Sec. 107. Coastal carbon areas of significance
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The Administrator, consistent with this section, shall designate as a coastal carbon area of significance any area that is— in the coastal zone (as such term is defined in section 304 of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 ( 16 U.S.C. 1453 )), in territorial waters of the United States, or in the exclusive economic zone; and the location of water, a substrate, or an ecosystem that— provides for long-term storage and sequestration of significant amounts of ecosystem carbon; and limits erosion and future landward migration; provides a buffer against storm surge, especially for communities of color, low-income communities, and Tribal and Indigenous communities; provides a spawning, breeding, feeding, or nesting habitat for wildlife; or is estuarine habitat designated as essential fish habitat under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act ( 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.).
The Administrator, in consultation with the interagency working group, shall, not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, establish by regulation guidelines based on the best available science to describe and identify coastal carbon areas of significance and measures to ensure the protection of coastal carbon areas of significance. The Administrator, in consultation with the interagency working group, shall review and update guidelines established under subsection
(b)not less frequently than once every 5 years or when new information warrants such an update. The Administrator, in consultation with the interagency working group, shall— establish a schedule for the identification of coastal carbon areas of significance under subsection
(b)and for reviews and updates under subsection (c); and make initial designations of a coastal carbon area of significance in each coastal State not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act. The Administrator, in consultation with the interagency working group, shall, with respect to each coastal carbon area of significance, provide recommendations and information regarding the adverse impacts and threats to the carbon storage, ecosystem services, and habitat capacity of the area, and the actions that should be considered to avoid adverse impacts and ensure the conservation and enhancement of that area. The Administrator, in consultation with the interagency working group, shall use programs administered by the Secretary of Commerce to carry out this section and ensure the conservation and enhancement of each coastal carbon area of significance. With respect to any proposed agency action that has the potential to cause an adverse impact on the carbon storage, ecosystem services, or habitat capacity of any coastal carbon area of significance, each Federal agency shall comply with the following requirements: Such Federal agency shall notify the Administrator of such proposed agency action. The Administrator, in consultation with the proposing agency and subject to public comment, shall determine whether the proposed agency action will cause an adverse impact on the carbon storage, ecosystem, or habitat of a coastal carbon area of significance. With respect to any proposed action the Administrator determines will have an adverse impact under paragraph (2), the proposing agency, in consultation with the Administrator, shall determine whether there is an alternative action that would prevent such adverse impact and fulfill the purpose of the proposed action. The proposing agency shall not take an action that would cause an adverse impact if an alternative that would not cause such adverse impact is available and would fulfill the purpose of such action. With respect to a proposed action for which the agency determines no alternative is available under paragraph (3), the proposing agency shall— in consultation with the Administrator, take measures to minimize and mitigate such adverse impact; take such action as the Administrator determines necessary to create a coastal or marine blue carbon ecosystem storage offset that, taken in conjunction with the proposed action, results in a long term net increase in carbon storage, lasting an equivalent time period as the carbon storage lost by the adverse impact; demonstrate quantitatively, using the best available science, that the carbon storage offset will result in a net increase in ecological carbon storage and is located in close proximity to the original site to keep the affected communities whole; maintain such carbon storage offset for a period of time to be determined by the Administrator but not less than 100 years; and publish the agency’s proposed course of mitigation in the Federal Register for public notice and comment. Any requests for a new authorization or appropriation from a Federal agency transmitted to the Office of Management and Budget shall include, if such authorization or appropriation may affect a coastal carbon area of significance, a certification that such agency will use such authorization or appropriation in compliance with this section. A Federal agency may not enter into a lease, easement, right-of-way, or sale of any land designated as a coastal carbon area of significance unless such agency attaches appropriate restrictions to the use of the property to protect the coastal carbon area of significance. Preparation, revision, implementation, or enforcement of a fishery management plan under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act ( 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) that applies to an area that is subject to a prohibition on all bottom-tending fishing gear shall not be treated as an action that is subject to subsection (g).
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