II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2779 

To promote Department of the Interior efforts to provide a scientific basis 

for the management of sediment and nutrient loss in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 16, 2009 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To promote Department of the Interior efforts to provide 

a scientific basis for the management of sediment and 

nutrient loss in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Upper Mississippi River Basin Protection Act’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Definitions. 

Sec. 3. Reliance on sound science. 


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TITLE I—SEDIMENT AND NUTRIENT MONITORING NETWORK 

Sec. 101. Establishment of monitoring network. 

Sec. 102. Data collection and storage responsibilities. 

Sec. 103. Relationship to existing sediment and nutrient monitoring. 

Sec. 104. Collaboration with other public and private monitoring efforts. 

Sec. 105. Reporting requirements. 

Sec. 106. National Research Council assessment. 

TITLE II—COMPUTER MODELING AND RESEARCH 

Sec. 201. Computer modeling and research of sediment and nutrient sources. 

Sec. 202. Use of electronic means to distribute information. 

Sec. 203. Reporting requirements. 

TITLE III—AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS AND RELATED 

MATTERS 

Sec. 301. Authorization of appropriations. 

Sec. 302. Cost-sharing requirements. 

1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) The terms ‘‘Upper Mississippi River Basin’’ 

4 and ‘‘Basin’’ mean the watershed portion of the 

5 Upper Mississippi River and Illinois River basins, 

6 from Cairo, Illinois, to the headwaters of the Mis7 sissippi River, in the States of Minnesota, Wis8 consin, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. The designation 

9 includes the Kaskaskia watershed along the Illinois 

10 River and the Meramec watershed along the Mis11 souri River. 

12 (2) The terms ‘‘Upper Mississippi River Stew13 ardship Initiative’’ and ‘‘Initiative’’ mean the activi14 ties authorized or required by this Act to monitor 

15 nutrient and sediment loss in the Upper Mississippi 

16 River Basin. 


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1 (3) The term ‘‘sound science’’ refers to the use 

2 of accepted and documented scientific methods to 

3 identify and quantify the sources, transport, and 

4 fate of nutrients and sediment and to quantify the 

5 effect of various treatment methods or conservation 

6 measures on nutrient and sediment loss. Sound 

7 science requires the use of documented protocols for 

8 data collection and data analysis, and peer review of 

9 the data, results, and findings. 

10 SEC. 3. RELIANCE ON SOUND SCIENCE. 

11 It is the policy of Congress that Federal investments 

12 in the Upper Mississippi River Basin must be guided by 

13 sound science. 

14 TITLE I—SEDIMENT AND NUTRI15 ENT MONITORING NETWORK 

16 SEC. 101. ESTABLISHMENT OF MONITORING NETWORK. 

17 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—As part of the Upper Mis18 sissippi River Stewardship Initiative, the Secretary of the 

19 Interior shall establish a sediment and nutrient moni20 toring network for the Upper Mississippi River Basin for 

21 the purposes of— 

22 (1) identifying and evaluating significant 

23 sources of sediment and nutrients in the Upper Mis24 sissippi River Basin; 


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1 (2) quantifying the processes affecting mobiliza2 tion, transport, and fate of those sediments and nu3 trients on land and in water; 

4 (3) quantifying the transport of those sediments 

5 and nutrients to and through the Upper Mississippi 

6 River Basin; 

7 (4) recording changes to sediment and nutrient 

8 loss over time; 

9 (5) providing coordinated data to be used in 

10 computer modeling of the Basin, pursuant to section 

11 201; and 

12 (6) identifying major sources of sediment and 

13 nutrients within the Basin for the purpose of tar14 geting resources to reduce sediment and nutrient 

15 loss. 

16 (b) ROLE OF UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUR17 VEY.—The Secretary of the Interior shall carry out this 

18 title acting through the office of the Director of the United 

19 States Geological Survey. 

20 SEC. 102. DATA COLLECTION AND STORAGE RESPONSIBIL21 ITIES. 

22 (a) GUIDELINES FOR DATA COLLECTION AND STOR23 AGE.—The Secretary of the Interior shall establish guide24 lines for the effective design of data collection activities 

25 regarding sediment and nutrient monitoring, for the use 


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1 of suitable and consistent methods for data collection, and 

2 for consistent reporting, data storage, and archiving prac3 tices. 

4 (b) RELEASE OF DATA.—Data resulting from sedi5 ment and nutrient monitoring in the Upper Mississippi 

6 River Basin shall be released to the public using generic 

7 station identifiers and hydrologic unit codes. In the case 

8 of a monitoring station located on private lands, informa9 tion regarding the location of the station shall not be dis10 seminated without the landowner’s permission. 

11 SEC. 103. RELATIONSHIP TO EXISTING SEDIMENT AND NU12 TRIENT MONITORING. 

13 (a) INVENTORY.—To the maximum extent prac14 ticable, the Secretary of the Interior shall inventory the 

15 sediment and nutrient monitoring efforts, in existence as 

16 of the date of the enactment of this Act, of Federal, State, 

17 local, and nongovernmental entities for the purpose of cre18 ating a baseline understanding of overlap, data gaps and 

19 redundancies. 

20 (b) INTEGRATION.—On the basis of the inventory, 

21 the Secretary of the Interior shall integrate the existing 

22 sediment and nutrient monitoring efforts, to the maximum 

23 extent practicable, into the sediment and nutrient moni24 toring network required by section 101. 


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1 (c) CONSULTATION AND USE OF EXISTING DATA.— 

2 In carrying out this section, the Secretary of the Interior 

3 shall make maximum use of data in existence as of the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act and of ongoing programs 

5 and efforts of Federal, State, tribal, local, and nongovern6 mental entities in developing the sediment and nutrient 

7 monitoring network required by section 101. 

8 (d) COORDINATION WITH LONG-TERM ESTUARY AS9 SESSMENT PROJECT.—The Secretary of the Interior shall 

10 carry out this section in coordination with the long-term 

11 estuary assessment project authorized by section 902 of 

12 the Estuaries and Clean Waters Act of 2000 (Public Law 

13 106–457; 33 U.S.C. 2901 note). 

14 SEC. 104. COLLABORATION WITH OTHER PUBLIC AND PRI15 VATE MONITORING EFFORTS. 

16 To establish the sediment and nutrient monitoring 

17 network, the Secretary of the Interior shall collaborate, 

18 to the maximum extent practicable, with other Federal, 

19 State, tribal, local and private sediment and nutrient mon20 itoring programs that meet guidelines prescribed under 

21 section 102(a), as determined by the Secretary. 

22 SEC. 105. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

23 The Secretary of the Interior shall report to Congress 

24 not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 


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1 of this Act on the development of the sediment and nutri2 ent monitoring network. 

3 SEC. 106. NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL ASSESSMENT. 

4 The National Research Council of the National Acad5 emy of Sciences shall conduct a comprehensive water re6 sources assessment of the Upper Mississippi River Basin. 

7 TITLE II—COMPUTER MODELING 

8 AND RESEARCH 

9 SEC. 201. COMPUTER MODELING AND RESEARCH OF SEDI10 MENT AND NUTRIENT SOURCES. 

11 (a) MODELING PROGRAM REQUIRED.—As part of the 

12 Upper Mississippi River Stewardship Initiative, the Direc13 tor of the United States Geological Survey shall establish 

14 a modeling program to identify significant sources of sedi15 ment and nutrients in the Upper Mississippi River Basin. 

16 (b) ROLE.—Computer modeling shall be used to iden17 tify subwatersheds which are significant sources of sedi18 ment and nutrient loss and shall be made available for 

19 the purposes of targeting public and private sediment and 

20 nutrient reduction efforts. 

21 (c) COMPONENTS.—Sediment and nutrient models 

22 for the Upper Mississippi River Basin shall include the 

23 following: 

24 (1) Models to relate nutrient loss to landscape, 

25 land use, and land management practices. 


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1 (2) Models to relate sediment loss to landscape, 

2 land use, and land management practices. 

3 (3) Models to define river channel nutrient 

4 transformation processes. 

5 (d) COLLECTION OF ANCILLARY INFORMATION.— 

6 Ancillary information shall be collected in a GIS format 

7 to support modeling and management use of modeling re8 sults, including the following: 

9 (1) Land use data. 

10 (2) Soils data. 

11 (3) Elevation data. 

12 (4) Information on sediment and nutrient re13 duction improvement actions. 

14 (5) Remotely sense data. 

15 SEC. 202. USE OF ELECTRONIC MEANS TO DISTRIBUTE IN16 FORMATION. 

17 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact18 ment of this Act, the Director of the United States Geo19 logical Survey shall establish a system that uses the tele20 communications medium known as the Internet to provide 

21 information regarding the following: 

22 (1) Public and private programs designed to re23 duce sediment and nutrient loss in the Upper Mis24 sissippi River Basin. 


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1 (2) Information on sediment and nutrient levels 

2 in the Upper Mississippi River and its tributaries. 

3 (3) Successful sediment and nutrient reduction 

4 projects. 

5 SEC. 203. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

6 (a) MONITORING ACTIVITIES.—Commencing one 

7 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Direc8 tor of the United States Geological Survey shall provide 

9 to Congress and make available to the public an annual 

10 report regarding monitoring activities conducted in the 

11 Upper Mississippi River Basin. 

12 (b) MODELING ACTIVITIES.—Every three years, the 

13 Director of the United States Geological Survey shall pro14 vide to Congress and make available to the public a 

15 progress report regarding modeling activities. 

16 TITLE III—AUTHORIZATION OF 

17 APPROPRIATIONS AND RE18 LATED MATTERS 

19 SEC. 301. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

20 (a) UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY ACTIVI21 TIES.—There is authorized to be appropriated to the 

22 United States Geological Survey $6,250,000 each fiscal 

23 year to carry out this Act (other than section 106). Of 

24 the amounts appropriated for a fiscal year pursuant to 

25 this authorization of appropriations, one-third shall be 


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1 made available for the United States Geological Survey 

2 Cooperative Water Program and the remainder shall be 

3 made available for the United States Geological Survey 

4 Hydrologic Networks and Analysis Program. 

5 (b) WATER RESOURCE AND WATER QUALITY MAN6 AGEMENT ASSESSMENT.—There is authorized to be ap7 propriated $650,000 to allow the National Research Coun8 cil to perform the assessment required by section 106. 

9 SEC. 302. COST-SHARING REQUIREMENTS. 

10 Funds made available for the United States Geologi11 cal Survey Cooperative Water Program under section 

12 301(a) shall be subject to the same cost-sharing require13 ments as specified in the last proviso under the heading 

14 ‘‘UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY-SURVEYS, 

15 INVESTIGATIONS, AND RESEARCH’’ of the Department 

16 of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Ap17 propriations Act, 2006 (Public Law 109–54; 119 Stat. 

18 510; 43 U.S.C. 50). 

Æ 


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