Save Our Seas 2.0: Enhanced Global Engagement to Combat Marine Debris Act

II Calendar No. 239 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2372 To enhance global engagement to combat marine debris, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 31, 2019 Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. COONS, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. CARDIN, Mrs. SHAHEEN, and Mr. CRUZ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations SEPTEMBER 26, 2019 Reported by Mr. RISCH, with an amendment [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] A BILL To enhance global engagement to combat marine debris, 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 22:28 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2372.RS S2372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2372 RS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; DEFINITIONS. 1 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 2 ‘‘Save Our Seas 2.0: Enhanced Global Engagement to 3 Combat Marine Debris Act’’. 4 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 5 (1) CIRCULAR ECONOMY.—The term ‘‘circular 6 economy’’ means an economy that uses a systems-fo- 7 cused approach and involves industrial processes and 8 economic activities that— 9 (A) are restorative or regenerative by de- 10 sign; 11 (B) enable resources used in such proc- 12 esses and activities to maintain their highest 13 values for as long as possible; and 14 (C) aim for the elimination of waste 15 through the superior design of materials, prod- 16 ucts, and systems (including business models). 17 (2) EPA ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘EPA 18 Administrator’’ means the Administrator of the En- 19 vironmental Protection Agency. 20 (3) MARINE DEBRIS.—The term ‘‘marine de- 21 bris’’ has the meaning given that term in section 7 22 of the Marine Debris Act (33 U.S.C. 1956). 23 (4) MARINE DEBRIS EVENT.—The term ‘‘ma- 24 rine debris event’’ means an event or related events 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2372.RS S2372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2372 RS that affects or may imminently affect the United 1 States involving— 2 (A) marine debris caused by a natural 3 event, including a tsunami, flood, landslide, 4 hurricane, or other natural source; 5 (B) distinct, nonrecurring marine debris, 6 including derelict vessel groundings and con- 7 tainer spills, that have immediate or long-term 8 impacts on habitats with high ecological, eco- 9 nomic, or human-use values; or 10 (C) marine debris caused by an intentional 11 or grossly negligent act or acts that causes sub- 12 stantial economic or environmental harm. 13 (5) POST-CONSUMER MATERIALS MANAGE- 14 MENT.—The term ‘‘post-consumer materials man- 15 agement’’ means the systems, operation, supervision, 16 and aftercare of processes and equipment for post- 17 consumer materials, including — 18 (A) collection; 19 (B) transport; 20 (C) safe disposal of waste, such as post- 21 consumer materials that cannot be recovered, 22 reused, recycled, repaired, or refurbished; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2372.RS S2372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2372 RS (D) systems and processes related to recov- 1 ering, recycling, reusing, repairing, or refur- 2 bishing post-consumer materials. 3 (6) UNDER SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Under 4 Secretary’’ means the Under Secretary of Commerce 5 for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of 6 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- 7 tion. 8 SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY ON INTERNATIONAL CO- 9 OPERATION TO COMBAT MARINE DEBRIS. 10 It is the policy of the United States to partner, con- 11 sult, and coordinate with foreign governments (at the na- 12 tional and subnational levels), civil society, international 13 organizations, international financial institutions, sub- 14 national coastal communities, commercial and recreational 15 fishing industry leaders, and the private sector, in a con- 16 certed effort— 17 (1) to increase knowledge and raise awareness 18 about— 19 (A) the linkages between the sources of 20 plastic waste, mismanaged waste and post-con- 21 sumer materials, and marine debris; and 22 (B) the upstream and downstream causes 23 and effects of plastic waste, mismanaged waste 24 and post-consumer materials, and marine debris 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2372.RS S2372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2372 RS on marine environments, marine wildlife, 1 human health, and economic development; 2 (2) to support— 3 (A) strengthening systems for recovering, 4 managing, reusing (to the extent practicable), 5 and recycling plastic waste, marine debris, and 6 microfiber pollution in the world’s oceans, em- 7 phasizing upstream post-consumer materials 8 management solutions— 9 (i) to mitigate plastic waste at its 10 source; and 11 (ii) to prevent leakage of plastic waste 12 into the environment; 13 (B) advancing the utilization and avail- 14 ability of safe and affordable reusable alter- 15 natives to disposable plastic products in com- 16 merce, to the extent practicable, and with con- 17 sideration for the potential impacts of such al- 18 ternatives, and other efforts to prevent marine 19 debris; 20 (C) deployment of and access to advanced 21 technologies to capture value from post-con- 22 sumer materials and municipal solid waste 23 streams through mechanical and other recycling 24 systems; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2372.RS S2372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2372 RS (D) access to information on best practices 1 in post-consumer materials management, op- 2 tions for post-consumer materials management 3 systems financing, and options for participating 4 in public-private partnerships; and 5 (E) implementation of management meas- 6 ures to reduce derelict fishing gear, the loss of 7 fishing gear, and other sources of pollution gen- 8 erated from marine activities and to increase 9 proper disposal and recycling of fishing gear; 10 and 11 (3) to work cooperatively with international 12 partners— 13 (A) on establishing— 14 (i) measurable targets for reducing 15 marine debris, lost fishing gear, and plastic 16 waste from all sources; and 17 (ii) action plans to achieve those tar- 18 gets with a mechanism to provide regular 19 reporting; 20 (B) to promote consumer education, 21 awareness, and outreach to prevent marine de- 22 bris; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2372.RS S2372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2372 RS (C) to reduce marine debris by improving 1 advance planning for marine debris events and 2 responses to such events; and 3 (D) to share best practices in post-con- 4 sumer materials management systems to pre- 5 vent the entry of plastic waste into the environ- 6 ment. 7 SEC. 3. PRIORITIZATION OF EFFORTS AND ASSISTANCE TO 8 COMBAT MARINE DEBRIS AND IMPROVE 9 PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT. 10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall, in 11 coordination with the Administrator of the United States 12 Agency for International Development, as appropriate, 13 and the officials specified in subsection (b)— 14 (1) lead and coordinate efforts to implement the 15 policy described in section 2; and 16 (2) develop strategies and implement programs 17 that prioritize engagement and cooperation with for- 18 eign governments, subnational and local stake- 19 holders, and the private sector to expedite efforts 20 and assistance in foreign countries— 21 (A) to partner with, encourage, advise and 22 facilitate national and subnational governments 23 on the development and execution, where prac- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2372.RS S2372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 2372 RS ticable, of national projects, programs and ini- 1 tiatives to— 2 (i) improve the capacity, security, and 3 standards of operations of post-consumer 4 materials management systems; 5 (ii) monitor and track how well post- 6 consumer materials management systems 7 are functioning nationwide, based on uni- 8 form and transparent standards developed 9 in cooperation with municipal, industrial, 10 and civil society stakeholders; 11 (iii) identify the operational challenges 12 of post-consumer materials management 13 systems and develop policy and pro- 14 grammatic solutions; 15 (iv) end intentional or unintentional 16 incentives for municipalities, industries, 17 and individuals to improperly dispose of 18 plastic waste; and 19 (v) conduct outreach campaigns to 20 raise public awareness of the importance of 21 proper waste disposal; 22 (B) to facilitate the involvement of munici- 23 palities and industries in improving solid waste 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2372.RS S2372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 2372 RS reduction, collection, disposal, and reuse and re- 1 cycling projects, programs, and initiatives; 2 (C) to partner with and provide technical 3 assistance to investors, and national and local 4 institutions, including private sector actors, to 5 develop new business opportunities and solu- 6 tions to specifically reduce plastic waste and ex- 7 pand solid waste and post-consumer materials 8 management best practices in foreign countries 9 by— 10 (i) maximizing the number of people 11 and businesses, in both rural and urban 12 communities, receiving reliable solid waste 13 and post-consumer materials management 14 services; 15 (ii) improving and expanding the ca- 16 pacity of foreign industries to responsibly 17 employ post-consumer materials manage- 18 ment practices; 19 (iii) improving and expanding the ca- 20 pacity and transparency of tracking mech- 21 anisms for marine debris to reduce the im- 22 pacts on the marine environment; 23 (iv) eliminating incentives that under- 24 mine responsible post-consumer materials 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2372.RS S2372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 2372 RS management practices and lead to im- 1 proper waste disposal practices and leak- 2 age; 3 (v) building the capacity of coun- 4 tries— 5 (I) to monitor, regulate, and 6 manage waste, post-consumer mate- 7 rials and plastic waste, and pollution 8 appropriately and transparently; 9 (II) to encourage private invest- 10 ment in post-consumer materials man- 11 agement; and 12 (III) to encourage private invest- 13 ment, grow opportunities, and develop 14 markets for recyclable, reusable, and 15 repurposed plastic waste and post-con- 16 sumer materials, and products with 17 high levels of recycled plastic content, 18 at both national and local levels; and 19 (vi) promoting safe and affordable re- 20 usable alternatives to disposable plastic 21 products, to the extent practicable; and 22 (D) to research, identify, and facilitate op- 23 portunities to promote collection and proper 24 disposal of damaged or derelict fishing gear. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2372.RS S2372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •S 2372 RS (b) OFFICIALS SPECIFIED.—The officials specified in 1 this subsection are the following: 2 (1) The United States Trade Representative. 3 (2) The Under Secretary. 4 (3) The EPA Administrator. 5 (4) The Director of the Trade and Development 6 Agency. 7 (5) The President and the Board of Directors 8 of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation or 9 the Chief Executive Officer and the Board of Direc- 10 tors of the United States International Development 11 Finance Corporation, as appropriate. 12 (6) The Chief Executive Officer and the Board 13 of Directors of the Millennium Challenge Corpora- 14 tion. 15 (7) The heads of such other agencies as the 16 Secretary of State considers appropriate. 17 (c) PRIORITIZATION.—In carrying out subsection (a), 18 the officials specified in subsection (b) shall prioritize as- 19 sistance to countries with— 20 (1) rapidly developing economies; and 21 (2) rivers and coastal areas that are the most 22 severe sources of marine debris. 23 (d) EFFECTIVENESS MEASUREMENT.—In 24 prioritizing and expediting efforts and assistance under 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2372.RS S2372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •S 2372 RS this section, the officials specified in subsection (b) shall 1 use clear, accountable, and metric-based targets to meas- 2 ure the effectiveness of guarantees and assistance in 3 achieving the policy described in section 2. 4 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 5 tion may be construed to authorize the modification of or 6 the imposition of limits on the portfolios of any agency 7 or institution led by an official specified in subsection (b). 8 SEC. 4. UNITED STATES LEADERSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL 9 FORA. 10 In implementing the policy described in section 2, the 11 President shall direct the United States representatives to 12 appropriate international bodies and conferences (such as 13 the United Nations Environment Programme, the Asso- 14 ciation of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia Pacific Eco- 15 nomic Cooperation, the Group of 7, the Group of 20, and 16 the Our Ocean Conference) to use the voice, vote, and in- 17 fluence of the United States, consistent with the broad for- 18 eign policy goals of the United States, to advocate that 19 each such body— 20 (1) commit to significantly increasing efforts to 21 promote investment in well-designed post-consumer 22 materials management and plastic waste elimination 23 and mitigation projects and services that increase 24 access to safe post-consumer materials management 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S2372.RS S2372 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 13 •S 2372 RS and mitigation services, in partnership with the pri- 1 vate sector and consistent with the constraints of 2 other countries; 3 (2) address the post-consumer materials man- 4 agement needs of individuals and communities where 5 access to municipal post-consumer materials man- 6 agement services is historically impractical or cost- 7 prohibitive; 8 (3) enhance coordination with the private sec- 9 tor— 10 (A) to increase access to solid waste and 11 post-consumer materials management services; 12 (B) to utilize saf [Text truncated for display. 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