[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 120 (Wednesday, September 29, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H7811-H7812]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM REAUTHORIZATION

  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4731) to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to 
reauthorize the National Estuary Program.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 4731

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

     SECTION 1. REAUTHORIZATION OF NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM.

       Section 320(i) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 
     (33 U.S.C. 1330(i)) is amended by striking ``2005'' and 
     inserting ``2010''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) and the gentlewoman from the District of 
Columbia (Ms. Norton) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan).
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I 
rise in strong support of H.R. 4731, to reauthorize the National 
Estuary Program. Estuaries are unique and highly productive waters that 
are important to the ecological and economic bases of our Nation. 
Fisheries, wildlife, recreation, and tourism are heavily dependent on 
healthy estuarine systems. Yet despite their value, most estuaries in 
the United States are experiencing stress from physical alteration and 
pollution, often resulting from development and rapid population growth 
in coastal areas.
  In the 1980s, Congress recognized the importance of and the need to 
protect the natural functions of our Nation's estuaries. As a result, 
in 1987 Congress first authorized the National Estuary Program. Today 
this program, the National Estuary Program, is an ongoing nonregulatory 
program designed to support the collaborative, voluntary efforts of 
Federal, State, and local stakeholders to restore degraded estuaries. 
Currently all 29 estuaries in the National Estuary Program have 
developed and are implementing restoration plans. Under this program, 
$35 million a year is authorized to allow the EPA to help these State 
and local restoration efforts. The program's current authorization 
expires in 2005. Thus, the need for this legislation.
  H.R. 4731 reauthorizes the National Estuary Program at the same level 
of funding for an additional 5 years. The bill contains no Federal 
mandates and imposes no costs on State or local governments. I 
certainly want to congratulate the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Gerlach) and the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Tauscher) on 
sponsoring this bill and on the great leadership they have provided on 
this. I urge all my colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  (Ms. Norton asked and was given permission to revise and extend her 
remarks.)
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friend from 
Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) for his leadership on this bill and rise in 
strong support of H.R. 4731, a bill to extend the authorization of the 
Environmental Protection Agency's National Estuary Program. This 
popular program provides Federal assistance to local stakeholders to 
implement locally designed management plans for the protection of the 
Nation's estuaries.
  At the same time, the program serves as a national clearinghouse for 
successful management approaches, technologies and ideas, providing 
local communities with concrete examples of what works in addressing 
the unique needs of estuaries. This program authorizes funding for the 
development and implementation of comprehensive conservation and 
management plans for estuaries of national significance.
  A comprehensive approach to addressing estuary health is particularly 
important as the stressors on the health of estuaries continue to 
expand. EPA's most recent water quality report indicated that 50 
percent of estuary waters do not meet their designated uses. Programs 
such as this, coupled with significant additional resources for 
wastewater infrastructure, may allow for water quality in estuaries to 
improve and ecosystems to be restored.

                              {time}  1845

  I strongly support authorization for the National Estuary Program. 
And I urge my colleagues to vote ``aye'' on H.R. 4731.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gerlach), the author of this 
legislation.
  Mr. GERLACH. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4731, a bill I 
introduced to reauthorize the National Estuary Program. I would like to 
particularly thank the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) for his 
efforts on this bill and for his work as chairman of the Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure's Water Resources and Environment 
Subcommittee.
  H.R. 4731 is a simple reauthorization of a highly respected and 
successful National Estuary Program. A program whose authorization will 
expire at the end of fiscal year 2005. Like the previous authorization, 
the bill will authorize $35 million annually for the program and will 
extend the authorization through fiscal year 2010.
  Estuaries are coastal bays, harbors, sounds and lagoons, places where 
rivers meet the sea. Estuaries and the lands surrounding them are 
places of transition from land to sea and from fresh to saltwater. Up 
to 80 percent of the fish that we catch spend at least part of their 
lives in estuaries. EPA's National Estuary Program was established by 
Congress in 1987 to improve the quality of estuaries of national 
importance. Section 320 directs EPA to develop plans for attaining and 
maintaining water quality in an estuary. This includes protection of 
public water supplies and propagation of a balanced indigenous 
population of shellfish, fish

[[Page H7812]]

and wildlife; allows for recreational activities on and in water; and 
requires control of point and nonpoint sources of pollution to 
supplement existing controls of pollution.
  The National Estuary Program now boasts 28 estuaries in almost every 
coastal State around the country. Since 1987 the program has restored 
or protected 700,000 acres of coastal habitat. The EPA works with 
federal agencies, State and local governments, nonprofit institutions, 
industry, and citizens to address an estuary's environmental problems. 
The program is a watershed approach in which all affected interests 
participate in creating solutions that balance environmental objectives 
with competing issues.
  Estuaries support many commercial and other activities. The shipping 
industry relies on estuaries and is a large source of employment and an 
integral part of the national economy. Estuaries also provide great 
opportunities for tourism and recreation. Finally, coastal populations 
depend on clean water drawn from an estuary's freshwater tributaries to 
support public infrastructure such as drinking water and water supplies 
for industrial facilities, wastewater treatment plants, and irrigation.
  Much of my congressional district lies within the Delaware Estuary 
Study Area, so I am intimately familiar with the importance of 
protecting this particular estuary. The Delaware Estuary has sustained 
a human population for thousands of years, but by the end of the 19th 
Century, increased population and industrialization had transformed 
much of the upper Estuary watershed. Fisheries were in decline due to 
pollution, and drinking water supplies were contaminated by pollution 
which caused outbreaks of typhoid and other diseases in urban areas. 
Both the industrialization and pollution of the water led to a dramatic 
decrease in the recreational use of the Delaware River. And it became 
less of a regional focal point as fewer people had direct contact with 
it.
  By the mid-20th Century, even more pollution flowed into the Delaware 
Estuary, and the urban reach of the Delaware was one of the most 
polluted stretches of river in the world, with essentially zero 
dissolved oxygen in the water during the warmer months of the year.
  Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, increased State, interstate, federal 
and public interest led to dramatic improvements in the Estuary's water 
quality. Today, with the assistance of the Estuary Program, the 
Delaware Estuary is cleaner than at any time in the last century. Over 
90 percent of the Estuary meets swimmable and fishable goals of the 
Clean Water Act. Public access to the Estuary is increased as a result 
of public parks.
  Seeing the rebirth of the Delaware Estuary as a valuable natural 
resource is certainly encouraging, and I am encouraged not just by the 
progress made in the Delaware Estuary but in estuaries throughout the 
country. For this reason, I believe it is vitally important that we act 
quickly to reauthorize the National Estuary Program and allow this 
progress to continue.
  Mr. Speaker, again, I would like to thank the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Duncan), the chairman of our subcommittee; and the 
gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young), chairman of our committee, for their 
efforts and their leadership, and I urge all Members to support this 
important bill.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Sometimes some of the best and most important legislation that this 
Congress does comes to the floor without much fanfare and does not 
receive a lot of attention because it is noncontroversial. This is such 
a bill. But I can tell the Members that it is a privilege for me, as 
chairman of the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee, to bring 
such vital legislation to this floor and urge its passage.
  I want to thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gerlach), the 
sponsor, and I want to thank the gentlewoman from the District of 
Columbia (Ms. Norton) for her assistance and cooperation on this, and I 
especially want to thank the staff that has worked on this very 
important bill. I urge passage of this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bonner). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4731.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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