I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4847 

To provide for the establishment of the National Volcano Early Warning 

and Monitoring System. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 15, 2010 

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on 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; 


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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 20,000 pas6 sengers who travel on jets over Alaska every day; 

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

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

9 passenger Boeing 747 aircraft; 

10 (5) international flights over the Commonwealth 

11 of the Northern Mariana Islands and the intense do12 mestic air traffic of the Pacific Northwest also face 

13 potential engine failure in the event of an eruption; 

14 (6) mudflows from ice-clad Cascade volcanoes 

15 of the States of Washington, Oregon, and California 

16 pose a serious hazard to cities and transportation 

17 arteries in the Pacific Northwest; 

18 (7) lava flows, toxic gas emissions, and explo19 sions impact residents and visitors to Hawaii and 

20 have the potential to cause catastrophic property 

21 damage; 

22 (8) frequent seismic unrest requires careful 

23 monitoring in the Mammoth Lakes area of Cali24 fornia and Yellowstone National Park in the States 

25 of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho; 


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1 (9) modern technology, in the form of geo2 physical monitoring networks on the ground and the 

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

4 warnings before eruptions, giving emergency re5 sponse agencies and the public time to prepare, 

6 which minimizes potential damage to property and 

7 loss of life; 

8 (10) the efficacy of monitoring is being dem9 onstrated by the forecast and subsequent tracking of 

10 explosive eruptions of Redoubt Volcano by the Alas11 ka Volcano Observatory, a partnership of the United 

12 States Geological Survey, the University of Alaska 

13 Fairbanks, and the Alaska Division of Geological 

14 and Geophysical Surveys; 

15 (11) the United States Geological Survey and 

16 the university and State partners of the United 

17 States Geological Survey operate— 

18 (A) the Alaska Volcano Observatory lo19 cated in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska; 

20 (B) the Cascades Volcano Observatory lo21 cated in Vancouver, Washington; 

22 (C) the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory lo23 cated in Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park, 

24 Hawaii; 


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1 (D) the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory 

2 located in Yellowstone National Park in the 

3 State of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho; and 

4 (E) the Long Valley Observatory, located 

5 in Mammoth Lakes and Menlo Park, California; 

6 and 

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

8 United States and the monitoring status of those 

9 volcanoes has revealed a serious monitoring gap, 

10 leaving the United States exposed to preventable 

11 damage from large volcanic eruptions. 

12 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

13 In this Act: 

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

15 the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di16 rector of the United States Geological Survey. 

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

18 National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring 

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

20 SEC. 4. NATIONAL VOLCANO EARLY WARNING AND MONI21 TORING SYSTEM. 

22 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

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

24 within the United States Geological Survey a pro25 gram, to be known as the ‘‘National Volcano Early 


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

2 and protect citizens of the United States from undue 

3 and avoidable harm from volcanic activity. 

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

5 are— 

6 (A) to organize, modernize, standardize, 

7 and stabilize the monitoring systems of the vol8 cano observatories in the United States; and 

9 (B) to unify the monitoring systems of vol10 cano observatories in the United States into a 

11 single interoperative system. 

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

13 to monitor all the volcanoes in the United States at 

14 a level commensurate with the threat posed by the 

15 volcanoes by— 

16 (A) upgrading existing networks on mon17 itored volcanoes; and 

18 (B) installing new networks on 

19 unmonitored volcanoes. 

20 (b) SYSTEM COMPONENTS.— 

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

22 (A) a national volcano watch office that is 

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

24 (B) a national volcano data center; and 


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1 (C) an external grants program to support 

2 research in volcano monitoring science and 

3 technology. 

4 (2) MODERNIZATION ACTIVITIES.—Moderniza5 tion activities under the System shall include the 

6 comprehensive application of emerging technologies, 

7 including digital broadband seismometers, real-time 

8 continuous global positioning systems, radar satellite 

9 interferometry, and spectrometry to measure gas 

10 emission. 

11 (c) MANAGEMENT.— 

12 (1) MANAGEMENT PLAN.— 

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

14 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec15 retary shall submit to Congress a 5-year man16 agement plan for establishing and operating the 

17 System. 

18 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The management plan 

19 submitted under subparagraph (A) shall in20 clude— 

21 (i) annual cost estimates for mod22 ernization activities and operation of the 

23 System; 

24 (ii) annual milestones, standards, and 

25 performance goals; and 


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1 (iii) recommendations for, and 

2 progress towards, establishing new, or en3 hancing existing, partnerships to leverage 

4 resources. 

5 (2) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—The Secretary 

6 shall establish an advisory committee to assist the 

7 Secretary in implementing the System, to be com8 prised of representatives of relevant agencies and 

9 members of the scientific community appointed by 

10 the Secretary. 

11 (3) PARTNERSHIPS.—The Secretary may enter 

12 into cooperative agreements with universities and 

13 State agencies designating the universities and agen14 cies as volcano observatory partners for the System. 

15 (4) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall co16 ordinate the activities under this Act with the heads 

17 of relevant Federal agencies, including— 

18 (A) the Secretary of Transportation; 

19 (B) the Administrator of the Federal Avia20 tion Administration; 

21 (C) the Administrator of the National Oce22 anic and Atmospheric Administration; and 

23 (D) the Director of the Federal Emergency 

24 Management Administration. 


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

2 submit to Congress a report that describes the activities 

3 carried out under this Act. 

4 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

5 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec6 retary to carry out this Act $15,000,000 for fiscal year 

7 2010 and each fiscal year thereafter. 

Æ 


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