IIB
112th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 1171
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
August 2, 2012
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
AN ACT
To reauthorize and amend the Marine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the
Marine Debris Act Amendments of
2012
.
References
Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in this Act an amendment is expressed as an amendment to a section or other provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to a section or other provision of the Marine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act (33 U.S.C. 1951 et seq.), as in effect immediately before the enactment of this Act.
Short title amendment
Section 1
(33 U.S.C.
1951 note) is amended by striking Research, Prevention,
and Reduction
.
Purpose
Section 2 (33 U.S.C. 1951) is amended to read as follows:
Purpose
The purpose of this Act is to address the adverse impacts of marine debris on the United States economy, the marine environment, and navigation safety through identification, determination of sources, assessment, prevention, reduction, and removal of marine debris.
.
NOAA Marine Debris Program
Name of program
In general
Section 3 (33 U.S.C. 1952) is amended—
in the section
heading by striking prevention and removal
; and
in subsection (a)—
by
striking Prevention and Removal Program to reduce and prevent
and inserting Program to identify, determine sources of, assess,
prevent, reduce, and remove
;
by
inserting the economy of the United States,
after marine
debris on
; and
by
inserting a comma after environment
.
Conforming amendment
Paragraph (7) of section 7 (33 U.S.C. 1956) is
amended by striking Prevention and Removal
.
Program components
Section 3(b) (33 U.S.C. 1952(b)) is amended to read as follows:
Program components
The Administrator, acting through the Program and subject to the availability of appropriations, shall—
identify, determine sources of, assess, prevent, reduce, and remove marine debris, with a focus on marine debris posing a threat to living marine resources and navigation safety;
provide national and regional coordination to assist States, Indian tribes, and regional organizations in identification, determination of sources, assessment, prevention, reduction, and removal of marine debris;
undertake efforts to reduce adverse impacts of lost and discarded fishing gear on living marine resources and navigation safety, including—
research and development of alternatives to gear posing threats to the marine environment, and methods for marking gear used in specific fisheries to enhance the tracking, recovery, and identification of lost and discarded gear; and
development of effective nonregulatory measures and incentives to cooperatively reduce the volume of lost and discarded fishing gear and to aid in its recovery; and
undertake outreach and education of the public and other stakeholders on sources of marine debris, threats associated with marine debris, and approaches to identify, determine sources of, assess, prevent, reduce, and remove marine debris and its adverse impacts on the United States economy, the marine environment, and navigational safety, including outreach and education activities through public-private initiatives.
.
Repeal
Section 2204 of the Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act of 1987 and the item relating to that section in the table of contents contained in section 2 of the United States-Japan Fishery Agreement Approval Act of 1987 (33 U.S.C. 1915) are repealed.
Grant criteria and guidelines
Section 3(c) (33 U.S.C. 1952(c)) is amended—
in paragraph (1),
by striking section 2(1)
and inserting section
2
;
by repealing paragraph (5); and
by redesignating paragraphs (6) and (7) as paragraphs (5) and (6).
Repeal of obsolete provisions
Section 4 (33 U.S.C. 1953) is amended—
by striking
(a) Strategy.—
; and
by repealing subsections (b) and (c).
Amendments to definitions
Interagency Marine Debris Coordinating Committee
In general
Except as provided in subsection (b), section 2203 of the Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act of 1987 (33 U.S.C. 1914) is redesignated and moved to replace and appear as section 5 of the Marine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act (33 U.S.C. 1954).
Clerical amendment
The item relating to section 2203 in the table of contents contained in section 2 of the United States-Japan Fishery Agreement Approval Act of 1987 is repealed.
Biennial progress reports
Section 5(c)(2) (33 U.S.C. 1954(c)(2)), as in effect immediately before the enactment of this Act—
is redesignated as subsection (e) of section 5, as redesignated and moved by the amendment made by subsection (a) of this section; and
is amended—
by striking
Annual progress
reports.—
and all that follows through
thereafter
and inserting Biennial progress
reports.—Bienially
;
by inserting
Natural
before Resources
;
by redesignating subparagraphs (A) through (E) as paragraphs (1) through (5) of such subsection; and
by moving such subsection 2 ems to the left.
Confidentiality of submitted information
Section 6(2) (33 U.S.C. 1955(2)) is amended by
striking by the fishing industry
.
Marine debris definition
Section 7 (33 U.S.C. 1956) is amended—
by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (9), and moving such paragraph to appear after paragraph (8); and
by inserting after paragraph (2) the following:
Marine debris
The term marine debris
means any persistent
solid material that is manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly,
and intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or abandoned into the marine
environment or the Great
Lakes.
.
Authorization of appropriations
Section 9 (33 U.S.C. 1958) is amended—
by striking
are
and inserting is
;
by striking
2006 through 2010
and all that follows through
(1)
and inserting through fiscal year
2015
;
in paragraph (1),
by striking $10,000,000
and inserting $4,900,000
;
and
by striking
; and
and all that follows through the end of paragraph (2) and
inserting a period.
Passed the House of Representatives August 1, 2012.
Karen L. Haas,
Clerk
