Loading bill…
Loading bill…
H.R. 3962 · House bill · 119th Congress
This bill reauthorizes through FY2031 grants provided under the National Estuary Program to protect and restore estuaries of national significance. Estuaries are coastal waterbodies where freshwater from rivers and streams mixes with the ocean’s saltwater. Under the existing program, the Environmental Protection Agency provides grants for (1) developing and implementing comprehensive conservation and management plans for estuaries of national significance, and (2) addressing issues that threaten the ecological and economic well-being of such estuaries. The existing program provides grants to states, regional water pollution control agencies and entities, state coastal zone management agencies, interstate agencies, other public or nonprofit private agencies, institutions, organizations, and individuals.
This Act may be cited as the “Enhancing Science, Treatment, and Upkeep of America’s Resilient and Important Estuarine Systems Act” or the “ESTUARIES Act”.
Section 320 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1330) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)(2)(B), by striking “and Pensacola and Perdido Bays, Florida” and inserting “Pensacola and Perdido Bays, Florida; and Mississippi Sound, Mississippi”; and
(2) in subsection (i)(1), in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking “2026” and inserting “2031”.
With respect to the amendment made by section 2(1), the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency may not use for the implementation of that amendment, including, with respect to Mississippi Sound, Mississippi, convening a management conference, developing or carrying out a comprehensive conservation and management plan, or providing grants under section 320 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1330)—
(1) any amounts appropriated to carry out the national estuary program under that section for fiscal year 2025; or
(2) unless the total amount appropriated to carry out that program for fiscal year 2026 is at least $850,000 more than the total amount appropriated to carry out that program for fiscal year 2024, any amounts appropriated to carry out that program for fiscal year 2026.