[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 176 (Thursday, December 12, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1863-E1864]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      INTRODUCTION OF LEGISLATION

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                         HON. GUS M. BILIRAKIS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 12, 2013

  Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, today I introduced the Public 
Infrastructure Modernization Act of 2013. This legislation seeks to 
modernize the Corps permitting process so that crucial public safety 
infrastructure projects can be built in a sensible and timely fashion 
while ensuring there is a thorough environmental review. The National 
Environmental Policy Act and Clean Water Act guide the Corps' actions 
to protect our Nation's waterways, but they have flaws that lead to 
unnecessary and costly delays that do not balance public safety

[[Page E1864]]

needs against appropriate environmental protections. Under current law, 
fringe groups are allowed to--for the cost of a postage stamp--file 
lawsuits against any infrastructure project needing a Clean Water 
Permit that they spot in the Federal Register. These lawsuits, and the 
fear of them, have stopped numerous projects that were necessary for 
local governments to protect their constituents and would have caused 
minimal harm to the environment. My legislation would modernize the 
application process for CWA permits submitted by local governments that 
are for levees, self-closing flood barriers, seawalls, flood gates, 
slough and stream construction and dredging for flood control, 
retention ponds for residential areas, and roads and bridges for 
hurricane, wildfire, and other extreme weather event evacuations. It 
creates firm time limits for the Corps to act, and a petition process 
should the agency be unwilling to complete consideration of the 
project. The legislation also caps mitigation costs to being no more 
than twenty percent of the total project's cost to ensure projects 
costs are responsible to the taxpayer. This legislation does not waive 
NEPA and protects practical environmental review. With local 
governments struggling to allocate scarce taxpayer dollars for badly 
needed public safety projects, we must ensure the Federal Government 
properly balances public safety and environmental concerns. I look 
forward to working with my colleagues to move this legislation through 
Congress.

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