[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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