[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 54 (Wednesday, April 24, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H3734-H3735]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          APPRECIATING BALANCE

  (Mr. TAUZIN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

[[Page H3735]]

  Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, every spring I plant natural resource trees, 
over the past 2 months, nearly 600: crab apples, redbuds, oaks, 
cherries, dogwoods, cypress, and cedar, just to name a few. I also cut 
down trees, mostly stunted or overgrown pine, to make room for others 
to grow. I was raised to appreciate that kind of balance.
  This spring I will join other volunteers in Habitat for Humanity, 
hammering and sawing lumber to build suitable housing for poor families 
in Louisiana. I was raised to understand that kind of balance, too.
  Unfortunately, many of our bureaucrats do not. Every week nearly 1 
square mile of Louisiana washes away in coastal marsh and barrier 
island erosion. Private landowners are prepared to spend their own 
money to save those marshes and wetlands, but our wetlands permit 
system says no. Hundreds of such applications have been abandoned.
  The Corps of Engineers in Louisiana still refuses as yet to authorize 
a private mitigation bank. So 30 to 50 square miles in my State washes 
away while bureaucrats squabble over so-called wetlands that no self-
respecting duck would land on.
  We need to spend less money on lawyers and bureaucrats and more money 
really saving wetlands in America.

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