Coast Guard Blue Technology Center of Expertise Act

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, S. 756, the Save Our Seas Act, promotes continued national and international efforts to address the growing amount of marine debris entering the ocean environment.

The dean of the House, the gentleman who yielded to me, Mr. Don Young, our esteemed colleague from Alaska, sponsored the House companion bill. I thank our longstanding colleague for all of his efforts to move this legislation through committee and to the House floor.

Marine debris is pervasive and persistent, remaining in the ocean for years and negatively impacting the ocean environment.

S. 756 urges the administration to support research and development on systems and materials that would reduce the amount of waste that enters the ocean and work with nations that discharge large amounts of solid waste into the ocean by sharing technologies and infrastructure to prevent, reduce, or mitigate those land-based sources from entering the marine environment.

The bill also allows the Administrator of NOAA to designate, respond to, and assist in the cleanup of severe marine debris events.

Title II of the bill is the Maritime Safety Act. The text came from H.R. 6175, a bill ordered reported from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. I sponsored this bill with the ranking member of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Committee, Mr. Garamendi, my esteemed colleague from California, as a cosponsor.

The bill addresses maritime safety issues that were raised in the Commandant of the Coast Guard's final action memo in response to the tragic sinking of the El Faro. A few of the required actions include: timely weather forecasts, not too complicated; emergency safety gear with locator beacons, so we can find the crew after the vessel has sunk; and float-free voyage data recorders with integrated emergency position indicating beacons.

The measures included in this title should promote safer vessel transit and, if needed, would assist the Coast Guard in its rescue operations.

Sadly, we were reminded again last week, by the events in Missouri, the dangers of going out in the open water, even in a relatively protected environment. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the loved ones who lost their lives in the tragic incident.

Tragedies like this and, sadly, others in recent history remind us that we must remain vigilant and committed to improving maritime safety to protect those who go out on the water for their livelihood or for recreation.

Title III of the bill allows the Coast Guard to establish a Blue Technology center of expertise. This title is the text of H.R. 6206, as reported by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Mr. Garamendi sponsored the legislation, and I am an original cosponsor of the bill.

The ranking member and I have a strong interest in Blue Technology and how it can assist the Coast Guard in performing its multitude of missions better and more cost effectively. The center created by this legislation will provide a venue for the Coast Guard to interface with industry on existing and up-and-coming technologies that could be used by the service in conducting its missions. It is an important component in bringing the Coast Guard into the modern technological world.

I thank the chairman of the committee, Mr. Shuster, for this leadership, and Mr. DeFazio and, especially, Mr. Garamendi for their leadership and cooperation in getting these bills out of committee and to the floor today.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young), dean of the House, a gentleman that has been working maritime issues because he represents all of Alaska. Whether it is fisheries, energy exploration, to pollution, Mr. Don Young from Alaska knows what he is talking about probably more than anybody in this body.

(Mr. YOUNG of Alaska asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

First off, thanks to Mr. Garamendi. If there are two more folks in this Congress from opposite sides of the aisle that disagree on some things sometimes, but agree as much as possible and as much as we do on the things that we are working on, I would be surprised. And I would like to just thank him so much for his work and for coming up with great legislation, great ideas, and pushing this forward.

There is an old military saying that if you control the ocean, you control the world. And just as serious of a sense, if you destroy the ocean, you destroy the world. I think that is one reason this bill is so important.

S. 756 promotes action to address the marine debris, catastrophic issues that we face now that will only get worse. It increases maritime vessel safety so you will not have another tragic incident like you had with the El Faro. And it establishes a Blue Technology center of expertise so we can help the Coast Guard work smarter and not harder with their limited funds. I urge all Members to support it.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, both for his leadership on these issues, and for the time. And I also would congratulate Chairman Young and others, particularly Suzanne Bonamici, from my State, who has taken a real leadership role on the issue of marine debris.

We are choking the oceans to death. The lifeblood of our planet, the lungs of our planet, it is becoming a giant garbage dump. The Pacific Gyre can be seen from space. It is a massive gyre in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and we have to begin to deal seriously with these issues.

It was just this week in the New York Times, photographs of the Dominican Republic, known for its pristine beaches, which had giant bulldozers on the beach trying to eat through about an 8-foot tall pile of plastic debris on the beaches. So this threatens the marine environment and all that which is dependent upon it, the creatures that live there, and those of us who harvest from that. And it is threatening tourism and recreation. Obviously, this has to be dealt with.

I will say, this is good legislation, but it is a pathetic amount of money. The amount of money that Congress is putting out to deal with something that is threatening the very oceans that surround us probably isn't adequate to clean up the little--I live on a boat down there inside Hains Point--probably that little section of water inside Hains Point down by Fort McNair. I don't even think $10 million could clean that up, let alone the oceans. So we need to get a little more serious about this and really put up additional funds.

So that is very important legislation. Title II is something about which I am very passionate. The worst maritime disaster since 1983, and obviously, there is a lot of blame to go around on that disaster. But one of the factors was that ship was not fit. It had been certified by an independent party which is called, under the law, a recognized organization, as fit to go to sea.

Now, why would that happen? Well, because the recognized organizations get paid by the shipping companies. Now, I am not going to hire you if you tell me my ship isn't fit to go to sea, which is what they should have been telling TOTE. They didn't tell them because, hey, we want more of your business. We will go out and certify some more of your unfit ships and kill more people. This has got to end.

The Coast Guard is also at fault. They were not providing enough oversight to these recognized organizations, and had let their own marine safety division, under this privatization scheme, deteriorate to the point where they couldn't even keep up with the paperwork.

So this bill is going to begin to rectify those issues and revitalize the Coast Guard maritime safety organization, and also, bring new scrutiny on these recognized organizations so they don't kill any more people and send unfit ships to sea.

Finally, the legislation, the third part of this is, I think, a tremendous accomplishment by the Ranking Member, John Garamendi, which is his Blue Tech center and Blue Oceans. The Coast Guard has, unfortunately--again, we have underfunded the Coast Guard, so Congress is at fault for many of these things; maritime safety and the lack of initiative of the Coast Guard in terms of adopting new 21st century technologies to better perform their mission and make the sea-lane safer and better understand what is going on in the oceans around us.

So, maybe we will get, someday, to name the Blue Tech Center after Mr. Garamendi, but not until he is long gone, so he is not in a hurry for that.

So anyway, I want to congratulate him, and congratulate others who have been involved, and thank Chairman Shuster for moving this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from California for yielding time, and also for his commitment to this important issue.

I am honored to co-chair the Oceans Caucus with Representative Young, and I thank him for his leadership on this important issue.

I also thank my Oregon colleague, Mr. DeFazio, for his commitment and for his passion about the importance of marine debris and addressing it.

I rise in support of the Save our Seas Act, a bill to clean up and reduce marine debris. This bill would reauthorize the NOAA Marine Debris Program through fiscal year 2022 and provide resources to help States respond to severe marine debris events. The health of our oceans reflects the health of our planet, and we must do more to keep garbage out the ocean and off of our shores.

Every minute, the equivalent of a garbage truck full of plastic is dumped into our oceans. According to the

United Nations, that is more than 8 million tons a year. Plastic bottles, straws, grocery bags, cigarette butts, fishing gear, and abandoned vessels litter the ocean.

Currents and atmospheric winds carry floatable marine debris. These movements trap items in debris accumulation zones, also known as garbage patches. A study published in the journal, Scientific Reports, estimated that the Pacific garbage patch is comprised of about 1.8 trillion pieces of debris.

We still don't know how long it takes for plastic to biodegrade. Estimates range from 450 years to never.

Marine debris harms our coastal economies, endangers marine life, destroys important marine habitats, propagates invasive species, and creates hazardous conditions for the maritime industry. Tiny pieces of plastic, fiber, fragments, and microbeads also make their way into marine life, blocking digestive tracts, altering growth and, in some cases, killing animals and marine organisms.

Healthy beaches and waterways are critical to the marine ecosystems that thousands of people rely on to earn a living in Oregon and other coastal communities. After the tsunami hit the coast of Japan in 2011, large materials like docks and boats that carried invasive species ended up on the shores of the Pacific Northwest.

But it is not just tsunami debris that is a problem. According to NOAA, a majority of the debris that covers our beaches come from storm drains and sewers, demonstrating that this is not just a problem resulting from those along our Nation's shorelines.

Marine debris is entirely preventable, but we must support responsible disposal practices and provide coastal communities with the resources they need. The NOAA Marine Debris Program has partnered with Oregon Sea Grant, Oregon State University, Oregon Coast Aquarium, and Lincoln County School District to create a curriculum to teach middle and high school students about the effects of marine debris and to promote stewardship activities.

There has been growing momentum on this issue, as many companies and cities and jurisdictions across this country stop the use of plastic straws and bags.

The ocean is resilient and we can help it heal, but we cannot afford to wait. I urge my colleagues to support this bill to strengthen the Federal response to marine debris.

I want to close, again, by thanking all of the bipartisan sponsors and cosponsors of this legislation, but also, especially, the co-chair of the Oceans Caucus, again, Representative Don Young, for his leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, first, let me thank Chairman Hunter for his work on this bill and on the other work we have been able to do with the Coast Guard and the legislation. It has been a great pleasure to work with him.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 756, the Save Our Seas Act of 2018, as amended, to include other important bills addressing maritime safety and ocean technologies.

As explained by the majority's manager of the bill, marine debris, especially plastics, is a persistent and growing threat to the global marine environment. Many countries, including the United States, contribute to the plastic pollution, and it does add up.

For example, in 2010 alone, according to a University of Georgia study, a total of 8 million metric tons of plastic entered the world's oceans. Worse yet, the study predicts that number will grow 10 times-- tenfold--as large by 2025.

Not only are floating plastic bags, straws, Styrofoam cups, and plastic bottles harmful to the health and welfare of marine life, but marine debris also threatens the food supply of millions of people around the world who rely on seafood as their primary source of protein.

The impacts affect people everywhere, and the problem is not going to go away and won't be solved by itself. The legislation we put forth today is an important step in the right direction.

Title I would authorize existing funding levels in the Marine Debris Act to enable the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the United States Coast Guard to identify and remove sources of marine debris and to coordinate response activities on the national and regional levels to assess and reduce the volume of the debris entering our oceans.

The title also contains important amendments, including new authority to allow the Federal Government to provide assistance to mitigate severe marine debris events, such as the recurrence of the flood of debris that drifted from Japan across the Pacific Ocean in the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima earthquake and tsunami.

I also want to express my strong support for two other bills recently passed and reported by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that were added as separate titles to S. 756: First, H.R. 6175, the Maritime Safety Act of 2018, as title II; and my legislation, H.R. 6206, the Coast Guard Blue Technology Center of Expertise Act, as title

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time I have remaining?

That should be enough for Mr. DeFazio, the ranking member of the committee, to share his views on this legislation.

I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the honorable gentlewoman from the State of Oregon (Ms. Bonamici).

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close. I will take my few seconds that remain then and simply say this is a good piece of legislation. I want to thank the chair of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee for his work on this, and for working across the aisle to solve problems, some very real, serious problems in this legislation.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 756) to reauthorize and amend the Marine Debris Act to promote international action to reduce marine debris, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on S. 756.

Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter), and I ask unanimous consent that he may control that time to manage the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Hunter and Ranking Member Garamendi and, of course, Peter DeFazio.

This is a good piece of legislation. I had a House bill similar in fact, too. This came over from the Senate side, but I am not really interested in whose bill it is but, more likely, getting things done. So this is a good bill.

And debris is what I am interested in as one of our biggest issues; it has been well explained by both speakers prior to me. It is getting bigger, like I say. What is it? Tenfold more. And the tonnage is already there.

We have to look at preventing the debris, but also what do we do once it is in the ocean. I have some ideas. And, hopefully, later on, we can explore those ideas, how we will recover and utilize that debris, because it does harm our maritime lives, and it makes the ocean really a garbage dump, and we don't want that.

So this is a good piece of legislation. I thank each person that has been involved in it, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''