Missouri River Basin Drought and Snowpack Monitoring Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4444 To require installation of a network of soil moisture and snowpack monitoring in the Upper Missouri River Basin and to establish a pilot program for the acquisition and use of data generated by that network, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES AUGUST 5, 2020 Mr. THUNE (for himself and Mr. ROUNDS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To require installation of a network of soil moisture and snowpack monitoring in the Upper Missouri River Basin and to establish a pilot program for the acquisition and use of data generated by that network, 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 ‘‘Missouri River Basin 4 Drought and Snowpack Monitoring Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. SOIL MOISTURE AND SNOWPACK MONITORING. 6 (a) INSTALLATION OF NETWORK.— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4444.IS S4444 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4444 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—In accordance with the ac- 1 tivities required under section 4003(a) of the Water 2 Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 3 (128 Stat. 1311; 130 Stat. 1677), and to support 4 the goals of the Weather Research and Forecasting 5 Innovation Act of 2017 (Public Law 115–25; 131 6 Stat. 91) and the National Integrated Drought In- 7 formation System Reauthorization Act of 2018 8 (Public Law 115–423; 132 Stat. 5454), the Sec- 9 retary of the Army (referred to in this section as the 10 ‘‘Secretary’’), in coordination with the Administrator 11 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- 12 tration (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Adminis- 13 trator’’), the Chief of the Natural Resources Con- 14 servation Service, the Director of the United States 15 Geological Survey, and the Commissioner of Rec- 16 lamation, shall continue installation of a network of 17 soil moisture and plains snowpack monitoring sta- 18 tions and modification of existing stations in the 19 Upper Missouri River Basin. 20 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out installa- 21 tion and modification activities under paragraph (1), 22 the Secretary— 23 (A) may continue to enter into agreements, 24 including cooperative agreements, with State 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4444.IS S4444 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4444 IS mesonet programs for purposes of installing 1 new stations or modifying existing stations; 2 (B) shall transfer ownership and all re- 3 sponsibilities for operation and maintenance of 4 new stations to the respective State mesonet 5 program for the State in which the monitoring 6 station is located on completion of installation 7 of the station; and 8 (C) shall establish, in consultation with the 9 Administrator, requirements and standards for 10 the installation of new stations and modification 11 of existing stations to ensure seamless data in- 12 tegration into— 13 (i) the National Mesonet Program; 14 (ii) the National Coordinated Soil 15 Moisture Network; and 16 (iii) other relevant networks. 17 (b) SOIL MOISTURE AND SNOWPACK MONITORING 18 PILOT PROGRAM.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 20 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad- 21 ministrator shall establish a pilot program for the 22 acquisition and use of data generated by the network 23 described in subsection (a). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4444.IS S4444 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4444 IS (2) REQUIREMENTS.—In establishing the pilot 1 program under paragraph (1), the Administrator 2 shall— 3 (A) enter into agreements with State 4 mesonet programs in the Upper Missouri River 5 Basin to acquire data generated by the network 6 described in subsection (a) that— 7 (i) are similar to the agreements in ef- 8 fect as of the date of the enactment of this 9 Act with States under the National Meso- 10 net Program; and 11 (ii) allow for sharing of data with 12 other Federal agencies and with institu- 13 tions engaged in federally supported re- 14 search, including the United States 15 Drought Monitor, as appropriate and fea- 16 sible; 17 (B) in coordination with the Secretary, the 18 Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation 19 Service, the Director of the United States Geo- 20 logical Survey, and the Commissioner of Rec- 21 lamation, gather data from the operation of the 22 network to inform ongoing efforts of the Na- 23 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 24 in support of— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4444.IS S4444 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4444 IS (i) the National Integrated Drought 1 Information System, including the Na- 2 tional Coordinated Soil Moisture Moni- 3 toring Network; 4 (ii) the United States Drought Mon- 5 itor; 6 (iii) the National Water Model and 7 other relevant national modeling efforts; 8 (iv) validation, verification, and cali- 9 bration of satellite-based, in situ, and other 10 remote sensing activities and output prod- 11 ucts; 12 (v) flood risk and water resources 13 monitoring initiatives by the Secretary and 14 the Commissioner; and 15 (vi) any other programs or initiatives 16 the Administrator considers appropriate; 17 and 18 (C) at the request of State mesonet pro- 19 grams, or as the Administrator considers appro- 20 priate, provide technical assistance to such pro- 21 grams under the pilot program under para- 22 graph (1) to ensure proper data requirements; 23 and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4444.IS S4444 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4444 IS (D) ensure an appropriate mechanism for 1 quality control and quality assurance is em- 2 ployed for the data acquired under the pilot 3 program, such as the Meteorological Assimila- 4 tion Data Ingest System. 5 (3) STUDY REQUIRED.— 6 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 7 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 8 Administrator shall initiate a study of the pilot 9 program required by paragraph (1) to evaluate 10 the data generated by the network described in 11 subsection (a) and the applications of that data 12 to programs and initiatives described in para- 13 graph (2)(B). 14 (B) ELEMENTS.—The study required by 15 subparagraph (A) shall include an assessment 16 of— 17 (i) the contribution of the soil mois- 18 ture, snowpack, and other relevant data 19 generated by the network described in sub- 20 section (a) to weather, subseasonal and 21 seasonal, and climate forecasting products 22 on the local, regional, and national levels; 23 (ii) the enhancements made to the 24 National Integrated Drought Information 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4444.IS S4444 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4444 IS System, the National Water Model, and 1 the United States Drought Monitor, and 2 other relevant national modeling efforts, 3 using data and derived data products gen- 4 erated by the network; 5 (iii) the contribution of data gen- 6 erated by the network to remote sensing 7 products and approaches; 8 (iv) the viability of the ownership and 9 operational structure of the network; and 10 (v) any other matters the Adminis- 11 trator considers appropriate, in coordina- 12 tion with the Secretary, the Chief of the 13 Natural Resources Conservation Service, 14 the Director of the United States Geologi- 15 cal Survey, and the Commissioner of Rec- 16 lamation. 17 (4) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 4 18 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 19 Administrator shall submit to Congress a report— 20 (A) setting forth the findings of the study 21 required by paragraph (3); and 22 (B) making recommendations based on 23 those findings to improve weather, subseasonal, 24 seasonal, and climate monitoring nationally. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4444.IS S4444 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4444 IS (5) GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 1 AUDIT.— 2 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days 3 after the report required by paragraph (4) is 4 submitted, the Comptroller General of the 5 United States shall conduct an audit to evalu- 6 ate that report and determine whether— 7 (i) the Administrator, in conducting 8 the pilot program under paragraph (1), 9 has utilized the relevant data generated by 10 the network described in subsection (a) in 11 the manner most beneficial to the pro- 12 grams and initiatives described in para- 13 graph (2)(B); 14 (ii) the acquisition agreements entered 15 into under paragraph (2)(A) with State 16 mesonet programs fully comply with the 17 requirements of that paragraph; and 18 (iii) the heads of other agencies, in- 19 cluding the Secretary, the Chief of the 20 Natural Resources Conservation Service, 21 the Director of the United States Geologi- 22 cal Survey, and the Commissioner of Rec- 23 lamation, are utilizing the data generated 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4444.IS S4444 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4444 IS by the network to better inform and im- 1 prove the missions of those agencies. 2 (B) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 3 270 days after initiating the audit required by 4 subparagraph (A), the Comptroller General 5 shall submit to Congress a report setting forth 6 the findings of the audit. 7 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 9 appropriated— 10 (A) to supplement funds already author- 11 ized for installation of a network of new moni- 12 toring stations and modification of existing 13 monitoring stations in the Upper Missouri 14 River Basin under subsection (a), $7,000,000 15 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025; and 16 (B) to the Administrator to acquire under 17 subsection (b) data collected by the network de- 18 scribed in subsection (a)— 19 (i) $500,000 for fiscal year 2021; 20 (ii) $2,300,000 for fiscal year 2022; 21 (iii) $4,100,000 for fiscal year 2023; 22 (iv) $5,900,000 for fiscal year 2024; 23 and 24 (v) $7,900,000 for fiscal year 2025. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4444.IS S4444 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4444 IS (2) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE EX- 1 PENSES.—Not more than 2 percent of the amounts 2 authorized to be appropriated under paragraph 3 (1)(B) may be used by the Administrator for admin- 4 istrative expenses. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:24 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4444.IS S4444 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS