PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Mar 15, 2010
National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System Act - Directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), to establish within USGS a National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System program to monitor volcanic activity and to warn and protect U.S. citizens from harm.
Sets forth as System purposes to organize, modernize, standardize, and stabilize monitoring systems of U.S. volcano observatories and to unify monitoring systems into a single interoperative system. Sets forth as System objectives to monitor all U.S. volcanoes at a level commensurate with the threat they pose by upgrading existing networks on monitored volcanoes and installing new networks on unmonitored volcanoes.
Requires the System to include: (1) a national volcano watch office that is operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week; (2) a national volcano data center; and (3) an external grants program to support research in volcano monitoring science and technology.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Directs the Secretary to: (1) submit to Congress a five-year management plan for establishing and operating the System and an annual report; (2) establish an advisory committee; and (3) coordinate activities under this Act with the heads of relevant federal agencies. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements with universities and state agencies as volcano observatory partners.
People & committees
Rep. Young, Don [R-AK-At Large] · R–AK
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Jan 10, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.4847 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.4847 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.4847 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.4847 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.