 21 resents Puerto Rico and the United States Vir- 22 gin Islands and has a similar purpose. 23 ‘‘(P) One representative from the National 24 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shall 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1447.RFS H1447 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 13 HR 1447 RFS serve as an ex-officio member of the Advisory 1 Board without a vote. 2 ‘‘(4) APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS.—The Chair 3 of the Subcommittee shall— 4 ‘‘(A) appoint members to the Advisory 5 Board (taking into account the geographical in- 6 terests of each individual to be appointed as a 7 member of the Advisory Board to ensure that 8 an appropriate balance of geographical interests 9 are represented by the members of the Advisory 10 Board) who— 11 ‘‘(i) represent the interest group for 12 which each seat is designated; 13 ‘‘(ii) demonstrate expertise on ocean 14 acidification or coastal acidification and its 15 scientific, economic, industry, cultural, and 16 community impacts; and 17 ‘‘(iii) have a record of distinguished 18 service with respect to ocean acidification 19 or coastal acidification, and such impacts; 20 ‘‘(B) give consideration to nominations and 21 recommendations from the members of the 22 interagency working [Text truncated for display. 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