[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 106 (Tuesday, September 12, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H7480-H7482]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MISSISSIPPI SOUND RESTORATION ACT OF 2000
Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 4104) to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to
authorize funding to carry out certain water quality and barrier island
restoration projects for the Mississippi Sound, and for other purposes,
as amended.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 4104
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Mississippi Sound
Restoration Act of 2000''.
SEC. 2. NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM.
(a) Finding.--Congress finds that the Mississippi Sound is
an estuary of national significance.
(b) Addition to National Estuary Program.--Section
320(a)(2)(B) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33
U.S.C. 1330(a)(2)(B)) is amended by inserting ``Mississippi
Sound, Mississippi;'' before ``and Peconic Bay, New York.''.
SEC. 3. MISSISSIPPI SOUND.
Title I of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33
U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``SEC. 121. MISSISSIPPI SOUND.
``(a) Establishment of Restoration Program.--The
Administrator shall establish within the Environmental
Protection Agency the Mississippi Sound Restoration Program.
``(b) Purpose.--The purpose of the program shall be to
restore the ecological health of the Sound, including barrier
islands, coastal wetlands, keys, and reefs, by developing and
funding restoration projects and related scientific and
public education projects and by coordinating efforts among
Federal, State, and local governmental agencies and
nonregulatory organizations.
``(c) Duties.--In carrying out the program, the
Administrator shall--
``(1) provide administrative and technical assistance to a
management conference convened for the Sound under section
320;
``(2) assist and support the activities of the management
conference, including the implementation of recommendations
of the management conference;
``(3) support environmental monitoring of the Sound and
research to provide necessary technical and scientific
information;
``(4) develop a comprehensive research plan to address the
technical needs of the program;
``(5) coordinate the grant, research, and planning programs
authorized under this section; and
``(6) collect and make available to the public
publications, and other forms of information the management
conference determines to be appropriate, relating to the
environmental quality of the Sound.
``(d) Grants.--The Administrator may make grants--
``(1) for restoration projects and studies recommended by a
management conference convened for the Sound under section
320; and
[[Page H7481]]
``(2) for public education projects recommended by the
management conference.
``(e) Definitions.--In this section, the following
definitions apply:
``(1) Sound.--The term `Sound' means the Mississippi Sound
located on the Gulf Coast of the State of Mississippi.
``(2) Program.--The term `program' means the Mississippi
Sound Restoration Program established under subsection (a).
``(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized
to be appropriated $10,000,000 to carry out this section.
Such sums shall remain available until expended.''.
SEC. 4. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.
It is the sense of the Congress that all recipients of
grants under this Act (including amendments made by this Act)
shall abide by the Buy American Act. The Administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency shall give notice of the Buy
American Act requirements to grant applicants under this Act.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) and the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette).
Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, the purpose of H.R. 4104, introduced by the gentleman
from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor) is to authorize financial and technical
assistance for water quality restoration activities in the Mississippi
Sound.
H.R. 4104 provides a framework for voluntary and cooperative efforts
to restore the Mississippi Sound by identifying the Mississippi Sound
as an estuary of national significance recommended for inclusion in the
National Estuary Program, and also creating a Mississippi Sound program
within EPA to coordinate and provide assistance to State and local
efforts, to reduce pollution and restore the ecological health of the
Sound.
I want to commend the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor) for
moving this legislation to the floor so expeditiously, and I support
the legislation, and I urge an aye vote.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) for his
remarks.
Mr. Speaker, one of the best-kept secrets in America is no longer a
well-kept secret. The Mississippi coast, with the advent of legalized
gaming, has gone from a relatively quiet back-water community to one of
the most popular destination resorts in the United States of America.
The Gulfport airport that traditionally handled over 200,000 people
will board over a million people this year.
All that being said, there are a heck of a lot more people using the
Mississippi Sound than ever before, a heck of a lot more people living
in the vicinity of it.
In all of the estuarine area in the Mississippi gulf coast, which is
so similar to the Chesapeake Bay in characteristics with the bays and
coastal marshes, is facing the same sort of stress that the Chesapeake
Bay and other estuarine areas around the country have faced.
Although we still have record oyster harvest, we are having a
phenomenal shrimp season this year, the bottom line is that, much as
the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Gilchrest) mentioned, our losses of
coastal marshes are not taking place in hundreds of acres or thousands
of acres, but truly an acre at a time, just as he mentioned it.
Although 1,200 acres were permitted to be filled by the Corps of
Engineers last year, this is not a police state. I think it is fair to
say, if 1,200 acres were permitted, probably 5,000 acres were truly
lost.
What we are trying to do is restore some of the mistakes that man has
made along the Mississippi Gulf Coast using the resources available.
We would like to be a pilot project in the United States of America
for the beneficial use of dredge material when the Federal Government
dredges and maintains its channels. Rather than taking that offshore
and dumping it, we want to use that material to rebuild and restore our
coastal marshes, to rebuild our barrier islands. We want to take the
riprap that is created from Federal projects and start rebuilding some
of the reefs that were unnecessarily destroyed in the 1950s and 1960s
to provide aggregate material for building roads.
We have a lot of opportunities. What we need more than anything else
is a game plan entailing the entire three coastal counties and our
partners in Louisiana, since we were part of the Lake Pontchartrain
Basin as well, to work together to take this jewel that God created and
make it as pristine as possible.
I know the hour is late. I do not think it needs any further
explanation. I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette)
for his help. I want to thank the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr.
Oberstar), the ranking member of the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure, for his great assistance in getting this on the
calendar tonight.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, we have no requests for time. I also
urge passage of the bill.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), ranking member,
one of the gentlemen who was so helpful in bringing this to the floor
tonight.
Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time. I want to, again, express my appreciation to the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Chairman Shuster) for bringing this legislation to the
committee and to the floor so expeditiously, and to compliment the
gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor) for his dogged pursuit of this
legislation. He has been a relentless advocate for action on the
Mississippi Sound. The restoration act that he brings to the floor
tonight is one that he has championed for many years and advocated
vigorously within the committee and is one that will stand as a crown
jewel in his legislative achievement.
Much progress has been made under the Clean Water Act since 1972, but
many bodies of water still require additional attention and resources
to achieve the clean water goals that we set forth 28 years ago.
The unique ecosystem in southern Mississippi that covers 2,400 square
miles with a drainage basin, as the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr.
Taylor) said, that extends from Mississippi into Louisiana, is one of
the great jewels of our natural resources in the United States. But
much of the problem that this legislation will address bears a made-in-
other-States label.
The runoff from 10 States all along the Mississippi drainage basin
all the way to Canada wind up in this ecosystem. All the rest of us
have a responsibility to help Mississippi and Louisiana and the
Mississippi Sound area protect this diverse environment, this essential
habitat for an extraordinary variety of species of fish, birds,
mammals, and plants.
{time} 2310
The legislation the gentleman has so thoughtfully crafted will move
us along in that direction, and I greatly appreciate his leadership,
that of our committee, the subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from
New York (Mr. Boehlert); the gentleman tonight who presents the bill,
the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette), who has been such a strong
voice for protection of the Great Lakes and the nonindigenous invasive
species legislation that he championed and I have cosponsored with him.
His understanding there brings to bear a new dimension, an important
dimension on this legislation being considered tonight. I urge its
enactment.
Mr. BOEHLERT. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4104, the Mississippi Sound
Restoration Act of 2000, amends the Clean Water Act to require EPA to
establish a Mississippi Sound Restoration Program, and to carry out
water quality and environmental restoration projects for the Sound.
I commend Representative Gene Taylor for introducing H.R. 4104, a
bill that will help restore and protect one more of our national
treasures.
I also thank the chairman and ranking member of the Transportation
and Infrastructure Committee for helping to bring this bill to the
House floor for action.
I support passage of H.R. 4104, and urge my colleagues to do the
same.
Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of
my time.
[[Page H7482]]
Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pease). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4104, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
The title of the bill was amended so as to read:
``A bill to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act
to authorize funding to carry out certain water quality and
environmental restoration projects for the Mississippi Sound,
Mississippi, and for other purposes.''.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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