Ocean Acidification Innovation Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairwoman for yielding and for her support of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of Congressman Kilmer's bipartisan Ocean Acidification Innovation Act. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this bill, along with Representative Herrera Beutler from Washington, and my House Oceans Caucus co-chair Representative Young from Alaska.

This bill would establish a prize competition for Federal agencies that serve on the Interagency Working Group on Ocean Acidification to increase efforts to research, monitor, and manage ocean acidification and its effects. Our understanding of ocean acidification and its interactions with other environmental stressors, such as hypoxia, harmful algal blooms, and warming waters is rapidly evolving, but still limited in scope.

A 2009 paper from the Ocean Carbon and Biochemistry's Ocean Acidification Subcommittee estimated that a U.S. national program on ocean acidification would need $50 million to $100 million per year to provide timely information for managers and decisionmakers.

A 2012 report from the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, based on informal conversations with various Federal agencies, estimated a need for approximately $95 million for all Federal ocean acidification research and monitoring by next year, 2020.

In fiscal year 2019, the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program received only $12 million, so there is no doubt that gaps in funding are a result of insufficient resources.

The prize competition established in this bill will encourage collaboration and spur innovative strategies to mitigate and adapt to ocean acidification. This will help the communities, environments, and industries that rely on a healthy ocean and are facing harsh realities of rising carbon emissions.

Again, I thank Congressman Kilmer for his leadership, especially given the pervasive effects of ocean acidification on the Pacific Coast. I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.

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