[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 170 (Tuesday, October 31, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H11501-H11502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




WAIVING POINTS OF ORDER AGAINST CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 1905, ENERGY 
             AND WATER DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1996

  Mr. QUILLEN. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I 
call up House Resolution 248 and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 248

       Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be 
     in order to consider the conference report to accompany the 
     bill (H.R. 1905) making appropriations for energy and water 
     development for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1996, 
     and for other purposes. All points of order against the 
     conference report and against its consideration are waived.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Quillen] 
is recognized for 1 hour.
  Mr. QUILLEN. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the 
customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from California [Mr. Beilenson], 
pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During 
consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose 
of debate only.
  Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 248 waives all points of order against 
the conference report to accompany H.R. 1905, the Energy and Water 
Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1996 and its consideration.
  Mr. Speaker, only 2 of the 13 appropriations bills have been signed 
into law, and we need to expedite consideration of these measures as 
they are reported from conference.
  Chairman John Myers and ranking member Tom Bevill and the rest of the 
conferees did an excellent job, as always. They worked closely with the 
authorizing committees, and have brought forth a balanced bill which is 
$707 million below the fiscal year 1995 level.
  I'm particularly pleased that sufficient funds were made available 
for the Tennessee Valley Authority, which provides important services 
for the 7-State region which makes up the Tennessee Valley area. These 
TVA functions would otherwise have to be provided by the Corps of 
Engineers or some other Federal agency, which would be more costly in 
my opinion.
  Mr. Speaker, this is one of only a few appropriations bills that the 
President is expected to sign rather than veto, so I urge my colleagues 
to adopt this rule and pass this conference report without delay.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BEILENSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. 
Quillen] for yielding the customary one-half hour of debate time to me, 
and I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, we do not oppose this rule. The majority seems now to 
have accepted as standard practice, rules such as this one waiving all 
points of order against conference reports for appropriations bills, 
and against their consideration.
  The conferees' resolution of the disagreements in this legislation 
were made in such a manner that we understand the President is almost 
certain to sign the bill into law. That is good news for this 
appropriations bill, at least.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill deals with some major environmental, energy 
and natural resource issues, and many Members are especially concerned 
about the clear shift in direction that is reflected in the funding 
priorities in these areas.
  For example, the bill makes deep cuts in research and development 
budgets for solar and other renewable energy sources. Those accounts 
would be cut by 29 percent from the current level.
  These energy sources are essential to helping our Nation reach 
several very important goals, including reducing the trade deficit, 
curbing gas emissions and air pollution from energy use, and reducing 
our Nation's dependence on imported oil--much of which comes from the 
politically volatile Middle East. The large cut in spending for 
development of these resources will mean a greatly reduced commitment 
to achieving these goals, which is troubling, to be frank about it, Mr. 
Speaker, to many of us.
  Meanwhile, funding for Army Corps of Engineers' water projects is 
reduced by only 6 percent. Not only is that a relatively small cut 
compared to that provided for renewable energy resources, it is very 
small compared to the reductions that are being applied this year to 
many other valuable domestic programs--for example, the one-third 
reduction in spending that would be applied to the Environmental 
Protection Agency under the House-passed VA-HUD appropriations bill. If 
this appropriations bill is viewed in the context of all the other 
budget decisions the House is making this year, the high priority that 
the majority has placed on protecting water projects really ought to be 
questioned.
  Mr. Speaker, to repeat, we do not oppose this rule, and we urge our 
colleagues to approve it so that we may proceed to consideration of the 
conference report for the energy and water appropriations bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I advise my friend and colleague from Tennessee that we 
have no requests for time on our side and, pending his ending on his 
side, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. QUILLEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished 
gentleman from Colorado [Mr. McInnis], a valuable member of the House 
Committee on Rules.
  (Mr. McINNIS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks and to include extraneous material.)
  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, first of all I appreciate the gentleman 
from Tennessee Yielding me time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 248, a rule which 
waives all points of order against the conference report to accompany 
H.R. 1905, the Energy and Water Development Appropriations for fiscal 
year 1996. I urge my colleagues to support the adoption of this rule, 
and I want to briefly discuss section 507 of the conference report.
  Section 507 provides that ``[i]n order to ensure the timely 
implementation of the Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement Act 
of 1988, the Secretary of the Interior is directed to proceed without 
delay with construction of those facilities in conformance with the 
final Biological Opinion for the Animas-La Plata project, Colorado and 
New Mexico, dated October 25, 1991.'' This language does not seek to 
waive environmental requirements. However, the conference came to the 
judgment that this project has already more than satisfied 
environmental requirements. For example, two separate biological 
opinions under the Endangered Species Act have been completed. One 
section 404(r) permit exemption under the Clean Water Act was granted. 
Furthermore, an environmental impact statement and supplemental draft 
environmental impact statement under NEPA have occurred, and there are 
still more reviews currently underway.
  This project has been the subject of lengthy environmental 
consideration, and we are simply saying, Enough is enough. It is time 
to move forward.
  The simple fact is that the construction of the Animas-La Plata 
project must begin immediately in order to possibly meet the terms of 
the 1986 settlement agreement between two tribes of native Americans, 
the United States, and other parties. If the two Ute tribes do not 
begin receiving water by January 1, 2001, then they have an option 
until January 1, 2005, to reject water from the Animas-La Plata Project 
and to institute litigation to obtain direct flow rights to the water 
with a 100-year-old priority date. That litigation will have a severe 
economic impact on the rural and urban economies of Colorado and New 
Mexico, jeopardize the water rights of countless of people throughout 
the Four Corners region, and cost the U.S. taxpayers millions of 
dollars. This Congress cannot 

[[Page H11502]]

want to see further litigation and we do not want to break our word to 
these native Americans. That is why section 507 was included.
  Second, a question may arise as to what the conferees meant by the 
words ``timely implementation'' and ``without delay'' is simple. Timely 
implementation means, right now. That is why they choose the words, 
``without delay.'' They could have said, without one year's delay. They 
could have said, without undue delay. Instead, they chose the 
unambiguous, without delay. The Secretary should have no trouble 
interpreting this unambiguous language.
  I reiterate that this is primarily an issue of fair dealing with 
native Americans. Nearly 125 years ago the United States promised these 
two tribes water to make their reservations a homeland. In 1988 
Congress reaffirmed that promise and, in return for this promise, the 
tribes set aside their most valuable tribal asset--their senior water 
rights in exchange for the promised project. They in good faith agreed 
not to seek to take water away from their non-Indian neighbors, but 
instead to share water with them. Congress now must ensure that the 
United States lives up to its end of the deal.
  The Secretary of Interior has the responsibility under the 1988 
legislation to build the Animas-La Plata project. In hearings on the 
fiscal year 1994 Energy and water development appropriations bill, 
Secretary Babbitt stated: ``I understand that Congress has mandated 
that this project get going, and I will comply with that mandate.''
  The Secretary now has yet another mandate from the Congress. Section 
507 provides him with the necessary tools to move forward and build 
this project in accordance with obvious congressional intent. I urge 
Secretary Babbitt to move forward and build the Animas-La Plata project 
immediately so that the United States may preserve the integrity of the 
water rights settlement.
  I urge my colleagues to support the adoption of this rule.
  Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the following:

                         A-LP Foes Are All Wet

       It's been suggested in some quarters of late that 
     supporters of the Animas-La Plata water project near Durango 
     are trying to slip something past the public and the 
     Congress.
       What hogwash.
       In reality, the efforts under way this month are aimed at 
     keeping on track a project that was long-ago approved--and 
     has subsequently been re-approved--by Congress, by the states 
     of Colorado and New Mexico, by voters in the local water 
     district and by two Ute Indian tribes.
       Environmental groups, led by the Sierra Club Legal Defense 
     Fund, continue to work behind the scenes and in court to halt 
     a project that has been legitimately approved by both houses 
     of Congress and signed into law as a treaty obligation to 
     Colorado's long-suffering native Indian tribes.
       The current debate, like much that has surrounded the 
     Animas-La Plata since it was authorized by Congress in 1968, 
     is filled with misinformation and half-truths.
       For example, one Front Range newspaper said that before 
     Congress approves the project it must be certain that it 
     isn't adding to the list of broken promises to the Indians.
       There are several things wrong with that. First is the fact 
     that Congress has already approved the project, initially 
     when it was authorized in 1968; later, through annual 
     appropriations bills; and most importantly, when it adopted 
     the 1988 Indian Water Rights Settlement Act.
       Secondly, the 1988 act wasn't approved only by Congress, 
     but by the states of Colorado and New Mexico, and by the Ute 
     Mountain Utes and Southern Ute Indian Tribes. Essential to 
     that act is the construction of the Animas-La Plata to 
     provide water to the Indian tribes, a provision the Indians 
     accepted in return for dropping their long-standing claims 
     under the Winters Doctrine to water in rivers of the region.
       If Animas-La Plata isn't built by the deadlines set in that 
     agreement, the Indians are free to go back to court and win a 
     much more costly settlement from the U.S. government. But the 
     Indians have said repeatedly that they want the water the 
     project will provide, not a prolonged court battle.
       Much is also made of the fact the Animas-La Plata will be 
     built in two phases, and there is no guarantee the second 
     phase, which won't have federal involvement, will ever be 
     constructed. Therefore, critics charge, there is no guarantee 
     the Indians will get the water due them from the project.
       But the Indians will receive 60,000 acre feet of water from 
     Phase 1 of the Animas-La Plata project, no small amount of 
     water currency. (It's instructive to note that when critics 
     talk about the cost of the Animas-La Plata, they use the most 
     recent figures for both Phase 1 and Phase 2, approximately 
     $710 million, not the roughly $525 million for Phase 1. But 
     when they talk about the benefits of the project, they only 
     mention Phase 1.)
       In 1991, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledged 
     that the primary features of the project could be constructed 
     with no threat to the endangered Colorado squawfish and 
     issued a final biological opinion stating as much. The 
     sufficiency language now proposed in Congress would simply 
     require construction of what was allowed under that opinion.
       However, the 1991 opinion was a disappointment to Sierra 
     Club officials, who have vowed to keep the project tied up in 
     litigation for 40 years. They immediately filed a lawsuit 
     claiming the project violated the National Environmental 
     Policy Act on the grounds that ``all reasonable and prudent 
     alternatives'' to the project were not adequately examined. 
     Unfortunately, the Sierra Club got a federal judge to agree, 
     forcing the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to halt its 
     construction plans and file a supplemental Environmental 
     Impact Statement. That supplement is expected to be completed 
     later this year.
       This project has had agonizing environmental examination, 
     as well as broad-based official approval. Congress should 
     adopt the language in the appropriations bill and allow the 
     project to proceed.

  Mr. QUILLEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Gekas].
  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.
  Mr. Speaker, this rule, which I support, gives evidence of how well 
our conference system works. Many times, as in this case in title IV, 
the House which provided no moneys, shall we say, for the Delaware 
River Basin Commission or the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, an 
ongoing independent agency, in both cases the Senate, in its wisdom, 
did something different. Then the conference, in its own type of 
wisdom, was able to strike a compromise and bring in amounts of money 
that reflect the desire of the Congress to continue the operation of 
some of these independent agencies, albeit with a warning that in years 
to come more and more responsibility for their activities will have to 
be placed within their own bailiwicks in their local governments.

                              {time}  1315

  In the compact types of commissions like the Susquehanna River Basin 
Commission, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, they will, in due 
time, be able to reconstruct their funding streams in such a way that 
they will be able to continue their activities well. They could not do 
it, though, with a zeroing out of their funding for this particular 
year.
  Hence, the conference saved the ongoing stream of funding for the 
Susquehanna River Basin Commission, but at a lower level. The 
conference has worked. The people's will has been met through the work 
of the House and the Senate.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the rule.
  Mr. BEILENSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. QUILLEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I 
move the previous question on the resolution.
  The previous question was ordered.
  The resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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