[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 95 (Tuesday, July 8, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H4895]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            QUESTIONABLE DECISION BY THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Strickland] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  (Mr. STRICKLAND asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. STRICKLAND. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor tonight to express a 
sentiment. The longer I live and the more I am involved in public life, 
the more convinced I become that the ordinary citizen is at a great 
disadvantage when they come up against the heavy hand of government or 
the all-powerful reach of a large corporation.
  Case in point: I represent many small wonderful communities in 
southern Ohio. One of those communities is located on the banks of the 
beautiful Ohio River. It is a little village called Chesapeake. In 
Chesapeake, OH, many citizens have chosen to build their homes and to 
locate on the river because they appreciate the community spirit and 
the quality of life there.
  A few months ago, a large corporation decided they wanted to 
establish a barge fleeting facility directly across the river from 
Chesapeake, OH; and, so, they approached the Army Corps of Engineers 
for a permit to do so.
  Early on, the Congressman who preceded me in this office asked the 
Army Corps of Engineers to demand and require an environmental impact 
study leading to a statement which would determine whether or not the 
citizens, my constituents in Chesapeake, OH, would be damaged as a 
result of this fleeting facility.
  When I was elected, I also asked the Army Corps of Engineers to have 
an environmental impact study completed before granting this permit. 
Nearly 2,000 of my constituents signed a petition to the Army Corps of 
Engineers. I met with the Army Corps in Huntington, WV. I met with the 
Assistant Secretary of the Army in charge of civil works in my office 
here in Washington. I simply asked that my constituents be protected. I 
said that if this permit was granted, it ought not to be granted until 
a study was done to make sure that all of the factors that should be 
considered were considered.
  A few days ago, the headlines appeared in a local newspaper which 
said, ``Corps Approves Barge Facility.'' And although I had been told 
that all the factors had been considered, I had been told that the 
aesthetic factors, property values, safety issues, recreational 
interference, water and air pollution, that all of these factors had 
been considered, it is my judgment that they were not and that the Army 
Corps of Engineers disregarded hundreds, even thousands of my 
constituents in order to support a large corporation.
  This troubles me greatly. There is something wrong when ordinary 
citizens living in the small communities of this country do not get a 
fair shake. And I think the real attitude of the Army Corps of 
Engineers was expressed by a spokesperson who said recently, I quote 
spokesman Steve Wright of the Huntington office, said,

       Officials heard comments about the facility's effect on the 
     environment, air quality and noise factors and the aesthetics 
     of where this barge facility will be built.

  And then he said, and I quote,

       The people in Chesapeake who have concerns about the 
     aesthetics might want to consider that they are on a super 
     highway of commerce.

  This attitude sickens me, Mr. Speaker.

                              {time}  2000

  It shows a callous disregard and insensitivity to American citizens 
who have a right to believe that their government and the agencies of 
their government care about them and are willing to protect them. I 
believe the Army Corps of Engineers needs a careful look. Perhaps their 
decisionmaking process needs to be reevaluated. Perhaps their funding 
needs to be reevaluated, because any time a part of this government 
shows disregard for American citizens, they have gone too far. They may 
have won this battle, but I believe that the Army Corps of Engineers 
has damaged itself. It certainly has damaged itself in the eyes of this 
Member of Congress. I will never feel as positive toward the Army Corps 
of Engineers or have the kind of respect that I have had in the past 
for the Army Corps of Engineers until they change their mode of 
operation and put the interests of ordinary American citizens above the 
interests of large corporations.

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