Richard Pombo: “I rise in support of S. 362, the Marine Debris Research, Prevention and Reduction Act. S. 362 is an important piece of…”

“I rise in support of S. 362, the Marine Debris Research, Prevention and Reduction Act. S. 362 is an important piece of environmental legislation. People in the U.S. and world-wide generate a lot of trash. While every effort is made to ensure the trash is sent to the appropriate place, improperly used trash receptacles, storm runoff, and outright littering send trash into rivers and oceans daily. All of this loose trash becomes marine debris. In return this marine debris has become a pervasive threat in our world's oceans adversely harming marine animals and their habitat. S. 362 follows up on recommendations made by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy which called for action to reduce marine debris. Most importantly it would help identify, determine sources of, assess, reduce, and prevent marine debris and its adverse impacts on the marine environment and navigation safety. It would re-establish the Interagency Marine Debris Coordinating Committee to help ensure a coordinated government response across Federal agencies. In addition, it would also develop a Federal information clearing house to enable researchers to study the sources, scale and impact of marine debris more efficiently. S. 362 is an important step in reducing, and hopefully some day eliminating, marine debris from our ocean environment. S. 362 is a good bill and should receive the support of Members and pass the House today.”