I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 641
To establish an interagency committee on soil carbon sequestration research,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY23, 2025
Ms. M
CCLELLAN(for herself, Mr. LAWLER, Mr. SORENSEN, Ms. BONAMICI,
and Ms. S
CHOLTEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the
Committees on Agriculture, and Natural Resources, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned
A BILL
To establish an interagency committee on soil carbon
sequestration research, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Coordination for Soil 4
Carbon Research and Monitoring Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. SOIL CARBON RESEARCH AND MONITORING. 6
(a) I
NTERAGENCYCOMMITTEE.— 7
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(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established an 1
interagency committee to be known as the ‘‘Inter-2
agency Committee on Soil Carbon Research’’ (in this 3
section referred to as the ‘‘Interagency Committee’’), 4
to be led by the Office of Science and Technology 5
Policy and composed of representatives from the fol-6
lowing: 7
(A) The Department of Agriculture. 8
(B) The Department of Energy. 9
(C) The Department of the Interior. 10
(D) The Environmental Protection Agency. 11
(E) The United States Geological Survey. 12
(F) The National Oceanic and Atmos-13
pheric Administration. 14
(G) The National Science Foundation. 15
(H) The National Aeronautics and Space 16
Administration. 17
(I) The White House Environmental Jus-18
tice Advisory Council. 19
(J) The National Institute of Standards 20
and Technology. 21
(K) Such other Federal agencies as the Di-22
rector of the Office of Science and Technology 23
Policy determines appropriate. 24
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(2) DUTIES.—The Interagency Committee 1
shall— 2
(A) develop a cross-agency strategic plan 3
for Federal research, development, and deploy-4
ment regarding soil carbon sequestration sam-5
pling and measurement methodologies, meas-6
urement and monitoring technologies, and com-7
munity needs; 8
(B) propose roles and responsibilities to 9
each Federal agency to advance soil carbon se-10
questration research and monitoring; 11
(C) oversee working groups established 12
under this section; 13
(D) as appropriate, seek to consult with 14
Federal agencies and with the Office of Man-15
agement and Budget regarding planning and 16
budget review, respectively, concerning matters 17
relating to Federal soil carbon sequestration re-18
search and monitoring; 19
(E) not later than one year after the date 20
of the enactment of this Act, submit to Con-21
gress a baseline report on existing soil carbon 22
sequestration research and monitoring activi-23
ties; 24
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•HR 641 IH
(F) submit to Congress progress reports 1
on soil carbon sequestration research and moni-2
toring activities at one-, three-, and five-year in-3
tervals after the submission of the baseline re-4
port under subparagraph (E); 5
(G) encourage coordination between Fed-6
eral agencies and evaluate soil carbon seques-7
tration monitoring activities, data collection on 8
soil carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes, 9
and long-term storage protocols for soil carbon; 10
(H) support comprehensive reporting on 11
soil carbon sequestration related activities based 12
on a standardized integration of existing and 13
new relevant data collection efforts across Fed-14
eral agencies; 15
(I) share recommendations for review and 16
input with soil science experts from academia, 17
private industry, and nonprofit organizations 18
that represent the geographic, operational, and 19
demographic diversity of United States agri-20
culture; and 21
(J) designate a member of the Interagency 22
Committee to collaborate with Federal agency 23
heads on soil carbon sequestration research and 24
monitoring activities. 25
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(3) WORKING GROUPS.— 1
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Interagency Com-2
mittee may, as appropriate and necessary, es-3
tablish working groups to coordinate on cross- 4
cutting priorities on soil carbon research as de-5
termined by the Interagency Committee, includ-6
ing relating to the following: 7
(i) Monitoring, Reporting, and 8
Verification (MRV). 9
(ii) Data collection and management, 10
with a focus on measurement standards, 11
standards for use of new technologies, and 12
data architecture for accessibility across 13
agencies. 14
(iii) Fundamental research, including 15
regarding soil carbon dynamics, plant 16
breeding, and soil amendments. 17
(iv) Community engagement in re-18
search development and dissemination of 19
results, particularly with historically under-20
served and disadvantaged groups. 21
(B) D
UTIES.—Working groups established 22
pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall— 23
(i) identify ongoing research and mon-24
itoring efforts on soil carbon at each Fed-25
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eral agency represented in each such work-1
ing group; 2
(ii) identify gaps in current efforts on 3
soil carbon sequestration research and 4
monitoring; 5
(iii) outline current collaboration 6
across agencies on soil carbon sequestra-7
tion research and monitoring; 8
(iv) propose coordinated projects and 9
budget requests to advance the field of soil 10
carbon sequestration research and moni-11
toring; 12
(v) engage with and conduct outreach 13
to agricultural communities and producers, 14
particularly those historically underserved, 15
to ensure soil carbon sequestration re-16
search and monitoring is rooted in stake-17
holder engagement and on-the-ground per-18
spectives; 19
(vi) engage with research and exten-20
sion soil scientists, private industry, non-21
profit organizations, and other inter-22
disciplinary soil science expert groups to 23
ensure that recommendations are informed 24
by the best available science; and 25
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(vii) collaborate on the development of 1
standardized monitoring of the long-term 2
carbon and environmental impacts of soil 3
carbon sequestration research. 4
(b) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—There is 5
authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 to carry out 6
this section. 7
Æ
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