National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System Act 2015-09-17 Introduced in Senate National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System Act

This bill directs the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to establish the National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System to monitor, issue warnings of, and protect U.S. citizens from undue and avoidable harm from, volcanic activity.

The purposes of the System are to: (1) organize, modernize, standardize, and stabilize the monitoring systems of U.S. volcano observatories; and (2) unify such systems into a single interoperative system. The objective of the System is to monitor all U.S. volcanoes at a level commensurate with the threat posed by the volcanoes by: (1) upgrading existing networks on monitored volcanoes, and (2) installing new networks on unmonitored volcanoes.

The System shall include: (1) a national volcano watch office that is operational 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, (2) a national volcano data center, (3) an external grants program to support research in volcano monitoring science and technology, and (4) modernization activities including the comprehensive application of emerging technologies.

The USGS must: (1) submit to Congress a five-year management plan for establishing and operating the System, and (2) establish an advisory committee to assist in implementing the System.

The USGS may enter into cooperative agreements designating institutions of higher education and state agencies as volcano observatory partners for the System.

]]> text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.