Sec. 103. Report on blue carbon in the United States
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Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act and every three years thereafter, the Administrator, in consultation with the interagency working group, shall submit to the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report containing the following: A summary of federally funded coastal and marine blue carbon ecosystem research, monitoring, conservation, and restoration activities, including the budget for each of these activities and describe the progress in advancing the national priorities established by the interagency working group.
With respect to each blue carbon ecosystem, the type, location, and ownership of the ecosystem (whether privately owned lands, State lands, Tribal lands, or Federal lands). An assessment of the vulnerability of coastal and marine blue carbon ecosystems to climate impacts such as sea-level rise, acidification, and saltwater intrusion, and other environmental and human stressors, such as development, water pollution, and aquaculture. An assessment of the greatest anthropogenic threats to blue carbon ecosystems, including the Federal agency actions that have historically caused and presently cause great adverse effects on such ecosystems.
An assessment of the carbon sequestration potential of coastal and marine blue carbon ecosystems and the probable changes to sequestration under climate change scenarios. An assessment of biophysical, social, and economic impediments to coastal and marine blue carbon ecosystem protection and restoration and opportunities to restore and enhance the resilience of and sequestration potential of blue carbon ecosystems. An assessment of aging or outdated artificial structures, including dikes, levees, dams, culverts, water storage structures, shoreline hardening projects, impediments to fish passage, and other infrastructure that impede the ecological or sequestration functions of blue carbon areas and the feasibility of repairing, retrofitting, or removing such structures.
The economic, social, and environmental co-benefits and impacts that these blue carbon ecosystems provide including— protection of coasts from storms and flooding; sustainable tourism and responsible recreational use; benefits to fisheries; water quality protection, including the regulation and mitigation of nutrients, sediment, and contaminants; maintenance of biodiversity; the number of jobs that are directly or indirectly attributable to blue carbon ecosystems; and the total economic activity that is attributable to such blue carbon ecosystems.
An assessment of the social and economic makeup of the communities served by blue carbon ecosystems.