[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 93 (Monday, July 17, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H5252]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     DROUGHT ISSUES IN SOUTH DAKOTA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from South Dakota (Ms. Herseth) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. HERSETH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call to my colleagues' 
attention a dire and worsening situation developing in South Dakota and 
in several other States across the Great Plains. South Dakota is 
currently experiencing a severe, if not historic, drought; and it is 
getting worse.
  Almost every week we are breaking records for lack of rainfall and 
high temperatures in communities across the State. Keep in mind that 
South Dakota was one of the hardest-hit regions of the country during 
the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. We have seen droughts before, and this one 
may ultimately rank among the worst.
  I have beside me the most recent Drought Monitor map released last 
Thursday. As you can see, a significant portion of central South Dakota 
indicated here on the map is considered in an exceptional drought, the 
most severe category the Monitor recognizes.
  A considerably larger portion of the State is experiencing extreme 
drought, and 80 percent of the State is currently experiencing some 
drought today. Let me share some statistics with you. The ranching 
communities of Kadoka and Newell both experienced their second driest 
June on record. For the months of April and June combined, the 
communities of Timber Lake, Kennebec, and Faulkton experienced the 
driest conditions ever for those communities. And we have records going 
back more than 100 years.
  The first 6 months of this year were the driest ever for Timber Lake. 
That community received 3.61 inches of precipitation for the entire 6-
month period, a mere 35 percent of average. It also set an all time 
record temperature on Saturday of 112 degrees.
  Also last Saturday, it was 116 degrees in Mobridge, South Dakota, a 
regional trade center, larger than the other towns I have mentioned. 
Mobridge, located near the North Dakota border along the Missouri 
River, it is a regional trade center, larger than the other towns that 
I mentioned. It had the driest 6 months ever recorded in that 
community, only 2.23 inches of precipitation over an entire half year.
  This is less than 25 percent of their average rainfall. This is farm 
and ranch country and the effects have been devastating. Agricultural 
conditions are very dire and deteriorating. I have heard reports of 
ranchers completely liquidating their cattle herds as feed and water 
disappear. There is insufficient grass to get the entire herd through 
the summer; there is no hay to get these animals through the fall and 
winter. Wheat fields have burned up and hopes for a decent corn and 
soybean harvest are fading fast.
  The record high temperatures of last week have come at the time that 
the corn is tasseling, a critical time for the crop. A farmer can lose 
up to 8 percent of yield a day under conditions of such severe stress. 
Conditions on the afternoon of July 15 on the family farm of one of the 
leaders of the South Dakota Corn Growers Association was 112 degrees in 
the shade, only 20 percent humidity, accompanied by 42 mile-an-hour 
winds. This in the center part of the State as well, but a bit more 
south and east.
  Despite burn bans in many counties in the State, wild fires are 
becoming an increasing problem as well. As just one example, on July 5, 
a prairie fire began near Wakpala, South Dakota, and it burned across 
600 acres of grassland in 25 minutes.
  The water level in Lake Oahe, the largest of South Dakota's four 
Missouri River reservoirs, continues to drop and is now only about 4 
feet above the record low set 2 years ago. Unfortunately, the 
precipitation outlook is not good. According to Weather Service 
computer models and projections, there is no relief in sight. Any new 
rainfall is expected to be light and isolated, and temperatures are 
expected to be much warmer than average in the coming weeks.
  The temperature in our State capital of Pierre on Saturday was 117 
degrees, an all-time record temperature. The Climate Prediction 
Center's most recent drought outlook predicts that the current drought 
will not only continue; it will worsen in the Dakotas and may expand 
across eastern Montana, Minnesota, and parts of Iowa.
  Unfortunately, compared to other natural disasters, drought suffers 
from some real public relations disadvantages. First, they do not get 
memorable names to personify them like hurricanes. They creep in slowly 
and quietly, and they don't destroy buildings or sweep away trees; they 
do not inundate cities.
  In other words, they simply do not make for good video on the evening 
news. But the damage they wreak is just as real as any other natural 
disaster. Droughts devastate family farms and ranches, small businesses 
and local economies. Families and communities suffer the same kind of 
economic and emotional toll from droughts that are caused by other 
natural disasters.
  The stress for families worsens as the cattle herd is sold and 
nonfarm or ranch employment is sought if any can be found in smaller 
rural communities.

                              {time}  2000

  Sometimes, such severe droughts even weaken the intrinsic optimism of 
the people who live and work and raise families in rural America. That 
is what is beginning to happen in central South Dakota today. 
Conditions there are truly devastating, and it is becoming increasingly 
clear that Congress must do something to address this situation.
  Many other areas of the country are similarly affected and they 
deserve our attention and our assistance, just as much as do victims of 
hurricanes or floods or earthquakes or any other natural event that 
devastates economies and lives.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate this opportunity to bring this situation to 
my colleagues' attention, and I look forward to working together to 
address this important matter.

                          ____________________