Federal government will study toxic waste in California ocean waters.
S. 5563 — Ocean Protection and DDT Reduction Act · Filed by Alex Padilla (D-CA) · Introduced Sep 24, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill tells NOAA to study toxic waste in the San Pedro Basin. The waste was dumped in ocean waters off California. NOAA will check how much poison is in the water and sea life. NOAA will test ways to clean it up. NOAA must report findings to Congress in three years. The bill gives $6 million per year from 2028 to 2034.
Who it affects
The bill affects people who live near California coastal waters. It affects scientists and universities that study the ocean. It affects companies that work on cleaning up toxic waste.
One thing to notice
The bill pays for study and research only. It does not pay for actual cleanup work.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Sep 24, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 24, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- NOAA — The federal agency that studies the ocean and weather.
- San Pedro Basin — An area of ocean floor off the coast of California.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,755 characters) on Oct 16, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Federal government will study toxic waste in California ocean waters.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s5563/simple Report an error
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