[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 44 (Monday, March 22, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E435-E436]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN PROTECTION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                             HON. PHIL HARE

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 18, 2010

  Mr. HARE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to join me 
in supporting H.R. 3671, the Upper Mississippi River Basin Protection 
Act. This is an important piece of legislation, which would provide us 
with a scientific basis for the management of sediment and nutrient 
loss in the Upper Mississippi River Basin. I am proud to represent an 
area of Illinois which is bordered by the Mississippi River and believe 
we must do more to protect this important waterway.
  Soil erosion and ecological changes being made by nutrient 
displacement endanger the long-term viability of the midwest's farming 
community. The loss of sediments and nutrients upstream endanger the 
wetland environments downstream. The sediments that flow into the 
shipping channel of the Mississippi River cost more than $150 million 
in dredging annually. The Department of the Interior does not have the 
resources or the scientific data to work effectively at protecting the 
Mississippi and this bill will change that.
  This bill requires that the U.S. Geological Survey and Department of 
Interior collect data and study sediment loss and soil erosion. I 
believe this is a good first step towards solving this problem. I also 
agree that the National Research Council of the National Academy of 
Sciences should conduct a comprehensive water resources assessment so 
that we can be sure that data obtained from both public and private 
monitoring stations come from a nonpartisan, unbiased source.
  H.R. 3671 is beneficial to not just my constituents, but the 
knowledge we gain from the measuring and monitoring of sediment and 
nutrients could be used by several entities including the Army Corps of 
Engineers, who spend a significant amount of time dredging, scientists 
and academic researchers, environmentalists working to protect the 
biological integrity of areas in and around the Mississippi River, 
businesses who conduct barge commerce, the agriculture industry which 
uses the River's waterways on a daily basis, among many others. It is 
clear that the best way forward on addressing this issue is to enact a 
long-term, coordinated, basin-wide monitoring of the waterway. H.R. 
3671 has my support because it is one part of this strategy.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend the gentleman from Wisconsin, Representative 
Kind, for introducing this bill and being persistent in once

[[Page E436]]

again gaining passage. Today, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in 
supporting this bill, and I call upon the Senate to swiftly pass this 
important, bipartisan, legislation and stand with the House in 
protecting the Upper Mississippi River Basin.

                          ____________________