1.This Act may be cited as the
Chesapeake Bay Science, Education, and
Ecosystem Enhancement Act of 2009
.
2.Reauthorization of
Chesapeake Bay Office of National Oceanic and Atmospheric
AdministrationSection 307 of
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Authorization Act of 1992
(15 U.S.C. 1511d) is amended—
(1)in subsection
(a)—
(A)in paragraph
(1)—
(i)by
striking (1) The Secretary
and inserting the following:
(1)The Secretary
;
and
(ii)by
striking (in this section
and all that follows and inserting a
period;
(B)by amending
paragraph (2) to read as follows:
(2)
(A)The Office shall be
headed by a Director who shall be selected by the Secretary of Commerce from
among individuals who have knowledge and experience in research or resource
management efforts in the Chesapeake Bay.
(B)The
duties of the Director are as follows:
(i)Administration
and operation of the Office.
(ii)Carrying out the
provisions of this section.
;
and
(C)by striking
paragraph (3);
(2)in subsection
(b)—
(A)by striking the
matter preceding paragraph (1) and inserting the following:
(b)The purpose of this section is to focus the
relevant science, research, and resource management capabilities of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as they apply to the Chesapeake
Bay and to utilize the Office
to—
;
(B)in paragraph (2),
by striking Secretary of Commerce
and inserting
Administrator
;
(C)in paragraph
(3)—
(i)by
striking the matter preceding subparagraph (A) and inserting the
following:
(3)coordinate with the programs and activities
of the various organizations within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration in furtherance of such administration's coastal resource
stewardship mission,
including—
;
(ii)in
subparagraph (A)—
(I)in clause (vi),
by striking ; and
and inserting a semicolon; and
(II)by inserting
after clause (vii) the following:
(viii)coastal hazards and climate change;
and
;
and
(iii)in
subparagraph (B)—
(I)in clause (iii),
by striking ; and
and inserting a semicolon;
(II)in clause (iv),
by adding and
at the end; and
(III)by adding at
the end the following:
(v)integrated ecosystem
assessments;
;
(D)in paragraph (4),
by inserting before the semicolon at the end the following: as
appropriate to further the purposes of this section
;
(E)by striking
paragraphs (5) and (7);
(F)by redesignating
paragraph (6) as paragraph (5);
(G)in paragraph (5),
as redesignated by subparagraph (F), by adding and
at the end;
and
(H)by adding at the
end the following:
(6)perform such functions as may be necessary
to support the programs referred to in paragraph
(3)
;
and
(3)by striking
subsection (c) and all that follows through the end of the section and
inserting the following:
(c)
(1)The Director shall implement the program activities
required by this subsection to support the activity of the Chesapeake Executive
Council and to further the purposes of this section.
(2)Ensuring
scientific and technical meritThe Director shall—
(A)establish and
utilize an effective and transparent mechanism to ensure that projects funded
under this section have undergone appropriate peer review, using, to the extent
practicable, the capabilities of the Maryland and Virginia Sea Grant
Program;
(B)provide other
appropriate means to determine that such projects have acceptable scientific
and technical merit for the purpose of achieving maximum utilization of
available funds and resources to benefit the Chesapeake Bay area; and
(C)ensure that all
data and other products generated by any project funded under this section be
provided to the Director.
(3)Consultation
with Chesapeake Executive CouncilThe Director shall, in the
implementation of the program activities authorized under this section, consult
with the Chesapeake Executive Council to ensure that the activities of the
Office are consistent with the purposes and priorities of the Chesapeake Bay
Agreement and plans developed pursuant to the Agreement.
(4)Integrated
coastal observations
(A)The Director shall collaborate with scientific and
academic institutions, State and Federal agencies, nongovernmental
organizations, and other constituents in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, to
support the development of an integrated observations system for the Chesapeake
Bay.
(B)To support the system referred to in subparagraph
(A) and provide a complete set of environmental information for the Chesapeake
Bay, the Director shall—
(i)coordinate
existing monitoring and observing activities in the Chesapeake Bay;
(ii)identify new data
collection needs and deploy new technologies, as appropriate;
(iii)facilitate the
collection and analysis of the scientific information necessary for the
management of living marine resources and the marine habitat associated with
such resources;
(iv)coordinate with
regional partners to manage and interpret the information described in clause
(iii); and
(v)support regional
partners to ensure the information described in clause (iii) is organized into
products that are useful to policy makers, resource managers, scientists, and
the public.
(C)Chesapeake Bay
Interpretive Buoy SystemTo further the development and
implementation of the Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System, the Director
shall—
(i)support the
establishment and implementation of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National
Historic Trail;
(ii)delineate key
waypoints along the trail and provide appropriate real-time data and
information for trail users;
(iii)interpret data
and information for use by educators and students to inspire stewardship of
Chesapeake Bay; and
(iv)incorporate the
Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System into the Integrated Ocean Observing
System regional network of observatories.
(5)Chesapeake Bay
watershed education and training program
(A)The Director shall establish a Chesapeake Bay watershed
education and training program. The program shall—
(i)continue and
expand the Chesapeake Bay watershed education programs offered by the Office on
the day before the date of the enactment of the
Chesapeake Bay Science, Education, and
Ecosystem Enhancement Act of 2009;
(ii)improve the
understanding of elementary and secondary school students and teachers of the
living resources of the ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay;
(iii)provide
community education to improve watershed protection; and
(iv)meet the
educational goals of the most recent Chesapeake Bay Agreement.
(B)The Director may award grants to support education and
training projects that enhance understanding and assessment of a specific
environmental problem in the Chesapeake Bay watershed or a goal of the
Chesapeake Bay Program, or protect or restore living resources of the
Chesapeake Bay watershed, including projects that—
(i)provide classroom
education, including the development and use of distance learning and other
innovative technologies, related to the Chesapeake Bay watershed;
(ii)provide watershed
educational experiences in the Chesapeake Bay watershed;
(iii)provide
professional development for teachers related to the Chesapeake Bay watershed
and the dissemination of pertinent education materials oriented to varying
grade levels;
(iv)demonstrate or
disseminate environmental educational tools and materials related to the
Chesapeake Bay watershed;
(v)demonstrate field
methods, practices, and techniques including assessment of environmental and
ecological conditions and analysis of environmental problems;
(vi)build the
capacity of organizations to deliver high quality environmental education
programs; and
(vii)educate local
land use officials and decision makers on the relationship of land use to
natural resource and watershed protection.
(C)The Director shall provide technical
assistance to support the education and training program established under
subparagraph (A) in collaboration with the heads of other relevant Federal
agencies.
(6)Coastal and
living resources management and habitat program
(A)The Director shall establish a Chesapeake Bay coastal
living resources management and habitat program to support coordinated
management, protection, characterization, and restoration of priority
Chesapeake Bay habitats and living resources, including oysters, blue crabs,
and submerged aquatic vegetation.
(B)Under
the program required by subparagraph (A), the Director may, subject to the
availability of appropriations, carry out or enter into grants, contracts, and
cooperative agreements and provide technical assistance to support—
(i)native oyster restoration;
(ii)fish and shellfish aquaculture;
(iii)establishment of
submerged aquatic vegetation propagation programs;
(iv)the development
of programs that protect and restore critical coastal habitats;
(v)habitat mapping,
characterization, and assessment techniques necessary to identify, assess, and
monitor restoration actions;
(vi)application and
transfer of applied scientific research and ecosystem management tools to
fisheries and habitat managers;
(vii)collection,
synthesis, and sharing of information to inform and influence coastal and
living resource management issues; and
(viii)such other
activities as the Director considers appropriate to carry out the program
established under subparagraph (A).
(d)
(1)The Director shall, not less frequently than once every 2
years, submit to Congress a report on—
(A)the activities of
the Office; and
(B)progress made in
protecting and restoring the living resources and habitat of the Chesapeake
Bay.
(2)Each report submitted under paragraph (1) shall include an
action plan for the 2-year period following submission of the report,
consisting of—
(A)a list of
recommended research, monitoring, and data collection activities necessary to
continue implementation of the strategy under subsection (b)(2); and
(B)recommendations to
integrate the activities of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
with the activities of the partners in the Chesapeake Bay Program in order to
meet the commitments of the Chesapeake Bay Agreement.
(e)
(1)The Director may, subject to the availability of
appropriations, enter into and perform such contracts, leases, grants, or
cooperative agreements as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this
section.
(2)For purposes of understanding, protecting, and
restoring the Chesapeake Bay, the Director may use, with or without
reimbursement, the land, services, equipment, personnel, and facilities of any
Department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States, or of any State,
local government, Indian tribal government, or of any political subdivision
thereof if the Director receives consent from the Department, agency,
instrumentality, State, government, or political subdivision concerned for such
use.
(3)The
Director may accept donations of funds, other property, and services for use in
understanding, protecting, and restoring the Chesapeake Bay. Donations accepted
under this section shall be considered as a gift or bequest to or for the use
of the United States.
(f)In
this section:
(1)The
term Administrator means the Administrator of the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration.
(2)The term Chesapeake Bay Agreement means
the formal, voluntary agreements executed to achieve the goal of restoring and
protecting the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem and the living resources of the
Chesapeake Bay ecosystem and are signed by the Chesapeake Executive
Council.
(3)The term Chesapeake Bay Program means the
regional Chesapeake Bay restoration partnership that includes Maryland,
Pennsylvania, Virginia, the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay
Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, other appropriate Federal
agencies, and participating citizen and local elected official advisory
groups.
(4)Chesapeake
Executive CouncilThe term Chesapeake Executive
Council means the representatives from the Commonwealth of Virginia, the
State of Maryland, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Environmental
Protection Agency, the District of Columbia, and the Chesapeake Bay Commission,
who are signatories to the Chesapeake Bay Agreement, and any future signatories
to that agreement.
(5)The
term Director means the Director of the Chesapeake Bay
Office.
(6)The
term Office means the Chesapeake Bay Office established under
subsection (a).
(g)Authorization of
appropriationsThere is authorized to be appropriated to the
Secretary to carry out this section—
(1)$17,000,000 for fiscal year 2011;
(2)$18,700,000 for
fiscal year 2012;
(3)$20,570,000 for
fiscal year 2013; and
(4)$22,627,000 for
fiscal year
2014.
.