- United States Code
- TITLE 33 - NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERS
- CHAPTER 26 - WATER POLLUTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL
- SUBCHAPTER III - STANDARDS AND ENFORCEMENT
Sec. 1330. National estuary program
- (a)
Management conference
- (1)
Nomination of estuaries
The Governor of any State may nominate to the Administrator an
estuary lying in whole or in part within the State as an estuary
of national significance and request a management conference to
develop a comprehensive management plan for the estuary. The
nomination shall document the need for the conference, the
likelihood of success, and information relating to the factors in
paragraph (2).
- (2)
Convening of conference
- (A)
In general
In any case where the Administrator determines, on his own
initiative or upon nomination of a State under paragraph (1),
that the attainment or maintenance of that water quality in an
estuary which assures protection of public water supplies and
the protection and propagation of a balanced, indigenous
population of shellfish, fish, and wildlife, and allows
recreational activities, in and on the water, requires the
control of point and nonpoint sources of pollution to
supplement existing controls of pollution in more than one
State, the Administrator shall select such estuary and convene
a management conference.
- (B)
Priority consideration
The Administrator shall give priority consideration under
this section to Long Island Sound, New York and Connecticut;
Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island; Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts;
Massachusetts Bay, Massachusetts (including Cape Cod Bay and
Boston Harbor); Puget Sound, Washington; New York-New Jersey
Harbor, New York and New Jersey; Delaware Bay, Delaware and New
Jersey; Delaware Inland Bays, Delaware; Albemarle Sound, North
Carolina; Sarasota Bay, Florida; San Francisco Bay, California;
Santa Monica Bay, California; Galveston Bay, Texas;
Barataria-Terrebonne Bay estuary complex, Louisiana; Indian
River Lagoon, Florida; and Peconic Bay, New York.
- (3)
Boundary dispute exception
In any case in which a boundary between two States passes
through an estuary and such boundary is disputed and is the
subject of an action in any court, the Administrator shall not
convene a management conference with respect to such estuary
before a final adjudication has been made of such dispute.
- (b)
Purposes of conference
The purposes of any management conference convened with respect
to an estuary under this subsection shall be to -
- (1)
assess trends in water quality, natural resources, and uses
of the estuary;
- (2)
collect, characterize, and assess data on toxics,
nutrients, and natural resources within the estuarine zone to
identify the causes of environmental problems;
- (3)
develop the relationship between the inplace loads and
point and nonpoint loadings of pollutants to the estuarine zone
and the potential uses of the zone, water quality, and natural
resources;
- (4)
develop a comprehensive conservation and management plan
that recommends priority corrective actions and compliance
schedules addressing point and nonpoint sources of pollution to
restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological
integrity of the estuary, including restoration and maintenance
of water quality, a balanced indigenous population of shellfish,
fish and wildlife, and recreational activities in the estuary,
and assure that the designated uses of the estuary are protected;
- (5)
develop plans for the coordinated implementation of the
plan by the States as well as Federal and local agencies
participating in the conference;
- (6)
monitor the effectiveness of actions taken pursuant to the
plan; and
- (7)
review all Federal financial assistance programs and
Federal development projects in accordance with the requirements
of Executive Order 12372, as in effect on September 17, 1983, to
determine whether such assistance program or project would be
consistent with and further the purposes and objectives of the
plan prepared under this section.
For purposes of paragraph (7), such programs and projects shall not
be limited to the assistance programs and development projects
subject to Executive Order 12372, but may include any programs
listed in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
which may have an effect on the purposes and objectives of the plan
developed under this section.
- (c)
Members of conference
The members of a management conference convened under this
section shall include, at a minimum, the Administrator and
representatives of -
- (1)
each State and foreign nation located in whole or in part
in the estuarine zone of the estuary for which the conference is
convened;
- (2)
international, interstate, or regional agencies or entities
having jurisdiction over all or a significant part of the
estuary;
- (3)
each interested Federal agency, as determined appropriate
by the Administrator;
- (4)
local governments having jurisdiction over any land or
water within the estuarine zone, as determined appropriate by the
Administrator; and
- (5)
affected industries, public and private educational
institutions, and the general public, as determined appropriate
by the Administrator.
- (d)
Utilization of existing data
In developing a conservation and management plan under this
section, the management conference shall survey and utilize
existing reports, data, and studies relating to the estuary that
have been developed by or made available to Federal, interstate,
State, and local agencies.
- (e)
Period of conference
A management conference convened under this section shall be
convened for a period not to exceed 5 years. Such conference may
be extended by the Administrator, and if terminated after the
initial period, may be reconvened by the Administrator at any time
thereafter, as may be necessary to meet the requirements of this
section.
- (f)
Approval and implementation of plans
- (1)
Approval
Not later than 120 days after the completion of a conservation
and management plan and after providing for public review and
comment, the Administrator shall approve such plan if the plan
meets the requirements of this section and the affected Governor
or Governors concur.
- (2)
Implementation
Upon approval of a conservation and management plan under this
section, such plan shall be implemented. Funds authorized to be
appropriated under subchapters II and VI of this chapter and
section 1329 of this title may be used in accordance with the
applicable requirements of this chapter to assist States with the
implementation of such plan.
- (g)
Grants
- (1)
Recipients
The Administrator is authorized to make grants to State,
interstate, and regional water pollution control agencies and
entities, State coastal zone management agencies, interstate
agencies, other public or nonprofit private agencies,
institutions, organizations, and individuals.
- (2)
Purposes
Grants under this subsection shall be made to pay for assisting
research, surveys, studies, and modeling and other technical work
necessary for the development of a conservation and management
plan under this section.
- (3)
Federal share
The amount of grants to any person (including a State,
interstate, or regional agency or entity) under this subsection
for a fiscal year shall not exceed 75 percent of the costs of
such research, survey, studies, and work and shall be made on
condition that the non-Federal share of such costs are provided
from non-Federal sources.
- (h)
Grant reporting
Any person (including a State, interstate, or regional agency or
entity) that receives a grant under subsection (g) of this section
shall report to the Administrator not later than 18 months after
receipt of such grant and biennially thereafter on the progress
being made under this section.
- (i)
Authorization of appropriations
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator not
to exceed $12,000,000 per fiscal year for each of fiscal years
1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1991 for -
- (1)
expenses related to the administration of management
conferences under this section, not to exceed 10 percent of the
amount appropriated under this subsection;
- (2)
making grants under subsection (g) of this section; and
- (3)
monitoring the implementation of a conservation and
management plan by the management conference or by the
Administrator, in any case in which the conference has been
terminated.
The Administrator shall provide up to $5,000,000 per fiscal year of
the sums authorized to be appropriated under this subsection to the
Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration to carry out subsection (j) of this section.
- (1)
Programs
In order to determine the need to convene a management
conference under this section or at the request of such a
management conference, the Administrator shall coordinate and
implement, through the National Marine Pollution Program Office
and the National Marine Fisheries Service of the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, as appropriate, for one or more
estuarine zones -
- (A)
a long-term program of trend assessment monitoring
measuring variations in pollutant concentrations, marine
ecology, and other physical or biological environmental
parameters which may affect estuarine zones, to provide the
Administrator the capacity to determine the potential and
actual effects of alternative management strategies and
measures;
- (B)
a program of ecosystem assessment assisting in the
development of (i) baseline studies which determine the state
of estuarine zones and the effects of natural and anthropogenic
changes, and (ii) predictive models capable of translating
information on specific discharges or general pollutant
loadings within estuarine zones into a set of probable effects
on such zones;
- (C)
a comprehensive water quality sampling program for the
continuous monitoring of nutrients, chlorine, acid
precipitation dissolved oxygen, and potentially toxic
pollutants (including organic chemicals and metals) in
estuarine zones, after consultation with interested State,
local, interstate, or international agencies and review and
analysis of all environmental sampling data presently collected
from estuarine zones; and
- (D)
a program of research to identify the movements of
nutrients, sediments and pollutants through estuarine zones and
the impact of nutrients, sediments, and pollutants on water
quality, the ecosystem, and designated or potential uses of the
estuarine zones.
- (2)
Reports
The Administrator, in cooperation with the Administrator of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shall submit to
the Congress no less often than biennially a comprehensive report
on the activities authorized under this subsection including -
- (A)
a listing of priority monitoring and research needs;
- (B)
an assessment of the state and health of the Nation's
estuarine zones, to the extent evaluated under this subsection;
- (C)
a discussion of pollution problems and trends in
pollutant concentrations with a direct or indirect effect on
water quality, the ecosystem, and designated or potential uses
of each estuarine zone, to the extent evaluated under this
subsection; and
- (D)
an evaluation of pollution abatement activities and
management measures so far implemented to determine the degree
of improvement toward the objectives expressed in subsection
(b)(4) of this section.
- (k)
Definitions
For purposes of this section, the terms ''estuary'' and
''estuarine zone'' have the meanings such terms have in section
1254(n)(4) of this title, except that the term ''estuarine zone''
shall also include associated aquatic ecosystems and those portions
of tributaries draining into the estuary up to the historic height
of migration of anadromous fish or the historic head of tidal
influence, whichever is higher.
