[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 54 (Tuesday, April 20, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3910-S3911]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 1999
Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I rise to discuss the Water Resources
Development Act of 1999. This bill has passed the Senate under
unanimous consent thanks to the leadership of its sponsor Senator
Warner, and Senator Chafee, Chair of the Environment and Public Works
Committee and Senator Baucus, the ranking member on the Committee. I
want to thank the Senators for their work.
Included in this legislation is a request that the Army Corps of
Engineers evaluate plans to alleviate flooding and make other
improvements to the Muddy River, which runs through Brookline and
Boston, Massachusetts. This is an urgently needed project.
The Muddy River flows through mostly urban-residential areas in
Brookline and Boston before emptying into the Charles River. The River
has flooded several times in the past, with two particularly severe
floods in 1996 and 1998. The 1996 flood was a presidentially declared
disaster. It lasted three days, submerged parts of Brookline and Boston
in knee-deep water, flooded underground Massachusetts Bay
Transportation Authority stations and halted commuter train traffic,
and extensively damaged homes and businesses. Massachusetts Governor
Paul Cellucci estimates that the cost of these two floods exceeded
$100,000,000. Preventing future damage from floods is a top priority
for the Town of Brookline, the City of Boston and the State of
Massachusetts, and each has pledged to do their part to find a
solution.
Specifically, the Water Resources Development Act of 1999 asks the
Secretary of the Army to evaluate a study called the ``Emerald Necklace
Environmental Improvement Master Plan:
[[Page S3911]]
Phase I Muddy River Flood Control, Water Quality and Environmental
Enhancement'', and to report its findings to Congress by December 31,
1999. The Plan was commissioned by the Boston Parks and Recreation
Department and issued in January 1999. It presents a solution that has
broad community support. Residents and businesses joined with the Town
of Brookline, City of Boston, State of Massachusetts and the federal
government to develop this plan. It draws on research by the Army Corps
of Engineers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and others to
recommend comprehensive improvements to end destructive flooding,
enhance water quality and protect habitat. I believe this project
embodies the kind of citizen-government partnership that is necessary
for an efficient and successful use of federal resources.
The Massachusetts delegation, the Town of Brookline, the City of
Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts all look forward to
working with the Army Corps in Boston and Washington over the coming
months to complete this evaluation by the end of the year, and to move
ahead with the work of ending these destructive floods and making other
needed improvements.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I am pleased that the Water Resources
Development Act of 1999, passed by the Senate yesterday, incorporates
so many projects of importance to the Great Lakes region. I am
especially pleased that so many of these projects serve to reinforce
the pre-eminent leadership of the Chicago regional office in meeting
the environmental responsibilities assigned to the Army Corps of
Engineers in past reauthorizations of the Water Resources Development
Act.
Mr. President, the Water Resources Development Act of 1999
incorporates a very important matter which I have considered a priority
for some time. The subject is contaminated sediments and they are a
potential threat to public and environmental health across the country.
Persistent, bioaccumulative toxic substances in contaminated sediment
can poison the food chain, making fish and shellfish unsafe for humans
and wildlife to eat. Contamination of sediments can also interfere with
recreational uses and increase the costs of and time needed for
navigational dredging and subsequent disposal of dredged material.
Unfortunately, the resources of the federal government have not been
brought to bear on these problems in a well coordinated fashion.
Section 222 of this Act will require the Environmental Protection
Agency and Army Corps of Engineers to finally activate the National
Contaminated Sediment Task Force that was mandated by the Water
Resources Development Act of 1992. I am hopeful that convening this
Task Force will encourage the Federal agencies to work together to
combat this problem and create greater public awareness of the need to
address contaminated sediments. We also need a better understanding of
the quantities and sources of sediment contamination, to prevent
recontamination and minimize the recurrence of these costs and impacts,
and to get a handle on the extent of the public health threat. To that
end, the Act requires the Task Force to report on the status of
remedial action on contaminated sediments around the country, including
a description of the authorities used in cleanup, the nature and
sources of sediment contamination, the methods for determining the need
for cleanup, the fate of dredged materials and barriers to swift
remediation.
Mr. President, as the Democratic Co-Chair of the Senate Great Lakes
Task Force, I would like to take this opportunity to highlight several
specific programs included in this bill which were developed through
the bipartisan and bicameral cooperation of the members of this Task
Force. Extension of cost-sharing rules to allow non-traditional
partners such as non-profit organizations to partner with the Army
Corps of Engineers on restoration activities will greatly expand the
potential uses of these authorities in the Great Lakes basin (Sections
205 and 206). Section 224(2) will enhance the authority of the Corps to
work cooperatively with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission to make more
efficient use of Corps' engineering expertise in constructing barriers
and traps to reduce these aggressive invaders. Section 225 authorizes a
special study on the watershed of the western basin of Lake Erie to
enhance the integration of disparate elements of the Corps' program in
this region. Section 223, the Great Lakes Basin Program incorporates
three high-profile elements critical to the region as a whole which
were developed through extensive negotiations among Task Force members
at the end of the 105th Congress.
The first element of the Great Lakes Basin Program (Section 223a)
directs the Army Corps of Engineers to develop a framework for their
activities in the Great Lakes basin to be updated biennially. Many Army
Corps of Engineers divisions have developed and use such strategic
plans. Among other strengths, such plans allow greater programatic
coordination--especially among projects conducted for such disparate
purposes as navigation, environmental restoration, water quality, and
flood control. Development of such a strategic plan for the Great Lakes
basin has never been more important than at present, given the recent
restructuring of the Army Corps of Engineers which leaves the Great
Lakes and Ohio River division as the only Army Corps of Engineers
division maintaining two regional offices (Chicago and Cincinnati).
The second element of the Great Lakes Basin Program (Section 223b)
directs the Army Corps of Engineers to inventory existing information
relevant to the Great Lakes biohydrological system and sustainable
water use management. The Corps is to report to Congress, as well as to
the International Joint Commission and the eight Great Lakes states, on
the results of this inventory and recommendations on how to improve the
information base. This information is crucial to the ongoing debate
regarding attempts to export or divert Great Lakes surface and ground
water out of the basin. The closely related provision, contained in
subsection (e), on water use activities and policies, allows the
Secretary to provide technical assistance to the Great Lakes states in
development of interstate guidelines to improve consistency and
efficiency of State-level water use activities and policies.
The third major element of the Great Lakes Basin Program (Section
223c) directs the Army Corps of Engineers to submit to Congress a
report based on existing information detailing the economic benefits of
recreational boating in the Great Lakes basin. As many of my colleagues
may know, despite Congress' repeated objections, consecutive
Administrations have unwisely sought to limit the Corps' role in
dredging recreational harbors. Clearly these harbors' value to the
regional economy should be recognized in the cost-benefit analyses used
in making dredging decisions. For the Great Lakes region, dredging of
these recreational harbors will be of increasing importance in the
coming year as Great Lakes water levels decline from the high of the
past several years.
Mr. President, I also wish to take a moment in closing to highlight
the several specific projects included in the recently passed bill
which will benefit my home state of Michigan. They include an Army
Corps feasibility study of improvements to the Detroit River waterfront
as part of the ongoing revitalization of the area. The Corps will
prepare studies for flood control projects in St. Clair Shores and
along the Saginaw River in Bay City. The Corps will consider
reconstruction of the Hamilton Dam flood control project and review its
denial of the city of Charlevoix's request for reimbursement of
construction costs incurred in building a new revetment connection to
the Federal navigation project at Charlevoix Harbor. Finally, the bill
includes a unique provision which will allow the use of materials
dredged from Toledo Harbor in Ohio for environmental restoration on the
Woodtick Peninsula in Michigan.
Mr. President, I appreciate the hard work of my colleagues on the
Environment and Public Works Committee in incorporating these important
provisions into this bill and look forward to working with them to get
these important provisions signed into law.
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