I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4458 

To promote Department of the Interior efforts to provide a scientific basis 

for the management of sediment and nutrients in the Upper Mississippi 

River Basin, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 19, 2012 

Mr. KIND introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To promote Department of the Interior efforts to provide 

a scientific basis for the management of sediment and 

nutrients in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Upper Mississippi River Basin Protection Act’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Definitions. 

Sec. 3. Reliance on scientific knowledge. 


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TITLE I—SEDIMENT AND NUTRIENT MONITORING NETWORK 

Sec. 101. Establishment of monitoring network. 

Sec. 102. Data collection and storage responsibilities. 

Sec. 103. Relationship to existing sediment and nutrient monitoring and assessment. 

Sec. 104. Collaboration with other public and private monitoring efforts. 

Sec. 105. Reporting requirements. 

Sec. 106. National research council assessment. 

TITLE II—COMPUTER MODELING AND RESEARCH 

Sec. 201. Computer modeling and research of sediment and nutrient sources. 

Sec. 202. Communication plan to distribute information. 

Sec. 203. Reporting requirements. 

TITLE III—AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS AND RELATED 

MATTERS 

Sec. 301. Authorization of appropriations. 

Sec. 302. Cost-sharing requirements. 

1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) The terms ‘‘Upper Mississippi River Basin’’ 

4 and ‘‘Basin’’ mean the watershed portion of the 

5 Upper Mississippi River and Illinois River basins, 

6 from Cairo, Illinois, to the headwaters of the Mis7 sissippi River, in the States of Minnesota, Wis8 consin, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. The designation 

9 includes the Kaskaskia watershed along the Illinois 

10 River and the Meramec watershed along the Mis11 souri River. 

12 (2) The terms ‘‘Upper Mississippi River Stew13 ardship Initiative’’ and ‘‘Initiative’’ mean the activi14 ties authorized or required by this Act to monitor 

15 nutrients and sediment in the Upper Mississippi 

16 River Basin. 


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1 SEC. 3. RELIANCE ON SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE. 

2 Federal investments in the Upper Mississippi River 

3 Basin shall be guided by accepted and documented sci4 entific methods, including the use of documented protocols 

5 for data collection and data analysis, and peer review of 

6 data, results, and findings, and shall take into account the 

7 results of studies using accepted and documented scientific 

8 methods to identify and quantify the sources, transport, 

9 and fate of nutrients and sediment and to quantify the 

10 effect of various treatment methods or conservation meas11 ures on nutrient and sediment management. 

12 TITLE I—SEDIMENT AND NUTRI13 ENT MONITORING NETWORK 

14 SEC. 101. ESTABLISHMENT OF MONITORING NETWORK. 

15 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—As part of the Upper Mis16 sissippi River Stewardship Initiative, the Secretary of the 

17 Interior shall establish a sediment and nutrient moni18 toring network for the Upper Mississippi River Basin for 

19 the purposes of— 

20 (1) identifying and quantifying significant 

21 sources of sediment and nutrients in the Upper Mis22 sissippi River Basin; 

23 (2) quantifying the processes affecting mobiliza24 tion, transport, and fate of those sediments and nu25 trients on land and in water; 


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1 (3) quantifying the transport of those sediments 

2 and nutrients to and through the Upper Mississippi 

3 River Basin; 

4 (4) quantifying changes to sediment and nutri5 ent concentrations and loads over time; and 

6 (5) coordinating with other Federal, State, trib7 al, and local agencies on the acquisition of data to 

8 be used in computer modeling of the Basin, pursu9 ant to section 201. 

10 (b) ROLE OF UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUR11 VEY.—The Secretary of the Interior shall carry out this 

12 title acting through the office of the Director of the United 

13 States Geological Survey. 

14 SEC. 102. DATA COLLECTION AND STORAGE RESPONSIBIL15 ITIES. 

16 (a) GUIDELINES FOR DATA COLLECTION AND STOR17 AGE.—The Secretary of the Interior shall establish guide18 lines for the effective design of data collection activities 

19 regarding sediment and nutrient monitoring, for the use 

20 of suitable and consistent methods for data collection, and 

21 for consistent reporting, data storage, and archiving prac22 tices. 

23 (b) RELEASE OF DATA.—Data resulting from sedi24 ment and nutrient monitoring and the compilation of an25 cillary information in the Upper Mississippi River Basin 


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1 shall be released to the public using generic station identi2 fiers and hydrologic unit codes. In the case of a monitoring 

3 station located on private lands, information regarding the 

4 location of the station shall not be disseminated without 

5 the landowner’s permission. 

6 SEC. 103. RELATIONSHIP TO EXISTING SEDIMENT AND NU7 TRIENT MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT. 

8 (a) INVENTORY.—To the maximum extent prac9 ticable, the Secretary of the Interior shall inventory the 

10 sediment and nutrient monitoring efforts in existence as 

11 of the date of the enactment of this Act of Federal, State, 

12 tribal, local, and nongovernmental entities for the purpose 

13 of creating a baseline understanding of overlap, data gaps 

14 and redundancies. 

15 (b) INTEGRATION.—On the basis of the inventory, 

16 the Secretary of the Interior shall integrate the existing 

17 sediment and nutrient monitoring efforts, to the maximum 

18 extent practicable, into the sediment and nutrient moni19 toring network required by section 101. 

20 (c) CONSULTATION AND USE OF EXISTING DATA.— 

21 In carrying out this section, the Secretary of the Interior 

22 shall make maximum use of data in existence as of the 

23 date of the enactment of this Act and of ongoing programs 

24 and efforts of Federal, State, tribal, local, and nongovernVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:42 Apr 25, 2012 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4458.IH H4458

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1 mental entities in developing the sediment and nutrient 

2 monitoring network required by section 101. 

3 (d) COORDINATION WITH LONG-TERM ESTUARY AS4 SESSMENT PROJECT.—The Secretary of the Interior shall 

5 carry out this section in coordination with the long-term 

6 estuary assessment project authorized by section 902 of 

7 the Estuaries and Clean Waters Act of 2000 (Public Law 

8 106–457; 33 U.S.C. 2901 note). 

9 SEC. 104. COLLABORATION WITH OTHER PUBLIC AND PRI10 VATE MONITORING EFFORTS. 

11 To establish the sediment and nutrient monitoring 

12 network, the Secretary of the Interior shall collaborate, 

13 to the maximum extent practicable, with other Federal, 

14 State, tribal, local and private sediment and nutrient mon15 itoring and assessment programs that meet guidelines pre16 scribed under section 102(a), as determined by the Sec17 retary. 

18 SEC. 105. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

19 The Secretary of the Interior shall report to Congress 

20 not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 

21 of this Act on the development of the sediment and nutri22 ent monitoring network. 

23 SEC. 106. NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL ASSESSMENT. 

24 The National Research Council of the National Acad25 emy of Sciences shall conduct a comprehensive water reVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:42 Apr 25, 2012 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4458.IH H4458

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1 sources assessment of the Upper Mississippi River Basin 

2 within 3 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

3 TITLE II—COMPUTER MODELING 

4 AND RESEARCH 

5 SEC. 201. COMPUTER MODELING AND RESEARCH OF SEDI6 MENT AND NUTRIENT SOURCES. 

7 (a) MODELING PROGRAM REQUIRED.—As part of the 

8 Upper Mississippi River Stewardship Initiative, the Direc9 tor of the United States Geological Survey shall develop 

10 and implement a plan to improve existing water-quality 

11 models to identify and quantify significant sources of sedi12 ment and nutrients in the Upper Mississippi River Basin 

13 at the subwatershed (12-digit Hydrologic Unit Code) 

14 scale. 

15 (b) ROLE.—Computer modeling shall be used to iden16 tify subwatersheds which are significant sources of sedi17 ment and nutrients and shall be made available for the 

18 purposes of targeting public and private sediment and nu19 trient management efforts. 

20 (c) COMPONENTS.—Sediment and nutrient models 

21 for the Upper Mississippi River Basin shall— 

22 (1) relate nutrient sources to landscape, land 

23 use, and land management practices; 

24 (2) relate sediment sources to landscape, land 

25 use, and land management practices; and 


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1 (3) quantify river channel nutrient and sedi2 ment transport and transformation processes. 

3 (d) COLLECTION OF ANCILLARY INFORMATION.— 

4 Ancillary information shall be collected, by remote sensing 

5 or other appropriate means, in a GIS format to support 

6 modeling and management use of modeling results, includ7 ing the following: 

8 (1) Land use data. 

9 (2) Soils data. 

10 (3) Elevation data. 

11 (4) Hydrologic modifications. 

12 (5) Information on sediment and nutrient man13 agement actions including conservation tillage prac14 tices and other Best Management Practices. 

15 (6) Estimates of loads of nutrients from point 

16 sources and key nonpoint sources, including com17 mercial fertilizer, applications of manure, geologic 

18 sources, and atmospheric deposition. 

19 SEC. 202. COMMUNICATION PLAN TO DISTRIBUTE INFOR20 MATION. 

21 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact22 ment of this Act, the Director of the United States Geo23 logical Survey shall establish a communication plan that 

24 includes use of the Internet to provide information includ25 ing the following: 


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1 (1) Accomplishments of public and private pro2 grams designed to manage sediment and nutrients 

3 in the Upper Mississippi River Basin. 

4 (2) Seasonal and annual concentrations and 

5 loads of sediment and nutrients in the Upper Mis6 sissippi River and its tributaries. 

7 SEC. 203. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

8 (a) MONITORING ACTIVITIES.—Commencing one 

9 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Direc10 tor of the United States Geological Survey shall provide 

11 to Congress and make available to the public an annual 

12 report that includes data and information on concentra13 tions and loads of nutrients and sediment derived from 

14 monitoring activities conducted in the Upper Mississippi 

15 River Basin. 

16 (b) MODELING ACTIVITIES.—Every five years, the 

17 Director of the United States Geological Survey shall pro18 vide to Congress and make available to the public a 

19 progress report assessing changes in nutrient and sedi20 ment concentrations and loads in relation to such factors 

21 as climate variability and changes in land and water man22 agement practices. 


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1 TITLE III—AUTHORIZATION OF 

2 APPROPRIATIONS AND RE3 LATED MATTERS 

4 SEC. 301. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

5 (a) UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY ACTIVI6 TIES.—There is authorized to be appropriated to the 

7 United States Geological Survey $6,250,000 each fiscal 

8 year to carry out this Act (other than section 106). 

9 (b) WATER RESOURCE AND WATER QUALITY MAN10 AGEMENT ASSESSMENT.—There is authorized to be ap11 propriated $650,000 to allow the National Research Coun12 cil to perform the assessment required by section 106. 

13 SEC. 302. COST-SHARING REQUIREMENTS. 

14 Funds made available for the United States Geologi15 cal Survey Cooperative Water Program under section 

16 301(a) shall be subject to the same cost-sharing require17 ments as specified in the last proviso under the heading 

18 ‘‘UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY—SURVEYS, IN19 VESTIGATIONS, AND RESEARCH’’ of the Department of the 

20 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropria21 tions Act, 2006 (Public Law 109–54; 119 Stat. 510; 43 

22 U.S.C. 50). 

Æ 


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