[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12352-12353]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      UNDERWATER RESOURCE MAPPING

  (Mr. McNERNEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McNERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss recent 
developments in the area of underwater resource mapping. Scientists at 
the Scripps Institution of Oceanography used NSF

[[Page 12353]]

funding to develop instruments to conduct marine electromagnetic 
surveys. This technology uses electrical currents and conduction to 
search for freshwater aquifers in the ocean, which will reveal the 
location of drinking water supplies deep below the surface of the sea.
  It has been clear to scientists for 40 years that bodies of 
freshwater exist off the U.S. East Coast. This research created the 
only noninvasive method capable of sensing the exact location of these 
valuable drinking water reserves.
  This technology has also attracted the attention of oil companies, 
which continue to develop the Scripps system to map out underwater 
resource deposits in three dimensions across the globe. Important 
projects like these improve our search for natural resources, and I 
commend the Scripps Institution and the National Science Foundation.

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