[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 153 (Thursday, November 17, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S13181]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. SNOWE (for herself and Ms. Cantwell):
  S. 2050. A bill to establish a commission on inland waters policy; to 
the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  I rise today to introduce legislation that creates a national 
commission on island waters policy to support the long-term 
sustainability of our water resources. A 2001 National Academy of 
Sciences report found that U.S. Federal policies and research lack the 
coordination necessary to respond to increasing future demands. The 
overarching goal of this legislation is to recommend actions that will 
better coordinate and improve the Federal Government's water management 
policies, similar to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, PL 106-256.
  My legislation is supported by the American Society of Limnology and 
Oceanography, ASLO, and the Council of Scientific Society Presidents, 
CSSP, representing 1.4 million scientists and science educators. I 
especially want to thank Dr. Peter Jumars of the School of Marine 
Sciences at University of Maine at Orono and Darling Marine Center and 
immediate past president of ASLO, for all of his extensive knowledge 
and assistance that helped craft the legislation.
  The bill creates a commission to study the Nation's policies for 
inland waters--a category that would include all lakes, streams, 
rivers, groundwaters, estuaries, and fresh- and salt water wetlands. 
The stewardship of these resources is essential to human health, the 
ecosystem, the economy, agriculture, energy production, and the 
transportation sector.
  The National Academy of Sciences, NAS, issued a report in 2001 
describing that water resources of the United States will be subjected 
to more intense and a broader array of pressures in the 21st century. 
It found that U.S. Federal policies and research lack the coordination 
necessary to respond to increasing future demands. An inland waters 
policy commission should be viewed as an attempt to make sure our 
Nation's clean water laws are achieving what Congress mandated. Water 
policies have been very contentious in many parts of the Nation and 
have oftentimes pitted people and their livelihoods against 
preservation concerns. Only by developing greater water research and 
coordinating a comprehensive national policy will the conflict between 
anthropogenic needs and water preservation be overcome.
  Mr. Chairman, in April of this year, the GAO published a report with 
findings that the administration is not addressing the study of water 
resources, agriculture, energy, biological diversity and other areas in 
relation to climate change as mandated under the Global Change Research 
Act. None of those topics has been addressed in 21 studies that the 
Bush administration plans to publish by September 2007, the GAO report 
found, even though fairly robust climate models are now making 
predictions about changes in rainfall globally and nationally as the 
climate changes. Water policy currently has no intelligent mechanism 
for using this information. The GAO report points out that a 
comprehensive study of the Nation's water resources is needed.
  The bill authorizes an appropriation of $8.5 million until expended. 
By comparison, the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy appropriation was 
set at a total of up to $6 million for fiscal years 2001 and 2002.
  I hope my colleagues will take a close look at this legislation and 
see the great value in supporting the long-term sustainability of our 
Nation's water resources.
  I thank the Chair.
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