I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7020 

To direct the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to conduct high-resolution mapping of the lakebeds of the Great 

Lakes, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 17, 2024 

Mrs. MCCLAIN (for herself, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. HUIZENGA, Ms. SCHOLTEN, 

Mr. STAUBER, Mr. POCAN, Mr. BERGMAN, Mr. THANEDAR, Mr. JAMES, 

Mr. KILDEE, Mr. LAWLER, Ms. STEVENS, Mr. LANGWORTHY, Ms. 

SLOTKIN, Mr. DAVIDSON, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. 

TLAIB, and Mr. SCHNEIDER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To direct the Administrator of the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration to conduct high-resolution 

mapping of the lakebeds of the Great Lakes, 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 ‘‘Great Lakes Mapping 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MAPPING THE LAKEBEDS OF THE GREAT LAKES IN 

2 HIGH RESOLUTION. 

3 (a) HIGH-RESOLUTION LAKEBED MAPPING.—Not 

4 later than December 31, 2029, the Administrator of the 

5 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (re6 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Administrator’’) shall, in 

7 consultation with relevant State entities, the Ocean Policy 

8 Committee, the Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observing 

9 System, regional coastal observing systems, and any other 

10 relevant entity (as determined by the Administrator) carry 

11 out an effort (referred to in this section as the ‘‘mapping 

12 effort’’) to map, in high resolution, the lakebeds of the 

13 Great Lakes that includes— 

14 (1) completing a high-resolution map of the 

15 lakebeds of the Great Lakes; 

16 (2) collecting high-resolution bathymetric data 

17 about the lakebeds of the Great Lakes; 

18 (3) developing and implementing a method to 

19 process the bathymetric data and other information 

20 collected during the mapping effort; 

21 (4) creating a system— 

22 (A) to catalog bathymetric data and other 

23 information regarding the lakebeds of the Great 

24 Lakes that the Administrator or the Ocean Pol25 icy Committee possess or have access to indeVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:43 Jan 31, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7020.IH H7020

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1 pendent of the mapping effort or as a result of 

2 the mapping effort; and 

3 (B) by using, to the extent practicable, any 

4 system, technology, or cyberinfrastructure avail5 able to the Administrator and the Ocean Policy 

6 Committee as of the date of the enactment of 

7 this Act before purchasing any new system, 

8 technology, or cyberinfrastructure to complete 

9 the system; and 

10 (5) collecting, cataloging, and storing metadata 

11 created during the mapping effort. 

12 (b) DATA SHARING.—The Administrator, in con13 sultation with the Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observ14 ing System and the regional coastal observing systems, 

15 shall— 

16 (1) during the mapping effort and within a rea17 sonable time (as determined by the Administrator) 

18 after the relevant data is collected, make publicly 

19 available the parts of the high-resolution map of the 

20 lakebeds of the Great Lakes that are completed; and 

21 (2) not later than 180 days after completing 

22 the mapping effort, make publicly available— 

23 (A) the complete high-resolution map of 

24 the lakebeds of the Great Lakes; and 


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1 (B) any additional information, including 

2 metadata, collected under subsection (a) that is 

3 required to be released to the public under any 

4 other provision of law. 

5 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec6 tion shall be construed to change any process or procedure 

7 used by the Administrator in carrying out the require8 ments of the Digital Coast Act (16 U.S.C. 1467) or the 

9 Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integration Act (33 U.S.C. 

10 3501 et seq.). 

11 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

12 authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator 

13 $200,000,000 to carry out this section. Such amount is 

14 authorized to remain available through fiscal year 2030. 

15 (e) RELEVANT STATE ENTITY DEFINED.—In this 

16 section, the term ‘‘relevant State entity’’ means the Gov17 ernor of any State that borders any Great Lake or the 

18 head of an agency of such State who is responsible for 

19 carrying out policy related to the Great Lakes or the 

20 lakebeds of the Great Lakes. 

Æ 


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