[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 126 (Wednesday, August 5, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6349-S6350]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  AMENDING THE FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ACT TO REAUTHORIZE THE 
                        NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Environment Public Works Committee be discharged from further 
consideration of S. 1523, the National Estuary Program, and the Senate 
proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 1523) to amend the Federal Water Pollution 
     Control Act to reauthorize the National Estuary Program, and 
     for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent that 
the Whitehouse amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to; the bill, 
as amended, be read a third time and passed; and that the motion to 
reconsider be made and laid upon the table with no intervening action 
or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment (No. 2639) was agreed to, as follows:

        (Purpose: To modify the authorization of appropriations)

       On page 3, line 17, strike ``$27,000,000'' and insert 
     ``$26,000,000''.

  The bill (S. 1523), as amended, was ordered to be engrossed for a 
third reading, was read the third time, and passed, as follows:

                                S. 1523

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM REAUTHORIZATION; 
                   COMPETITIVE AWARDS.

       Section 320 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 
     U.S.C. 1330) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (g), by adding at the end the following:
       ``(4) Competitive awards.--
       ``(A) In general.--Using the amounts made available under 
     subsection (i)(2)(B), the Administrator shall make 
     competitive awards under this paragraph.
       ``(B) Application for awards.--The Administrator shall 
     solicit applications for awards under this paragraph from 
     State, interstate, and regional water pollution control 
     agencies and entities, State coastal zone management 
     agencies, interstate agencies, other public or nonprofit 
     private agencies, institutions, organizations, and 
     individuals.
       ``(C) Selection of recipients.--The Administrator shall 
     select award recipients under this paragraph that, as 
     determined by the Administrator, are best able to address 
     urgent and challenging issues that threaten the ecological 
     and economic well-being of coastal areas, including--
       ``(i) extensive seagrass habitat losses resulting in 
     significant impacts on fisheries and water quality;
       ``(ii) recurring harmful algae blooms;
       ``(iii) unusual marine mammal mortalities;
       ``(iv) invasive exotic species that may threaten wastewater 
     systems and cause other damage;
       ``(v) jellyfish proliferation limiting community access to 
     water during peak tourism seasons;
       ``(vi) flooding that may be related to sea level rise or 
     wetland degradation or loss; and
       ``(vii) low dissolved oxygen conditions in estuarine waters 
     and related nutrient management.''; and
       (2) by striking subsection (i) and inserting the following:
       ``(i) Authorization of Appropriations.--
       ``(1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated 
     to the Administrator $26,000,000 for each of fiscal years 
     2016 through 2020 for--
       ``(A) making grants and awards under subsection (g); and
       ``(B) expenses relating to the administration of grants or 
     awards by the Administrator under this section, including the 
     award and oversight of grants and awards, subject to the 
     condition that such expenses may not exceed 5 percent of the 
     amount appropriated under this subsection for a fiscal year.

[[Page S6350]]

       ``(2) Allocations.--
       ``(A) Conservation and management plans.--Not less than 80 
     percent of the amount made available under this subsection 
     for a fiscal year shall be used by the Administrator for the 
     development, implementation, and monitoring of each 
     conservation and management plan eligible for grant 
     assistance under subsection (g)(2).
       ``(B) Competitive awards.--Not less than 15 percent of the 
     amount made available under this subsection for a fiscal year 
     shall be used by the Administrator for making competitive 
     awards under subsection (g)(4).''.

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Ohio for the 
way we have worked together. There was a slight toll to be paid on the 
majority side for getting the National Estuary Program passed, but it 
was one we could live with, and I think these are both good pieces of 
legislation. I am glad we were able to pass them together.
  If I could just briefly read from an editorial that was recently 
published by the Westerly Sun. Westerly is one of Rhode Island's 
cities. The area that Westerly is in is called South County, RI. There 
is a South County coastkeeper whose name is David Prescott, and he went 
out in a boat that belongs to an environmental group in Rhode Island 
called Save the Bay. He took some press folk down the Pawcatuck River 
with elected leaders from both Rhode Island and Connecticut.
  I will read from the editorial:

       Prescott shared a jarful of smelly green algae from the 
     bottom of Little Narragansett Bay to illustrate how lawn 
     fertilizer, engine oil and all manner of interesting items 
     flushed down storm drains end up below the surface of what 
     appears to be a bucolic setting around Watch Hill, Napatree 
     Point and Sandy Point.
       ``If we went further up the watershed, we would actually 
     see stuff that came right off the land, down the stormwater 
     outfalls,'' Prescott said. ``This is the stuff that we know 
     is in our developed areas. We see stuff such as oil and gas 
     and grease and sand and trash and dog waste, and guess where 
     it ends up? Eventually, it ends up here in the Pawcatuck 
     River estuary and into Little Narragansett Bay.''
       Based on his eight-year study of the river and bay area 
     using water sampling, Prescott urged leaders from both states 
     to heed Save the Bay's ``call to action,'' which would 
     require developing stormwater management plans to better 
     filter runoff, ensuring septic systems are regularly tested, 
     encouraging homeowners to reduce or eliminate use of lawn 
     fertilizers and pesticides, and enforcing ``no-discharge'' 
     laws.

  The newspaper concluded:

       The Wood-Pawcatuck watershed, from Worden's Pond in South 
     Kingstown to Watch Hill, filters the water in our aquifers 
     and provides a quality of life many envy. We need to protect 
     all aspects of our watershed and treat the Pawcatuck River 
     and Little Narragansett Bay with more respect than has been 
     shown over the decades.

  I thank the Westerly Sun for those thoughts. I think they are very 
helpful. I am glad to have the chance to put them here into the record 
on the Senate floor.
  The reason I read this is because the work of doing that upland 
planning that allows an estuary to be clean for swimming, fishing, 
boating, and all of the things that Rhode Islanders and our summer 
visitors enjoy, is through this National Estuary Program. It shows the 
common link of the algae problem David Prescott referred to with the 
algae problem Senator Portman has seen in Ohio.
  I thank David Vitter, the Senator from Louisiana, for his 
cosponsorship of this and for his work to get this through the 
Environment and Public Works Committee with me. I also thank Sherrod 
Brown for cosponsoring this legislation.
  If I am not mistaken, there is the Old Woman Creek National Estuarine 
Research Reserve in Ohio, and this will help support the work of the 
Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Reserve. This is in Huron, OH, on 
the south-central shore of Lake Erie. It is one of Ohio's few remaining 
examples of a natural estuary that transitions between land and water, 
with a variety of habitats, from marshes and swamps, to upland forests, 
open water, tributary streams, barrier beach, and near shores of Lake 
Erie.
  I am pleased both of these measures have been able to proceed.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I would like to thank my colleague from 
Rhode Island. I was in support of his legislation. I am glad we got 
both bills done, and I appreciate the fact that my colleagues on both 
sides of the aisle realize the urgency of dealing with this blue-green 
algae issue, which in many cases has become a toxic algal bloom that 
affects our drinking water, affects recreation, and affects fishing, 
and it is a significant issue in my State and others.

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