[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 120 (Monday, September 10, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H5733-H5735]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NORTH TEXAS ZEBRA MUSSEL BARRIER ACT OF 2012
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules
and pass the bill (H.R. 6007) to exempt from the Lacey Act Amendments
of 1981 certain water transfers by the North Texas Municipal Water
District and the Greater Texoma Utility Authority, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 6007
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 ``North Texas Zebra Mussel
Barrier Act of 2012''.
SEC. 2. COMPLIANCE WITH LACEY ACT.
The Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3371 et seq.)
and section 42 of title 18, United States Code, shall not
apply with respect to any water transfer by the North Texas
Municipal Water District and the Greater Texoma Utility
Authority using only closed conveyance systems from the Lake
Texoma raw water intake structure to treatment facilities at
which all zebra mussels are extirpated and removed from the
water transferred.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Washington (Mr. Hastings) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Washington.
General Leave
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that
all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their
remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under
consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Washington?
There was no objection.
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. I yield myself as much time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of Chairman Ralph Hall's bill to
provide relief to 1.6 million people living in the Dallas/Fort Worth
area necessitated because of a bizarre set of circumstances.
In 1989, the North Texas Municipal Water District constructed a
pumping station in Lake Texoma, providing up to 125 million gallons per
day of safe drinking water to one of the most rapidly growing regions
in the country, the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Sometime later, the
enactment of a boundary adjustment resulted in a small portion of the
pumping station being shifted from Texas to Oklahoma. In 2009, zebra
mussels were discovered in the lake. This has caused a significant
problem because it is in violation of the Lacey Act to transport zebra
mussels across State lines.
So, to resolve this, the Water District has proposed to construct a
$300 million, 46-mile closed pipeline that will transport Lake Texoma
water to its treatment facility in Wylie, Texas. All zebra mussels will
then be destroyed there, and the entire effort will be accomplished
without any cost to Federal taxpayers.
This project was issued a section 404 Clean Water Act permit in May,
and it was supported by the U.S. Wildlife Service district office in
Arlington, Texas. However, as happens so many times, the Washington,
D.C., headquarters of Fish and Wildlife is not so supportive and has
suggested what it describes as a nonlegislative solution: an agreement
with the Justice Department not to prosecute North Texas Municipal
Water District for transporting zebra mussels.
Now, just think about this, Mr. Speaker. As someone who believes that
we are a Nation of law, I am deeply troubled by the notion that a
Federal agency would suggest that it would not seek to prosecute, under
the law, those who may violate the law. I just think that's the wrong
approach, and this approach is the right approach.
So I urge adoption of H.R. 6007, and I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
(Mr. HOLT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6007, the North Texas Zebra Mussel
Barrier Act, provides a very specific and necessary--we believe--
exemption to the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981.
The Lacey Act is vital to our Nation's interests because it prevents
the spread of undesirable, injurious species such as zebra mussels. In
fact, zebra mussels may be a textbook example, a poster child for
injurious introduced species.
These mussels are the bane of many a power plant or municipal water
operator. Millions are spent each year just to keep intake and outflow
pipes clear of these creatures. They harm our fisheries by crowding out
native species and taking all their food, and they're driving many
native mussels to extinction.
H.R. 6007 would allow the North Texas Municipal Water District and
the Greater Texoma Utility Authority to transport water that contains
zebra mussels from the Oklahoma side of Lake Texoma to Texas. However,
all the water would be kept in closed conveyance systems, we are
assured; and we are further assured that all water would be fully
treated, with all zebra mussels being fully removed before being
released into any water body. The biologists, the limnologists, the
hydrologists, the water engineers assure us of these things.
I do want to emphasize that zebra mussels are pernicious and
insidious. I am loathe, and I think many of my colleagues are loathe,
to weaken or seek exemption from the Lacey Act, which controls invasive
species. However, Texas needs access to this water, and the
aforementioned entities have a comprehensive plan for ensuring, we are
told, that these water transfers will not cause zebra mussels to
spread.
So for these reasons, and with this understanding, I rise in support
of H.R. 6007. I do strongly urge that this bill, which is put forward
as a remedy for a very difficult and unique situation, should not be
used to set any precedent for granting exemptions to the Lacey Act or
in any way weakening our protections against invasive species.
[[Page H5734]]
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I'm very pleased to yield 3
minutes to the author of this legislation, our distinguished colleague
from Texas, Chairman Ralph Hall.
{time} 1620
Mr. HALL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I, of course, rise today in support of H.R. 6007, the North Texas
Zebra Mussel Barrier Act of 2012. When I read in the papers and hear in
the press that Republicans and Democrats can't get together on
anything, well, we're together on something today, and I think the
gentlemen have adequately described the enemy.
North Texas has a very serious problem with an invasive aquatic
species called zebra mussel. I'd never heard of them before. I hope I
never hear of them again. Zebra mussels are going to attach to probably
just about anything. They infest and cover rocks, attach to boats and
docks, and clog water pipelines. North Texas has a unique situation due
to a Texas-Oklahoma boundary change that requires a congressional
solution. You know you hear people say it takes an act of Congress to
get something accomplished. Well, that's exactly what we're here doing
today.
The local water folks have been working extremely hard to prevent the
spread of zebra mussels while simultaneously attempting to provide
enough clean water for our citizens, but they absolutely need our help.
They need this help. H.R. 6007 allows the North Texas Municipal Water
District to pump water from Lake Texoma straight into the Wylie, Texas,
Water Treatment Plant where the water can be cleaned of zebra mussels
without being in violation of the Lacey Act. These folks are the only
ones who have tackled and solved this problem. They're not the only
ones who have tackled it, but they're the only ones who have solved
this problem. It has been at their own expense, and they have solved
it. Now they need our support.
In the late 1980s, the North Texas Municipal Water District built the
Lake Texoma pump station to better serve its use. This was built
entirely within the Texas border and in accordance with the Army Corps
of Engineers' 1939 survey, which defined the Texas and Oklahoma
boundary line.
In 2000, a variation in the Texas-Oklahoma border was enacted into
law, and the pump station ended up straddling the two States. Since the
Lacey Act prohibits the transfer of zebra mussels across State lines,
it effectively has banned the use of the Texoma water pump station
since the year 2009, which was when zebra mussels first appeared in
Lake Texoma. The North Texas Municipal Water District generally
receives 28 percent of its water supply from Lake Texoma.
H.R. 6007 will enable the water district to resume pumping water to
better serve more than 1.5 million users and to do so in a manner that
provides safe water in the tradition of its 20-year history. The bill
will allow the Texoma water pump to reopen, to provide much-needed jobs
and to provide enough clean water to the community during a season of
very severe drought, when water is desperately needed.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. I yield the gentleman an additional 1
minute.
Mr. HALL. On May 3 of this year, the Army Corps of Engineers approved
a 404 permit that will allow the construction of a 46-mile water
pipeline from Lake Texoma straight into the Wylie Water Treatment
Plant, which would remove 100 percent of the zebra mussels and would
provide clean water for North Texas citizens and businesses.
This is a commonsense solution, a necessary solution and one for
which I certainly want to thank the chairman, Doc Hastings.
Mr. HOLT. I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 3
minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions).
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I believe the facts of the case that have
been clearly enumerated by both sides are very important for this
Congress to understand in that this is an agreement on both sides. Yet
I think what has happened is that, due to the bipartisan leadership
back on the committee between not just Mr. Holt and the chairman but
also with the gentleman, Mr. Fleming, it has really come to the aid and
assistance, not just in a bipartisan way but in a commonsense way.
It is the opportunity for 1.6 million people who need this
desperately to be able to get water at a time of drought, at a time of
much consternation in Texas where we have fires and drought and heat
and a lot of problems. This means that the people of North Texas know
that Chairman Ralph Hall and this committee worked very carefully to
make sure that they went through regular order, to make sure that they
knew the facts of the case, to make sure that they studied this well.
I really want to offer, not just my support for this, but my thanks
to the committee and to the committee chairman for the hard work that
has been done by this. I don't make apologies for coming to the floor
to do things that are in the best interests of the people of Texas, but
this has become necessary as a result of directives back in Texas and
the inability of people to clearly resolve this. So I am very pleased
to support not just this bill, H.R. 6007, but also the concept of
Congress working together through using common sense.
Mr. Speaker, we are here today to discuss an issue which is vital to
North Texas. H.R. 6007, the North Texas Zebra Mussel Barrier Act,
provides an elegant solution to a growing problem. Currently, 1.6
million customers of the North Texas Municipal Water District, many of
whom are my constituents, have restricted access to water as a result
of the discovery of zebra mussels in Lake Texoma. Additionally, water
transfers have become complicated because of a surveying error
resulting in the incorrect designation of the District's Lake Texoma
intake station as being in Oklahoma rather than in Texas. This
surveyor's error, made more than a decade ago by the Red River Boundary
Compact, means that water transfers of zebra mussels now cross a state
line. Such a transfer triggers the Lacey Act, which is designed to
prevent the spread of invasive species across state lines.
In response, the North Texas Municipal Water District has been forced
to suspend all pumping from Lake Texoma for the past three years. This
water source constitutes roughly 28 percent of the North Texas
Municipal Water District's available supply of raw water. Such a
reduction in available resources has put a tremendous stress on the
District and its ability to assure its customers that there will be an
adequate supply of water in the future.
H.R. 6007 would allow North Texas Municipal Water District to resume
water transfers from Lake Texoma through a completely closed conveyance
system that delivers water directly into their water treatment
facility. To achieve this, the North Texas Municipal Water District has
committed approximately $300 million to build a 46-mile long pipeline.
The District has approved the funding and obtained the necessary 4-0-4
permits required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin
construction.
Such a conveyance system would provide safe and dependable means for
the District to access the water they have legal rights to while
ensuring, with 100 percent reliability, that Zebra Mussels will not be
transferred into Texas waters. Their treatment facility will employ
chemical and mechanical means of filtration to eliminate any risk of
propagation of invasive species. Such techniques have been proven
successful in other areas of the country and have been approved by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Ultimately, H.R. 6007 will restore the adequate and steady stream of
water to over 1.6 million Texans without the use of taxpayer dollars
while complying with the Lacey Act's intended goal of preventing the
spread of invasive species.
Mr. HOLT. I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I urge the adoption of the
bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 6007, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
[[Page H5735]]
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