[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 84 (Monday, June 26, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H4526-H4528]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 889, COAST GUARD AND MARITIME TRANSPORTATION
ACT OF 2006
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
agree to the conference report on the bill (H.R. 889) to authorize
appropriations for the Coast Guard for fiscal year 2006, to make
technical corrections to various laws administered by the Coast Guard,
and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
(For conference report and statement, see proceedings of the House of
April 6, 2006 at page H1640.)
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Alaska (Mr. Young) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Corrine Brown)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Alaska.
General Leave
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 889.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Alaska?
There was no objection.
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 889, the Coast Guard
and Maritime Transportation Act of 2006.
This bill authorizes $8.7 billion in funding for the Coast Guard,
including $1.6 billion for the recapitalization of Coast Guard vessels,
aircraft and support systems.
Funding at this level would result in the acceleration of the
Deepwater program and would provide a new, more capable fleet to
support the Coast Guard's many traditional and homeland security
missions.
The conference report also includes provisions related to Coast
Guard's response in the regions that were affected last year by
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the impacts of the storms on the
maritime industry.
The conference report also requires safety inspection for passenger
ferries, makes it easier to prosecute illegal drug smugglers,
encourages the construction and use of U.S. flag liquefied natural gas
vessels, enhances maritime security by increasing penalties for
violations of the Maritime Transportation Security Act, and adjusts oil
spill liability limits for the first time since the Oil Pollution Act
was passed in 1990.
H.R. 889 also includes legislation passed by the House as H.R. 1412,
the Delaware River Protection Act.
This bill was introduced by the Coast Guard Subcommittee chairman,
our colleague from New Jersey, Mr. Frank LoBiondo. I commend him for
his hard work on this measure.
H.R. 889 is a truly bipartisan bill and deserves the support of each
Member of this House.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairmen Young and LoBiondo and Ranking
Members Oberstar and Filner for their hard work in bringing this
conference report to the floor. It has been a long time coming, and I
am glad to see the finish line ahead.
Every time this country faces an emergency, the Coast Guard is the
first agency on the scene. The Coast Guard was the first agency to
react to the terrorist attacks on September 11 and within minutes was
guarding our ports and bridges and directing maritime traffic out of
New York. They were also the only agency in the Bush administration to
actually do their job during the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. That
is worth repeating: they were the only agency in the Bush
administration to actually do their job during the devastation of
Hurricane Katrina. And they are still in the gulf region supporting the
recovery effort.
They respond to these emergencies all while completing their core
missions of search and rescue, drug interdiction, and enforcing
maritime and fisheries laws.
Fortunately, the Transportation Committee realizes how important the
Coast Guard is and has once again stepped up to the plate and provided
the Coast Guard the true amount of funding they need to do their job. I
encourage all my colleagues to support this bill and support full
funding for the U.S. Coast Guard. It is simply the right thing to do
for America.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
{time} 1415
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield to the
chairman of the subcommittee who has done an outstanding job, a man who
understands the Coast Guard and really has been leading the Coast Guard
for the last 6 years, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo).
Mr. LoBIONDO. I thank the chairman for yielding, and I would like to
thank Chairman Young for his ongoing very strong support for the Coast
Guard and their maritime missions.
H.R. 889, the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act, authorizes
nearly $8.7 billion in funding for the Coast Guard in fiscal year 2006.
This authorization includes funding to support each of the Coast
Guard's important missions, including many that have been highlighted
in response to the tragedy that occurred in the gulf region last year.
The Coast Guard is a unique entity within the Federal Government, as
both a military service and a Federal agency with law enforcement
abilities and wide regulatory responsibilities. The men and women of
the Coast Guard carry out their missions every day to protect the
safety and security of our Nation. Whether the mission involves saving
thousands of lives, responding to oil spills, keeping our ports and
waterways open, or boarding a suspicious vessel, the men and women of
the Coast Guard work tirelessly.
However, we cannot allow the commitment that is being shown by the
men and women of the Coast Guard to go on without a real commitment by
this body to provide the service with the assets and resources
necessary to carry out all of these missions that we have asked them to
do. H.R. 889 will authorize the funding levels required to do just
that.
H.R. 889 authorizes $1.6 billion for the Coast Guard's Integrated
Deepwater System, a critically important system. Every day our Coast
Guard servicemembers must deal with the unfortunate reality that an
aircraft or boat they command may lose power, spring a leak, or
otherwise fail to operate. This is unacceptable. It puts the safety of
our personnel and the success of their mission in real jeopardy. We
must accelerate Deepwater to make replacement assets available now. I
urge my colleagues to support funding levels in this bill and in the
future to make this a reality.
H.R. 889 also includes important oil spill response and liability
provisions originally included in the Delaware River Protection Act
legislation that I introduced, along with Representatives Saxton,
Castle, Andrews, and Schwartz, in the wake of the Athos I oil spill in
the Delaware River. These provisions represent the first real effort in
15 years to strengthen our Federal oil spill prevention and response
system. This bill will provide the Federal Government with the
authorities that will enhance our capability to prevent and respond to
future oil spills.
Once again, I would like to thank Chairman Young for his strong
support, Ranking Member Oberstar, as well as subcommittee Ranking
Member
[[Page H4527]]
Filner for working with me to develop a strong bipartisan product. I
would also like to thank our dedicated staff on both sides of the aisle
for their work: John Rayfield, Eric Nagel, and Liz Megginson on the
majority staff, and John Cullather on the minority staff, who did an
outstanding job in helping us put this conference report together.
The bill takes a balanced approach to providing the resources and
authorities necessary to support each of the Coast Guard's many and
varied missions. Although the Coast Guard has received a great deal of
attention for its port security mission, we must strive to protect the
service's unique multi-mission character. We must maintain a Coast
Guard with the ability to successfully accomplish each of its vital
missions.
I would like to urge all my colleagues to support this important bill
and continue to support the men and women of the Coast Guard who do
such an exceptionally good job for the United States of America.
Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. I continue to reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I echo the words of Mr. LoBiondo.
This Coast Guard that serves this great Nation of ours has done such an
outstanding job over the years in my 34 years in Congress that I can
only just applaud each time I see a Coast Guard vessel or a member of
the Coast Guard or the flag that they carry.
It is a unique privilege, being in a State that has probably the
greatest challenge of all the States and probably the most involved
with the Coast Guard. When I first arrived in Congress, we had one
Coast Guard station, actually two, one in Juneau, which was a command
station, and one in Ketchikan, which was relatively small. Since that
time, over the last 34 years, we now have, I believe, the largest Coast
Guard unit in the United States on Kodiak Island.
They do a great job not only patrolling and watching for foreign
interference of our fishing fleet, but saving my constituents. Many
times they go out in weather, and I don't know how many of you watch
the show of the most dangerous fishing, the ``Dangerous Catch,'' they
call it, but there you will see the Coast Guard involved rescuing
people in hundred mile winds, or knots, of seas of about 40 feet, 50
feet, sometimes. Even so bad that it took a helicopter down last year
when they were trying to rescue people off a foreign ship that was
carrying soybeans.
But they do not only that, but they watch for oil spills which
pollute our seas. They do it for the little fisherman going out in the
small dinghy, in larger seas than he should have, to catch those big
King salmon Alaska has that belongs to Alaska and doesn't belong to
Washington State or Canada. And sometimes they get in trouble, and the
Coast Guard is there. And the young men and women that enlist and stay
voluntarily for years and years, I just compliment them.
This bill is a good bill. As mentioned by Mr. LoBiondo, John Rayfield
has done outstanding work. There were very tiring times, especially in
conference, because we are dealing with a conference, and they are very
difficult in this business we are in. Conferences with the other side
are equally difficult but sometimes ridiculous in the sense of what we
have to negotiate for. But we believe we have negotiated a good
conference. Liz Megginson, my legal counsel, has done very well on this
legislation.
And for my colleagues, this is the end of 2006 as far as the
authorization for the Coast Guard. As of today, we will be introducing
a 2007 reauthorization bill; and we will be working on that, hopefully
with expedited results, and getting the bill out of the House and to
the Senate to decide and maybe having the finalization and being ahead
of the ball game. That is what we are going to attempt to do to try to
make sure that the Coast Guard gets the recognition, the organization,
the authorization and be able to fulfill the mission that they have and
will continue to have.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I just want to once again
thank Chairman Young and Mr. LoBiondo and Ranking Members Oberstar and
Filner for their hard work on this bill.
The Coast Guard, once again, is the first agency on the scene that is
doing their job; and I am very pleased that we finally have a bill that
we are going to send to the President's desk.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I would just close by urging my
colleagues to support this legislation.
The House has under consideration the conference report (109-413) to
the bill H.R. 889 to authorize appropriations for the Coast Guard for
fiscal year 2006, to make technical corrections to various laws
administered by the Coast Guard, and for other purposes.
Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank the leadership of the
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for their hard work
shepherding through the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of
2005, and to express my strong support of the bill.
It authorizes $8.7 billion for the Coast Guard for fiscal 2006, which
will be used to perform the essential duties of the U.S. Coast Guard in
the areas of homeland security, maritime safety, law enforcement,
environmental protection, and emergency response: a mission area in
which the Coast Guard led the pack in responding to Hurricane Katrina.
To support these activities, the conference report authorizes $500
million in additional emergency funds for Katrina response.
Mr. Speaker, I want to highlight a provision that I offered and was
accepted by the Committee last July and is included in this conference
report. It directs the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a
study of the pollution in Newtown Creek caused by underground oil
spills in Brooklyn, N.Y. The study is to be fully funded through the
Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. As outlined in section 410 of the
conference report, this study is to be completed no later than one year
after enactment of this law.
Newtown Creek is a 3.5 mile long waterway that flows from the East
River and separates the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The State of
New York has ruled that the Creek does not meet water quality standards
under the Clean Water Act. It is the single most polluted waterway in
New York City, and its banks are home to the largest oil spill in the
United States. The spill is 150 percent the size of the Exxon-Valdez
spill.
In 1978, a Coast Guard patrol detected petroleum on the surface of
Newtown Creek and identified a spill that spreads from the banks of the
Creek through the Greenpoint neighborhood in Brooklyn. Evaluations at
that time identified a spill totaling 17 million gallons attributed to
refineries operated along the banks of the Creek by the predecessors to
ExxonMobil, BP/Amoco and Chevron-Texaco. To date, 8.7 millions gallons
have been cleaned but estimates indicate it will take at least 25 more
years to finish the remediation, primarily conducted by ExxonMobil
under a 1990 consent agreement with the New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation that sets no timetable for completion and
includes no meaningful criteria for compliance.
Even though it has been over 25 years since the oil spill was
detected, the public health and safety risks associated with the oil
spill are still unknown.
The legislative intent of the amendment that directs the Coast Guard
to study Newtown Creek (Creek) is for the Environmental Protection
Agency to revisit the findings of the U.S. Coast Guard's July 1979
report entitled ``Investigation of Underground Accumulation of
Hydrocarbons along Newtown Creek,'' and address the following issues:
The actual current size of the Greenpoint Oil Spill (Spill) and the
extent to which oil from each refinery site contributes to the Spill.
The extent and severity of surface water pollution and sediment
contamination from the Spill, and methods to prevent further seepage
into the Creek.
The Spill's impact on existing conditions in the Creek including but
not limited to low levels of dissolved oxygen and high levels of
bacteria.
The interaction between pollution from the Spill and pollution from
other sources in the Creek including but not limited to Combined Sewer
Overflow Pipes and the Newtown Creek Sewage Treatment Plant.
The extent to which oil and contaminated sediments in the Creek
disperse into New York Harbor.
The extent to which the Spill has affected aquatic species in the
Creek and Harbor, and methods to prevent further harm.
The extent to which the Spill has affected groundwater in the
surrounding area, and methods to prevent further harm.
The extent and severity of contaminated soil in the area affected by
the Spill, and methods to prevent further harm.
Any public health issues raised by the Spill and the current
remediation efforts, both independently and in interaction with other
pollutants in the Creek.
[[Page H4528]]
Any safety issues raised by the Spill and the current remediation
efforts, both independently and in interaction with other pollutants in
the Creek.
The extent to which the current remediation efforts are sufficient,
and any new technologies or approaches that could accelerate product
recovery and/or improve the scope of the remediation.
I would like to express my thanks to Chairman Young, Mr. Oberstar,
Chairman LoBiondo, and Mr. Filner for their willingness to work with me
on this very important yet often overlooked Issue. The country will
benefit from renewed Federal attention on this oil spill, the largest
in the country.
Furthermore, I would like to thank my Democratic colleagues in the
New York City delegation, all of whom signed a letter to conferees
urging that this study be included in the conference report. I would
especially like to commend Mrs. Velazquez, who represents the people of
Greenpoint. She and I have worked together closely on this initiative.
Additionally, I would like to thank both the Democratic and
Republican staff of the Transportation Committee and the Subcommittee
on the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation. In particular, Ward
McCarragher and John Cullather of Mr. Oberstar's staff and Fraser
Verrusio and John Rayfield of Mr. Young's staff were very helpful.
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) that the House suspend the rules and
agree to the conference report on the bill, H.R. 889.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of
those present have voted in the affirmative.
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this question will
be postponed.
____________________