[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 123 (Wednesday, September 27, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H7667-H7669]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN PROTECTION ACT
Mr. GOHMERT. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 5340) to promote Department of the Interior efforts to
provide a scientific basis for the management of sediment and nutrient
loss in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, and for other purposes, as
amended.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 5340
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Upper
Mississippi River Basin Protection Act''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents of this Act
is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Definitions.
Sec. 3. Reliance on sound science.
TITLE I--SEDIMENT AND NUTRIENT MONITORING NETWORK
Sec. 101. Establishment of monitoring network.
Sec. 102. Data collection and storage responsibilities.
Sec. 103. Relationship to existing sediment and nutrient monitoring.
Sec. 104. Collaboration with other public and private monitoring
efforts.
Sec. 105. Reporting requirements.
Sec. 106. National Research Council assessment.
TITLE II--COMPUTER MODELING AND RESEARCH
Sec. 201. Computer modeling and research of sediment and nutrient
sources.
Sec. 202. Use of electronic means to distribute information.
Sec. 203. Reporting requirements.
TITLE III--AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS AND RELATED MATTERS
Sec. 301. Authorization of appropriations.
Sec. 302. Cost-sharing requirements.
Sec. 303. Sunset.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) The terms ``Upper Mississippi River Basin'' and
``Basin'' mean the watershed portion of the Upper Mississippi
River and Illinois River basins, from Cairo, Illinois, to the
headwaters of the Mississippi River, in the States of
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. The
designation includes the Kaskaskia watershed along the
Illinois River and the Meramec watershed along the Missouri
River.
(2) The terms ``Upper Mississippi River Stewardship
Initiative'' and ``Initiative'' mean the activities
authorized or required by this Act to monitor nutrient and
sediment loss in the Upper Mississippi River Basin.
(3) The term ``sound science'' refers to the use of
accepted and documented scientific methods to identify and
quantify the sources, transport, and fate of nutrients and
sediment and to quantify the effect of various treatment
methods or conservation measures on nutrient and sediment
loss. Sound science requires the use of documented protocols
for data collection and data analysis, and peer review of the
data, results, and findings.
SEC. 3. RELIANCE ON SOUND SCIENCE.
It is the policy of Congress that Federal investments in
the Upper Mississippi River Basin must be guided by sound
science.
TITLE I--SEDIMENT AND NUTRIENT MONITORING NETWORK
SEC. 101. ESTABLISHMENT OF MONITORING NETWORK.
(a) Establishment.--As part of the Upper Mississippi River
Stewardship Initiative, the Secretary of the Interior shall
establish a sediment and nutrient monitoring network for the
Upper Mississippi River Basin for the purposes of--
(1) identifying and evaluating significant sources of
sediment and nutrients in the Upper Mississippi River Basin;
(2) quantifying the processes affecting mobilization,
transport, and fate of those sediments and nutrients on land
and in water;
(3) quantifying the transport of those sediments and
nutrients to and through the Upper Mississippi River Basin;
(4) recording changes to sediment and nutrient loss over
time;
(5) providing coordinated data to be used in computer
modeling of the Basin, pursuant to section 201; and
(6) identifying major sources of sediment and nutrients
within the Basin for the purpose of targeting resources to
reduce sediment and nutrient loss.
(b) Role of United States Geological Survey.--The Secretary
of the Interior shall carry out this title acting through the
office of the Director of the United States Geological
Survey.
SEC. 102. DATA COLLECTION AND STORAGE RESPONSIBILITIES.
(a) Guidelines for Data Collection and Storage.--The
Secretary of the Interior shall establish guidelines for the
effective design of data collection activities regarding
sediment and nutrient monitoring, for the use of suitable and
consistent methods for data collection, and for consistent
reporting, data storage, and archiving practices.
(b) Release of Data.--Data resulting from sediment and
nutrient monitoring in the Upper Mississippi River Basin
shall be released to the public using generic station
identifiers and hydrologic unit codes. In the case of a
monitoring station located on private lands, information
regarding the location of the station shall not be
disseminated without the landowner's permission.
(c) Protection of Privacy.--Data resulting from sediment
and nutrient monitoring in the Upper Mississippi River Basin
is not subject to the mandatory disclosure provisions of
section 552 of title 5, United States Code, but may be
released only as provided in subsection (b).
SEC. 103. RELATIONSHIP TO EXISTING SEDIMENT AND NUTRIENT
MONITORING.
(a) Inventory.--To the maximum extent practicable, the
Secretary of the Interior shall inventory the sediment and
nutrient monitoring efforts, in existence as of the date of
the enactment of this Act, of Federal, State, local, and
nongovernmental entities for the purpose of creating a
baseline understanding of overlap, data gaps and
redundancies.
(b) Integration.--On the basis of the inventory, the
Secretary of the Interior shall integrate the existing
sediment and nutrient monitoring efforts, to the maximum
extent practicable, into the sediment and nutrient monitoring
network required by section 101.
(c) Consultation and Use of Existing Data.--In carrying out
this section, the Secretary of the Interior shall make
maximum use of data in existence as of the date of the
enactment of this Act and of ongoing programs and efforts of
Federal, State, tribal, local, and nongovernmental entities
in developing the sediment and nutrient monitoring network
required by section 101.
(d) Coordination With Long-Term Estuary Assessment
Project.--The Secretary of the Interior shall carry out this
section in coordination with the long-term estuary assessment
project authorized by section 902 of the Estuaries and Clean
Waters Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-457; 33 U.S.C. 2901 note).
SEC. 104. COLLABORATION WITH OTHER PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
MONITORING EFFORTS.
To establish the sediment and nutrient monitoring network,
the Secretary of the Interior shall collaborate, to the
maximum extent practicable, with other Federal, State,
tribal, local and private sediment and nutrient monitoring
programs that meet guidelines prescribed under section
102(a), as determined by the Secretary.
SEC. 105. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.
The Secretary of the Interior shall report to Congress not
later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this
Act on the development of the sediment and nutrient
monitoring network.
SEC. 106. NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL ASSESSMENT.
The National Research Council of the National Academy of
Sciences shall conduct a comprehensive water resources
assessment of the Upper Mississippi River Basin.
TITLE II--COMPUTER MODELING AND RESEARCH
SEC. 201. COMPUTER MODELING AND RESEARCH OF SEDIMENT AND
NUTRIENT SOURCES.
(a) Modeling Program Required.--As part of the Upper
Mississippi River Stewardship Initiative, the Director of the
United States Geological Survey shall establish a modeling
program to identify significant sources of sediment and
nutrients in the Upper Mississippi River Basin.
(b) Role.--Computer modeling shall be used to identify
subwatersheds which are significant sources of sediment and
nutrient loss and shall be made available for the purposes of
targeting public and private sediment and nutrient reduction
efforts.
(c) Components.--Sediment and nutrient models for the Upper
Mississippi River Basin shall include the following:
(1) Models to relate nutrient loss to landscape, land use,
and land management practices.
(2) Models to relate sediment loss to landscape, land use,
and land management practices.
(3) Models to define river channel nutrient transformation
processes.
(d) Collection of Ancillary Information.--Ancillary
information shall be collected in a GIS format to support
modeling and management use of modeling results, including
the following:
(1) Land use data.
(2) Soils data.
(3) Elevation data.
(4) Information on sediment and nutrient reduction
improvement actions.
(5) Remotely sense data.
SEC. 202. USE OF ELECTRONIC MEANS TO DISTRIBUTE INFORMATION.
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of
this Act, the Director of the United States Geological Survey
shall establish a system that uses the telecommunications
medium known as the Internet to provide information regarding
the following:
(1) Public and private programs designed to reduce sediment
and nutrient loss in the Upper Mississippi River Basin.
(2) Information on sediment and nutrient levels in the
Upper Mississippi River and its tributaries.
(3) Successful sediment and nutrient reduction projects.
SEC. 203. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.
(a) Monitoring Activities.--Commencing one year after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the United
States Geological Survey shall provide to Congress and make
available to the public an annual report regarding monitoring
activities conducted in the Upper Mississippi River Basin.
[[Page H7668]]
(b) Modeling Activities.--Every three years, the Director
of the United States Geological Survey shall provide to
Congress and make available to the public a progress report
regarding modeling activities.
TITLE III--AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS AND RELATED MATTERS
SEC. 301. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) United States Geological Survey Activities.--There is
authorized to be appropriated to the United States Geological
Survey $6,250,000 each fiscal year to carry out this Act
(other than section 106). Of the amounts appropriated for a
fiscal year pursuant to this authorization of appropriations,
one-third shall be made available for the United States
Geological Survey Cooperative Water Program and the remainder
shall be made available for the United States Geological
Survey Hydrologic Networks and Analysis Program.
(b) Water Resource and Water Quality Management
Assessment.--There is authorized to be appropriated $650,000
to allow the National Research Council to perform the
assessment required by section 106.
SEC. 302. COST-SHARING REQUIREMENTS.
Funds made available for the United States Geological
Survey Cooperative Water Program under section 301(a) shall
be subject to the same cost sharing requirements as specified
in the last proviso under the heading ``UNITED STATES
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY-SURVEYS, INVESTIGATIONS, AND RESEARCH'' of
the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related
Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006 (Public Law 109-54; 119
Stat. 510; 43 U.S.C. 50).
SEC. 303. SUNSET.
The authority of the Secretary of the Interior to carry out
any provisions of this Act shall terminate 10 years after the
date of the enactment of this Act.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Gohmert) and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kind) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.
Mr. GOHMERT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, under H.R. 5340, the U.S. Geological Survey will
supplement, coordinate and manage data collection on sediments and
nutrients in the Upper Mississippi River Basin. The data would be used
to provide the baseline data and modeling tools needed to make the
scientifically sound and cost-effective river management decisions.
The House passed a similar version of this bill in the 108th
Congress, and I urge my colleagues to support the bill at this time.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. KIND. Madam Speaker, I yield such myself such time as may
consume.
(Mr. KIND asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. KIND. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the majority for their
support for this legislation this evening. This is legislation that I
drafted and supported over the last couple of years with the support of
many my colleagues in a bipartisan fashion. I want to commend the
colleagues who have been active participants in the bipartisan
Mississippi River Caucus.
This bill, the Upper Mississippi River Basin Protection Act, would
develop a coordinated public-private approach to reducing nutrient and
sediment flows in the Upper Mississippi River Basin.
The Mississippi River, Madam Speaker, is one of the great national
treasures that we have and one of the great diverse ecosystems that
flows right through the heart of America. It is North America's largest
migratory route, with 40 percent of the water fowl species using this
corridor during their annual migration every year. It is also the bread
basket of America, which provides a lot of fertile acres are for the
agricultural lands that we enjoy in the Midwest. It is also the primary
drinking source to close to 30 million Americans.
But its greatest risk and challenge today is the amount of nutrients
and sediments that are flowing into the basin area. The problem is
multiple. Soil erosion reduces the long-term sustainability and the
income of the typical farmer in middle America. Collectively, farmers
annually lose more than $300 million of applied nitrogen due to runoff
which ultimately enters the basin area.
Sediment fills the main shipping channel of the Mississippi River,
costing the taxpayers roughly $100 million each year in dredging costs
just to maintain the safe shipping channels for the navigation industry
that takes and delivers many of the products to market.
Sediment fills in these valuable wetlands along the Mississippi River
Basin, reducing wildlife habitat, affecting and destroying numerous
acres of wetlands every year.
The loss of side channel habitat threaten the River's $1.2 recreation
and $6.6 billion tourism industry impact in the Upper Mississippi River
region alone. And there is inadequate scientific data on the amounts
and sources of sediments and nutrients flowing into the Upper
Mississippi River Basin at scales useful to land manager.
So what this legislation is attempting to do is put the science in
place, allow the USGS to be the lead agency where they have developed
competence in water quality and monitoring, set up a sub-basin
monitoring system and develop computer models so we can do a better job
of tracking the sediment and nutrient flows that enter the basin area,
identify the hot spots, and better target the limited resources and
voluntary and incentive-based land and water conservation programs to
hopefully reduce that impact in the river basin.
What we are proposing is entirely consistent with the hypoxia study
that took place in the Gulf of Mexico with the recommendations that
they submitted to the Congress back in January of 2001. In fact, 40
percent of the nutrients that ultimately flow into the Gulf of Mexico
creating this so-called dead zone or oxygen depletion zone, which is
growing every year, has their origin in the Upper Mississippi River
Basin.
This has received wide bipartisan support, both in Congress and at
home. The five Upper Mississippi State governors have endorsed this
proposal, along with the legislatures, and there have been countless
public and private entities that have endorsed this approach too of
trying to get the science in place so we can start the long-term data
collection and establish the baseline so we know how to react to this
great challenge that is affecting the great treasure that we know as
the Mississippi River.
I want to especially commend the staff on committee for their help
with this legislation, and my own staff, who has devoted countless
hours on this project. I want to thank the support of the
administration that has supported the legislation, along with numerous
private entities throughout the Upper Midwest that have supported it
and offered recommendations on how we can make this work for private
landowners and public entities alike.
I want to especially thank Barry Drazkowski, who teaches at St.
Mary's University at Winona, Minnesota, for the work he has done on
water quality issues and for many of the ideas we have incorporated in
this legislation.
Hopefully the third time is a charm. Hopefully we will get
cooperation in the Senate to move this vitally important piece of
legislation, because, again, the greatest threat that the Mississippi
River Basin is facing today are the amount of sediments and nutrients
that are flowing in, and I think there is a lot that we can do by
maximizing the investment that we can make based on the science we are
trying to put in place with this legislation here tonight in order to
maintain the preservation and the protection of this great natural
resource.
Again, I want to thank my colleague and the support we received on
the Resources Committee, and encourage my colleagues to adoption this
legislation this evening.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. GOHMERT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, last week we witnessed Mr. Kind from Wisconsin as the
quarterback of the Congressional team run and pass doing amazing feats
on the football field, and now we have seen him run with this
legislation, and I urge my colleagues to help him pass this bill.
Mr. NUSSLE. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Upper
Mississippi River Basin Protection Act. This legislation takes a
commonsense approach to reduce nutrient and sediment loss in the Upper
Mississippi watershed by coordinating existing public and private water
monitoring initiatives. I believe that such a partnership promotes the
river's health and is beneficial the communities and people of eastern
Iowa.
[[Page H7669]]
Most of the farm families I represent live and make their living
either along the Mississippi, or its many tributaries. Soil erosion is
a problem for farmers by reducing long-term sustainability and income
potential of their acres. It is my understanding that farmers in the
Upper Mississippi River Basin lose more than $300 million annually in
applied nitrogen to soil erosion. In addition, sediment fills the main
shipping channel of the Mississippi that family farmers depend on to
get their commodities to markets.
Farmers live close to the land, and are committed to being good
stewards. This legislation helps farmers and local conservation groups
assess where problems are occurring in their watershed, and how to
efficiently and effectively solve the problem.
I believe this legislation is beneficial in mending our environment
along the river, and better protecting it in the future. Sediment is a
threat to the Mississippi's fish, birds, and other wildlife by filling
wetlands. Sediment reduces wetlands' ability to be an adequate water
filter and provide habitat to the creatures that live all along the
Mississippi River. It is estimated that the Upper Mississippi
contributes 31 percent of the nitrogen that impairs the water quality
of the Lower Mississippi basin.
Part of the Upper Mississippi Wildlife Refuge is in my district. I
believe this refuge is an important treasure for Iowa. What makes this
area special is, of course, the unique wildlife that lives there. This
legislation helps promote wildlife by monitoring and computer modeling
data to ensure scientifically sound and cost-effective decisions in
promoting water quality.
Additionally, a healthy Mississippi River is very important to the
communities of eastern Iowa. The Mississippi is recognized throughout
the United States and abroad as ``America's River''. The Quad Cities
area is a popular destination of international travelers who want to
see and touch the water. For the residents of the Quad Cities area, the
riverfront is the center of social life, with a historic district,
baseball diamond, and several annually held festivals.
The City of Dubuque boasts over one million visitors thanks to the
Mississippi. This community has chosen to make its story of the river
the cornerstone of its urban renewal with a million dollar investment
in the revitalization of the riverfront. The America's River project
and historic Port of Dubuque represent the community's dedication to
growing its tourism industry.
Madam Speaker, the Upper Mississippi's health and water quality
essential to growing the economies of the larger river cities of
Bettendorf, Davenport, Clinton, and Dubuque, and the picturesque river
towns of Guttenberg, LeClair, Bellevue, and Marquette. All of these
communities, along with farmers and conservationists, have invested
much time and effort in promoting a clean river. I believe this
legislation helps to insure these investments by coordinating the many
interests of those living in the Upper Mississippi River Basin.
Accordingly, I am a proud sponsor of this bill, and I urge my
colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.
Mr. GOHMERT. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 5340, 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.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________