[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 96 (Friday, July 21, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7431-S7435]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               CONSERVATION AND REINVESTMENT ACT OF 2000

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I wanted to come to the floor and spend 
a few minutes this afternoon talking about a very important bill that 
is moving through this Congress--it is the Conservation and 
Reinvestment Act of 2000--and to talk about some of the more important 
aspects of this legislation as it passed the House by an overwhelming 
bipartisan majority a couple of weeks ago. This bill is being 
considered as I speak in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, 
which is ably chaired by my good friend from Alaska and the leadership 
of our friend from New Mexico, Senator Bingaman.
  It is appropriate I follow with my remarks on the heels of our other 
Senator from New Mexico, Mr. Domenici, because as I appreciate his 
remarks, he was speaking about the obligation we have to make good and 
wise decisions about the surplus. He, of course, was arguing for as 
much of that money as possible to go to tax cuts, supported by many 
members of his party. Along that same line, we will be judged in this 
Congress by the discipline, restraint, and good judgment we show on 
this issue. Truly, these are happy days in Washington because we are 
talking about an extraordinarily historic surplus. A lot of that should 
be credited to the current administration and the President's policies 
regarding discipline in budgets, spending restraint, as well as a 
strategic investment for America's working families.
  Nonetheless, it is much better when we can all agree to talk about 
allocating these surpluses than trying to fairly distribute sacrifices 
or fairly distributing cuts. It is a good time to be here so we can 
make good judgments on behalf of all the people whom we represent--of 
course, coming from the State of Louisiana, that is 4.5 million 
people--in the country and, frankly, the world as to our obligations to 
our neighbors around the world.

  In this great discussion about how much should go for tax cuts and 
then when we set aside money for tax cuts, how should it be allocated, 
what families should receive those tax cuts, how can we help to 
strengthen and widen the circle of economic opportunity, that clearly 
has a role and, hopefully, we will have more discussions about that in 
the days ahead.
  There will be, as the Senator from New Mexico pointed out, an 
opportunity to make some strategic investments. We should pay down our 
debt, and we should give a significant portion of tax breaks to working 
families in America, helping them with the things that are most 
important to them--sustaining the strength of their family, providing 
educational opportunities and economic opportunities for children and 
grandchildren. That is what every parent in America wants, to see the 
opportunities for their children greatly expanded.
  The third thing we are going to be discussing is how to take some of 
this money, hard earned by the American people--not necessarily the 
Government's money, but the people's money--how should we allocate the 
people's money on their behalf for the good of their future.
  That is part of our job as Members of Congress. I am very proud to be 
leading a great bipartisan effort by many Senators in this Chamber and 
House Members who are arguing that a small portion of this surplus, a 
small portion of the $2.2 trillion surplus--let me say our portion 
represents about 1 percent of this surplus; less than 1 percent 
actually--should be invested in the environmental resources of this 
Nation, along our coasts, in our interior portions of the Nation, for 
wildlife conservation, preservation of our coastlines, and investments 
in other types of environmental programs that have been underfunded and 
undernourished for decades. There have been promises made by Congresses 
in the past but promises not kept. It is time that we make strategic 
investments to fund those programs and to hold and keep our promises to 
our children and grandchildren.
  I wanted to come to the floor to show you the front page of USA 
Today. I am

[[Page S7432]]

going to include this entire, lengthy, and well-researched and well-
written article in the Record. The headline is: ``Growth Reshapes 
Coasts: A Wave of Development Overwhelms Our Shores.''
  I want to read a couple of the important highlights from this article 
for this debate and conversation this afternoon because the essence of 
the CARA bill is that now is the time to take a portion of offshore oil 
and gas revenues that are currently streaming right into the general 
fund, to intercept some of these funds and send them back to coastal 
counties and interior counties for investments, strategic investments 
in the environment, to help us have good growth, to make wise 
decisions, so that we can start this century by laying down some 
resources that will help us to grow and develop in the right ways in 
the years to come.
  According to this article, again, the growth along the coasts is 
going to be explosive. Let me read a little bit from this article:

       A USA TODAY analysis has found that an estimated 41 million 
     people--more than one in seven Americans--now reside in a 
     county that abuts the eastern or southern seaboard. That 
     number swells by several million when inland residents with 
     second homes near the shore are included. . . .
       In making that choice, these coastal migrants are 
     transforming seasonal resort towns that used to bustle for 
     just a few summer months--

  We are all used to communities such as this--

     into sprawling, year-round communities that are starting to 
     look and feel like, well, everyplace else. Up and down the 
     coast, development is spreading for miles inland. New 
     residents attract new businesses to serve them, workers move 
     in to fill the new jobs that are created, and new housing, 
     schools, malls and hospitals spring up to serve the workers.

  What are we doing today to prepare for this coming boom? It goes on 
to say:

       This shoreline strip is growing significantly faster than 
     the rest of the country in population, employment and gross 
     domestic product. In many cases, these counties have the 
     fastest-growing economies in their states.

  I think this is a very key point:

       Since 1993, the population of these hot 100 counties has 
     grown nearly 50 percent faster than the entire USA. About 
     1,000 year-round settlers are arriving each day. Jobs have 
     been created at a 30 percent greater clip, and GDP through 
     1997, the latest year for county breakdowns, grew 20 percent 
     faster.

  These counties are growing rapidly, as our more mobile, more affluent 
population seeks and chooses to live along the coasts.
  In an interesting quote in the article by Cleveland State's Hill:

       It used to be that you moved to where the jobs are. Now, 
     people are deciding where they want to live, and the jobs are 
     following them.

  Part of our goal in Congress is to be leaders, and part of the job of 
being a leader is to have enough vision to see past where you are 
today, to be able to see where we are going, so that we can lay down 
and make the strategic decisions that will benefit our children and our 
grandchildren.
  I have a 3-year-old and an 8-year-old. Frank and I are doing our best 
to be good parents in raising them. I often think about the fact that 
what I do here I want to do so that when Mary Shannon is 40 or 50 or 
60, and is finished raising her family and beginning to have 
grandchildren, that everyone in America will be better off. What will 
this country look like when she is that age or when Connor is in his 
40s or 50s or 60s?
  That is what this bill is actually about, because CARA mandates that 
we should take a small portion of our revenues to make important 
investments, which are shown by these projections that are listed here 
and in many articles and which are cited in many speeches, including 
those given by Governors and local officials. They are saying, look 
what is happening. Let's make plans now.
  Quoting the article further:

       Urban planners say growth along the coast should be 
     propelled for another 10 to 20 years by demographic, economic 
     and social trends.

  Additionally, it is clear--and the Senator from Florida was just 
speaking about this earlier in the week in committee--

       Until the 1990s, the destination of choice was Florida --

  That one State has seen explosive and extraordinary growth in the 
last 20 years--

     with its perpetually balmy, one-season climate. But now the 
     entire coast lures settlers. Up north, the shore in winter 
     has higher temperatures and less snowfall. Farther south, 
     [along the shores] the winters are moderate, and mild sea 
     breezes offer relief from stifling heat.

  People would flock to Florida in the 1980s and 1990s, but what these 
demographers are saying is that in the next 20 to 30 years, all the 
coast along the south and the eastern seaboard will experience similar 
growth.
  My question to this Congress is, What are we doing today to prepare? 
One of the things we can do is to pass CARA and to reinvest at least $1 
billion in our coastal resources to help our communities, our 
Governors, our county commissioners, and our mayors cope with this 
explosive growth, so we do have good development but that we preserve 
the precious beaches; that we allow for public spaces, so that all 
people, whether they are affluent enough to own a second home or 
whether they can just manage to get their kids in the car and spend a 
weekend on a beach at a moderately priced hotel, or whether they can 
just manage a day or two camping outside--we must preserve our coast 
and invest some of this money so that as this country grows over the 
next 20, 30, and 40 years, we can say we have done something.
  I feel so passionately about these revenues. While they are general 
fund revenues, their source is from oil and gas, from the bounty that 
God has given to this country. Oil and gas in the Outer Continental 
Shelf is a depletable resource. One day, as those of us from Louisiana 
know, these wells will be dried up. There will be no more gas. There 
will be no more oil to be drawn. They will be depleted.

  Hopefully, we will find other sources of fuel, some that are more 
environmentally friendly. I most certainly support that. Actually, 
natural gas is a very environmentally friendly fuel.
  My question to my colleagues is: When these oil and gas wells are 
dried up, and we no longer receive the taxes that are currently being 
paid, what will we have to show for our money?
  I would like to look up and say: We invested those revenues well; we 
have expanded through the interior of our Nation a great park system; 
we have expanded hunting and fishing areas to preserve them for our 
children and grandchildren, and, yes, we were smart enough to take 
taxes from resources from our coasts and invest them in coastlines all 
across the United States, so that we would have sand dunes and beaches, 
and our fisheries would be protected, as well as to provide for the 
proper development of our coastal areas.
  It would be a great shame to leave this Congress without making a 
serious commitment to the environment of our Nation and to coastal 
communities everywhere, not just in the South, not just on the east 
coast, but in the Great Lakes region and along our precious western 
seaboard. This is the time to act.
  I suggest to my colleague from New Mexico, in speaking about tax 
cuts, it is most appropriate to return some money from this great 
surplus to hard-working Americans and middle-class families throughout 
the Nation. There are many ways we can provide tax relief, and we 
should certainly do that. But it is also equally important that we make 
strategic investments, to lay down bills and initiatives and funding 
sources now that will help us, as our population in this Nation is 
expected to double from 260 million to over 500 million people in the 
next 100 years, much of that population moving to the coastal areas. As 
people will decide where they want to move, the jobs will follow. There 
is going to be a migration to our coasts.
  Let us begin this new century by making a smart choice and a wise 
investment and invest in some of our coasts.
  The Chair has been patient because, representing Nebraska, we have 
not figured out a way to get him a coastline yet, but we are working on 
it. He knows this bill takes care of interior States as well as coastal 
States by allowing all Governors and local officials to make some wise 
investments with these funds.
  I came to the floor to share this article. I will submit it for the 
Record. I hope my colleagues will take an opportunity in the next 
couple of days to

[[Page S7433]]

read it. I again thank Senator Murkowski from Alaska and Senator 
Bingaman from New Mexico for their leadership and also acknowledge the 
support of Senator Lott and Senator Daschle, as we have moved this bill 
through the process, and the President of the United States, for their 
commitment and support to this effort.
  I look forward to debating this even further next week.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the article to which I 
referred be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                    [From USA Today, July 20, 2000]

                         Growth Reshapes Coasts

           (By Owen Ullmann, Paul Overberg and Rick Hampson)

       A new American migration, one that rivals the exodus from 
     the Frostbelt to the Sunbelt a generation ago, is 
     transforming the Atlantic and Gulf shorelines.
       From the rock-strewn shoreline of Maine to the sandy 
     barrier islands hugging Texas, an unprecedented influx of 
     residents is converting laid-back, seasonal resort towns into 
     year-round communities with burgeoning economies.
       Sixtysomething retirees and aging baby boomers, aided by 
     fattened stock portfolios and flexible work arrangements, are 
     settling on the coast full-time or snapping up vacation homes 
     for retirement later. Al are drawn by a simple, alluring 
     premise: The weather, the recreation, the scenery--it's 
     better at the beach.
       A USA TODAY analysis has found that an estimated 41 million 
     people--more than one in seven Americans--now reside in a 
     county that abuts the eastern or southern seaboard. That 
     number swells by several million when inland residents with 
     second homes near the shore are included.
       ``We're in the midst of an amenities movement,'' observes 
     Edward Hill, a professor of urban studies at Cleveland State 
     University in Ohio. ``Improved technology, greater wealth and 
     better transportation are giving people more choices about 
     where to live. They're choosing the coast.''
       In making that choice, these coastal migrants are 
     transforming seasonal resort towns that used to bustle for 
     just a few summer months into sprawling, year-round 
     communities that are starting to look and feel like, well, 
     everyplace else. Up and down the coast, development is 
     spreading for miles inland. New residents attract new 
     businesses to serve them, workers move in to fill the new 
     jobs that are created, and new housing, schools, malls and 
     hospitals spring up to serve the workers.
       To a large extent, this migration is being fed by the 
     booming metropolitan centers along the East Coast: Boston, 
     New York, Washington, Charlotte, N.C., and Atlanta. Many 
     urban residents start out buying or renting a weekend home 
     along the coast and eventually move permanently.
       To determine the extent of this boom at the beach, USA 
     TODAY examined development in the 100 counties along the 
     Atlantic and Gulf coasts that are magnets for new settlers. 
     The findings: This shoreline strip is growing significantly 
     faster than the rest of the country in population, employment 
     and gross domestic product (GDP). In many cases, these 
     counties have the fastest-growing economies in their states.
       Since 1993, the population of these hot 100 counties has 
     grown nearly 50% faster than the entire USA. About 1,000 
     year-round settlers are arriving each day. Jobs have been 
     created at a 30% greater clip, and GDP through 1997, the 
     latest year for country breakdowns, grew 20% faster. Gross 
     domestic product is the total value of goods and services 
     produced.
       ``There's no question the growth along coastal areas is a 
     national phenomenon,'' says Dennis Gale, a professor or urban 
     and regional planning at Florida Atlantic University in Fort 
     Lauderdale. ``Harry and Jane Average are moving to the 
     coast.''
       At least to the eastern and southern shorelines. The West 
     Coast has not experienced the same recent mass migration. Its 
     beaches and bluffs enjoy far stronger protection from 
     development. There are no barrier islands to tempt 
     development. And unlike the north-flowing Gulf Stream, which 
     tempers surf temperatures along the East Coast, the south-
     flowing California Current chills even summer bathers.
       The Atlantic Ocean's allure is hardly new. Americans have 
     been flocking there since at least 1802, when the 
     Philadelphia Aurora advertised beachfront tourist 
     accommodations along the beautiful Cape May, N.J., shore. 
     Back then few Americans had time for recreation. Most of the 
     population lived near the ocean because the great cities grew 
     up around shipping ports, the primary mode of commerce.
       Then, as the USA entered the industrial age in the 19th 
     century, the population began stretching inland, where 
     factories needed raw materials and agricultural products to 
     process.
       Now the emergence of the information economy, which has 
     spurred telecommuting, and the growing popularity of a 
     recreational lifestyle have sparked a mass yearning to return 
     to the coast.


                       coastal counties exploding

       How much is the boom at the beach transforming the 
     coastline?
       In Maine, the top five counties in employment and GDP 
     growth are all along the coast. Their growth rates are double 
     the state average.
       In Massachusetts, the four counties with the fastest job 
     creation include those covering Cape Cod, Nantucket Island 
     and Martha's Vineyard.
       In South Carolina, five of the seven counties with the 
     fastest employment growth lie along the coast. Beaufort 
     County, which includes Hilton Head, tops the list with a 46% 
     increase in jobs since 1993, more than three times the state 
     average.
       In Alabama, only two of the state's 67 counties touch the 
     coast. One of them, Baldwin County, which borders the Gulf 
     and Mobile Bay, led the state in GDP growth: 51% vs. a 
     statewide average of 24%.
       ``It used to be that you moved to where the jobs are,'' 
     says Cleveland State's Hill. ``Now, people are deciding where 
     they want to live, and the jobs are following them.''
       Just look at what's taking in Maine. ``Ten years ago, Knox 
     County had one traffic light and the main industry was 
     fishing,'' says Rutgers University political science 
     professor Ross Baker, 62, who owns a vacation home near 
     Rockland. ``Now you have a big bank-processing center here, 
     and downtown Rockland is filled with cappuccino bars and 
     bayberry candle stores.''
       The same boom that is altering the rugged coast of Maine is 
     taking place 1,200 miles south near the lush greens of Hilton 
     Head, S.C. Along a 15-mile stretch of mainland, starting at 
     the bridge from Hilton Head Island, unspoiled Low Country 
     vistas have given way to mass development: golf-oriented 
     retirement communities, shopping malls, banks, office 
     buildings, new car showrooms, hospitals, even a new campus 
     for the University of South Carolina.
       ``It just keeps growing and growing,'' says Carol Della 
     Vecchia, 58, formerly of Massapequa, N.Y., who moved to the 
     area in 1997 to escape the congestion of Long Island. ``But 
     in another five to 10 years, you're going to see another 
     Sunrise Highway all over again,'' she says, referring to the 
     commercial thoroughfare that runs through Long Island.
       Urban planners say growth along the coast should be 
     propelled for another 10 to 20 years by demographic, economic 
     and social trends.
       Foremost is the aging of the USA's 78 million baby boomers. 
     They are entering their pre-retirement years (the oldest are 
     54) and looking for more pleasant surroundings to spend their 
     post-working years. Developers in Hilton Head cite surveys 
     that show a majority of boomers want to retire within 50 
     miles of the East or West coasts.
       Millions of boomers, as well as people in their late 50s 
     and 60s, are expected to have the financial resources to 
     fulfill their retirement dreams. Barring a collapse on Wall 
     Street, the boomers' 401(k)s and individual retirement 
     accounts will keep growing. Plus, they will be on the 
     receiving end of an estimated $10 trillion to $20 trillion of 
     inherited wealth, the largest transfer of assets in history.


                         seeking a better life

       Thanks to the technological revolution, workers don't have 
     to wait until retirement to move to the coast; computers and 
     cell phones make it possible to do their jobs long-distance. 
     And for those who need to check in regularly at the office, 
     improved roads and the vast growth of regional airports and 
     commuter airlines put coastal destinations within a few hours 
     of most Eastern cities.
       ``We're riding the crest of a new boomer craze,'' says 
     Michael Lawrence, president of Sea Pines, the largest private 
     development on Hilton Head. ``First it was Nike sneakers, 
     then oversized tennis rackets and BMWs. Now it's vacation and 
     retirement homes.''
       The driving force behind this migration to the coast is the 
     quest for a better life: less congestion, crime and 
     pollution; better weather and scenery.
       Until the 1990s, the destination of choice was Florida, 
     with its perpetually balmy, one-season climate. But now the 
     entire coast lures settlers. Up north, the shore in winter 
     has higher temperatures and less snowfall. Farther south, the 
     winters are moderate, and mild sea breezes offer relief from 
     stifling summer heat.
       These migrants are coming predominantly from aging suburban 
     counties in the Northeast and Midwest that were hot 
     destinations 30 or 40 years ago.
       Consider Horry County, S.C., which includes Myrtle Beach 
     and nearby towns known as the ``Grand Strand.'' IRS data show 
     that from 1997 to 1998, the county gained 2,000 households, 
     most from more than 100 counties in the Northeast and mid-
     Atlantic.
       Top feeder counties: suburban Washington's Fairfax, Va., 
     and Montgomery and Prince George's, Md. (119 households); 
     Long Island's Suffolk and Nassau (107); Allegheny, Pa., 
     including Pittsburgh (42); and Franklin, Ohio, including 
     Columbus (41). Other big sources: Syracuse, N.Y.; 
     Philadelphia; Hartford, Conn.; northern New Jersey; and 
     Hudson River valley; Cincinnati; Akron, Ohio; and Charleston, 
     W.Va.
       The housing industry has been a chief beneficiary of this 
     coastal craze. The median household wealth of those living in 
     counties that abut the Atlantic and Gulf coasts is 26% higher 
     than the national median--$81,753 a year vs. $64,718. That 
     means more money to buy houses. Developers along the coast 
     say business is the best they have seen in over 30 years.

[[Page S7434]]

       The fastest residential growth has been on barrier islands, 
     those exposed bands of sand that lie just offshore. In 1998, 
     more than 50,000 housing units were built on barrier islands 
     from Maine to Texas, double the construction rate of 1992.
       High-end homes seem most in demand. David Wilgus, a real 
     estate agent in Bethany Beach, Del., says demand has never 
     been higher for homes in the $1 million to $2 million price 
     range, thanks to a tech boom in the nearby Washington area.
       In Florida last year, during a six-hour ``sale'' of condo 
     units averaging $1 million at a Naples project, 99 people 
     plunked down $25,000 each for apartments that won't be built 
     until at least 2002. ``Staggering,'' says Michael Curtin, 
     vice president of WCI, the development company.
       And in Folly Beach, S.C., where modest bungalows lined the 
     shore for decades, quarter-acre lots that sold for $50,000 
     just 10 years ago now fetch as much as $500,000.
       Less-expensive properties also are in great demand. Sam 
     Greenough, a contractor in North Carolina for 16 years, says 
     he's building $200,000 homes along the Outer Banks faster 
     than ever.
       While the rush to the shore has been great for developers, 
     it has cost many coastal communities the quaint 
     characteristics that first attracted tourists.


                         coping with a new cape

       For decades, permanent Cape Cod residents have gathered on 
     highway overpasses to wave goodbye--and good riddance--to 
     hordes of summer visitors heading home in bumper-to-bumper 
     Labor Day traffic. But those ``bridge'' parties might have to 
     be scrapped because the tourists aren't leaving.
       What was once a sparsely populated coastal retreat for 10 
     months of the year has turned into a suburbanized extension 
     of metropolitan Boston.
       ``It's like living anywhere else--but nicer,'' says Jacquie 
     Newson, 48, a radio station sales manager who has lived on 
     the Cape for 20 years.
       In just the past five years, the year-round population has 
     increased 12% to 225,000. The Cape and the islands also have 
     eight of the state's 12 fastest-growing school districts. 
     Mashpee's enrollment has tripled the past 20 years.
       Cape Code Hospital has 50% more doctors than in 1990, and 
     the Cape Cod Mall has just increased its retail space by 25%. 
     The number of radio stations on the Cape has risen from four 
     in 1985 to 13. There is a fledgling high-tech industry, with 
     hopeful talk of a ``Silicon Sandbar.'' There are even the 
     once unthinkable: wintertime traffic jams in Hyannis.
       And with a third of the Cape's land still available for 
     development, the boom is unlikely to slow anytime soon.
       The Cape's development is the result of a self-perpetuating 
     cycle: more people move to the area, so more businesses stay 
     open year-round, so more tourists visit all year, so new 
     businesses open, so more jobs are created, so more people 
     live there.
       Each day, on average, six new homes are built on the Cape. 
     The number of residential building permits issued in 1998 was 
     more than 40% higher than two years earlier. Cozy two-bedroom 
     cottages by the water are being bought, torn down and 
     replaced by 5,000-square-foot mansions. In Truro, a quaint 
     outer-Cape town, the median sale price for an existing 
     single-family home last year was $310,000.
       To keep up with the affluent newcomers, the Cape Code Mall 
     has brought in higher-end stores. Thirty years ago, almost 
     all the non-anchor stores were locally owned. Today, there is 
     only one, Holiday's Hallmark.
       ``Last year, we opened 27 new, national brand-name 
     stores,'' says mall manager Leo Fein. ``The people who are 
     moving here have been exposed to upscale shopping in Boston, 
     and they want it here.'' Hence, Ann Taylor, J. Crew, 
     Abercrombie & Fitch.
       Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis is changing its marketing 
     strategy as well, expanding cardiology and cancer services so 
     patients won't have to go back to Boston. Emergency 
     angioplasty is offered seven days a week, and the hospital it 
     trying to start an open-heart surgery program. ``In most of 
     the country's mind, Cape Cod is still beaches,'' says 
     hospital spokeswoman Deborah Doherty. ``But we've been named 
     one of the top 100 community hospitals in the country for the 
     last three years.''
       Most people wouldn't think of the Cape as a tech hot spot, 
     either. Yet several thousand high-tech jobs have been created 
     in recent years, according to the Cape Cod Technology 
     Council, which has 300 member businesses.
       One result of the boom on the beach is what everyone 
     described as the ``changing character'' of the Cape--the 
     fading of a quaint, picturesque backwater that was virtually 
     deserted most of the year. ``New people move in and want it 
     like it was back home,'' says Marilyn Fifield, a researcher 
     at the Cape Cod Commission. ``It's easy to wind up looking 
     like everyplace else.''
       Provincetown, once the third-biggest whaling port in 
     America, has become ``one big condominium,'' grumbles George 
     Bryant, 62, a longtime resident. ``There are mornings when I 
     feel it's the worst thing ever.'' But Bryant also remembers 
     when there was never enough work to keep local people 
     employed all winter, and when men used to `'die like flies'' 
     whaling and deep-sea fishing.
       Today, the biggest problem for natives isn't finding a job, 
     but finding affordable housing. Rents and home prices have 
     soared, and property-tax rates in some communities have 
     doubled because new residents have demanded schools and 
     services.
       ``What good is prosperity if our kids can't afford to stay 
     here?'' asks Marilyn Salisbury of Bourne. Her three adult 
     children live and work on the mainland.
       Clem Silva, 48, co-owner of Clem & Ursie's restaurant in 
     Provincetown, says there is almost no affordable housing for 
     restaurant workers. He and his sister/partner each have six 
     seasonal workers from Eastern Europe living in their homes. 
     They also have rented a third house for seasonal workers from 
     Jamaica. ``It's an amazing burden,'' he says. ``It really 
     takes the wind out of my sails.''
       Another problem is water pollution. One cause is an 
     increase in incidents of well-water pollution from septic 
     tanks, which serve 86% of the Cape's homes. Higher levels of 
     contaminated water also are blamed on runoff from roads and 
     parking lots.
       Some shellfishing areas have been restricted. The Mashpee 
     River, a tidal river, has gotten murkier and smellier because 
     of algae buildup caused by increased run-off from septic 
     systems. Shellfishing in Sulphur Springs, a bay in Chatham 
     off Nantucket Sound, has been restricted because of high 
     coliform counts.
       The downside of development didn't deter Tom and Barbara 
     Joyce from moving to West Barnstable in June after raising 
     four children (the youngest is now 23) in a Boston suburb. 
     Tom, 65, is a recently retired vice president of a textbook 
     publisher, but Barbara still freelances in publishing and 
     wants to be able to go to the city if and when she needs to.
       Their four-bedroom home is near a golf course and a 
     conservation area, it's an easy one-hour drive to Boston. 
     ``Cape Cod is a state of mind,'' Barbara says. ``When you're 
     here, you feel like you're on vacation, even if you're living 
     here.''
       Nevertheless, the Joyces admit that life on the Cape has 
     changed from 30 years ago, when they recall having had 
     trouble finding a restaurant. This year, Barbara says, ``we 
     tried to go to dinner in Hyannis one Saturday night in 
     February and we couldn't even get in, it was so crowded.''
       The truth is, Tom says, the Cape has become just another 
     suburb. ``The Cape is no longer the place to go for 
     isolation. There's no escape now. There's very little open 
     space that hasn't been developed or bought for development. I 
     guess we've added to that.''


                        beaufort's growing pains

       Beaufort County, S.C., is another microcosm of the benefits 
     and the detriments of explosive growth along the coast. 
     Though it's a long distance from Cape Cod in geography and 
     culture, the area has experienced many of the same problems 
     as coastal New England.
       ``The growth has been astronomical,'' says Beaurfort County 
     Magistrate Charles ``Bubba'' Smith, 55. He says the county's 
     rapid expansion has meant higher wages and job opportunities 
     but also traffic jams, overcrowded schools, higher crime and 
     a shortage of affordable housing.
       The county had been largely unaffected by the golf-oriented 
     vacation development that began 30 years ago on Hilton Head, 
     the county's southernmost tip. But the county hasn't been the 
     same since 1994, when Del Webb, which developed the Sun City 
     retirement communities in the Southwest, started its first 
     upscale project on the East Coast, 10 miles inland from the 
     Hilton Head Island bridge.
       So far, Sun City has built 1,600 homes, and it is adding 
     500 more each year. When the mammoth, 5,600-acre project is 
     finished, Sun City will have 16,000 year-round residents.
       Sun City has spawned other retirement communities, a half-
     dozen shopping malls, a Super Wal-Mart, a Target, several 
     supermarkets, Lexus and Mercedes car dealerships, and other 
     retail establishments along U.S. Route 278. At the same time, 
     lawyers, accountants, financial planners and health care 
     providers are flocking to offer their services. Route 278, 
     once lined with Spanish oaks and lowland shrubs, is now 
     flanked by retail developments and professional office 
     buildings interspersed with occasional empty lots with signs 
     that read, ``Future home of . . .''
       The area has attracted transplants from the East Coast, 
     Midwest and Southeast, including New York, New Jersey, 
     Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Georgia and Florida. And its 
     residences appeal to people across the economic spectrum. Sun 
     City homes start at $130,000, although the strongest demand 
     has been for the top-of-the-line models, which sell for 
     $750,000. As a result, the company is breaking ground on an 
     upscale section eight years earlier than planned.
       Del Webb officials say every house type, even the least 
     expensive, includes a home office. Marketing studies have 
     found that most buyers are still working or intend to work 
     part-time during retirement.
       Just down the road from Sun City, the exclusive Belfair 
     development is quickly selling out its 770 lots for up to $2 
     million each. The corporate CEOs and other wealthy buyers 
     also shell out $900,000, on average, to build custom homes on 
     their lots.
       Belfair's two championship-level golf courses are the 
     ostensible draw, but developer John Reed says the real 
     attraction is the sense of a small town that residents long 
     for. ``They're in their mid-50s and they've lived in four 
     different cities, on average,'' he says. ``They feel they 
     have no roots and are searching for the close-knit community 
     they remember from their youth. That's how they want to spend 
     their final years.''

[[Page S7435]]

       The mass migration to the area has been great for 
     developers and other businesses, but it has put enormous 
     strains on the local government.
       Since 1900, Beaufort County's population has grown 31%. 
     That's three times the national average. The county has had 
     to keep expanding its roads, and in just the past three 
     years, it has built 13 schools, making it one of the fastest-
     growing school districts in the USA.
       The boom has been especially traumatic for the little town 
     of Bluffton (population 800), which finds itself suddenly 
     surrounded by explosive growth.
       Last year, the town had to hire its first full-time city 
     manager to deal with development issues. And the town has 
     annexed 30,000 acres over the past three years to exert more 
     control over land use. That has expanded the town's size from 
     1 square mile to 50.
       This year, the town is asking residents for permission to 
     double its budget so it can add a planning department, 
     increase existing departments and augment its tiny police 
     force.
       Although construction is bringing in new property tax 
     revenue, the town laments that it has lost revenue from 
     speeding tickets. Bluffton used to be a well-known speed 
     trap, but the traffic is so bad now, it's hard to exceed the 
     25 mph posted limit.
       ``Bluffton has become the biggest little town in South 
     Carolina,'' says Town Councilman Hank Johnston, 58, who 
     claims that Johnny Mercer wrote the lyrics to Moon River 
     while sitting on Johnston's porch, which overlooks the May 
     River.
       The town's transformation is upsetting to the locals, even 
     those who profit from all the tour buses that roar through 
     the town's historic center, disturbing the tranquility 
     Bluffton had known for 100 years.
       ``People used to come Memorial Day and leave Labor Day. Now 
     they're here to stay,'' sighs Babby Guscio, owner of a 
     general store. ``It's sad. It's the end of an era. Our small 
     town is gone.''
       As the economic transformation along the shore continues, 
     that refrain is being echoed up and down the coast. But 
     there's no indication that the mass exodus to the beach will 
     slow anytime soon. ``People are seeking out a different 
     lifestyle,'' says urban planner Hill of Cleveland State. 
     ``Quality of life matters.''
       ``There's no stopping the trend,'' agrees Rutgers professor 
     Baker. ``It's like the primordial urge of sea turtles (to lay 
     their eggs in the exact same spot). The instinct to live near 
     the water is that strong.''

  Ms. LANDRIEU. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Brownback). The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________