South Florida Clean Coastal Waters Act of 2019

II Calendar No. 518 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 10 [Report No. 116–257] 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 3, 2019 Mr. RUBIO (for himself and Mr. SCOTT of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation AUGUST 13, 2020 Reported by Mr. WICKER, without amendment 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:02 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S10.RS S10 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 10 RS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘South Florida Clean 2 Coastal Waters Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. SOUTH FLORIDA HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS AND 4 HYPOXIA ASSESSMENT AND ACTION PLAN. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Harmful Algal Bloom and 6 Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 (Public Law 7 105–383; 33 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.) is amended— 8 (1) by redesignating sections 605 through 609 9 as sections 606 through 610, respectively; and 10 (2) by inserting after section 604 the following: 11 ‘‘SEC. 605. SOUTH FLORIDA HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS AND 12 HYPOXIA. 13 ‘‘(a) SOUTH FLORIDA.—In this section, the term 14 ‘South Florida’ has the same meaning given the term 15 ‘South Florida ecosystem’ in section 601(a)(5) of the 16 Water Resources Development Act of 2000 (Public Law 17 106–541). 18 ‘‘(b) INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 19 540 days after the date of enactment of the South Florida 20 Clean Coastal Waters Act of 2019, the Task Force, in ac- 21 cordance with the authority under section 603, shall com- 22 plete and submit to Congress and the President an inte- 23 grated assessment that examines the causes, conse- 24 quences, and potential approaches to reduce harmful algal 25 blooms and hypoxia in South Florida, and the status of, 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:02 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S10.RS S10 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 10 RS and gaps within, current harmful algal bloom and hypoxia 1 research, monitoring, management, prevention, response, 2 and control activities that directly affect the region by— 3 ‘‘(1) Federal agencies; 4 ‘‘(2) State agencies; 5 ‘‘(3) regional research consortia; 6 ‘‘(4) academia; 7 ‘‘(5) private industry; and 8 ‘‘(6) nongovernmental organizations. 9 ‘‘(c) ACTION PLAN.— 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 11 after the date of the enactment of the South Florida 12 Clean Coastal Waters Act of 2019, the Task Force 13 shall develop and submit to Congress a plan, based 14 on the integrated assessment under subsection (b), 15 for reducing, mitigating, and controlling harmful 16 algal blooms and hypoxia in South Florida. 17 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—The plan submitted under 18 paragraph (1) shall— 19 ‘‘(A) address the monitoring needs identi- 20 fied in the integrated assessment under sub- 21 section (b); 22 ‘‘(B) develop a timeline and budgetary re- 23 quirements for deployment of future assets; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:02 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S10.RS S10 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 10 RS ‘‘(C) identify requirements for the develop- 1 ment and verification of South Florida harmful 2 algal bloom and hypoxia models, including— 3 ‘‘(i) all assumptions built into the 4 models; and 5 ‘‘(ii) data quality methods used to en- 6 sure the best available data are utilized; 7 and 8 ‘‘(D) propose a plan to implement a re- 9 mote monitoring network and early warning 10 system for alerting local communities in the re- 11 gion to harmful algal bloom risks that may im- 12 pact human health. 13 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS.—In developing the action 14 plan, the Task Force shall— 15 ‘‘(A) coordinate and consult with the State 16 of Florida, and affected local and tribal govern- 17 ments; 18 ‘‘(B) consult with representatives from re- 19 gional academic, agricultural, industry, and 20 other stakeholder groups; 21 ‘‘(C) ensure that the plan complements 22 and does not duplicate activities conducted by 23 other Federal or State agencies, including the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:02 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S10.RS S10 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 10 RS South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task 1 Force; 2 ‘‘(D) identify critical research for reducing, 3 mitigating, and controlling harmful algal bloom 4 events and their effects; 5 ‘‘(E) evaluate cost-effective, incentive- 6 based partnership approaches; 7 ‘‘(F) ensure that the plan is technically 8 sound and cost-effective; 9 ‘‘(G) utilize existing research, assessments, 10 reports, and program activities; 11 ‘‘(H) publish a summary of the proposed 12 plan in the Federal Register at least 180 days 13 prior to submitting the completed plan to Con- 14 gress; and 15 ‘‘(I) after submitting the completed plan to 16 Congress, provide biennial progress reports on 17 the activities toward achieving the objectives of 18 the plan.’’. 19 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT AND CORRECTION.—The 20 table of contents in section 2 of the Coast Guard Author- 21 ization Act of 1998 (Public Law 105–383) is amended by 22 striking the items relating to title VI and inserting the 23 following new items: 24 ‘‘TITLE VI—HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS AND HYPOXIA ‘‘Sec. 601. Short title. VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:02 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S10.RS S10 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 10 RS ‘‘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.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:02 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S10.RS S10 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:02 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S10.RS S10 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS Calendar No. 518 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 10 [Report No. 116–257] A BILL To require the Inter-Agency Task Force on Harm- ful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia to develop a plan for reducing, mitigating, and controlling harmful algal blooms and hypoxia in South Florida, and for other purposes. AUGUST 13, 2020 Reported without amendment VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:02 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\S10.RS S10 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS