[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 46 (Thursday, April 17, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3351-S3352]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CONRAD (for himself and Mr. Dorgan):
  S. 605. A bill to require the Secretary of Agriculture to provide 
emergency assistance to producers for cattle losses that are due to 
damaging weather or related condition occurring during the 1996-97 
winter season, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Agriculture, 
Nutrition, and Forestry.


             AGRICULTURAL EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE LEGISLATION

  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, my State has been hit by one of the most 
remarkable series of events ever in the history of our State.
  First we had the greatest snowfall in our State's history, over 100 
inches of snow. Then the last of eight major blizzards hit. The eighth 
and final blizzard

[[Page S3352]]

was the most powerful winter storm in 50 years. It included almost 2 
feet of snow as well as major ice storms, then followed by 70 mile-an-
hour winds that were devastating--80,000 people lost their electricity, 
many of them for a week. The economic devastation is truly remarkable.
  Now in the last 12 hours even more disaster is occurring. I am going 
to read just briefly from the major newspaper in my State, which is in 
the largest city of our State, Fargo, ND.
  The article begins this way:

       At 12:15 a.m. today, the flood of 1997 officially became 
     the worst in Fargo-Moorhead's history.
       The National Weather Service said a reading taken at that 
     time put the Red River's level at 39.12 feet. That exceeds . 
     . . the river level measured in the flood of 1897--until this 
     morning, the worst ever.
       That also means the Red [River] has hit the 500-year flood 
     level.
       Speaking on [a local] radio [station] at 1:15 a.m., city 
     Operations Manager Dennis Walaker struck an ominous note.
       Walaker said, ``We are at river stages that exceed the 1897 
     level. No one has ever seen this much water in the Fargo 
     area, ever. All we can do is react.''

  I just talked to the mayor, and I just talked to Mr. Walaker. He 
tells me they have 15 square miles of water headed for Fargo, ND. This 
on top of the river which is 20 feet above flood stage. There is just a 
mass scramble to try to deal with this extraordinary flood threat.

       The crest is not expected to be much higher than [about 
     39.5 feet] but officials will reevaluate the situation this 
     morning. . . .
       Iced-over farm fields liquefied. Shelterbelt snowdrifts 
     shrank. Drainage ditches whooshed into coulees and merged 
     with rivers.
       In rural Cass County . . . winter turned into water.
       By noon, sheets of melted snow rolled toward the Red River. 
     Water that couldn't fit into engorged rivers, particularly 
     the Wild Rice River, took off over land. The overland flows 
     crossed I-29--

  The major north-south Federal highway--

       near the Horace exit and threatened homes in southwest 
     Fargo.
       At midmorning, [the mayor] warned residents of approaching 
     overland flooding. He suggested people leave work and check 
     their property if they live in--

  Certain residential areas.

       By midafternoon, some students were leaving [schools] 
     because of the flood threat.
       The situation was even more urgent next to the Red River. 
     Fargo-Moorhead homeowners who hadn't lost the battle Tuesday 
     asked for more sandbags and sandbaggers. North Dakota State 
     University canceled classes so students could help in the 
     fight.

  I will not go further, Mr. President, other than to say this is 
absolutely an extraordinary time. One of the areas in which we have 
been hit the hardest is cattle death losses. The number of cattle 
losses are at least 112,000 head at this point. North Dakota Farm 
Service Agency reports that nearly 80,000 of them are from the weekend 
storm of April 4 through 6 alone, a storm that is being called Blizzard 
Hannah. I fear, Mr. President, that many more calves may die.
  This is such an extraordinary set of events. These pictures depict 
some of the situations and scenes that we are seeing across the State 
of North Dakota. Here, one cow is nuzzling a calf with a dead cow 
alongside. What happened in this storm, which was so powerful, is that 
not only did cattle freeze to death, but many suffocated because the 
winds were so intense that compacted snow was blown up into their 
nostrils and they suffocated.
  Mr. President, this next picture shows what we are seeing all too 
often. Here a farmer is coming down the road to inspect the herd. Here 
is a cow dead in a ditch. All across North Dakota, carcasses are 
littered after this devastation.
  Here is an all-too-often sight. This is a cow frozen in a snow bank. 
It is not just a snow bank, it is actually ice and snow together. 
People report that these snow banks are like concrete. There was first 
this heavy snowfall, then the ice, then these incredible winds. These 
cattle did not have a chance.
  For that reason, today I am introducing legislation that will provide 
for an indemnification payment. I hope that this legislation will be 
enacted. I hope that my colleagues will understand the massive economic 
loss in my State.
  Under this legislation, producers who have experienced a 5-percent 
loss of their cattle herd or calf crop would receive indemnity payments 
of $200 per head, up to 200 of lost livestock. In some cases, losses 
will be covered by private insurance. In these instances, producers 
will be able to receive indemnity payments under my program, but the 
total payments of private insurance and Government indemnity cannot 
exceed the expected value of a cow.
  I have been working with my colleagues from the Dakotas, Senator 
Dorgan from North Dakota, and Senator Daschle and Senator Johnson from 
South Dakota to implement assistance to livestock producers in North 
Dakota and South Dakota. We will continue working to provide 
meaningful, comprehensive relief.
  Cattle producers in my State have asked for something simple and 
something that will help them overcome these overwhelming difficulties. 
My legislation accomplishes those goals, and I call on my colleagues to 
offer this assistance to livestock producers.
  I understand I have a colleague standing by who would like to have 
time as well, so I do not want to extend this, other than to send the 
legislation to the desk and ask it be appropriately referred. I 
introduce it on behalf of myself and my colleague from North Dakota, 
Senator Dorgan. I urge my colleagues' close attention to it.
  Again, Mr. President, we are faced with what I call a slow-motion 
disaster, because it is a circumstance in which you do not have the 
flood come and leave. In this circumstance, the flood has come, and it 
is staying. In addition to that, we have all of these other severe 
weather factors to cope with.
  I, again, hope that we will move expeditiously with the supplemental 
disaster legislation so that we can fund the programs necessary to help 
in the recovery that is so urgently needed, not only in my State but in 
the States of Minnesota and South Dakota as well.
                                 ______