II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1390 

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 and Mr. SUNUNU) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF CORAL REEF CONSERVATION PRO7 GRAM. 

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

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

10 is amended— 
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘GEOGRAPHIC AND BIOLOGI2 CAL’’ in the heading and inserting ‘‘PROJECT’’; 

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

4 and inserting ‘‘30 percent’’; and 

5 (3) by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the 

6 following: 

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

8 ‘‘(A) projects (with priority given to com9 munity-based local action strategies) that ad10 dress emerging priorities or threats, including 

11 international and territorial priorities, or 

12 threats identified by the Administrator in con13 sultation with the Coral Reef Task Force; and 

14 ‘‘(B) other appropriate projects, as deter15 mined by the Administrator, including moni16 toring and assessment, research, pollution re17 duction, education, and technical support.’’. 

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

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

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

21 paragraph (9); 

22 (2) by redesignating paragraph (10) as para23 graph (12); and 

24 (3) by inserting after paragraph (9) the fol25 lowing: 
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1 ‘‘(10) activities designed to minimize the likeli2 hood of vessel impacts on coral reefs, particularly 

3 those activities described in section 210(b), including 

4 the promotion of ecologically sound navigation and 

5 anchorages near coral reefs; 

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

7 with local communities, and all appropriate govern8 mental and nongovernmental organizations, to sup9 port community-based planning and management 

10 initiatives for the protection of coral reef systems; 

11 or’’. 

12 SEC. 3. EMERGENCY RESPONSE. 

13 Section 206 of the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 

14 2000 (16 U.S.C. 6404) is amended to read as follows: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 206. EMERGENCY RESPONSE ACTIONS. 

16 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may under17 take or authorize action necessary to prevent or minimize 

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

19 reef ecosystems from vessel impacts or other physical dam20 age to coral reefs, including damage from unforeseen or 

21 disaster-related circumstances. 

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

23 subsection (a) includes vessel removal and emergency re24 stabilization of the vessel and any impacted coral reef. 
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1 ‘‘(c) PARTNERING WITH OTHER FEDERAL AGEN2 CIES.—When possible, action by the Administrator under 

3 this section should— 

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

5 Federal agencies, including the United States Coast 

6 Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agen7 cy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the De8 partment of the Interior; and 

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

10 including funding or assistance authorized under 

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

12 1990, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, 

13 Compensation, and Liability Act, and the Federal 

14 Water Pollution Control Act.’’. 

15 SEC. 4. NATIONAL PROGRAM. 

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

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

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

19 paragraph (3); 

20 (2) by striking ‘‘partners.’’ in paragraph (4) 

21 and inserting ‘‘partners; and’’; and 

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

23 ‘‘(5) activities designed to minimize the likeli24 hood of vessel impacts or other physical damage to 
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1 coral reefs, including those activities described iden2 tified in section 210(b).’’. 

3 SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

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

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

6 to read as follows: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 208. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

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

9 thereafter, the Administrator shall submit to the Com10 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

11 Senate and the Committee on Resources of the House of 

12 Representatives a report describing all activities under13 taken to implement the strategy, including— 

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

15 each participating Federal agency to advance coral 

16 reef conservation during each of the 3 fiscal years 

17 next preceding the fiscal year in which the report is 

18 submitted; 

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

20 cooperative efforts with States and United States 

21 territories to prevent or address overharvesting, 

22 coastal runoff, or other anthropogenic impacts on 

23 coral reefs, including projects undertaken with the 

24 Department of Interior, Department of Agriculture, 
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1 the Environmental Protection Agency, and the 

2 United States Army Corps of Engineers; 

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

4 the vessel grounding inventory established under sec5 tion 210, including additional authorization or fund6 ing, needed for response and removal of such ves7 sels;’’ 

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

9 actions taken pursuant to the National Response 

10 Plan to address damage to coral reefs and coral reef 

11 ecosystems; and 

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

13 States coral reefs, accomplishments under this Act, 

14 and the effectiveness of management actions to ad15 dress threats to coral reefs.’’. 

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

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

18 6401 et seq.) is amended by striking the item relating to 

19 section 208 and inserting the following: 

‘‘208. Report to Congress.’’. 

20 SEC. 6. FUND; GRANTS; GROUNDING INVENTORY; COORDI21 NATION. 

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

23 of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.) is amended— 
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘organization solely’’ and all 

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

3 and inserting ‘‘organization— 

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

5 and private sectors that further the purposes of this 

6 Act and are consistent with the national coral reef 

7 strategy under section 203; and 

8 ‘‘(2) to address emergency response actions 

9 under section 206.’’; 

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

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

12 solicit funding and in-kind services from the private 

13 sector, including nongovernmental organizations, for 

14 emergency response actions under section 206 and 

15 for activities to prevent damage to coral reefs, in16 cluding activities described in section 210(b)(2).’’; 

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

18 205(c) (16 U.S.C. 6404(c)) and inserting ‘‘any 

19 grant program or emergency response action’’; 

20 (4) by redesignating sections 209 and 210 as 

21 sections 212 and 213, respectively; and 

22 (5) by inserting after section 208 the following: 

23 ‘‘SEC. 209. COMMUNITY-BASED PLANNING GRANTS. 

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

25 grants to entities who have received grants under section 
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1 204(c) to provide additional funds to such entities to work 

2 with local communities and through appropriate Federal 

3 and State entities to prepare and implement plans for the 

4 increased protection of coral reef areas identified by the 

5 community and the best scientific information available as 

6 high priorities for focused attention. The plans shall— 

7 ‘‘(1) support attainment of 1 or more of the cri8 teria described in section 204(g); 

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

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

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

12 State experts and managers; and 

13 ‘‘(5) build upon local approaches or models, in14 cluding traditional or island-based resource manage15 ment concepts. 

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

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

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

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

20 ‘25 percent’ shall be substituted for ‘50 percent’. 

21 ‘‘SEC. 210. VESSEL GROUNDING INVENTORY. 

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may main23 tain an inventory of all vessel grounding incidents involv24 ing coral reef resources, including a description of— 

25 ‘‘(1) the impacts to such resources; 
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1 ‘‘(2) vessel and ownership information, if avail2 able; 

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

4 or restoration; 

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

6 the Administrator, the Commandant of the Coast 

7 Guard, or other Federal or State agency representa8 tives; 

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

10 the dates of vessel removal and mitigation or res11 toration and any actions taken to prevent future 

12 grounding incidents; and 

13 ‘‘(6) recommendations for additional naviga14 tional aids or other mechanisms for preventing fu15 ture grounding incidents. 

16 ‘‘(b) IDENTIFICATION OF AT-RISK REEFS.—The Ad17 ministrator may— 

18 ‘‘(1) use information from any inventory main19 tained under subsection (a) or any other available 

20 information source to identify coral reef areas out21 side designated National Marine Sanctuaries that 

22 have a high incidence of vessel impacts, including 

23 groundings and anchor damage; and 
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1 ‘‘(2) identify appropriate measures, including 

2 action by other agencies, to reduce the likelihood of 

3 such impacts. 

4 ‘‘SEC. 211. REGIONAL COORDINATION. 

5 ‘‘The Administrator shall work in coordination and 

6 collaboration with other Federal agencies, States, and 

7 United States territorial governments to implement the 

8 strategies developed under section 203, including regional 

9 and local strategies, to address multiple threats to coral 

10 reefs and coral reef ecosystems such as coastal runoff, ves11 sel impacts, and overharvesting.’’. 

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

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

14 6401 et seq.) is amended— 

15 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec16 tions 208 through 211 as relating to sections 211 

17 through 214; and 

18 (b) by inserting the following after the item re19 lating to section 207: 

‘‘209. Community-based planning grants. 

‘‘210. Vessel grounding inventory. 

‘‘211. Regional coordination.’’. 

20 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

21 Section 212 of the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 

22 2000 (formerly 16 U.S.C. 6408), as redesignated by sec23 tion 6, is amended— 
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘$16,000,000 for each of fiscal 

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

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

4 $32,000,000 for fiscal year 2007, $34,000,000 for 

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

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

7 percent per year (for each of fiscal years 2006 

8 through 2012) shall be used for the grant program 

9 under section 204 and up to 10 percent per year 

10 shall be used for the Fund established under section 

11 205,’’; 

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

13 and inserting ‘‘$2,000,000’’; and 

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

15 following: 

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

17 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Adminis18 trator to carry out section 209 the sum of $8,000,000 for 

19 fiscal years 2007 through 2012, such sum to remain avail20 able until expended.’’; and 

21 (4) by striking subsection (d). 

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