Advocacy Project: Healthy People/THOMAS

1. The Healthy People 2010 goal I chose is under Water Quality 8-9. The objective for this goal is: Increase the proportion of days that beaches are open and safe for swimming. There wasn't any information about it on the Progress Quotient Chart.

2. Opportunities and Challenges: The Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act was passed in October 2000, which amended the Clean Water Act to establish a program for national grants to make water quality standards, monitoring of beaches, and approaches to public notification better, and strengthen national information collection. EPA created the BEACH program to support more regularity in beach health programs and to offer better information to the community. Contained in that program, EPA accumulates information on beach advisories and closings. It has been able to gather that information using annual questionnaires sent to contributing states, tribes, local governments, and other organizations that care for beaches used for swimming. The questionnaire gathers the information about advisories and closings that have taken place during the swimming season.


Emerging Issues: Programs used for beach monitoring are normally run by local health agencies, and programs differ by place. The results in monitoring are conflicting because there are different indicator organisms that agencies use, and differing monitoring occurences. EPA has specific performance standards that States and other governments must attain to collect beach grants, as part of the grant program. These standards are anticipated to offer improvements in the collecting of beach advisory data.


There was no information provided for progress or disparities.

3. H.R.2093 Clean Coastal Environment and Public Health Act of 2009



Title: To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act relating to beach monitoring, and for other purposes.


Sponsor: Rep Pallone, Frank, Jr. [NJ-6] (introduced 4/23/2009) Cosponsors (27)


Latest Major Action: 8/7/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
 
Recommendation: Vote yes for H.R. 2093 Clean Coastal Environment and Public Health Act of 2009
 
My Political Representatives: Senator Al Franken and Senator Amy Klobuchar