IIB
111th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 3644
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 22 (legislative day, March 19), 2010
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
AN ACT
To direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to establish education and watershed programs which advance environmental literacy, including preparedness and adaptability for the likely impacts of climate change in coastal watershed regions.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the
Ocean, Coastal, and Watershed
Education Act
.
Findings and purpose
Findings
The Congress finds the following:
The United States faces major challenges, such as mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change, stewarding critical coastal and marine resources including fish and wildlife habitat while sustaining the commercial and recreational activities that depend on these resources, and improving resilience to natural disasters, that collectively threaten human health, sustainable economic development, environmental quality, and national security.
Communities in coastal watersheds are particularly vulnerable to these increasingly urgent, interconnected, and complex challenges and need support for teacher professional development and experiential learning among students of all ages.
These challenges can be met with the help of comprehensive programs specifically targeted to engage coastal watershed communities, schoolchildren, and the general public to develop engaged and environmentally literate citizens who are better able to understand complex environmental issues, assess risk, evaluate proposed plans, and understand how individual decisions affect the environment at local, regional, national, and global scales.
The intrinsic social and conservation values of wildlife-dependent and other outdoor recreation can play an important role in outdoor educational programs that address the myriad of coastal and ocean concerns, as well as instill a sustainable conservation ethic that will enable them to face those challenges to the betterment of both the environment and coastal communities.
The economic importance of coastal areas and resources to the overall economy of the United States is significant. According to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, coastal and ocean-related activities support millions of American jobs and generate more than $1 trillion, or one tenth of the Nation’s annual gross domestic product. Sustainable use of the Nation’s natural resources can provide additional economic opportunities to the United States economy.
Purpose
The purpose of this Act is to advance environmental literacy, develop public awareness and appreciation of the economic, social, recreational, and environmental benefits of coastal watersheds, and emphasize stewardship and sustainable economic development of critical coastal and marine resources, including an understanding of how climate change is impacting those resources, through the establishment of—
an Environmental Literacy Grant Program; and
regional programs under the B-WET Program.
Definitions
In this Act:
Administrator
The term Administrator
means
the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
Bay-watershed education
The term bay-watershed
education
means environmental education focused on watersheds, with an
emphasis on stewardship and sustainable economic development of critical
coastal and marine resources, including an understanding of how climate change
is impacting those resources.
B-WET Program
The term B-WET Program
means
the Bay-Watershed Education and Training Program of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, as in effect immediately before the enactment of
this Act and modified under this Act or any subsequently enacted Act.
Eligible entity
The term eligible entity
means a State agency, local agency, school district, institution of higher
education, or for-profit or non-profit nongovernmental organization,
consortium, or other entity that the Administrator finds has demonstrated
expertise and experience in the development of the institutional, intellectual,
or policy resources to help environmental education become more effective and
widely practiced.
Environmental education
The term environmental
education
means interdisciplinary formal and informal learning about
the relevant interrelationships between dynamic environmental and human
systems, including economic systems that depend on coastal, watershed and
marine resources for job creation and economic growth, that results in
increasing the learner’s capacity for decisionmaking, stewardship, and
sustainable economic development of natural and community resources.
Environmental literacy
The term environmental
literacy
means the capacity to perceive and interpret the relative
health of environmental systems and the interrelationships between natural,
economic, and social systems and technology, and to assess options and take
appropriate action to maintain, restore, or improve the health of those systems
and promote sustainable economic development.
High-leverage projects
The term high-leverage
projects
means projects supported by grants authorized under this Act
that use Federal, State and nongovernmental financial, technical, and other
resources in such a manner that the potential beneficial outcomes are highly
magnified or enhanced.
State
The term State
means each of
the several States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, any other territory or possession
of the United States, and any Indian tribe.
Environmental literacy grant program
In general
The Administrator shall establish a
national competitive grant program, to be known as the Environmental
Literacy Grant Program
, under which the Administrator shall provide,
subject to the availability of appropriations, financial assistance to—
expand the adoption of coastal, ocean, Great Lakes, and climate on all time scales education;
build administrative and technical capacity with coastal, ocean, and watershed communities and stakeholder groups to enhance their effectiveness;
encourage water-dependent, wildlife-dependent, and other outdoor recreation, experiential learning, and hands-on involvement with coastal and watershed resources as a method of promoting stewardship and sustainable economic development of those resources;
develop and implement new approaches to advance coastal, ocean, Great Lakes, and climate on all time scales education and environmental literacy at national, regional, and local levels; and
encourage formal and informal environmental education about the systemic interrelationships between healthy coastal, watershed, and marine resources and sustainable economic systems that depend on such resources for job creation and economic development.
Priorities
In awarding grants under this section, the Administrator shall give priority consideration to innovative, strategic, high-leverage projects that demonstrate strong potential for being sustained in the future by a grant recipient beyond the time period in which activities are carried out with the grant.
Guidelines
No later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act and after consultation with appropriate stakeholders, the Administrator shall publish in the Federal Register guidelines regarding the implementation of this grant program, including publication of criteria for eligible entities, identification of national priorities, establishment of performance measures to evaluate program effectiveness, information regarding sources of non-Federal matching funds or in-kind contributions, and reporting requirements for grant award recipients.
Limitation on use of funds by administrator
Of the amounts made available to implement this section—
no less than 80 percent shall be used for competitive grants or cooperative agreements;
no more than 10 percent may be used by the Administrator to implement the grant program; and
no less than 10 percent of the annual funds appropriated for the program authorized under this section shall be used to fund contracts or cooperative agreements to conduct strategic planning, promote communications among grant recipients and within communities, coordinate grant activities to foster an integrated program, and oversee national evaluation efforts.
B-WET Program
Existing program
The Administrator shall conduct the B-WET Program, including each of the regional programs conducted or under active consideration for creation under such program immediately before the enactment of this Act.
New regional programs
In general
The Administrator may create new regional programs under the B-WET Program in accordance with a strategy issued under this subsection.
Strategy
In general
The Administrator shall issue a strategy for establishing such new regional programs.
Contents
The strategy shall include the following:
Evaluation of the need for new regional program in areas that are not served under the B-WET Program on the date of enactment of this Act.
Identification of potential new regional programs, including a listing of potential principal non-Federal partners.
A comprehensive budget for future expansion of the B-WET Program over the period for which appropriations are authorized under this Act.
Such other information as the Administrator considers necessary.
Consultation and public comment
The Administrator shall consult with relevant stakeholders and provide opportunity for public comment in the development of the strategy.
Submission to Congress
The Administrator shall submit the strategy to the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate by not later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
Priority consideration
In creating new regional programs under this subsection, the Administrator shall give priority consideration to the needs of—
United States territories, including Guam, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa;
the Great Lakes States;
Alaska; and
the mid-Atlantic region.
Modification of B-WET Program
In general
The Administrator may modify or realign regional programs under the B-WET Program, based on—
changes in regional needs;
mutual interest between the Administrator and relevant stakeholders within a region or regions;
changes in resources available to the Administrator to implement the B-WET Program; and
other circumstances as determined necessary by the Administrator.
Consultation and public comment
The Administrator shall—
consult with the persons conducting a regional program and provide opportunity for public comment prior to making a final decision to modify or realign such regional program; and
publish public notice of such a decision no less than 30-days before the effective date of such a modification or realignment.
Regional program managers
Appointment of regional program manager
The Administrator shall be responsible for the selection, appointment, and when necessary replacement of a regional program manager for each regional program under the B-WET Program.
Qualifications
To qualify for appointment as a regional program manager, an individual must—
reside in the region for which appointed; and
demonstrate competence and expertise in bay-watershed education and training.
Functions
Each regional program manager shall—
be responsible for managing and administering the B-WET Program in the region for which appointed, in accordance with this Act;
determine the most appropriate communities within the region to be served by the B-WET Program;
encourage water-dependent, wildlife-dependent, and other outdoor recreation, experiential learning experiences for students, and hands-on involvement with coastal and watershed resources as a method of promoting stewardship and sustainable economic development of those resources and complementing core classroom curriculum;
support communication and collaboration among educators, natural resource planners and managers, and governmental and nongovernmental stakeholders;
share and distribute information regarding educational plans, strategies, learning activities, and curricula to all stakeholders within its region;
provide financial and technical assistance pursuant to the guidelines developed by the Administrator under this section; and
perform any additional duties as necessary to carry out the functions of the program.
Program guidelines
No later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act and after consultation with appropriate stakeholders, the Administrator shall publish in the Federal Register guidelines regarding the implementation of the B-WET Program, as follows:
Contracts
The Administrator shall create guidelines through which each regional program manager may enter into contracts (subject to the availability of appropriations) to support projects to design, demonstrate, evaluate, or disseminate practices, methods, or techniques related to Bay-watershed education and training.
Grant making and cooperative agreements
In general
The Administrator shall create guidelines through which each regional program manager may provide financial assistance in the form of a grant (subject to the availability of appropriations) or cooperative agreement to support projects that advance the purpose of this Act. The guidelines shall include criteria for eligible entities, identification of national priorities, establishment of performance measures to evaluate program effectiveness, and reporting requirements for grant award recipients.
Priority
In making grants under this paragraph, each regional program manager shall give priority to those projects that will—
promote bay-watershed education throughout the region concerned;
advance strategic initiatives to incorporate bay-watershed education into formal and informal education systems;
build capacity within bay-watershed education communities and stakeholder groups for expanding and strengthening their work;
build bay-watershed education into professional development or training activities for educators; and
broadly replicate existing, proven bay-watershed education programs.
Non-Federal share
In general
In awarding grants under this section, the regional program managers shall give priority consideration to a project for which the Federal share does not exceed 75 percent of the aggregate cost of such project.
In-kind contribution
The non-Federal share of the costs of any project supported by an award of grant funding under this section may be cash or the fair market value of services, equipment, donations, or any other form of in-kind contribution.
Other priority
The regional program managers shall give priority consideration to a project that will be conducted by or benefit any under-served community, any community that has an inability to draw on other sources of funding because of the small population or low income of the community, or any other person for any other reason the Administrator considers appropriate and consistent with the purpose of this Act.
Regional program coordination
Within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Office of Education shall work with regional program managers on the following regional B-WET Program functions:
Strategic planning efforts.
Integration and coordination of programs.
Coordination of national evaluation efforts.
Promotion of network wide communications.
Selection of new Regional Program Managers.
Management, tracking, and oversight of the B-WET Program.
Limitation on use of funds by administrator
Of the amounts made available to implement this section—
no less than 80 percent shall be used for implementation of regional program activities, including the award of grants; and
no more than 20 percent may be used by the Administrator to implement the regional programs and regional program coordination.
Biennial report
Not later than December 31, 2011, and biennially thereafter, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a report on the grant programs authorized under this Act. Each such report shall include a description of the eligible activities carried out with grants awarded under the Act during the previous two fiscal years, an assessment of the success and impact of such activities, and a description of the type of programs carried out with such grant, disaggregated by State.
Authorization of appropriations
Authorization of appropriations
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator—
to carry out the Environmental Literacy Grant Program authorized by section 4 (including administrative expenses for preparing the report under section 6)—
for fiscal year 2011, $13,200,000;
for fiscal year 2012, $14,500,000;
for fiscal year 2013, $16,000,000;
for fiscal year 2014, $17,600,000; and
for fiscal year 2015, $19,300,000; and
to carry out the B-WET Program authorized by section 5 (including administrative expenses for preparing the report under section 6)—
for fiscal year 2011, $10,700,000;
for fiscal year 2012, $11,700,000;
for fiscal year 2013, $12,900,000;
for fiscal year 2014, $14,200,000; and
for fiscal year 2015, $15,600,000.
Prohibition on earmarks
None of the funds appropriated pursuant to
subsection (a) may be used for
a congressional earmark as defined in clause 9(e) of rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives.
Passed the House of Representatives March 19, 2010.
Lorraine C. Miller,
Clerk.