Geoscience Policy Monthly Review
december 2015
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environment
House passes bill which bans the use of microbeads
December 8, 2015
The Microbead-Free Waters Act (H.R. 1321) passed the House by a voice-vote on December 7, 2015. H.R. 1321 attempts to lower the negative environmental impacts that synthetic microbeads have on water pollution.
Synthetic microbeads have been found in multiple large bodies of water and in the Great Lakes. Studies from various New York water treatment plants indicate that the microbeads are passing through water treatment systems and into natural water systems. Research by scientists at the State University of New York, Fredonia, indentified the beads throughout all five of the Great Lakes.
These beads tend to bind to chemical pollutants which fall under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean Water Act and can cause harm to aquatic ecosystems. The bill calls for a stop in the manufacturing process of plastic microbeads beginning July 1, 2017.
Sources: eenews, congress.gov
Update to USGCRP Strategic Plan published in the Federal Register
December 1, 2015
The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) released a triennial update to their 2012-2021 strategic plan this December. The strategic plan outlines research to understand, assess, predict, and respond to global change and includes strategies to connect human and Earth system research by working with federal agencies. The update to the plan has been published on the Federal Register with a public comment period lasting till January 30, 2016.
Sources: Federal Register, globalchange.gov, congress.gov
Legislators call for a halt to Atlantic seismic surveys
December 10, 2015
In a bipartisan letter addressed to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Reps. Mark Sanford (R-SC) and Bobby Scott (D-VA) called for a halt in seismic testing on the outer continental shelf of the Atlantic Ocean. The letter, which has support from more than 30 other representatives, contends that surveys made by oil and gas companies to locate petroleum resources using seismic methods disrupt the oceanic environment. The letter directs BOEM to retract their decision to allow for an environmental review of geological and geophysical surveys in the Atlantic, citing the potentially harmful impacts to marine life.
Sources: Rep. Mark Sanford (R-SC) Press Release, eenews