[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 73 (Tuesday, June 9, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S5997]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT ACT DEAUTHORIZATIONS

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
now proceed to the consideration of calendar No. 392, S. 1532.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 1532) to amend the Water Resources Development 
     Act of 1996 to deauthorize the remainder of the project at 
     East Boothbay Harbor, Maine.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the immediate 
consideration of the bill?
  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
considered read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be 
laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill 
appear at the appropriate place in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (S. 1532) was considered read a third time and passed, as 
follows:

                                S. 1532

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. DEAUTHORIZATION OF REMAINDER OF PROJECT AT EAST 
                   BOOTHBAY HARBOR, MAINE.

       Section 364 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1996 
     (110 Stat. 3731) is amended by striking paragraph (9) and 
     inserting the following:
       ``(9) East Boothbay Harbor, Maine.--The project for 
     navigation, East Boothbay Harbor, Maine, authorized by the 
     first section of the Act entitled ``An Act making 
     appropriations for the construction, repair, and preservation 
     of certain public works on rivers and harbors, and for other 
     purposes'', approved June 25, 1910 (36 Stat. 657).''.

  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise today to thank my colleagues for 
their support of my legislation, S. 1531 and S. 1532, introduced on 
behalf of the towns of Tremont and East Boothbay, Maine. S. 1531 
deauthorizes certain portions of the navigational project for Bass 
Harbor, and S. 1532 deauthorizes the final portions of East Boothbay 
Harbor.
  Bass Harbor has the greatest concentration of fishing boats on Mt. 
Desert Island and all mooring spaces are currently full, with a long 
waiting list to obtain future moorings. When the townspeople approached 
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to obtain a permit for expansion, they 
were told that no improvements could be made until the federal project 
area boundary was moved to the proper location by legislative action. I 
was happy to do this on their behalf. The Selectmen, Town Manager, and 
Harbor Committee will now be working with the Corps and the State in 
anticipation of having the harbor dredged, which last occurred in 1966, 
so that they may make space available for more and larger boats.
  S. 1532 deauthorizes the remainder of the federal navigational 
project at Boothbay Harbor. The current marina owners purchased the 
former shipbuilding yard in East Boothbay in 1993 and have since turned 
it into a full service marina. In the process of getting all the 
permits together for further economic development, the marina 
discovered that parts of the harbor, while no longer used as such, were 
still deemed a federal navigation project created back in 1913, when 
mine sweepers and other ships were being built there for World War I. 
Because part of the federal navigation project is still considered 
active, the Corps told the town that nothing could be done in the water 
until the entire area was deauthorized. My bill takes care of this 
final deauthorization, the rest of which was accomplished in the last 
reauthorization of Water Resources Development Act, but the coordinates 
were ultimately found to be inaccurate. This legislation, with the 
assistance of the Corps, addresses that small section still requiring 
deauthorization.
  I am especially pleased for the towns of Tremont and East Boothbay, 
with whom I have worked in the long deauthorization process, so as to 
allow them to continue with much needed harbor development. I want to 
thank Senator Chafee and his Environment and Public Works Committee for 
moving these bills out of committee and to the Senate floor. When 
passed by the House and signed into law, the bills will allow the towns 
to get on with much needed economic development in their harbors.

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