S. 5151 — MRRRI Act

This section establishes the Mississippi River Restoration and Resilience Initiative as a nonregulatory program to protect and restore the ecological health of the Mississippi River and its floodplain. It creates the Mississippi River National Program Office, sets focus areas and qualifying activities for projects, directs development of goals, an action plan, and a science plan with regular updates, establishes success criteria, requires EPA coordination with Federal, State, Tribal, and local stakeholders, and creates Mississippi River Corridor Research Centers.

This section establishes the Mississippi River Restoration and Resilience Initiative within the Environmental Protection Agency to implement large-scale projects improving water quality, floodplain and wetland resilience to floods and storms, and fish and wildlife habitat in the Mississippi River Corridor. It creates a Mississippi River National Program Office, headed by a director, to coordinate with ten states and relevant federal agencies, consult tribal governments, and issue annual public reports on funded projects and progress.

This section establishes a network of three Mississippi River Corridor Research Centers within the United States Geological Survey—one national center at a USGS office and two regional centers at host universities (Upper Mississippi from the headwaters to the Ohio River confluence; Lower Mississippi from the Ohio confluence to the Gulf). It requires the USGS Director to host a Mississippi River science forum within one year of enactment, submit a report on findings within 270 days, develop a science plan within two years after the forum, update the plan at least every five years, and solicit public comment during development.

This section defines the terms MRRRI, MRRRI Director, Mississippi River Corridor, Mississippi River State, relevant Federal agency, Tribal government, and Tribal organization for purposes of the Act by reference to the meanings given in section 127(a) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.