[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4845 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4845

 To require the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct surveys to collect 
data regarding the prevention, reduction, and mitigation of greenhouse 
  gas emissions, soil carbon sequestration, and forest wood and tree 
             carbon sequestration, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

             October 22 (legislative day, October 19), 2020

  Mr. Roberts introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct surveys to collect 
data regarding the prevention, reduction, and mitigation of greenhouse 
  gas emissions, soil carbon sequestration, and forest wood and tree 
             carbon sequestration, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Agricultural Emissions Data Act of 
2020''.

SEC. 2. SURVEYS TO COLLECT DATA REGARDING GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, 
              SOIL CARBON SEQUESTRATION, AND FOREST WOOD AND TREE 
              CARBON SEQUESTRATION.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Agriculture (referred to in this 
Act as the ``Secretary''), through the efforts described in subsection 
(c), shall conduct surveys, and other data collection and data analysis 
using advanced methods as appropriate, of farmers, ranchers, private 
forest landowners, cooperatives, and agricultural businesses, including 
nonprofit organizations, to collect agricultural subsector-specific 
information and data regarding--
            (1) the prevention, reduction, and mitigation of greenhouse 
        gas emissions, including livestock emissions reductions;
            (2) soil carbon sequestration; and
            (3) forest wood and tree carbon sequestration.
    (b) Establishing Federal Agricultural Baselines.--The establishment 
of Federal agricultural baselines for the prevention, reduction, and 
mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions (including livestock emissions 
reductions), soil carbon sequestration, and forest wood and tree carbon 
sequestration shall be determined by modeling based on, from the 
Department of Agriculture--
            (1) the information and data collected under subsection 
        (a); and
            (2) information and data, as appropriate, collected through 
        the efforts described in subsection (c) before the date of 
        enactment of this Act.
    (c) Survey Authorities.--The Secretary shall conduct surveys, data 
collection, and data analysis under subsection (a) through--
            (1) the census of agriculture under section 2 of the Census 
        of Agriculture Act of 1997 (7 U.S.C. 2204g);
            (2) the preparation of annual agricultural statistics by 
        the National Agricultural Statistics Service under--
                    (A) the first section of the Act of May 27, 1912 
                (37 Stat. 118, chapter 135; 7 U.S.C. 476);
                    (B) the first section of the Act of June 24, 1936 
                (49 Stat. 1898, chapter 745; 7 U.S.C. 951);
                    (C) section 526 of the Revised Statutes (7 U.S.C. 
                2204);
                    (D) section 10016 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 
                (7 U.S.C. 2204h); and
                    (E) section 7407 of the Farm Security and Rural 
                Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 5925c);
            (3) the agricultural resource management survey conducted 
        by the Economic Research Service and the National Agricultural 
        Statistics Service under--
                    (A) sections 202 through 208 of the Agricultural 
                Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.); and
                    (B) section 1 of the Act of June 29, 1935 (49 Stat. 
                436, chapter 338; 7 U.S.C. 3104);
            (4) the dairy gas emissions model established by the 
        Agricultural Research Service under section 1 of the Act of 
        June 29, 1935 (49 Stat. 436, chapter 338; 7 U.S.C. 3104);
            (5) National Animal Health Monitoring System studies, 
        including beef cow and calf studies, beef feedlot studies, 
        swine studies, dairy studies, sheep studies, and poultry 
        studies, and the health and productivity audit, carried out by 
        the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service under the Animal 
        Health Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 8301 et seq.);
            (6) the forest inventory and analysis database established 
        under section 3(e) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable 
        Resources Research Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 1642(e));
            (7) the natural resources inventory established under 
        section 302 of the Rural Development Act of 1972 (7 U.S.C. 
        1010a); and
            (8) additional surveys, data collection, and data analysis 
        administered by the Department of Agriculture, as the Secretary 
        determines to be appropriate.
    (d) Submission.--Consistent with section 1770 of the Food Security 
Act of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 2276), the Secretary shall submit to the 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the head of 
any other appropriate Federal department or agency, and make publicly 
available, the results of the surveys conducted under subsection (a), 
as the Secretary determines to be appropriate.
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