LegiStorm

Summary:

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) currently supports natural, nature-based, or green infrastructure and other related types of features (hereinafter referred to as nature-based infrastructure) as part of its statutory mandates to support, research, restore, and conserve natural resources. NOAA's nature-based activities primarily fall under three line offices: the National Marine Fisheries Service, National Ocean Service, and Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. NOAA uses the term nature-based infrastructure and other related terms interchangeably to describe natural systems or engineered systems that mimic natural processes built to minimize flooding, erosion, and runoff. Nature-based infrastructure projects may include features that are completely natural, such as open lands and trees (e.g., coastal mangroves), or may incorporate varying degrees of hard or "gray" steel and concrete structures, such as seawalls. Often, multiple types of nature-based infrastructure features are combined within a project. Stakeholder selection of nature-based infrastructure features may depend on a combination of factors, including available funding, space constraints, technical feasibility, hydrologic impact, and community acceptance, among other factors. According to NOAA, nature-based infrastructure can provide several benefits such as flood, erosion, and runoff management, wave buffering, improved water quality, wildlife habitat, opportunity for groundwater recharge, recreation uses, and aesthetic appeal, among others. The extent to which nature-based infrastructure features provide these benefits is partially dependent on the types of features used and the location. Historically, Congress has directed funding to some federal agencies for the design and construction of hard infrastructure, such as breakwaters, revetments, and bulkheads or seawalls that provide a measurable and expected level of flood, erosion, and runoff management. However, these features also have demonstrated limitations and some unintended consequences. Researchers and practitioners have studied the potential impacts and benefits of hard structures relatively well, whereas similar research on nature-based infrastructure is ongoing. Practitioners and decisionmakers have been using the term nature-based infrastructure and supporting nature-based infrastructure features since at least the late 2000s (although these types of features have likely been studied and implemented under various terms for several decades). Nature-based infrastructure may continue to be appealing due to (1) stakeholder emphasis on infrastructure features that benefit both humans and the environment in multiple ways and (2) recognition that infrastructure may be longer lasting if it can adjust to changing environmental conditions in the short and long terms. Members of Congress may consider whether and how federal agencies, including NOAA, can support nature-based infrastructure activities by federal agencies. Congress has neither defined nature-based infrastructure in statutes related to NOAA activities nor directed in statute that the agency support such activities. Congress has provided some statutory direction related to nature-based infrastructure for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Congress may consider whether to define nature-based infrastructure for NOAA or explicitly authorize NOAA to support nature-based infrastructure in specific cases, similar to USACE and EPA, or require NOAA to consider nature-based infrastructure activities across the agency. Congress also may consider requiring federal (and federal with nonfederal) coordination of nature-based infrastructure activities in an existing federal working group (e.g., the System Approach to Geomorphic Engineering community of practice), a new group, or other mechanism. Finally, as NOAA does not identify its nature-based infrastructure activities as separate budget line items, Congress may consider (1) directing NOAA, and other federal agencies, to report its nature-based infrastructure spending and (2) whether to retain existing or establish new mechanisms to fund nature-based infrastructure activities at NOAA.