§4004a South Florida harmful algal blooms and hypoxia

Summary

The Task Force must make a big review and a plan to fight harmful algal blooms and low-oxygen water (hypoxia) in South Florida. South Florida means: lands and waters inside the South Florida Water Management District; regional coastal waters such as Biscayne Bay, the Caloosahatchee Estuary, Florida Bay, Indian River Lagoon, and the St. Lucie River Estuary; and the Florida Reef Tract. Not later than 540 days after June 16, 2022, the Task Force must finish and send an interim integrated assessment to Congress and the President. It must finalize that assessment not later than 3 years after June 16, 2022. The assessment must look at causes, effects, and ways to reduce blooms and hypoxia and must review current research, monitoring, management, prevention, response, and control by federal and state agencies, research groups, universities, industry, nonprofits, and Indian tribes. Within 3 years and 180 days after June 16, 2022, the Task Force must send Congress a plan, based on the assessment, to reduce and control these problems. The plan must cover monitoring needs, a timeline and budget for future tools, how models will be built and checked (including assumptions and data-quality methods), and a proposal for a remote monitoring network and early warning system to alert local communities about health risks. While making the plan, the Task Force must consult Florida and local and tribal governments, regional academics, farmers and industry, and other stakeholders. The plan must not duplicate other federal or state work, must identify needed research and cost-effective partnerships, be technically sound, use existing studies, publish a summary in the Federal Register at least 180 days before sending the final plan to Congress, and then report progress every two years.