[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 137 (Monday, September 12, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H5310]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            FEDERAL FUNDING WILL COMBAT WHITE-NOSE SYNDROME

  (Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I know that I join a large 
number of my colleagues here in the House in concern over the white-
nose syndrome. It is a devastating fungus that has killed between 5.7 
million and 6.7 million bats across North America.
  Recently, I received news of grant funding from the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service to combat this disease and that Pennsylvania will 
receive more than $30,000.
  As a member of the House Committee on Natural Resources, I have been 
active in ensuring the effects of white-nose syndrome were 
appropriately addressed. I have participated in field hearings on the 
subject and toured habitats where bat populations have been devastated 
by this fungus. There is an ecological importance to sustaining the bat 
population as well as preventing the species from becoming endangered, 
which would cause great harm to resource production, agriculture, and 
construction across the Commonwealth and a large part of the country.
  A rule finalized in 2015, which listed the northern long-eared bat, 
cleared the way for new conservation practices to be put in place where 
necessary, helping make new conservation measures possible without 
broadly prohibiting common land-use activities. It is my hope that 
these measures will help us in the effort against white-nose syndrome.

                          ____________________