II 

Calendar No. 294 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1390 

[Report No. 109–182] 

To reauthorize the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 13, 2005 

Mr. INOUYE (for himself, Mr. SUNUNU, and Mr. AKAKA) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

NOVEMBER 17, 2005 

Reported by Mr. STEVENS, with amendments 

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To reauthorize the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Coral Reef Conserva5 tion Amendments Act of 2005’’. 
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•S 1390 RS 

1 SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF CORAL REEF CONSERVATION PRO2 GRAM. 

3 (a) PROJECT DIVERSITY.—Section 204(d) of the 

4 Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 6403(d)) 

5 is amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘GEOGRAPHIC AND BIOLOGI7 CAL’’ in the heading and inserting ‘‘PROJECT’’; and 

8 (2) by striking ‘‘40 percent’’ in paragraph (2) 

9 and inserting ‘‘30 percent’’; and 

10 (3) (2) by striking paragraph (3) and inserting 

11 the following: 

12 ‘‘(3) Remaining funds shall be awarded for— 

13 ‘‘(A) projects (with priority given to com14 munity-based local action strategies) that ad15 dress emerging priorities or threats, including 

16 international and territorial priorities, or 

17 threats identified by the Administrator in con18 sultation with the Coral Reef Task Force; and 

19 ‘‘(B) other appropriate projects, as deter20 mined by the Administrator, including moni21 toring and assessment, research, pollution re22 duction, education, and technical support.’’. 

23 (b) APPROVAL CRITERIA.—Section 204(g) of that 

24 Act (16 U.S.C. 6403(g)) is amended— 

25 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ after the semicolon in 

26 paragraph (9); 
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•S 1390 RS 

1 (2) by redesignating paragraph (10) as para2 graph (12); and 

3 (2) by striking paragraph (10); and 

4 (3) by inserting after paragraph (9) the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(10) promoting activities designed to minimize 

7 the likelihood of vessel impacts on coral reefs, par8 ticularly those activities described in section 210(b), 

9 including the promotion of ecologically sound naviga10 tion and anchorages near coral reefs; or 

11 ‘‘(11) promoting and assisting entities to work 

12 with local communities, and all appropriate govern13 mental and nongovernmental organizations, to sup14 port community-based planning and management 

15 initiatives for the protection of coral reef systems; 

16 or’’. systems.’’. 

17 SEC. 3. EMERGENCY RESPONSE. 

18 Section 206 of the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 

19 2000 (16 U.S.C. 6404 6405) is amended to read as follows: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 206. EMERGENCY RESPONSE ACTIONS. 

21 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may under22 take or authorize action necessary to prevent or minimize 

23 the destruction or loss of, or injury to, coral reefs or coral 

24 reef ecosystems from vessel impacts or other physical dam-
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1 age to coral reefs, including damage from unforeseen or 

2 disaster-related circumstances. 

3 ‘‘(b) ACTIONS AUTHORIZED.—Action authorized by 

4 subsection (a) includes vessel removal and emergency re5 stabilization of the vessel and any impacted coral reef. 

6 ‘‘(c) PARTNERING WITH OTHER FEDERAL AGEN7 CIES.—When possible, action by the Administrator under 

8 this section should— 

9 ‘‘(1) be conducted in partnership with other 

10 Federal agencies, including the United States Coast 

11 Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agen12 cy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the De13 partment of the Interior; and 

14 ‘‘(2) leverage resources of such other agencies, 

15 including funding or assistance authorized under 

16 other Federal laws, such as the Oil Pollution Act of 

17 1990, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, 

18 Compensation, and Liability Act, and the Federal 

19 Water Pollution Control Act.’’. 

20 SEC. 4. NATIONAL PROGRAM. 

21 Section 207(b) of the Coral Reef Conservation Act 

22 of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 6406) is amended— 

23 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon in 

24 paragraph (3); 
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1 (2) by striking ‘‘partners.’’ in paragraph (4) 

2 and inserting ‘‘partners; and’’; and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(5) activities designed to minimize the likeli5 hood of vessel impacts or other physical damage to 

6 coral reefs, including those activities described iden7 tified in section 210(b).’’. 

8 SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 208 of the Coral Reef 

10 Conservation Act of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 6407) is amended 

11 to read as follows: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 208. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

13 ‘‘Not later than March 1, 2007, and every 3 years 

14 thereafter, the Administrator shall submit to the Com15 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

16 Senate and the Committee on Resources of the House of 

17 Representatives a report describing all activities under18 taken to implement the strategy, including— 

19 ‘‘(1) a description of the funds obligated by 

20 each participating Federal agency to advance coral 

21 reef conservation during each of the 3 fiscal years 

22 next preceding the fiscal year in which the report is 

23 submitted; 

24 ‘‘(2) a description of Federal interagency and 

25 cooperative efforts with States and United States 
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1 territories to prevent or address overharvesting, 

2 coastal runoff, or other anthropogenic impacts on 

3 coral reefs, including projects undertaken with the 

4 Department of Interior, Department of Agriculture, 

5 the Environmental Protection Agency, and the 

6 United States Army Corps of Engineers; 

7 ‘‘(3) a summary of the information contained in 

8 the vessel grounding inventory established under sec9 tion 210, including additional authorization or fund10 ing, needed for response and removal of such ves11 sels;’’ 

12 ‘‘(4) a description of Federal disaster response 

13 actions taken pursuant to the National Response 

14 Plan to address damage to coral reefs and coral reef 

15 ecosystems; and 

16 ‘‘(5) an assessment of the condition of United 

17 States coral reefs, accomplishments under this Act, 

18 and the effectiveness of management actions to ad19 dress threats to coral reefs.’’. 

20 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

21 for the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 

22 6401 et seq.) is amended by striking the item relating to 

23 section 208 and inserting the following: 

‘‘208. Report to Congress.’’. 
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1 SEC. 6. FUND; GRANTS; GROUNDING INVENTORY; COORDI2 NATION. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Coral Reef Conservation Act 

4 of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.) is amended— 

5 (1) by striking ‘‘organization solely’’ and all 

6 that follows in section 205(a) (16 U.S.C. 6404(a)) 

7 and inserting ‘‘organization— 

8 ‘‘(1) to support partnerships between the public 

9 and private sectors that further the purposes of this 

10 Act and are consistent with the national coral reef 

11 strategy under section 203; and 

12 ‘‘(2) to address emergency response actions 

13 under section 206.’’; 

14 (2) by adding at the end of section 205(b) 16 

15 U.S.C. 6404(b)) ‘‘The organization is encouraged to 

16 solicit funding and in-kind services from the private 

17 sector, including nongovernmental organizations, for 

18 emergency response actions under section 206 and 

19 for activities to prevent damage to coral reefs, in20 cluding activities described in section 210(b)(2).’’; 

21 (3) by striking ‘‘the grant program’’ in section 

22 205(c) (16 U.S.C. 6404(c)) and inserting ‘‘any 

23 grant program or emergency response action’’; 

24 (4) by redesignating sections 209 and 210 as 

25 sections 212 and 213, respectively; and 

26 (5) by inserting after section 208 the following: 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 209. COMMUNITY-BASED PLANNING GRANTS. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may make 

3 grants to entities who have received grants under section 

4 204(c) to provide additional funds to such entities to work 

5 with local communities and through appropriate Federal 

6 and State entities to prepare and implement plans for the 

7 increased protection of coral reef areas identified by the 

8 community and the best scientific information available 

9 scientific experts as high priorities for focused attention. 

10 The plans shall— 

11 ‘‘(1) support attainment of 1 or more of the cri12 teria described in section 204(g); 

13 ‘‘(2) be developed at the community level; 

14 ‘‘(3) utilize watershed-based approaches; 

15 ‘‘(4) provide for coordination with Federal and 

16 State experts and managers; and 

17 ‘‘(5) build upon local approaches or models, in18 cluding traditional or island-based resource manage19 ment concepts. 

20 ‘‘(b) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—The provisions of 

21 subsections (b), (d), (f), and (h) of section 204 apply to 

22 grants under subsection (a), except that, for the purpose 

23 of applying section 204(b)(1) to grants under this section, 

24 ‘25 percent 75 percent’ shall be substituted for ‘50 per25 cent’. 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 210. VESSEL GROUNDING INVENTORY. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may main3 tain an inventory of all vessel grounding incidents involv4 ing coral reef resources, including a description of— 

5 ‘‘(1) the impacts to such resources; 

6 ‘‘(2) vessel and ownership information, if avail7 able; 

8 ‘‘(3) the estimated cost of removal, mitigation, 

9 or restoration; 

10 ‘‘(4) the response action taken by the owner, 

11 the Administrator, the Commandant of the Coast 

12 Guard, or other Federal or State agency representa13 tives; 

14 ‘‘(5) the status of the response action, including 

15 the dates of vessel removal and mitigation or res16 toration and any actions taken to prevent future 

17 grounding incidents; and 

18 ‘‘(6) recommendations for additional naviga19 tional aids or other mechanisms for preventing fu20 ture grounding incidents. 

21 ‘‘(b) IDENTIFICATION OF AT-RISK REEFS.—The Ad22 ministrator may— 

23 ‘‘(1) use information from any inventory main24 tained under subsection (a) or any other available 

25 information source to identify coral reef areas out26 side designated National Marine Sanctuaries that 
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1 have a high incidence of vessel impacts, including 

2 groundings and anchor damage; and 

3 ‘‘(2) identify appropriate measures, including 

4 action by other agencies, to reduce the likelihood of 

5 such impacts. 

6 ‘‘SEC. 211. REGIONAL COORDINATION. 

7 ‘‘The Administrator shall work in coordination and 

8 collaboration with other Federal agencies, States, and 

9 United States territorial governments to implement the 

10 strategies developed under section 203, including regional 

11 and local strategies, to address multiple threats to coral 

12 reefs and coral reef ecosystems such as coastal runoff, ves13 sel impacts, and overharvesting.’’. 

14 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

15 for the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 

16 6401 et seq.) is amended— 

17 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec18 tions 208 through 211 as relating to sections 211 

19 through 214; and 

20 (2) by inserting the following after the item re21 lating to section 207: 

‘‘209. Community-based planning grants. 

‘‘210. Vessel grounding inventory. 

‘‘211. Regional coordination.’’. 
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1 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 Section 212 of the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 

3 2000 (formerly 16 U.S.C. 6408), as redesignated by sec4 tion 6, is amended— 

5 (1) by striking ‘‘$16,000,000 for each of fiscal 

6 years 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004,’’ in subsection 

7 (a) and inserting ‘‘$30,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, 

8 $32,000,000 for fiscal year 2007, $34,000,000 for 

9 fiscal year 2008, and $35,000,000 for each of fiscal 

10 years 2009 through 2012, of which no less than 30 

11 percent per year (for each of fiscal years 2006 

12 through 2012) shall be used for the grant program 

13 under section 204 and up to 10 percent per year 

14 shall be used for the Fund established under section 

15 205,’’; 

16 (2) by striking ‘‘$1,000,000’’ in subsection (b) 

17 and inserting ‘‘$2,000,000’’; and 

18 (3) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 

19 following: 

20 ‘‘(c) COMMUNITY-BASED PLANNING GRANTS.— 

21 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Adminis22 trator to carry out section 209 the sum of $8,000,000 for 

23 fiscal years 2007 through 2012, such sum to remain avail24 able until expended.’’; and 

25 (4) by striking subsection (d). 
Calendar No. 294 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1390 

[Report No. 109–182] 

A BILL 

To reauthorize the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 

2000, and for other purposes. 

NOVEMBER 17, 2005 

Reported with amendments