Digital Coast Act of 2010 - Defines "digital coast" as a constituent-driven platform provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to integrate geospatial data and address coastal and emergency management issues.
Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director of Coastal Services Center of the NOAA, to establish coastal service centers to address the needs of local, state, and regional entities involved with coastal and ocean decisionmaking. Declares that such centers shall: (1) link people, information, and technology to support the environmental, social, and economic well-being of the coast; (2) collaborate with branches of NOAA and other federal and nongovernmental entities to bring data, information, services, and tools to coastal and ocean decisionmakers; and (3) address region-specific needs at local, state, and regional levels.
Authorizes the Secretary to enter financial agreements to carry out this Act.
Requires such projects to collect and integrate coastal data with specified data sources, surveys, and mappings. Requires the Secretary to coordinate activities with NOAA, state and local governments, the private sector, and federal efforts.
[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6215 Introduced in House (IH)]
111th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6215
To authorize the Secretary of Commerce to establish a program to
develop a coordinated and comprehensive Federal coastal mapping effort
for the Nation's coastal zone to include all coastal State and
territorial waters of the United States, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 23, 2010
Mr. Ruppersberger introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of Commerce to establish a program to
develop a coordinated and comprehensive Federal coastal mapping effort
for the Nation's coastal zone to include all coastal State and
territorial waters of the United States, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Digital Coast Act of 2010''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that--
(1) more than half of all people of the United States, 153
million people, currently live on or near a coast and an
additional 12 million are expected in the next decade;
(2) coastal counties in the United States average 300
persons per square mile, compared with the national average of
98;
(3) on a typical day, more than 1,540 permits for
construction of single-family homes are issued in coastal
counties, combined with other commercial, retail, and
institutional construction to support this population;
(4) much of the 95,000 miles of United States shoreline
does not have current, accurate maps and geospatial
information;
(5) the lack of current and accurate remote sensing and
geospatial data on United States coasts, harbors, and ports
results in an environmental, infrastructure, economic, and
homeland security vulnerability for the Nation;
(6) the Federal Government can and should play an important
role in the development and demonstration of innovative remote
sensing and other geospatial techniques to improve the
management of the coast of the United States, comprehensive
emergency preparedness and response in the event of a tsunami,
storm surges, and oil spills as well as for homeland security;
(7) highly accurate, high resolution remote sensing and
other geospatial data, including elevation data, play an
important role in management of the coastal zone, including
flood prediction capabilities; risk, vulnerability, and hazard
assessments; emergency response plans; permitting and zoning
decisionmaking; and landscape change detection; as well as port
security and other homeland security applications;
(8) the full range of applications of remote sensing and
other forms of geospatial information to meet national
requirements has not been adequately explored or exploited; and
(9) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in
coordination with other agencies, can play a unique role in
demonstrating how commercial remote sensing and other private
sector geospatial capabilities can be applied to assist State,
local, regional, and tribal agencies in emergency preparedness,
emergency response, homeland security, infrastructure
management, environmental decisionmaking, and other
applications in such areas as agriculture, weather forecasting,
and forest management.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act--
(1) the term ``digital coast'' means a constituent-driven
effort led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration to provide an enabling platform that integrates
geospatial data, decision support tools, training, and case
studies to address coastal and emergency management issues;
(2) the term ``remote sensing and other geospatial'' mean
collecting, storing, retrieving, or disseminating graphical or
digital data depicting natural or man-made physical features,
phenomena, or boundaries of the Earth and any information
related thereto, including surveys, maps, charts, satellite and
airborne remote sensing data, images, and services performed by
professionals such as surveyors, photogrammetrists,
hydrographers, geodesists, cartographers, and other such
services;
(3) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Commerce,
acting through the Director of the Coastal Services Center of
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and
(4) the term ``State''--
(A) means a State of the United States in, or
bordering on, the Atlantic, Pacific, or Arctic Ocean,
the Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, Long Island
Sound, or one or more of the Great Lakes; and
(B) includes Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin
Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands, the Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands,
American Samoa, and any portion of a State that is
located within 100 kilometers of the Atlantic or
Pacific Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of Mexico,
or the Great Lakes.
SEC. 4. COASTAL SERVICES CENTERS.
(a) Establishment.--The Secretary may establish coastal services
centers as may be needed to facilitate products and services to address
the needs of local, State, and regional entities involved with coastal
and ocean decisionmaking including those State coastal management and
research reserves benefitting from this Act.
(b) Purpose.--The purpose of the coastal services centers shall be
to--
(1) support the environmental, social, and economic well
being of the coast by linking people, information, and
technology;
(2) collaborate with various branches of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, other Federal agencies,
and nongovernmental entities to bring data, information,
services, and tools to the Nation's coastal and ocean
decisionmakers; and
(3) identify and address region-specific needs and increase
capabilities to address them at the local, State, and regional
levels.
(c) Financial Agreements.--To carry out the responsibilities of
this Act, including to provide program support to non-Federal entities
that participate in implementing this Act, the Secretary may enter into
financial agreements including, but not limited to, grants, cooperative
agreements, interagency agreements, and contracts with other Federal,
tribal, State and local governmental and nongovernmental entities.
SEC. 5. REMOTE SENSING AND OTHER GEOSPATIAL DATA LAYERS.
(a) In General.--The projects carried out by the Secretary pursuant
to section 4 shall collect and integrate other available coastal data
with--
(1) shallow bathymetric data;
(2) airborne elevation data;
(3) large-scale land use and land cover maps;
(4) benthic habitat and aquatic vegetation mapping;
(5) parcel data;
(6) planimetric data; and
(7) socioeconomic and human use data.
(b) Coordination.--The Secretary shall coordinate the activities
carried out pursuant to this Act to maximize data sharing and
integration and minimize duplication by--
(1) coordinating activities when appropriate, with--
(A) other Federal efforts, including the Ocean and
Coastal Mapping Integration Act (33 U.S.C. 3501 et
seq.), the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16
U.S.C. 1451 et seq.), and the Integrated Coastal and
Ocean Observation System Act of 2009 (33 U.S.C. 3601 et
seq.);
(B) coastal States and United States territories;
(C) local governments; and
(D) representatives of nongovernmental entities;
(2) participating, pursuant to section 216 of Public Law
107-347 (44 U.S.C. 3501 note), in the establishment of such
standards and common protocols as are necessary to assure the
interoperability of remote sensing and other geospatial data
with all users of such information within--
(A) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration;
(B) other Federal agencies;
(C) State and local government; and
(D) the private sector;
(3) coordinating with, seeking assistance and cooperation
of, and providing liaison to the Federal Geographic Data
Committee pursuant to Office of Management and Budget Circular
A-16 and Executive Order No. 12906; and
(4) providing for the utilization of contracts with the
private sector, to the maximum extent practicable, to provide
such products and services as are necessary to collect remote
sensing and other geospatial data; which contracts shall be
considered ``surveying and mapping'' services as such term is
used and as such contracts are awarded in accordance with the
selection procedures in chapter 11 of title 40, United States
Code.
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary
$100,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2011 through 2016 to carry
out this Act.
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Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife.
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