U.S. President Donald Trump on Dec. 7 signed into law bipartisan legislation that includes provisions supported by U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) to prevent harmful algal blooms and hypoxia.
“I want to thank the president for signing this common-sense legislation into law so that harmful algae doesn’t continue to threaten our tourism, fishing industries, and our public health,” Sen. Portman said on Jan. 8.
The National Integrated Drought Information System Reauthorization Act of 2018, S. 2200, reauthorizes the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act and authorizes the federal government to make funding available to combat algae blooms deemed “of national significance,” among other provisions.
A bloom of national significance means “a hypoxia or harmful algal bloom event that has had or will likely have a significant detrimental environmental, economic, subsistence use, or public health impact on an affected State,” according to text of the act.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed S. 2200 on Dec. 20, 2018 and the U.S. Senate passed the proposal on Dec. 18, 2018.
The bill also directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to improve its monitoring of harmful algal blooms and hypoxia, which is a reduced level of oxygen in water; reauthorizes the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act for five years; and expands grant eligibility to include proposals for the intervention and mitigation of harmful algal blooms.
Sen. Portman originally introduced the provisions as a stand-alone bill in May 2017 that included, for the first time, freshwater bodies such as the Great Lakes into the research program, according to his staff.
“Harmful algae has become a serious problem for our state, and this law will help our ongoing efforts to address this issue and protect our Great Lakes,” the senator said. “As the world’s largest freshwater system and a source of drinking water for more than 30 million Americans, these lakes are indispensable to the health and economy of Ohio and our country.”