[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 96 (Wednesday, July 9, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H5005]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS REFUSES TO CONDUCT STUDY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Strickland] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. STRICKLAND. Mr. Speaker, as I walked over to the Capitol tonight 
and saw the lights on the dome, I felt, as I always feel as I look at 
this magnificent structure, I felt a deep appreciation for the 
opportunity to serve in this place and I felt a deep responsibility to 
my constituents who have sent me here. To represent the people of 
southern Ohio I consider a sacred responsibility.
  I come to the floor again tonight to talk about a little village in 
my district located on the Ohio River in Lawrence County, OH, a little 
village called Chesapeake, OH, a place where people for years have 
decided to build their homes and their lives on the banks of the 
beautiful Ohio River because they love the river, they love the 
environment, they love the community.
  A few months ago, a large barge towing company applied to the Army 
Corps of Engineers for a permit to build a large fleeting facility 
directly across the river from Chesapeake, OH. Now, I recognize the 
fact that the Ohio River is a river of great commerce and that we need 
to utilize it to its fullest to provide jobs and transportation for 
coal and products. I am not against a fleeting facility, and I am not 
against this particular company's location of a fleeting facility along 
the Ohio River.
  I simply object to the fact that this facility would be permitted to 
be located directly across the river from Chesapeake, OH. It would 
greatly diminish the property values of my constituents. I believe it 
would provide additional safety problems, air and water pollution, 
perhaps soil erosion.
  The Congressman before me requested that the Army Corps of Engineers 
require that an environmental impact statement be made and conducted 
before such a permit was granted. After I came to this office, I 
requested the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct an environmental 
impact study leading to an environmental impact statement.
  Such a study would require the corps to look at a range of issues, 
certainly the commercial aspects of the permit, but also factors like 
quality of life, air, water and soil issues, recreational problems that 
may be encountered as a result of such a facility, and property values.
  The corps steadfastly refused to conduct such a study. I would say 
that the citizens of this country would not have been required to pay 
for such a study, that would have been the responsibility of the 
corporation, a large, wealthy corporation that was asking for the 
permit.
  Why did the Corps refuse to conduct a study? I think it is because 
such a study would have revealed factors which would have made it 
nearly impossible for them to have legitimately issued a permit. Some 
2,000 of my constituents signed petitions directed to the Corps of 
Engineers asking them for the study.
  Two Members of Congress requested such a study. And yet the Army 
Corps of Engineers put the well-being of a large corporation above the 
well-being of my constituents, of hundreds, even thousands, of the 
citizens who live in the vicinity of Chesapeake, Ohio. The company 
claimed that they would create 30 jobs. They were certainly not able to 
convince me, nor were they able to say with surety that these would be 
30 new jobs rather than simply a consolidation of existing jobs. I am 
not against fleeting operations.
  I am not against the barge and towing industry. In fact, I strongly 
and enthusiastically support the commercial use of the Ohio River. We 
need it to provide jobs and transport for our goods. The question is 
should this facility have been located directly across the river from 
an established community. I think any reasonable consideration of the 
facts would lead to the conclusion that this was an unwise decision.
  The truth is that the Army Corps of Engineers ignored the 
representative of the people, it ignored the petitions of the people, 
and it decided that the well-being and the interests of a single large 
corporation should take priority and precedence over the well-being and 
the safety of hundreds, even thousands, of my constituents.
  What the Army Corps has done is wrong. Their policies and procedures 
need to be evaluated. I ask my constituents to continue the fight, and 
I ask my colleagues in this body for their assistance in righting this 
terrible wrong.

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