[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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