Plain Language Summary
# ESTUARIES Act Summary **What It Does:** The ESTUARIES Act extends federal funding for protecting and restoring estuaries—coastal areas where rivers meet the ocean—through 2031. It reauthorizes an existing Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant program that helps communities develop plans to conserve these ecosystems and address pollution and other threats that harm their ecological and economic health. **Who It Affects:** The bill primarily benefits states, coastal communities, nonprofits, and water management agencies that rely on EPA grants to protect estuaries. It also indirectly benefits fishing industries, tourism, and residents who depend on healthy coastal ecosystems.
Estuaries support important fisheries and provide natural buffers against storms and flooding. **Current Status:** The bill has passed the House of Representatives. It now moves to the Senate for consideration before it could become law.
CRS Official Summary
Enhancing Science, Treatment, and Upkeep of America’s Resilient and Important Estuarine Systems Act or the ESTUARIES ActThis bill reauthorizes through FY2031 grants provided under the National Estuary Program to protect and restore estuaries of national significance. Estuaries are coastal waterbodies where freshwater from rivers and streams mixes with the ocean’s saltwater. Under the existing program, the Environmental Protection Agency provides grants for (1) developing and implementing comprehensive conservation and management plans for estuaries of national significance, and (2) addressing issues that threaten the ecological and economic well-being of such estuaries. The existing program provides grants to states, regional water pollution control agencies and entities, state coastal zone management agencies, interstate agencies, other public or nonprofit private agencies, institutions, organizations, and individuals.
Latest Action
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.