II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3371 

To establish, within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 

an integrated and comprehensive ocean, coastal, Great Lakes, and atmospheric research, prediction, and environmental information program to 

support renewable energy, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 11, 2012 

Mr. BEGICH (for himself and Ms. SNOWE) introduced the following bill; which 

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

Transportation 

A BILL 

To establish, within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration, an integrated and comprehensive ocean, 

coastal, Great Lakes, and atmospheric research, prediction, and environmental information program to support renewable energy, 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 ‘‘Renewable Energy En5 vironmental Research Act of 2012’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

2 The purpose of this Act is to establish an integrated 

3 and comprehensive ocean, coastal, Great Lakes, and at4 mospheric research, prediction, and environmental infor5 mation program to support renewable energy. 

6 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) ADMINISTRATION.—The term ‘‘Administra9 tion’’ means the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

10 Administration. 

11 (2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis12 trator’’ means the Under Secretary for Oceans and 

13 Atmosphere in the Under Secretary’s capacity as 

14 Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmos15 pheric Administration. 

16 (3) MARINE RENEWABLE ENERGY.—The term 

17 ‘‘marine renewable energy’’ means any form of re18 newable energy derived from the sea including wave 

19 energy, tidal energy, ocean current energy, offshore 

20 wind energy, salinity gradient energy, ocean thermal 

21 gradient energy, and ocean thermal energy conver22 sion. 

23 SEC. 4. RENEWABLE ENERGY RESEARCH PLAN. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall develop 

25 a plan— 

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1 (1) to define requirements for a comprehensive 

2 and integrated ocean, coastal, Great Lakes, and at3 mosphere science program to support renewable en4 ergy development in the United States based on pub5 lic hearings, public comments, and a review of sci6 entific and industry information; 

7 (2) to identify and describe current climate, 

8 weather, and water data programs, products, serv9 ices, and authorities within the Administration rel10 evant to renewable energy development; 

11 (3) to provide targeted research, data, moni12 toring, observation, and other information, products, 

13 and services concerning climate, weather, and water 

14 in support of renewable energy and ‘‘smart grid’’ 

15 technology, including research to accurately quantify 

16 the downstream micro-climate impacts of wind17 power turbines; 

18 (4) to provide research, data, monitoring, and 

19 other information, products, and services to inform 

20 renewable energy decisions concerning coastal and 

21 marine habitats, living marine resources and the 

22 ecosystems on which they depend and coastal and 

23 marine planning; and 

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1 (5) to reduce duplication and leverage the re2 sources of existing Administration programs through 

3 coordination with— 

4 (A) other offices and programs within the 

5 Administration, including the atmospheric, 

6 ocean, and coastal observation systems; 

7 (B) Federal, State, tribal, and local obser8 vation systems; and 

9 (C) other entities, including the private 

10 sector organizations and institutions of higher 

11 education; and 

12 (6) to facilitate public-private cooperation, in13 cluding identification and assessment of current pri14 vate sector capabilities. 

15 (b) PUBLIC HEARINGS.—In developing the plan, the 

16 Administrator shall provide public notice and opportunity 

17 for 1 or more public hearings and shall seek comments 

18 from Federal and State agencies, tribes, local govern19 ments, representatives of the private sector, and other par20 ties interested in renewable energy observations, data, and 

21 use in order to improve Administration climate, weather, 

22 and water observation data products and services to more 

23 effectively support renewable energy development. 

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1 SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF RESEARCH, PREDICTION, AND 

2 ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION PROGRAM. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 540 days after the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 

5 establish a program to develop and implement an inte6 grated and comprehensive ocean, coastal, Great Lakes, 

7 and atmosphere research and operations program, based 

8 on the plan required by section 4, to support renewable 

9 energy development in the United States. 

10 (b) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—At a minimum, the 

11 program shall include— 

12 (1) improvements in coordinated climate, 

13 weather, and water research, monitoring, and obser14 vations to support— 

15 (A) renewable energy development; and 

16 (B) the understanding and mitigation of 

17 the impact of renewable energy development on 

18 living marine resources, including protected spe19 cies and the marine and coastal environment; 

20 (2) coordinated weather, water, and climate 

21 prediction capability focused on renewable energy 

22 and ‘‘smart grid’’ technology to provide information 

23 and decision services in support of renewable energy 

24 development; 

25 (3) support for the transition to, and reliable 

26 delivery of, sustained operational weather, water, 

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1 and climate products from research, observation, 

2 and prediction outputs; 

3 (4) means of identifying biological and ecologi4 cal effects of marine renewable energy development 

5 on living marine resources, the marine and coastal 

6 environment, marine-dependent industries, and 

7 coastal communities; 

8 (5) baseline ecological characterization, includ9 ing research, data collection, and mapping, of the 

10 coastal and marine environment and living marine 

11 resources for marine renewable energy development; 

12 (6) avoidance, minimization, and mitigation 

13 strategies to address the potential impacts of marine 

14 renewable energy on the marine, coastal, and Great 

15 Lakes environment, including developing effective 

16 monitoring protocols, use of adaptive management, 

17 informed engineering design and operating param18 eters, and the establishment of protocols for mini19 mizing the environmental impacts of testing, devel20 oping, and deploying marine renewable energy de21 vices; 

22 (7) support for the development of marine spe23 cial area management plan by states as defined by 

24 the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 

25 U.S.C. 1451 et seq.) that would support renewable 

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1 energy development consistent with natural resource 

2 protection and other coastal-dependent economic 

3 growth; 

4 (8) comprehensive digital mapping, modeling, 

5 and other geospatial information and services to 

6 support planning for renewable energy and steward7 ship of ecosystem and living marine ecosystems, in8 cluding protected species, in ocean and coastal areas; 

9 (9) a coordinated approach for examining and 

10 quantifying the micro-climate impacts of wind-power 

11 farms on soil transpiration and drying; and 

12 (10) provision for outreach to the public and 

13 private sector about program research, information, 

14 and products, including making non-proprietary in15 formation and best management practices developed 

16 under this program available to the public. 

17 (c) USE IN AGENCY DECISIONS.—The program es18 tablished under subsection (a) shall be designed to collect, 

19 synthesize, and distribute data in a manner that can be 

20 used by marine resource managers responsible for making 

21 decisions about marine renewable energy projects. The 

22 Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Commerce, Min23 erals Management Service, Federal Energy Regulatory 

24 Commission, and Department of Energy shall consider 

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1 this information when making planning, siting, and per2 mitting decisions for marine renewable energy. 

3 (d) SUPPORT FOR PUBLIC-PRIVATE COOPERA4 TION.—To the extent practicable, in implementing the 

5 program established under this section, the Administrator 

6 shall seek appropriate opportunities to facilitate and ex7 pand cooperation with private sector entities to develop 

8 and expand information services that serve the renewable 

9 energy industry. 

10 SEC. 6. BIENNIAL REPORTS. 

11 Not later than 2 years after the date of the enact12 ment of this Act and every 2 years thereafter, the Admin13 istrator shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, 

14 Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Com15 mittee on Natural Resources and the Committee on 

16 Science and Technology of the House of Representatives 

17 a report on progress made in implementing this Act, in18 cluding— 

19 (1) a description of activities carried out under 

20 this Act; 

21 (2) recommendations for prioritization of activi22 ties under this Act for fiscal years beginning after 

23 the date on which the report is submitted; and 

24 (3) funding levels for activities under this Act 

25 in those fiscal years. 

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1 SEC. 7. LIBRARY. 

2 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 

3 of this Act, the Administrator, in consultation with rel4 evant Federal agencies, shall establish a renewable energy 

5 information library and data portal. The library shall in6 clude, at a minimum— 

7 (1) links to data and information products for 

8 use in renewable energy development; 

9 (2) links to planning and decision support tools 

10 for use in renewable energy development; 

11 (3) data about the baseline condition of ocean 

12 and coastal resources; and 

13 (4) links to digital mapping and geospatial in14 formation, products, and services described in sec15 tion 4(b). 

16 SEC. 8. FEDERAL COORDINATION. 

17 In carrying out activities under this Act, the Adminis18 trator shall coordinate with the Secretary of the Interior, 

19 the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of Transportation, 

20 the Secretary of Defense, the Federal Energy Regulatory 

21 Commission, the Department in which the Coast Guard 

22 is operating, and the heads of other relevant Federal agen23 cies. 

24 SEC. 9. AGREEMENTS. 

25 The Administrator may enter into and perform such 

26 contracts, leases, grants, cooperative agreements, or other 

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1 agreements and transactions with any agency or instru2 mentality of the United States, or with any State, local, 

3 tribal, territorial or foreign government, or with any per4 son, corporation, firm, partnership, educational institu5 tion, nonprofit organization, or international organization 

6 as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act. 

7 SEC. 10. AUTHORITY TO RECEIVE FUNDS. 

8 The Administrator may accept, retain, and use funds 

9 received from any party pursuant to an agreement entered 

10 into under section 9 for activities furthering the purposes 

11 of this Act. 

12 SEC. 11. USE OF OCEAN OBSERVING OFFSHORE INFRA13 STRUCTURE. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any offshore exploration and pro15 duction facility, at the discretion of the Administrator, 

16 may execute a memorandum of understanding authorizing 

17 the use of offshore platforms and infrastructure for the 

18 placement of meteorological and oceanographic observa19 tion sensors of a type to be designated by the Adminis20 trator in support of the Integrated Ocean Observing Sys21 tem. 

22 (b) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.—All informa23 tion collected by such sensors shall be managed by Admin24 istration and be readily available for use in spill response 

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1 as well as available to the National Weather Service, other 

2 Administration programs, and the general public. 

3 SEC. 12. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

4 (a) IMPLEMENTATION AND EXECUTION.—There is 

5 authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to 

6 carry out this Act $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

7 2012 through 2016. 

8 (b) GRANTS TO EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND

9 COASTAL STATES.—Of the amounts appropriated pursu10 ant to subsection (a), the Administrator shall make up to 

11 50 percent available to educational institutions, and to 

12 States with coastal zone management programs approved 

13 under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 

14 U.S.C. 1451 et seq.), to carry out activities that support 

15 the program established under section 5. 

16 SEC. 13. SAVINGS PROVISION. 

17 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to supersede 

18 or modify the jurisdiction, responsibilities, or authority of 

19 any Federal or State agency under any provision of law 

20 in effect on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

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