[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 156 (Sunday, September 28, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2134]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO CARLOS MARIN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. HENRY CUELLAR

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Saturday, September 27, 2008

  Mr. CUELLAR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of my 
dear friend, Carlos Marin, the United States Commissioner of the 
International Boundary and Water Commission, IBWC. On September 15th, 
he departed with his IBWC Mexican counterpart, Mr. Arturo Herrera, on a 
chartered flight to survey the flooding of the Rio Grande River along 
the border area of Presidio, Texas, and Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico. 
While working to assess the damage and coordinate joint-response 
efforts with the local officials and the Mexican Government, their 
chartered flight crashed, taking the lives of all those aboard, in a 
remote area of the Sierra Madre mountain range.
  Mr. Marin joined the IBWC as a staff engineer in 1979, and he rose 
through management and executive positions through 2006, when President 
Bush appointed him as U.S. Commissioner to the IBWC. Our Nation has 
lost a true public servant who worked for a quarter of a century with 
the International Boundary and Water Commission on issues such as water 
debt, and most recently the rehabilitation of the levees in Hidalgo 
County. He was one of the few that understood the water issues facing 
the border region, and was a friend to everyone in South Texas.
  My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and to the others who 
were on the plane with him. His tragic passing leaves a void in our 
hearts and minds. I am personally saddened to lose a wonderful friend; 
and it will not be the same working with the IBWC without Carlos as its 
commissioner. His exemplary dedication and service to the South Texas 
community have been crucial to future development, especially with the 
much-needed levee repairs that helped save residents in my district 
from flooding during the hurricanes this past summer. We in our South 
Texas community will be forever grateful to Carlos for his 
contributions, and I thank his family for their support of Carlos' work 
with IBWC.
  Madam Speaker, I am honored to have had this time to honor the memory 
of Mr. Carlos Marin.

                          ____________________