[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 135 (Thursday, September 8, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5453-S5454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  WRDA

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I take this time on the floor to first 
express my appreciation to the leadership for bringing forward the 
Water Resources Development Act. I know we are going to have a chance 
to vote on cloture on Monday, and I just want to thank the leadership 
for making the bill available for floor time.
  I also congratulate Senator Inhofe, the chairman of our committee, 
and Senator Boxer, the ranking Democrat, because I am a proud member of 
the Environment and Public Works Committee that has recommended the 
Water Resources Development Act to the full Senate.
  The process that was used by Chairman Inhofe and Ranking Member Boxer 
is the way the legislative process should work in the U.S. Senate. We 
had a very open process, where many Members--all of the members of our 
committee and many other Members of the Senate--participated in one of 
the most important bills that we consider during the congressional 
session. It deals with the conservation and development of our water 
resources and authorizes the construction projects for the improvement 
of rivers and harbors. In other words, this bill very much affects 
every State in the Nation because it affects our economy, our 
environment, clean water, and public health. It is an extremely 
important piece of legislation.

  When we look at the content of this bill, we see that the leaders of 
our committee were able to work out the right types of compromises so 
that we don't have a contentious bill before the U.S. Senate. We have a 
bill that is focused on the purposes of WRDA, to conserve and develop 
our water resources and to authorize the construction projects for our 
rivers and harbors.
  For Maryland this bill is particularly important. When we look at the 
WRDA bill, so many projects and so many opportunities in my State are 
involved. In Maryland we have the Port of Baltimore, which is the 
economic hub. I was there last week visiting the Port of Baltimore. I 
am there frequently. There are tens of thousands of jobs there. It is 
one of the most active ports in our country. It depends on the WRDA 
bill for the authorizations of the projects to keep the Port of 
Baltimore competitive and able to do the important economic work of our 
region. So for the economic impact that our ports have on America, and 
certainly the Port of Baltimore and Maryland, this bill is particularly 
important.
  I make a point of being in Ocean City, MD, during the Association of 
County Conferences and had a chance to see firsthand the impact of 
these renourishing programs that are impacted by the WRDA bill. The 
protection of the Chesapeake Bay in my State, the largest estuary in 
our hemisphere, is very much impacted by this bill. The public health 
of the people of Maryland and indeed our Nation are very much impacted 
by the Water Resources Development Act.
  So let me talk specifically about what is included in this bill that 
will help the people of Maryland and the people of our country. First, 
to the economic impact--as I said earlier, the passage of this bill 
will provide for job growth and economic growth in our country. It also 
will protect our public health. The dredging and maintenance of our 
rivers and harbors are paramount to this. As a result of the previous 
WRDA bills and continuing to this WRDA bill, we in our region are able 
to maintain our channels. We also have been able to find locations 
where we can put the dredge material.
  For example, in Maryland we had a national model for what we did at 
Poplar Island. Poplar Island was a disappearing island in the 
Chesapeake Bay that was basically all submerged. It was an 
environmental negative. It was a liability. Through the use of deposits 
of dredge material, Poplar Island has been converted not just to a 
dredge site but an environmental restoration site and has helped very 
much in dealing with the diversity of species that we find in the 
Chesapeake Bay region. Through WRDA authorizations and appropriations, 
we have been able to convert a negative on our environment to a 
positive and at the same time find a way to use dredge materials to 
keep our harbors open. That is a win-win-win situation, and it is those 
types of projects that are included in the Water Resources Development 
Act.
  But there are many other communities. In Maryland we have the Port of 
Baltimore--I talked about that--but we have a lot of smaller ports and 
harbors in Maryland. During the break I visited Salisbury, MD. They 
have a port. They want to expand their port so they can not only import 
products as they do, but use it as an export location. In Salisbury, 
they have Chesapeake Shipbuilding, which is one of the premier 
shipbuilding facilities we have, and they benefit from what is done in 
Salisbury Harbor. By way of example, I want to point out to the people 
I represent in Maryland the important economic projects that are very 
much impacted by the passage of the Water Resources Development Act.
  The economic impact goes beyond just what we do in our harbors; it 
also involves our shoreline protection. While I was in Ocean City, I 
visited with Mayor Meehan, the mayor of Ocean City, who pointed out to 
me what happened during the last storm. We get storms along the East 
Coast; we always get storms. But he pointed out to me the impact that 
the beach renourishment programs have had in minimizing damage to 
property and to the shoreline. We invest in beach renourishment as 
basically an insurance policy against damage that could be much 
greater. We could have our money back and much more through the 
investments we make in beach renourishment in the Water Resources 
Development Act. I can state that people who have their homes and 
businesses in Ocean City, MD, very much appreciate the fact that this 
Congress is paying attention to this issue.
  Then I can go to Smith Island. Smith Island is the last habitable 
island in Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay. It is eroding, and it has 
serious issues about its sustainability. For the people who live on 
Smith Island, it is not only their homes but part of the history of our 
State and Nation that they are preserving. We have provided in the WRDA 
bill a way that we can do living shorelines so a community like Smith 
Island continues to be safe from the devastation we are seeing with 
erosion. I am proud of all those provisions that are in this WRDA bill 
that will help us deal with those issues.
  As I pointed out earlier, the WRDA bill is important for our 
Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in our 
hemisphere. I talk about it frequently on the floor of the U.S. Senate. 
It has been declared by many presidents as a national treasure. It is a 
national treasure. We have a comprehensive program in partnership with 
the Federal Government and with the State governments of five States 
and the District of Columbia. We have a partnership with local 
governments, with the private sector, and we are making progress.
  In this bill, to give one example, we increased the authorization for 
oyster recovery programs. I was proud to offer this amendment from $60 
million to $100 million, almost doubling the dollars that are going to 
be available for oyster recovery programs. Why is that important? I 
think most Members understand that oysters are cash crops. It is nice 
to be able to harvest oysters and be able to serve them and to use them 
as watermen do. So we are increasing dramatically the number of oysters 
that can be harvested, using new methods, including ways in which we 
can seed oysters off the bottom, as

[[Page S5454]]

well as on the bottom of the river, and it is taking. We are seeing our 
oyster crops increase dramatically, which is helping the economy of the 
watermen of Maryland in our region.
  Oysters are also a filtering agent for the Chesapeake Bay. They 
cleanse the water. They give us a better quality water in the 
Chesapeake Bay, which helps all species and the future of the 
Chesapeake Bay. We were down to a small percentage of the historic crop 
of oysters when we started the recovery program. Now that we have been 
in the recovery program, we are recovering a significant number of 
oysters. We are not there yet; we have got a lot more to do. But this 
extra Federal help in oyster recovery will certainly help in that 
regard.
  Oysters also, by the way, build the infrastructure for the different 
species within the Bay. They actually become what the living organisms 
can live on and produce the type of food chain necessary for a healthy 
diversity within the Chesapeake Bay. So I was particularly pleased that 
the committee recommended my amendment to increase our programs for 
oyster recovery.
  This bill also deals with clean water. In the 111th Congress, when I 
was chair of the Water Subcommittee of the Environment and Public Works 
Committee, I filed S. 1005, which deals with our State revolving funds. 
Let me explain for my colleagues--I think most know--that the State 
revolving funds are the major Federal partnership to help local 
governments deal with safe drinking water and clean water.
  Wastewater treatment is done through State revolving funds. We have 
taken some actions in order to modernize this program. In this WRDA 
bill, we incorporate many of the elements of the legislation that I 
filed that will update and improve the revolving loan programs. It 
makes it much more predictable and flexible for our States, so they can 
plan their projects accordingly, which is critically important for safe 
drinking water and economic growth. We expand the eligibility to 
include preconstruction, to deal with replacement and rehab, and for 
the first time allow these funds to be used for source water protection 
plans so that we actually can make sure we are getting safe water into 
our water supply.
  We also allow for the prioritization of sustainability, and we 
provide incentives for water efficiency that is cost saving and uses 
better technology, so that the way we handle our water can be done with 
less leakage, less waste, less energy, and more efficiency, which saves 
money.
  There is $900 million authorized for the Water Resources Research 
Act, and I was pleased to offer that to the committee, and I was 
pleased it was included in the final bill that is before the committee.
  Let me talk for a moment about public health. The WRDA bill also 
deals with public health, which is very important. I know every Member 
is aware of what happened in Flint, MI, on lead poisoning. We know how 
tragic that was. We know how many families and children were directly 
impacted by decisions that were made there. This bill does much to deal 
with the tragedies in Flint, but Flint is not unique in the risk 
factors to our children on the exposures to lead.
  I can give Baltimore City as an example. The schools in Baltimore 
City have turned off their water fountains because it would not be safe 
for the children in schools to use the water fountains that are there. 
The pipes that lead into the schools are contaminated by lead. The city 
doesn't have the resources to replace those pipes that come in and 
therefore have closed the water fountains and use bottled water 
instead.
  So we have problems in our water infrastructure in America as it 
relates to the vulnerability of exposure to excessive lead. I think the 
Presiding Officer is aware that there is no acceptable level of lead in 
a child's blood. We know that lead in the blood of children has an 
impact on their capacity to grow. I will give one example. Freddie 
Gray, who was tragically killed over a year ago in a police incident 
that caused a disturbance in Baltimore, had high levels of lead from 
his youth in his blood.
  These are matters we could take steps to correct, and this WRDA bill 
does exactly that. First, it takes many of the provisions of the bill 
that I filed working with many of my colleagues. It called for true 
leadership. We put together many of our ideas on what we can do to 
combat lead poisoning. I put that bill together with my colleagues and 
filed that bill with Senator Inhofe and Senator Boxer's leadership. We 
were able to incorporate many of those provisions--most of those 
provisions into this WRDA bill that is now before the U.S. Senate so 
that we will be able to give public notice and transparency when public 
officials discover an unacceptably high level of lead in the water 
system. The public will know, and they can avoid the risks.
  We are providing money for testing of schools, testing of childcare 
centers, and individual children. In Maryland every child between 1 and 
2 years of age will be tested to see whether they have excessive lead 
levels in their blood. There is truly an all-out effort.
  There is one provision I want to underscore. There is $300 million in 
this bill so we can secure the last line of pipe coming from the main 
sources into homes. There are a lot of individuals, families, and low-
income families who live in homes where the water system itself is safe 
but the pipes that lead into their home produce lead and subject their 
families to lead poisoning. They don't have the resources to correct 
it, and this bill provides a program where low-income families can get 
help in correcting the pipes that feed into their house to make sure 
they are lead-free so their children aren't susceptible to lead 
poisoning.
  These are all good-news issues. I appreciate the time and attention 
given to this, but I wanted to emphasize that this bill is a very 
important bill. It contains issues, as I said, from protecting our 
environment to our public health, to our economy. It is a bill that 
deserves the strong support of the Members of the Senate. I hope my 
colleagues in the House will also approve this bill.
  It reflects the hard work and leadership of Senator Inhofe and 
Senator Boxer and the Environment and Public Works Committee and many 
Members of the Senate. I am very proud to support this legislation.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. President, I ask to speak in morning business for up 
to 10 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is recognized.

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