§2904 Establishment of Estuary Habitat Restoration Council

Summary

Creates the Estuary Habitat Restoration Council and gives it responsibility for finding, reviewing, and ranking estuary restoration projects. The Council must send a recommended list of projects to the Secretary, including the order of priority and whether the Secretary or another federal agency should carry them out. It must make and send a national strategy for restoring estuary habitat to Congress and update that strategy as needed. The Council must help set up the project database, monitoring rules, and reports, recommend monitoring standards, work with others to carry out the strategy, and use the authority of its members to get the work done. The Council is made up of the Secretary (or a designee), the Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere at Commerce (or a designee), the EPA Administrator (or a designee), the Secretary of the Interior acting through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director (or a designee), the Secretary of Agriculture (or a designee), and any other federal agency head the President names as an ex officio member. Members are not paid for service. The Council elects a chair for a 3-year term (the first chair may serve less). The Secretary must call the first meeting no later than 60 days after November 7, 2000, to elect the chair. The chair must call meetings as needed but at least once a year. The Council must make rules for voting and meetings, hold open public meetings with notice, and consult scientists, state and local agencies, tribes, NGOs, farmers, fishermen, and other estuary users for advice on strategy and project merit.