[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 35 (Thursday, March 11, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1428-S1429]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               CIAP FUNDS

  Mr. VITTER. Madam President, I rise to speak about Vitter amendment 
No. 3458. I hope, by the time I wrap up, the Members leading the 
discussion on this bill will be prepared to make the bill pending so I 
may also make my amendment pending.
  This amendment is real simple. It is about the Coastal Impact 
Assistance Program, CIAP, which was established in the Energy Policy 
Act of 2005. This program is very important for energy-producing 
States. It takes some revenue from that energy production and leaves it 
in those States to deal with the impacts of energy production. The 
problem is, that funding was supposed to be distributed to these States 
from 2007 to 2010. The entirety of it was supposed to be distributed by 
and through this year. But that has not been happening at all because 
MMS has added an additional bureaucratic layer to getting funding out 
beyond that which was talked about and established in the statute.
  My amendment is simple. It would get rid of that bureaucratic layer. 
It would still retain oversight. It would still retain all the 
protections of the statute, but it would streamline the process so this 
funding actually gets out to the States as intended. It is way behind. 
Rather than 100 percent being distributed to the States by this year, 
they have only distributed 15 percent. Obviously, we are way behind the 
8 ball. We would accelerate that. Because this funding has already been 
allocated, this amendment does not cost anything, does not score. This 
is the same money that was allocated through the CIAP in the Energy 
Policy Act of 2005.
  This streamlines the process. This helps us get back on track in 
terms of distributing that vital money to coastal States. It doesn't 
cost anything because all that money was supposed to be distributed by 
this year anyway. This is important.

  One of the crucial areas the Coastal Impact Assistance Program can 
help with in my State is related to hurricanes, all sorts of uses--
mitigation, emergency preparedness, hurricane evacuation routes related 
to hurricanes.
  Yesterday, hurricane forecasters predicted, unfortunately, that 2010 
is going to be a very severe hurricane season. We are preparing for 
that in any way we can. The fact that this CIAP funding has been 
blocked, has not gone to the coastal States, is a real problem in that 
regard. We need to do better. This amendment streamlines the process so 
we can do better.
  This amendment also retains the oversight mechanism in the underlying 
bill. As the plain language of CIAP in the bill says, if the Secretary 
determines that any expenditure made by a producing State is not 
consistent with the underlying plan, then the State may not be 
disbursed any further funds until repayment of the unauthorized use of 
already obligated funds. Clearly, there is that mechanism for complete 
accountability.
  In addition, a State CIAP plan has to be approved to begin with by 
MMS, and that has already occurred. This gets back to the intent of the 
statute. It gets back to the timeline of the statute. It streamlines 
that process so we can get on with it. One hundred percent of these 
funds were supposed to be

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distributed by 2010 and, instead, we are at the 15 percent mark. That 
is simply not good enough when important use of this money is planned 
on by vulnerable States such as Louisiana.
  I yield the floor.

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