II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2056 

To provide for the establishment of the National Volcano Early Warning 

and Monitoring System. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 17, 2015 

Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself and Ms. CANTWELL) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 

Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To provide for the establishment of the National Volcano 

Early Warning and Monitoring System. 

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 ‘‘National Volcano Early 

5 Warning and Monitoring System Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the United States and the territories of the 

9 United States contain 169 hazardous volcanoes; 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2056 IS

1 (2) since 1980, eruptions have claimed many 

2 lives and cost billions of dollars in property damage 

3 in the United States; 

4 (3) ash eruptions pose a hazard to high-flying 

5 jet aircraft, including the more than 50,000 pas6 sengers who travel on jets over Alaska and the 

7 North Pacific every day; 

8 (4) in 1989, an eruption of Redoubt Volcano, 

9 Alaska, caused in-flight failure of all 4 engines of a 

10 passenger Boeing 747 aircraft; 

11 (5) international flights over the Commonwealth 

12 of the Northern Mariana Islands and the intense do13 mestic air traffic of the Pacific Northwest also face 

14 potential engine failure in the event of an eruption; 

15 (6) mudflows from ice-clad Cascade volcanoes 

16 of the States of Washington, Oregon, and California 

17 pose a serious hazard to cities and transportation 

18 arteries in the Pacific Northwest; 

19 (7) lava flows, toxic gas emissions, and explo20 sions impact residents and visitors to the State of 

21 Hawaii and have the potential to cause catastrophic 

22 property damage; 

23 (8) frequent seismic unrest requires careful 

24 monitoring in the Mammoth Lakes area of the State 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2056 IS

1 of California and Yellowstone National Park in the 

2 States of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho; 

3 (9) modern technology, in the form of geo4 physical monitoring networks on the ground and the 

5 use of near-real time satellite data, makes possible 

6 early warnings typically weeks or months before 

7 eruptions, giving emergency response agencies and 

8 the public time to prepare, which minimizes poten9 tial damage to property and loss of life; 

10 (10) the efficacy of monitoring is being dem11 onstrated by— 

12 (A) the successful forecasts and warnings 

13 of Augustine Volcano in 1986 and 2006, Re14 doubt Volcano in 1989 through 1990 and 2009, 

15 and Mt. Spurr in 1992; and 

16 (B) warnings and forecasts of lava flow ad17 vancement in Hawaii during the ongoing erup18 tion of Kilauea; 

19 (11) the United States Geological Survey and 

20 university and State partners of the United States 

21 Geological Survey operate— 

22 (A) the Alaska Volcano Observatory lo23 cated in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska; 

24 (B) the Cascades Volcano Observatory lo25 cated in Vancouver, Washington; 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2056 IS

1 (C) the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory lo2 cated in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, Ha3 waii; 

4 (D) the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory 

5 located in Yellowstone National Park in the 

6 State of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho; and 

7 (E) the California Volcano Observatory, lo8 cated in Menlo Park, California; and 

9 (12) a detailed survey of the volcanoes in the 

10 United States and the monitoring status of those 

11 volcanoes has revealed numerous serious monitoring 

12 gaps, leaving the United States exposed to prevent13 able damage from large volcanic eruptions. 

14 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

15 In this Act: 

16 (1) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

17 the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di18 rector of the United States Geological Survey. 

19 (2) SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘System’’ means the 

20 National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring 

21 System established under section 4(a)(1). 

22 SEC. 4. NATIONAL VOLCANO EARLY WARNING AND MONI23 TORING SYSTEM. 

24 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 2056 IS

1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 

2 within the United States Geological Survey a sys3 tem, to be known as the ‘‘National Volcano Early 

4 Warning and Monitoring System’’, to monitor, warn, 

5 and protect citizens of the United States from undue 

6 and avoidable harm from volcanic activity. 

7 (2) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the System 

8 are— 

9 (A) to organize, modernize, standardize, 

10 and stabilize the monitoring systems of the vol11 cano observatories in the United States, which 

12 includes the Alaska Volcano Observatory, Cali13 fornia Volcano Observatory, Cascades Volcano 

14 Observatory, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, 

15 and Yellowstone Volcano Observatory; and 

16 (B) to unify the monitoring systems of vol17 cano observatories in the United States into a 

18 single interoperative system. 

19 (3) OBJECTIVE.—The objective of the System is 

20 to monitor all the volcanoes in the United States at 

21 a level commensurate with the threat posed by the 

22 volcanoes by— 

23 (A) upgrading existing networks on mon24 itored volcanoes; and 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 2056 IS

1 (B) installing new networks on 

2 unmonitored volcanoes. 

3 (b) SYSTEM COMPONENTS.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The System shall include— 

5 (A) a national volcano watch office that is 

6 operational 24 hours a day and 7 days a week; 

7 (B) a national volcano data center; and 

8 (C) an external grants program to support 

9 research in volcano monitoring science and 

10 technology. 

11 (2) MODERNIZATION ACTIVITIES.—Moderniza12 tion activities under the System shall include the 

13 comprehensive application of emerging technologies, 

14 including digital broadband seismometers, real-time 

15 continuous Global Positioning System receivers, sat16 ellite and airborne radar interferometry, acoustic 

17 pressure sensors, and spectrometry to measure gas 

18 emissions. 

19 (c) MANAGEMENT.— 

20 (1) MANAGEMENT PLAN.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 

22 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec23 retary shall submit to Congress a 5-year man24 agement plan for establishing and operating the 

25 System. 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 2056 IS

1 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The management plan 

2 submitted under subparagraph (A) shall in3 clude— 

4 (i) annual cost estimates for mod5 ernization activities and operation of the 

6 System; 

7 (ii) annual milestones, standards, and 

8 performance goals; and 

9 (iii) recommendations for, and prog10 ress towards, establishing new, or enhanc11 ing existing, partnerships to leverage re12 sources. 

13 (2) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—The Secretary 

14 shall establish an advisory committee to assist the 

15 Secretary in implementing the System, to be com16 prised of representatives of relevant agencies and 

17 members of the scientific community, to be ap18 pointed by the Secretary. 

19 (3) PARTNERSHIPS.—The Secretary may enter 

20 into cooperative agreements with institutions of 

21 higher education and State agencies designating the 

22 institutions of higher education and State agencies 

23 as volcano observatory partners for the System. 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 2056 IS

1 (4) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall co2 ordinate the activities under this Act with the heads 

3 of relevant Federal agencies, including— 

4 (A) the Secretary of Transportation; 

5 (B) the Administrator of the Federal Avia6 tion Administration; 

7 (C) the Administrator of the National Oce8 anic and Atmospheric Administration; and 

9 (D) the Director of the Federal Emergency 

10 Management Administration. 

11 (d) ANNUAL REPORT.—Annually, the Secretary shall 

12 submit to Congress a report that describes the activities 

13 carried out under this Act. 

14 SEC. 5. FUNDING. 

15 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

16 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec17 essary to carry out this Act for each of fiscal years 2016 

18 through 2026. 

19 (b) EFFECT ON OTHER SOURCES OF FEDERAL

20 FUNDING.—Amounts made available under this section 

21 shall supplement, and not supplant, Federal funds made 

22 available for other United States Geological Survey haz23 ards activities and programs. 

Æ 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS