did trump sign legislation to clean oceans

Pile clouds over the Atlantic Ocean. (Photo by Tiago Fioreze via Wikipedia Commons)

Washington (CN) – President Donald Trump subscribed statute law Thursday committing the United States to expand efforts to clean up nearly 8 million metric tons of litter polluting the world's oceans.

Known as the Save Our Seas Act, the government note received consentaneous bipartisan support as it passed through the Business firm and Senate this July before landing place on Trump's desk for a signature Thursday morning.

During the signing in the Oval Bureau on Thursday, Trump said "many countries of the world, [including] China, Japan; many, many countries" have conduce to the spread of waste in the oceans.

"This junk not only hurts aquatic life, but fisherman and inshore economies," Trump said. "I've seen pictures recently where at that place's immense, tremendous, [an] unthinkable amount of garbage [that] is floating right into our coast, in especial on the west glide and we'atomic number 75 supercharged with removing it."

He called this "a very unfair situation."

According to research compiled by the Ocean Conservancy, Sir Thomas More than half of the estimated 8 million tons of moldable and other rubble inundating oceans comes from "a handful of developing countries in southeast Asia, where economic growth has outpaced waste product management systems."

The lawmaking reauthorizes the National Ocean and Region Administration's marine debris program through with 2022 and gives the agency $10 million p.a. to tackle the debris preventive oceans both near and far from the U.S. government.

According to the bill, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration volition work in tandem bicycle with other organizations to address the sources of debris while the Department of State will actively promote "international legal action" addressing marine bedding.

The State Department did non immediately refund request for comment Thursday.

In a change from before iterations of the bill, NOAA is besides now allowed to distribute funds right away, where appropriate, to organizations who want to assist in clean-up efforts.

"This work has happened for years and decades," Trump same. "Previous administrations did absolutely nothing to take on foreign countries answerable."

Originally sponsored by Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Arkansas, the Save Our Seas Act also directs the President to "support funding for research and ontogeny of bio-founded and otherwise alternatives or environmentally feasible improvements to materials that subjugate municipal massive ware."

The Office of the U.S. Trade Democratic is also sequent to incorporate the impact of marine debris in "relevant in store craft agreements."

This particular exploit is already underway, the president told reporters gathered in the Oval Office.

The new US Government-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement features commitments by all parties to cooperate on bring down and ocean-based management plans aimed at improving waste reduction, Trump aforesaid.

"The U.S. has some of the most beautiful beaches and oceans in the domain. The coastlines are unimagined. I will do everything I can to stop other nations from making our oceans into their landfills," atomic number 2 said.

Kevin Allexon, senior handler of governance relations at the Ocean Conservancy told Courthouse News program Thursday that the note is a "modest just critical tool in the battle against ocean trash."

"By reauthorizing the NOAA'S marine debris political program, the law supports research on and solutions to this biological process problem. Aside importunity the United States Department of State Department to engage their counterparts around the world, [it] recognizes the round nature of marine debris, which spares no body politic or coastline," He said. "We are grateful for the bipartisan effort present — another reminder that our ocean is for everyone to delight and care for."