[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 102 (Monday, July 12, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5746-S5748]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. McCAIN (for himself and Mr. Kyl):
S. 3565. A bill to provide for the conveyance of certain Bureau of
Land Management land in Mohave County, Arizona, to the Arizona Game and
Fish Commission, for use as a public shooting range; to the Committee
on Energy and Natural Resources.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I am pleased to be joined by my colleague,
Senator Jon Kyl, in introducing a bill that would convey 315 acres of
Federal land in Arizona to the Arizona Game and Fish Commission for use
as a public shooting range. A similar bill was introduced in the House
of Representatives by Congressman Trent Franks last year.
The construction of the Mohave Valley Shooting Range near Bullhead
City, AZ, is widely supported in the tri-state region and has several
anticipated benefits. For example, local law enforcement agencies
support the shooting range as a way to help maintain firearms
qualifications. Mohave Community College has a Law Enforcement Academy
that would be significantly enhanced by this project. Also, the new
range will reduce instances of random shooting on sensitive public
lands which followed the closure of a former Bullhead City shooting
facility in 1999.
In February 2010, after an arduous 12-year planning process, the BLM
approved an administrative conveyance of federal land for the shooting
range under the Recreation and Public Purposes Act. This decision was
made under an Environmental Assessment/Finding of No Significant
Impact. Unfortunately, several tribal governments have appealed the
decision to the Interior Board of Land Appeals citing cultural impacts
to the Boundary Cone Butte, which will undeservedly delay the project
for several more years. It is important to note that the project's
Environmental Assessment offers several mitigation measures that
address tribal concerns, including the installation of sound dampening
features, requirements for noise monitoring to ensure compliance with
State noise standards for shooting range facilities, limiting the
facility's footprint to protect culturally sensitive lands, and
providing for the relocation of species that would be disturbed.
The bill we have introduced would direct the BLM to complete the land
conveyance without further delay. It also acknowledges the 2010
Environmental Assessment/Plan Amendment which was developed as part of
the project's 12-year planning effort. Mr. President, the Mohave Valley
Shooting Range project has lapsed for over a decade and the people of
Mohave County are still waiting to break ground. I urge my colleagues
to support this bill.
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By Mr. NELSON of Florida (for himself, Mr. Cornyn, and Mrs.
Feinstein):
S. 3568. A bill to amend the Trade Act of 1974/ create a Citrus
Disease Research and Development Trust Fund to support research on
diseases impacting the citrus industry, and for other purposes; to the
Committee on Finance.
Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, today it is my honor to
introduce a bill that would create the U.S. Citrus Disease Research and
Development Trust Fund. I am joined in this effort by my good friends,
and fellow ``Citrus State Senators''--Sen. John Cornyn of
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Texas and Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California.
By introducing this bill, it is our collective goal to create a
guaranteed source of funding for scientific research aimed at
addressing diseases, invasive pests, and other challenges faced by the
U.S. citrus industry. Most importantly, the scientific research
supported by my bill would benefit all citrus producers, regardless of
where the citrus is growing.
Citrus growers in the U.S. shouldn't have to ask themselves if this
is the year a disease or a pest will wipe them out. That's why having a
permanent fund to help combat these threats just makes a lot of sense.
The most serious of these threats is citrus greening, a disease which
kills the citrus tree and is spread by the Asian citrus psyllid, an
insect no bigger than my fingernail. Because it attacks the tree and
because it is so easily spread, this disease has the ability to wipe
out the entire citrus industry.
My bill does not require new funding or create any new taxes--it is
funded by a portion of the existing import duties collected from
imported citrus products. Specifically, the total amount of the fund
may not exceed $30 million dollars annually, which is only about half
of the total duties presently collected on imported citrus products.
My bill is based on the model established by the Wool Trust Fund and
adopts oversight and administrative controls for similar programs
within the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
I look forward to working with my colleagues to see that this bill is
signed into law.
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By Mr. NELSON of Florida:
S. 3569. A bill to improve the ability of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration to respond to releases of subsea oil and
gas, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation.
Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, we are now on the 84th day of
the Deepwater Horizon spill. Along with the over 175 million gallons of
oil and natural gas that have gushed into the gulf, over 1 million
gallons of dispersants have been applied, with 700,000 gallons applied
under the surface of the water. This is a method of using dispersants
that has been likened to a science experiment.
With each passing day, we see new images of oil washing up on the
shores, onto our beaches, into the wetlands, coating the wildlife. We
have all seen it on television, and it is heartbreaking. But I worry
more about something else, something we do not see. For 2 months now,
academics, the media, and the public have asked about the possibility
of vast amounts of oil miles away from the location of the spill.
Independent scientists from research institutions in my State, such
as the University of South Florida and Florida State University, took
to the water early on. They sent their own research vessels out there
to find the answers. What they found confirmed the fears we have--what
we do not see, and that is detectable amounts of oil and hydrocarbons
impacting areas away from the spill. These hydrocarbons may not look
like what we imagined. We imagined ominous black clouds. But, in fact,
what scientists pulled up from different depths in their water samples
often came up clear, but just because you can't see the oil doesn't
mean it is not there and it doesn't mean it is not having an impact.
A few weeks ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
released its first report on subsea oil. Our top ocean science agency
has been working to understand the impacts of subsurface hydrocarbons.
While there is now some publicly available information on subsurface
oil, many unanswered questions remain. Is the subsurface oil down
there, and especially that which you can't see? Is it there because of
the use of dispersants? Does the large amount of pressure caused by the
weight of the water column at such depths--as far as 5,000 feet--lead
to these plumes of oil being subsurface? What is the effect of having
oil and gas throughout the water column as opposed to the oil floating
on the surface?
I believe it took so long to get any information because this is
something we simply have not seen before. The last time this country
dealt with a spill even near this magnitude was the Exxon Valdez spill.
But that was a tanker that leaked in a bay where all the oil was in the
upper layers of the water column. The oil basically stayed afloat.
Here, we have a situation where the oil is being released 5,000 feet
below the surface of the gulf. It is being sprayed with dispersants,
and that keeps much of it down in that fragile environment and away
from view. But, of course, the many organisms that live down at those
depths are the base of the food web, and the impact of the dissolved
and dispersed hydrocarbons on these critters is simply unknown.
We haven't even begun to deal with the question of the natural gas
that is also spewing out of the well. Some have estimated that as much
as half of the volume coming out of the well is actually natural gas.
Some of that is very probably dissolving, and it is possible that most
of it is dissolving. But who knows how these chemicals are interacting
with it? If any of the natural gas is bubbling to the surface, it could
pose a threat to the health and the safety of wildlife, and it could
pose a health hazard to humans on the surface of the gulf.
As a result of all of this and so that we learn from this situation
so we don't keep doing this same thing over and over, I am introducing
the Subsea Hydrocarbon Imagery and Planning Act. This bill will address
some of these gaps in our knowledge and understanding of what happens
when oil and natural gas are released under the ocean.
This bill will direct NOAA to review its current protocols for
detecting and mapping subsea hydrocarbons. It would require them to
develop priorities and to adopt a plan for the future by implementing a
program within the Office of Response and Restoration dedicated to
mapping subsea hydrocarbons and releasing what their trajectories are.
State and local governments and the American people should have access
to this information so they can plan accordingly. NOAA itself needs
this information for incorporation into its protocols for closing and
opening fisheries. And the people in charge of managing this crisis
need this information so they can make informed decisions about how to
proceed.
We are in the midst, as we know, of hurricane season. While we have
not seen this subsea oil with our eyes yet, a hurricane could make that
worst-case scenario a reality.
Last week, during the recess, I spent some time with some of
Florida's best and brightest scientists who are studying this spill.
I spoke with researchers from Florida Gulf Coast University, Mote
Marine Laboratory, and the University of Miami's Center for
Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing. These institutions might
have the technology and expertise that could be used to detect and
monitor subsea oil and gas and measure its impact on fragile marine
environments.
As we look to the future and as we are getting NOAA to adopt a plan,
that is a plan we need. This legislation--the Subsea Hydrocarbon
Imagery and Planning Act--will ensure that days in the future we will
not wonder how much oil and gas is out there, where it is, where it is
going, and what its impacts will be because we will know.
I hope my colleagues in the Senate are going to support this effort.
Clearly, with what is going on, this well needs to be killed. There are
60,000 barrels of oil a day gushing into the gulf, and this has been
going on now closing in on 3 months.
Until the time the well is killed, they will continue to try to
siphon off as much as possible, and that is the process they are doing
now. They took off that one cap. All of that oil is gushing. They are
going to try to put on another cap that will have a tighter seal that
they can get more to the surface.
In the meantime, all that oil on the surface--we have the skimmers--
we need to skim off and keep it from reaching the shore. If it gets on
the beach, that is one thing. We can get it off the beach. It harms all
of the industries. It harms tourism. Clearly, the perception that there
is oil harms fishing. But the real ecological damage is when it gets
past the beach and it gets into the bays, the estuaries, and the marsh
grasses. Then it is so difficult to get out and it all the more
compounds the impact on the critters.
No. 1, kill the well. No. 2, scoop as much as we can get off the
surface to
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keep it away from the shore. But No. 3, the big unknown is how much oil
is underneath the surface and what is its long-term effect on the
health of the gulf and on the entire ecological balance of the Gulf of
Mexico and, indeed, other waters that could be affected, such as the
Loop Current that turns into the gulf stream and that goes into the
Atlantic.
That is the big unknown, and that is what we are asking NOAA to do.
That is why I am introducing this legislation.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 3569
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Subsea Hydrocarbon Imagery
and Planning Act of 2010''.
SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC
ADMINISTRATION OIL SPILL RESPONSE.
(a) Subsea Hydrocarbon Review.--Not later than 45 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under
Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere shall conduct a
comprehensive review of the current state of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the capacity of
the Administration to monitor, map, and track subsea
hydrocarbons.
(b) Elements.--The review conducted under subsection (a)
shall include the following:
(1) A review of protocol for application of dispersants
that contemplates the variables of temperature, pressure, and
depth of the site of release of hydrocarbons.
(2) A review of technological capabilities to detect the
presence of subsea hydrocarbons at various concentrations and
at various depths within a water column resulting from
releases of oil and natural gas after a spill.
(3) A review of technological capabilities for
expeditiously identifying the source (known as
``fingerprinting'') of subsea hydrocarbons.
(4) A review of coastal and ocean current modeling as it
relates to predicting the trajectory of oil and natural gas.
(5) A review of the effect of subsea hydrocarbons (all
concentrations including down to hydrocarbon chains in
solution) on all levels of the food web, including
evaluations of seafood safety, toxicity to individuals,
negative impacts to reproduction, bioaccumulation, growth,
and such other matters as the Under Secretary considers
appropriate.
(6) Development of recommendations on priorities for
improving forecasting of movement of subsea hydrocarbons.
(7) Development of recommendations for long-term remote
monitoring of subsea hydrocarbons after a spill, including
dissolved oxygen impacts.
(8) Development of recommendations for implementation of a
Subsea Hydrocarbon Monitoring and Assessment program within
the Office of Response and Restoration.
(c) Program Required.--Not later than 1 year after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary shall
establish a hydrocarbon monitoring and assessment program.
Such program shall be based on the recommendations developed
under the comprehensive review required by subsection (a).
(d) Funding.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, out of any funds in the Oil Spill
Liability Trust Fund established by section 9509 of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 not otherwise appropriated, the
Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer to the Secretary of
Commerce to carry out the provisions of this section
$15,000,000 to remain available until expended.
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