II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1342 

To require the Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere to update periodically the environmental sensitivity index products of the National Oceanic 

and Atmospheric Administration for each coastal area of the Great 

Lakes, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 7, 2019 

Mr. PETERS (for himself and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which 

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

Transportation 

A BILL 

To require the Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere 

to update periodically the environmental sensitivity index 

products of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for each coastal area 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 Environ5 mental Sensitivity Index Act of 2019’’. 


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•S 1342 IS

1 SEC. 2. UPDATE TO ENVIRONMENTAL SENSITIVITY INDEX 

2 PRODUCTS OF NATIONAL OCEANIC AND AT3 MOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION FOR GREAT 

4 LAKES. 

5 (a) UPDATE REQUIRED FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SEN6 SITIVITY INDEX PRODUCTS FOR GREAT LAKES.—Not 

7 later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of 

8 this Act, the Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere 

9 shall commence updating the environmental sensitivity 

10 index products of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

11 Administration for each coastal area of the Great Lakes. 

12 (b) PERIODIC UPDATES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SEN13 SITIVITY INDEX PRODUCTS GENERALLY.—Subject to the 

14 availability of appropriations and the priorities set forth 

15 in subsection (c), the Under Secretary shall— 

16 (1) periodically update the environmental sensi17 tivity index products of the Administration; and 

18 (2) endeavor to do so not less frequently than 

19 once every 7 years. 

20 (c) PRIORITIES.—When prioritizing geographic areas 

21 to update environmental sensitivity index products, the 

22 Under Secretary shall consider— 

23 (1) the age of existing environmental sensitivity 

24 index products for the areas; 


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•S 1342 IS

1 (2) the occurrence of extreme events, be it nat2 ural or man-made, which have significantly altered 

3 the shoreline or ecosystem since the last update; 

4 (3) the natural variability of shoreline and 

5 coastal environment; and 

6 (4) the volume of vessel traffic and general vul7 nerability to spilled pollutants. 

8 (d) ENVIRONMENTAL SENSITIVITY INDEX PRODUCT

9 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘environmental sen10 sitivity index product’’ means a map or similar tool that 

11 is utilized to identify sensitive shoreline, coastal or off12 shore, resources prior to an oil spill event in order to set 

13 baseline priorities for protection and plan cleanup strate14 gies, typically including information relating to shoreline 

15 type, biological resources, and human use resources. 

16 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

18 appropriated to the Under Secretary $7,500,000 to 

19 carry out subsection (a). 

20 (2) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated or 

21 otherwise made available pursuant to paragraph (1) 

22 shall be available to the Under Secretary for the 

23 purposes set forth in such paragraph until expended. 

Æ 


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