II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2705 

To establish, within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 

an integrated and comprehensive ocean, coastal, Great Lakes, and atmospheric research and environmental information sharing program to support renewable energy, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 30, 2014 

Mr. BEGICH 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 and environmental information sharing 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 2014’’. 


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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 and environmental information shar5 ing 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) RENEWABLE ENERGY.—The term ‘‘renew17 able energy’’ means any form of renewable energy, 

18 including traditional hydropower, terrestrial renew19 able energy, and renewable energy derived from the 

20 sea, such as wave energy, tidal energy, ocean current 

21 energy, offshore wind energy, salinity gradient en22 ergy, ocean thermal gradient energy, and ocean ther23 mal energy conversion. 


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1 SEC. 4. RENEWABLE ENERGY RESEARCH PLAN. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the 

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

4 develop a plan— 

5 (1) to define requirements for a comprehensive 

6 and integrated ocean, coastal, Great Lakes, and at7 mosphere science program to support renewable en8 ergy development in the United States based on a 

9 review of scientific and industry information; 

10 (2) to identify and describe current climate, 

11 weather, and water data programs, products, serv12 ices, and authorities within the Administration rel13 evant to renewable energy development; 

14 (3) to provide targeted research, data, moni15 toring, observation, and other information, products, 

16 and services concerning climate, weather, and water 

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

18 technology, including research to accurately quantify 

19 the downstream micro-climate impacts of wind20 power turbines; 

21 (4) to reduce duplication and leverage the re22 sources of existing Administration programs through 

23 coordination with— 

24 (A) other offices and programs within the 

25 Administration, including the atmospheric, 

26 ocean, and coastal observation systems; 


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1 (B) Federal, State, tribal, and local obser2 vation systems; and 

3 (C) other entities, including the private 

4 sector organizations and institutions of higher 

5 education; 

6 (5) to facilitate public-private cooperation, in7 cluding identification and assessment of current pri8 vate sector capabilities; and 

9 (6) to inform and educate the public and the 

10 private sector about the progress and findings of the 

11 renewable research and development carried out pur12 suant to the plan. 

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

14 Administrator shall provide public notice and opportunity 

15 for 1 or more public hearings and shall seek comments 

16 from Federal and State agencies, tribes, local govern17 ments, representatives of the private sector, and other par18 ties interested in renewable energy observations, data, and 

19 use in order to improve Administration climate, weather, 

20 and water observation data products and services to more 

21 effectively support renewable energy development. 

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

23 ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION PROGRAM. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the 

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


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1 establish a program to develop and implement an inte2 grated and comprehensive ocean, coastal, Great Lakes, 

3 and atmosphere research and operations program, based 

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

5 energy development in the United States. 

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

7 program required by subsection (a) shall include the fol8 lowing: 

9 (1) Improvements in coordinated climate, 

10 weather, water research, biological and technological 

11 research monitoring, and observations to support re12 newable energy siting and development. 

13 (2) Coordinated weather, water, and climate 

14 prediction capability focused on renewable energy 

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

16 and decision services in support of renewable energy 

17 development. 

18 (3) Support for the transition to, and reliable 

19 delivery of, sustained operational weather, water, 

20 and climate products from research, observation, 

21 and prediction outputs. 

22 (4) Means of identifying biological and ecologi23 cal effects of marine renewable energy development 

24 on living marine resources, the marine and coastal 


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1 environment, marine-dependent industries, and 

2 coastal communities. 

3 (5) Baseline ecological characterization, includ4 ing research, data collection, and mapping, of the 

5 coastal and marine environment and living marine 

6 resources for marine renewable energy development. 

7 (6) Avoidance, minimization, and mitigation 

8 strategies to address the potential impacts of renew9 able energy on the marine, coastal, and Great Lakes 

10 habitats resources and communities, including devel11 oping effective monitoring protocols, use of adaptive 

12 management, informed engineering design and oper13 ating parameters, and the establishment of protocols 

14 for minimizing the environmental impacts of testing, 

15 developing, and deploying marine renewable energy 

16 devices. 

17 (7) Support for the development of marine spe18 cial area management plans by states as defined by 

19 the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 

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

21 energy development consistent with natural resource 

22 protection and other coastal-dependent economic 

23 growth. 

24 (8) Coordination of comprehensive digital map25 ping, modeling, and other geospatial information and 


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1 services to support planning for renewable energy 

2 and stewardship of ecosystem and living marine eco3 systems, including protected species, in ocean, Great 

4 Lakes, and coastal areas. 

5 (9) A coordinated approach for examining and 

6 quantifying the micro-climate impacts of wind-power 

7 farms on soil transpiration and drying. 

8 (10) Provision for outreach to the public and 

9 private sector about program research, information, 

10 and products, including making non-proprietary in11 formation and best management practices developed 

12 under this program available to the public. 

13 (c) USE IN AGENCY DECISIONS.—The program es14 tablished under subsection (a) shall be designed to collect, 

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

16 used by resource managers responsible for making deci17 sions about renewable energy projects. The Army Corps 

18 of Engineers, Department of Commerce, Bureau of Ocean 

19 Energy Management, Federal Energy Regulatory Com20 mission, and Department of Energy shall consider this in21 formation when making planning, siting, and permitting 

22 decisions for renewable energy. 

23 (d) SUPPORT FOR PUBLIC-PRIVATE COOPERA24 TION.—To the extent practicable, in implementing the 

25 program established under this section, the Administrator 


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1 shall seek appropriate opportunities to facilitate and ex2 pand cooperation with private sector entities to develop 

3 and expand information services that serve the renewable 

4 energy industry. 

5 SEC. 6. BIENNIAL REPORTS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 

7 date on which the Administrator establishes the program 

8 under section 5(a) and not less frequently than once every 

9 2 years thereafter, the Administrator shall submit to the 

10 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 

11 the Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources and 

12 the Committee on Science and Technology of the House 

13 of Representatives a report on progress made in imple14 menting this Act. 

15 (b) CONTENTS.—Each report submitted under sub16 section (a) shall include the following: 

17 (1) A description of activities carried out under 

18 this Act. 

19 (2) Recommendations for prioritization of ac20 tivities under this Act for fiscal years beginning 

21 after the date on which the report is submitted. 

22 (3) Funding levels for activities under this Act 

23 in those fiscal years. 


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1 SEC. 7. LIBRARY. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the 

3 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in 

4 consultation with relevant Federal agencies, shall establish 

5 and maintain a renewable energy information library and 

6 data portal to function as a common, cross agency reposi7 tory of data pertinent to renewable energy development. 

8 (b) ELEMENTS.—The library required by subsection 

9 (a) shall include, at a minimum, the following: 

10 (1) Links to data and information products for 

11 use in renewable energy development. 

12 (2) Links to planning and decision support 

13 tools for use in renewable energy development. 

14 (3) Data about the baseline condition of ocean 

15 and coastal resources. 

16 (4) Links to digital mapping and geospatial in17 formation, products, and services described in sec18 tion 4(b). 

19 SEC. 8. FEDERAL COORDINATION. 

20 The Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of En21 ergy, the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of 

22 Defense, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the 

23 Department in which the Coast Guard is operating, and 

24 the heads of other relevant Federal agencies shall cooper25 ate with the Administrator in carrying out this Act. 


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1 SEC. 9. AGREEMENTS. 

2 The Administrator may enter into and perform such 

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

4 agreements and transactions with any agency or instru5 mentality of the United States, or with any State, local, 

6 tribal, territorial or foreign government, or with any per7 son, corporation, firm, partnership, educational institu8 tion, nonprofit organization, or international organization 

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

10 SEC. 10. AUTHORITY TO RECEIVE FUNDS. 

11 The Administrator may accept, retain, and use funds 

12 received from any party pursuant to an agreement entered 

13 into under section 9 for activities furthering the purposes 

14 of this Act. 

15 SEC. 11. USE OF OCEAN OBSERVING OFFSHORE INFRA16 STRUCTURE. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any offshore exploration and pro18 duction facility, at the discretion of the Administrator, 

19 may execute a memorandum of understanding authorizing 

20 the use of offshore platforms and infrastructure for the 

21 placement of meteorological and oceanographic observa22 tion sensors of a type to be designated by the Adminis23 trator in support of the Integrated Ocean Observing Sys24 tem. 

25 (b) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.—All informa26 tion collected by such sensors shall be managed by AdminVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:05 Aug 07, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2705.IS S2705

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1 istration and be readily available for use in spill and other 

2 hazard response as well as available to the National 

3 Weather Service, other Administration programs, and the 

4 general public. 

5 SEC. 12. SAVINGS PROVISION. 

6 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to supersede 

7 or modify the jurisdiction, responsibilities, or authority of 

8 any Federal or State agency under any provision of law 

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

Æ 


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