[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 782 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 782

To provide for the establishment of the National Volcano Early Warning 
                         and Monitoring System.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 2, 2009

  Ms. Murkowski (for herself and Mr. Begich) introduced the following 
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the establishment of the National Volcano Early Warning 
                         and Monitoring System.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Volcano Early Warning and 
Monitoring System Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    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.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior, acting through the Director of the United 
        States Geological Survey.
            (2) System.--The term ``System'' means the National Volcano 
        Early Warning and Monitoring System established under section 
        4(a)(1).

SEC. 4. NATIONAL VOLCANO EARLY WARNING AND MONITORING SYSTEM.

    (a) Establishment.--
            (1) In general.--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) Purposes.--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) Objective.--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) System Components.--
            (1) In general.--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.--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) Management.--
            (1) Management plan.--
                    (A) In general.--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) Inclusions.--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) Advisory committee.--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) Partnerships.--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) Coordination.--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) Annual Report.--Annually, the Secretary shall submit to 
Congress a report that describes the activities carried out under this 
Act.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 
out this Act $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2009 and each fiscal year 
thereafter.
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