[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 84 (Tuesday, June 15, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7010-S7011]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2000

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate resume 
consideration of the energy and water appropriations bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senate resumed the consideration of the bill.
  Pending:

       Domenici amendment No. 628, of a technical nature.

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative assistant proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I am aware of the very tight budgetary 
constraints under which this bill is being considered and I commend the 
chairman and ranking member for their good, hard work. One concern I 
have, however, is that the fiscal year 2000 Energy and Water 
Appropriations bill does not fund the Department of Energy's Scientific 
Simulation Initiative (SSI). The SSI is not only an integral part of 
the President's Information Technology Initiative for the 21st Century, 
but also a key element in the Department's effort to keep the United 
States at the leading edge of scientific discovery. It is only through 
scientific modeling on computers 10-100 times more powerful than those 
now available to civilian scientists that we can address many 
scientific problems with an enormous potential payoff for the Nation. 
The SSI will build on DOE's successful history of making leading edge 
computers available for scientific modeling to provide us with 
reliable, quantitative and regional information about changes in 
climate, and help us design more efficient internal combustion engines. 
It will also help us create more effective drugs and materials, and 
contribute to our understanding of basic scientific problems in a wide 
range of disciplines. I hope that, should more funding become available 
during this year's congressional appropriations process, the Senate 
will work with the House of Representatives to fully fund this 
important program.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I am pleased the managers have accepted the 
amendment that I introduced along with Senators DeWine, Voinovich, 
Moynihan and Akaka, adding funds to help combat zebra mussels and other 
invasive species which infest U.S. waterways. The funds provided will 
allow the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to meet its responsibilities 
under the National Invasive Species Act of 1996 to research, develop 
and demonstrate environmentally sound techniques for managing and 
removing aquatic nuisance species that threaten public infrastructure 
in U.S. waters. The Corps' efforts complement the work of other 
agencies to limit the introduction and spread of new species, providing 
a desperately needed aquatic invasive species control program.
  Mr. President, Zebra mussels in the Great Lakes degrade and disrupt 
the ecosystem; they endanger other indigenous species, either by 
consuming their food supply or smothering them, and zebra mussels cause 
grave economic impacts as they damage public infrastructure. Similar 
nonindigenous species infestations harm virtually every U.S. waterway 
and coastal area. Over the years, legislation to prevent and control 
these invasive species has received strong bipartisan, multi-regional 
support as a testimony to the serious threat they pose.
  The Committee bill includes some other important items for Michigan 
and the Great Lakes. These include:
  $400,000 for preconstruction, engineering and designing improvements 
to the locks in Sault Ste. Marie.
  $1.7 million to repair the north and south piers and revetments at 
Pentwater Harbor.
  $100,000 to complete a study on Environmental Dredging in Detroit 
River.
  $250,000 for corrections to deficiencies associated with the Clinton 
River Spillway.
  $100,000 to complete seawall construction, dredging and other work 
associated with the establishment of the Robert V. Annis Water Resource 
Institute at Grand Valley State University.
  $200,000 for planning and design of sea lamprey barriers at sites 
throughout the Great Lakes basin. As my colleagues may know, the sea 
lamprey is a devastating invasive species that has plagued the Great 
Lakes since it first appeared and these barriers play an important role 
in preventing this species spread and population growth.
  Funding for the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV)
  Mr. President, on balance, this is a good bill, despite the budget 
constraints that the managers faced in putting it together.
  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I rise today to make a few remarks about a 
serious threat to my home state of Ohio and to thank the honorable 
chairman and ranking member of the Energy and Water Appropriations 
Subcommittee and Senator Levin for helping me to address this threat.
  Mr. President, sometimes big problems come in small packages. Today, 
Lake Erie--and just about every other body of water in the Midwest--are 
threatened by a very small and unwanted intruder, the zebra mussel. 
This small but prodigious mussel is just one of the many invasive 
species that have entered this country and which threaten to degrade 
the natural resource capital of virtually every U.S. waterway and 
coastal area. Free of their natural predators and other limiting 
environmental factors, alien species like the zebra mussel often cause 
grave economic harm as they foul or otherwise damage public 
infrastructure.
  In the late 1980s, the zebra mussel was discovered in Lake St. Clair, 
having arrived from eastern Europe through the discharge of ballast 
water from European freighters. The species spread rapidly to 20 states 
and as far as the mouth of the Mississippi River. U.S. expenditures to 
control zebra mussels and clean water intake pipes, water filtration 
equipment, and electric generating plants and other damages are 
estimated at $3.1 billion over 10 years.
  In Ohio, the zebra mussel poses a particular threat to public water 
intake systems. Ohio has more than 1,900 facilities that collectively 
withdraw over 10 billion gallons of water per day. The costs to remove 
or prevent infestations of zebra mussels in large surface water intakes 
can exceed $350,000 annually.
  The mussels threaten native wildlife in Ohio by competing for the 
food of native fish by filtering algae and other plankton from the 
water. They have also been shown to accumulate contaminants which can 
be passed up the food chain. During the summer of 1995, they were 
implicated as the probable cause of a large bloom of toxic algae in the 
Western Basin of Lake Erie. The frequency of these large and 
destructive blooms has increased as the mussels spread through the 
lake. Since 1988, zebra mussels in Ohio have spread to 10 inland lakes 
and 6 streams.
  Mr. President, along with my esteemed colleague and co-chairman of 
the Great Lakes Task Force, Senator Levin, I urged funding for the 
effective implementation of a program to help mitigate the impact of 
zebra mussels in United States waters. Today, I want to thank Senator 
Domenici and Senator Reid for continuing to fund important research to 
control the damage caused by the zebra mussel.
  While other agencies work to limit the introduction of new species 
into U.S. waters, the Army Corps of Engineers has the responsibility 
under the National Invasive Species Act (NISA) of developing better 
means for managing those pest species already established. NISA expands 
existing authority for the Army Corps to research, develop and 
demonstrate environmentally sound techniques for removing zebra mussels 
and other aquatic

[[Page S7011]]

nuisance species from public facilities, such as municipal water works.
  As the range of the zebra mussel expands, control is being undertaken 
by more and more raw water users. Without the benefit of this research, 
the control methods chosen may be less efficient, and less 
environmentally sound than necessary. With the help of Senators 
Domenici and Reid and Levin I am glad to say that this bill will 
provide $1.5 million to continue this important work.
  The National Invasive Species Act of 1996, which I cosponsored and 
which reauthorized and expanded the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance 
Prevention and Control Act, received strong bipartisan and multi-
regional support in both chambers, and the full support of the 
administration, the maritime industry and environmental community. 
Funding for NISA programs is essential if the benefits of the law are 
to be realized.
  Mr. President, again I want to thank Senator Domenici and Senator 
Reid for their attention to this matter.
  Mr. TORRICELLI. Mr. President, I rise today out of concern for a 
provision in the Fiscal Year 2000 Energy and Water Development bill 
that rescinds funding for a critical flood control project being 
sponsored by the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission (HMDC) 
in Lyndhurst, NJ. This project first began receiving Federal funds in 
FY 1995, while I was still a U.S. Congressman, and is necessary to 
reduce damage to local areas caused by Hackensack River flooding.
  Nearly 10 years ago, the HMDC analyzed a number of local areas which 
experience frequent flooding, and developed a list of improvements 
designed to reduce damage to the region. At my request, in FY 1995, the 
HMDC received $2.5 million to make this flood control project a 
reality, and the agency began to develop a plan to restore several 
drainage ditches in the area, install tidal gates and reconstruct a 
major dike system along the Hackensack River.
  Regrettably, because of the Army Corps' difficulties in reaching an 
agreement with the local sponsor on the scope of the work, and with 
finding a source for the cost-share, only about $100,000 has been spent 
to date on this project. I understand that this year the subcommittee 
has targeted projects with unspent balances, and, as a result, the FY 
2000 Energy and Water bill contains a rescission of $1.641 million for 
this initiative.
  However, I have been informed that the local sponsor is now ready to 
sign a Project Cooperation Agreement and that the local cost-share is 
now available. As a result, I want to work closely with Chairman 
Domenici and Ranking Member Reid to address the concerns about the 
unspent balance while ensuring that this project remains ready to move 
forward.
  Again, I would like to thank Chairman Domenici and Ranking Member 
Reid for their consideration and assistance with this initiative. I 
appreciate their personal involvement in trying to reach agreement on 
funding for this project, and am hopeful that by working together we 
can move forward in the effort to reduce flooding damage caused by the 
Hackensack River.

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