[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7020 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7020

  To direct the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
 Administration to conduct high-resolution mapping of the lakebeds of 
                the Great Lakes, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 17, 2024

 Mrs. McClain (for herself, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Huizenga, Ms. Scholten, 
   Mr. Stauber, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Bergman, Mr. Thanedar, Mr. James, Mr. 
   Kildee, Mr. Lawler, Ms. Stevens, Mr. Langworthy, Ms. Slotkin, Mr. 
   Davidson, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Ms. Kaptur, Ms. Tlaib, and Mr. 
  Schneider) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
 Administration to conduct high-resolution mapping of the lakebeds of 
                the Great Lakes, 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 ``Great Lakes Mapping Act''.

SEC. 2. MAPPING THE LAKEBEDS OF THE GREAT LAKES IN HIGH RESOLUTION.

    (a) High-Resolution Lakebed Mapping.--Not later than December 31, 
2029, the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (referred to in this section as the ``Administrator'') 
shall, in consultation with relevant State entities, the Ocean Policy 
Committee, the Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observing System, regional 
coastal observing systems, and any other relevant entity (as determined 
by the Administrator) carry out an effort (referred to in this section 
as the ``mapping effort'') to map, in high resolution, the lakebeds of 
the Great Lakes that includes--
            (1) completing a high-resolution map of the lakebeds of the 
        Great Lakes;
            (2) collecting high-resolution bathymetric data about the 
        lakebeds of the Great Lakes;
            (3) developing and implementing a method to process the 
        bathymetric data and other information collected during the 
        mapping effort;
            (4) creating a system--
                    (A) to catalog bathymetric data and other 
                information regarding the lakebeds of the Great Lakes 
                that the Administrator or the Ocean Policy Committee 
                possess or have access to independent of the mapping 
                effort or as a result of the mapping effort; and
                    (B) by using, to the extent practicable, any 
                system, technology, or cyberinfrastructure available to 
                the Administrator and the Ocean Policy Committee as of 
                the date of the enactment of this Act before purchasing 
                any new system, technology, or cyberinfrastructure to 
                complete the system; and
            (5) collecting, cataloging, and storing metadata created 
        during the mapping effort.
    (b) Data Sharing.--The Administrator, in consultation with the 
Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observing System and the regional coastal 
observing systems, shall--
            (1) during the mapping effort and within a reasonable time 
        (as determined by the Administrator) after the relevant data is 
        collected, make publicly available the parts of the high-
        resolution map of the lakebeds of the Great Lakes that are 
        completed; and
            (2) not later than 180 days after completing the mapping 
        effort, make publicly available--
                    (A) the complete high-resolution map of the 
                lakebeds of the Great Lakes; and
                    (B) any additional information, including metadata, 
                collected under subsection (a) that is required to be 
                released to the public under any other provision of 
                law.
    (c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to change any process or procedure used by the Administrator 
in carrying out the requirements of the Digital Coast Act (16 U.S.C. 
1467) or the Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integration Act (33 U.S.C. 3501 
et seq.).
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Administrator $200,000,000 to carry out this 
section. Such amount is authorized to remain available through fiscal 
year 2030.
    (e) Relevant State Entity Defined.--In this section, the term 
``relevant State entity'' means the Governor of any State that borders 
any Great Lake or the head of an agency of such State who is 
responsible for carrying out policy related to the Great Lakes or the 
lakebeds of the Great Lakes.
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