1.This Act may be cited as the
National Volcano Early Warning and
Monitoring System Act
.
2.Congress finds that—
(1)the United States
and the territories of the United States contain 169 hazardous
volcanoes;
(2)since 1980,
eruptions have claimed many lives and cost billions of dollars in property
damage in the United States;
(3)ash eruptions pose
a hazard to high-flying jet aircraft, including the more than 20,000 passengers
who travel on jets over Alaska every day;
(4)in 1989, an
eruption of Redoubt Volcano, Alaska, caused in-flight failure of all 4 engines
of a passenger Boeing 747 aircraft;
(5)international
flights over the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the intense
domestic air traffic of the Pacific Northwest also face potential engine
failure in the event of an eruption;
(6)mudflows from
ice-clad Cascade volcanoes of the States of Washington, Oregon, and California
pose a serious hazard to cities and transportation arteries in the Pacific
Northwest;
(7)lava flows, toxic
gas emissions, and explosions impact residents and visitors to Hawaii and have
the potential to cause catastrophic property damage;
(8)frequent seismic
unrest requires careful monitoring in the Mammoth Lakes area of California and
Yellowstone National Park in the States of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho;
(9)modern technology,
in the form of geophysical monitoring networks on the ground and the use of
near-real time satellite data, makes possible warnings before eruptions, giving
emergency response agencies and the public time to prepare, which minimizes
potential damage to property and loss of life;
(10)the efficacy of
monitoring is being demonstrated by the forecast and subsequent tracking of
explosive eruptions of Redoubt Volcano by the Alaska Volcano Observatory, a
partnership of the United States Geological Survey, the University of Alaska
Fairbanks, and the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical
Surveys;
(11)the United States
Geological Survey and the university and State partners of the United States
Geological Survey operate—
(A)the Alaska Volcano
Observatory located in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska;
(B)the Cascades
Volcano Observatory located in Vancouver, Washington;
(C)the Hawaiian
Volcano Observatory located in Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii;
(D)the Yellowstone
Volcano Observatory located in Yellowstone National Park in the State of
Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho; and
(E)the Long Valley
Observatory, located in Mammoth Lakes and Menlo Park, California; and
(12)a detailed survey
of the volcanoes in the United States and the monitoring status of those
volcanoes has revealed a serious monitoring gap, leaving the United States
exposed to preventable damage from large volcanic eruptions.
3.In this Act:
(1)The
term Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior, acting through
the Director of the United States Geological Survey.
(2)The
term System means the National Volcano Early Warning and
Monitoring System established under section 4(a)(1).
4.National Volcano
Early Warning and Monitoring System
(a)
(1)The Secretary shall establish within the United States
Geological Survey a program, to be known as the National Volcano Early
Warning and Monitoring System
, to monitor, warn, and protect citizens
of the United States from undue and avoidable harm from volcanic
activity.
(2)The
purposes of the System are—
(A)to organize,
modernize, standardize, and stabilize the monitoring systems of the volcano
observatories in the United States; and
(B)to unify the
monitoring systems of volcano observatories in the United States into a single
interoperative system.
(3)The
objective of the System is to monitor all the volcanoes in the United States at
a level commensurate with the threat posed by the volcanoes by—
(A)upgrading existing
networks on monitored volcanoes; and
(B)installing new
networks on unmonitored volcanoes.
(b)
(1)The System shall include—
(A)a national volcano
watch office that is operational 24 hours a day and 7 days a week;
(B)a national volcano
data center; and
(C)an external grants
program to support research in volcano monitoring science and
technology.
(2)Modernization activities under the System shall
include the comprehensive application of emerging technologies, including
digital broadband seismometers, real-time continuous global positioning
systems, radar satellite interferometry, and spectrometry to measure gas
emission.
(c)
(1)
(A)Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a 5-year management plan for
establishing and operating the System.
(B)The
management plan submitted under subparagraph (A) shall include—
(i)annual cost
estimates for modernization activities and operation of the System;
(ii)annual
milestones, standards, and performance goals; and
(iii)recommendations
for, and progress towards, establishing new, or enhancing existing,
partnerships to leverage resources.
(2)The Secretary shall establish an advisory committee to
assist the Secretary in implementing the System, to be comprised of
representatives of relevant agencies and members of the scientific community
appointed by the Secretary.
(3)The
Secretary may enter into cooperative agreements with universities and State
agencies designating the universities and agencies as volcano observatory
partners for the System.
(4)The
Secretary shall coordinate the activities under this Act with the heads of
relevant Federal agencies, including—
(A)the Secretary of
Transportation;
(B)the Administrator
of the Federal Aviation Administration;
(C)the Administrator
of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and
(D)the Director of
the Federal Emergency Management Administration.
(d)Annually, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report
that describes the activities carried out under this Act.
5.Authorization of
appropriationsThere is
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this Act
$15,000,000 for fiscal year 2010 and each fiscal year thereafter.