Clean Estuaries Act of 2014

Bill: 113-s-2042
Sponsor: Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI]
Introduced: 2014-02-26 in the Senate
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Aquatic ecology
Climate change and greenhouse gases
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
Executive agency funding and structure
Great Lakes
Hydrology and hydrography
Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
Performance measurement
Water quality
Wetlands
Wildlife conservation and habitat protection

Summary:
action_date: 2014-02-26
text: 
Clean Estuaries Act of 2014 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to reauthorize the National Estuary Program. 
 
Revises the purposes of management conferences convened with respect to estuaries. Requires a management conference's membership to include, among other entities, not-for-profit organizations.
 
Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to: (1) include in EPA's annual budget request a clear description of the amounts requested for making grants under the national estuary program; (2) evaluate, every five years, the implementation of each comprehensive conservation and management plan developed under the Program to determine the degree to which the goals of the plan have been met; (3) provide notice to the management conference of the basis of a finding that a plan in incomplete and allow the conference to resubmit a revised plan; (4) submit the results of the evaluation to the appropriate management conference for review and comment; and (5) report on the results of the evaluation and make such report available to the public in the Federal Register and on the Internet. Requires management conferences to update plans 18 months after they are evaluated. 
 
Authorizes the Administrator to consider a management conference to be in probationary status if the conference has not received approval for an updated plan within five years of the date of the evaluation's publication. Requires the Administrator to: (1) reduce a grant for the implementation of a plan developed by a management conference with probationary status; and (2) terminate a management conference and cease funding for the implementation of the plan if the conference has been in probationary status for two consecutive years.
 
Requires, after the Administrator's approval of a plan for an estuary, any federal action or activity affecting such estuary to be conducted in a manner consistent with such plan. Makes EPA the lead coordinating agency for implementing plans.
 
Requires an agency head, in making annual budget requests, to consider the agency's responsibilities under the Program.
 
Repeals provisions authorizing the Administrator to give grants to individuals for the development and implementation of plans.
 
Authorizes appropriations for grants and monitoring the administration of plans.
 
Requires the Administrator to include measures to track the introduction and establishment of nonnative species within the trend assessment program that monitors variations in environmental parameters which may affect estuarine zones.
 
Requires the Administrator to evaluate and report to the public on the Program every five years.
 
Revises the definition of: (1) "estuary" to include near-coastal waters and other bodies of water within the Great Lakes similar in form and function to waters otherwise described in such definition; and (2) "estuarine zones" to include such waters and transitional areas, associated aquatic ecosystems, and those portions of tributaries.

action_date: 2014-07-31
text: 
Clean Estuaries Act of 2014 - (Sec. 2) Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to revise, and reauthorize through FY2019, the National Estuary Program.
 
Expands the purposes of management conferences for estuary programs, including by adding components that must be included in a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (Plan).
 
Requires management conferences to make use of collaborative processes in updating or developing a Plan.
 
Establishes a process by which a state may resubmit a Plan that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined is incomplete.
 
Considers a submission or resubmission of a Plan to be approved if the EPA fails to respond within 120 days of receiving it. Requires the EPA to terminate a management conference if the conference fails to submit a Plan within three years of being convened.
 
Requires the EPA to: (1) evaluate, every five years, the implementation of each Plan developed to determine the degree to which the goals of the plan have been met; (2) submit the results of the evaluation to the appropriate management conference for review and comment; and (3) report on the results of the evaluation and make the report publicly available. Requires management conferences to update plans within 18 months after they are evaluated. 
 
Authorizes the EPA to consider a management conference to be in probationary status if the conference has not received approval for an updated plan within five years of the date of the evaluation's publication. Requires the EPA to: (1) reduce a grant for the implementation of a plan developed by a management conference with probationary status, and (2) terminate a management conference and cease funding for the implementation of the plan if the conference has been in probationary status for two consecutive years.
 
Requires appropriate federal agencies, after the EPA's approval of a Plan, to cooperate and to coordinate activities related to implementation. Makes the EPA the lead coordinating agency for implementing Plans.
 
Requires an agency head, in making annual budget requests, to consider the agency's responsibilities under the Program.
 
Requires the EPA to include measures to track the introduction and establishment of nonnative species within the trend assessment program to monitor variations in environmental parameters that may affect estuarine zones.
 
Requires the EPA to evaluate and report to the public on the National Estuary Program every five years.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2014-07-31
text: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 525.
action_date: 2014-07-31
text: Committee on Environment and Public Works. Reported by Senator Boxer with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 113-239.
action_date: 2014-07-31
text: Committee on Environment and Public Works. Reported by Senator Boxer with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 113-239.
action_date: 2014-04-03
text: Committee on Environment and Public Works. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
action_date: 2014-02-26
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2014-02-26
text: Introduced in Senate