[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 16940]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                           OCEANS ACT OF 2000

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 25, 2000

  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 2327, The Oceans Act 
of 2000. This important bill pays tribute to and increases support for 
one of the most important environmental resources we have--our oceans.
  This bill would establish a 16-member Commission on Ocean Policy to 
review existing federal ocean policy and make recommendations to 
Congress on a new, coordinated, comprehensive policy.
  The oceans play a vital role in the daily lives of millions of 
Americans. Not only do we go to the ocean for recreation but we also 
depend upon the resources for our survival. Coastal communities like 
those in my congressional district, use the ocean for fishing, tourism, 
and business, among other things. Our oceans also play an important 
role in the ecological system by providing habitat for numerous species 
of life and influencing whether we will reduce or worsen other 
environmental threats such as global warming, flooding, water 
pollution, endangered species survival, and coral reefs existence.
  The coasts and oceans have seen a flood of new development and 
population migration over the past few decades. In fact, approximately 
50 percent of the United States population now live in coastal areas. 
This will only increase in the future with estimates expecting 75 
percent of our population to live in coastal areas by 2025.
  We need to ensure that we have a coordinated policy to deal with the 
pressures our oceans and coastal areas face. Our last effort to update 
our national policies on oceans was the Commission on Marine Science, 
Engineering, and Resources--known as the Stratton Commission--in 1969. 
I'm pleased that many of the Commission's recommendations are now the 
law of the land, but it has been far too long since we last updated our 
ocean policies.
  State and local jurisdictions have enacted numerous laws and policies 
to deal with the environmental problems that have occurred in our 
oceans and coastal communities. This has resulted in overlapping and 
conflicting rules between the federal and state levels. The bill we 
consider today will help alleviate this problem by bringing ocean 
policy into the 21st Century by creating new coordinated and 
comprehensive policies.
  I'm proud to be a co-sponsor of the House version of The Oceans Act 
of 2000 that my good friend from California, Mr. Farr, introduced. His 
work on this issue has inspired me and has done a great deal to ensure 
that our oceans are taken care of.
  I urge all of my colleagues to support this important bill today and 
I thank the leadership for bringing it before the House for 
consideration.

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