[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6585]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1045
               THE DELAWARE RIVER BASIN CONSERVATION ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Delaware (Mr. Carney) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CARNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to pass 
the bipartisan Delaware River Basin Conservation Act. Next to me is a 
beautiful photograph of the University of Delaware crew team rowing 
along the Christina River, a tributary within the Delaware River Basin. 
This site is just outside the city of Wilmington, Delaware's largest 
city, just south of the thriving riverfront development and the Amtrak 
station. It was taken by one of my constituents, Mark Atkins. Along 
with Mark, more than 200 Delawareans over the past 3 weeks sent my 
offices photographs that demonstrate the importance of the Delaware 
River Basin to each of them.
  We received lots of beautiful photographs all along the river and 
bay, from upstate New York along the Pennsylvania and New Jersey side 
down to the bottom of the basin in the Delaware on both sides of the 
Delaware River and Bay.
  These photographs tell the story of the basin as a home to wildlife--
thriving wildlife--in a very well populated area, as a spot for 
recreation like these rowers here in the photograph, and as a place to 
enjoy natural beauty. It is truly a beautiful part of our great 
country. This photo contest we have used to draw support, interest, and 
attention to our effort. I even did a little dance step which was 
caught on YouTube by my staff to promote this initiative.
  The Delaware River Basin covers over 12,500 square miles from 
Delaware to upstate New York. It is home to more than 8 million people, 
and the basin provides drinking water to over 15 million people inside 
and outside the basin. This watershed is not only culturally and 
ecologically important, but it drives the economy of this important 
region in our country.
  Mr. Speaker, the Delaware River Basin Conservation Act would 
encourage restoration and protection of the basin through competitive 
grants and public-private partnerships. We expect lots of partnerships 
among local governments up and down all those States and 
nongovernmental agencies like Ducks Unlimited, the Delaware Nature 
Society, and many others.
  This legislation has cosponsors from both sides of the aisle and 
every State in the basin--eight Democrats and nine Republicans. When 
you consider the difficulties we have had in this Congress getting 
bipartisan support of any bill, that speaks to the importance of the 
basin and to this bill. I want to thank each of those cosponsors for 
their support. I look forward to working with them.
  So today, Mr. Speaker, I am asking Congress to pass this legislation 
and protect and preserve the Delaware River Basin so Americans from New 
York State to the great State of Delaware can continue enjoying it for 
many generations to come.

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