The Clean Estuaries Act of 2010 - Summer

This report examines the environmental and policy significance of the Clean Estuaries Act of 2010 (H.R. 4715), which reauthorizes the National Estuary Program (NEP) established under Section 320 of the Clean Water Act of 1977. The NEP focuses on protecting and restoring 28 nationally significant estuaries across the United States. Estuaries—where freshwater from rivers or groundwater meets and mixes with ocean saltwater—are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth. They provide critical habitat for marine species, support commercial and recreational fisheries, and have long served as centers of human settlement and economic activity.

Despite their importance, estuaries face increasing environmental pressures from pollution, coastal development, and overuse. The Clean Estuaries Act seeks to strengthen protection and restoration efforts by reauthorizing and expanding funding for the NEP, increasing annual federal support from $35 million to as much as $75 million through proposed Senate amendments. The legislation emphasizes collaborative watershed management, scientific monitoring, and restoration initiatives to improve water quality and ecosystem health.

The report analyzes how the Act supports sustainable estuary management and highlights implementation challenges. Case studies of two NEP member estuaries—the New York–New Jersey Harbor Estuary and Louisiana’s Barataria-Terrebonne estuarine complex—illustrate both the ecological importance of these systems and the urgent need for coordinated conservation efforts, particularly in light of environmental disasters such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Learn more about the MPA-ESP Workshop in Applied Earth Systems Management.