[House Report 107-388]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
107th Congress Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session 107-388
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UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN PROTECTION ACT OF 2001
_______
April 9, 2002.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Hansen, from the Committee on Resources, submitted the following
R E P O R T
together with
ADDITIONAL VIEWS
[To accompany H.R. 3480]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill
(H.R. 3480) to promote Department of the Interior efforts to
provide a scientific basis for the management of sediment and
nutrient loss in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, having
considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment
and recommend that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of H.R. 3480 is to promote Department of the
Interior efforts to provide a scientific basis for the
management of sediment and nutrient loss in the Upper
Mississippi River Basin.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
Nutrient runoff and soil erosion in the Upper Mississippi
River Basin (UMRB) account for the loss of more than $300
million annually in applied nitrogen and the degradation of
valuable agricultural lands. Excess nutrients degrade water
quality, increasing costs for treating drinking water and
threatening fish and wildlife resources that support the
Basin's economically significant recreation and tourism
industries. The UMRB contributes 22 percent of the water
flowing into the Lower Mississippi River, yet it contributes 31
percent of the nitrogen. These excess nutrients have been
linked to degraded water quality and oxygen depletion in the
Gulf of Mexico. Sediment accumulates in the main shipping
channel of the Mississippi River, resulting in over $100
million each year of dredging costs. Sediment also fills
wetlands and backwaters throughout the entire Mississippi River
Basin, resulting in habitat loss.
The need for enhanced sediment and nutrient monitoring in
the UMRB is widely recognized. State and federal agencies
participating in the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed
Nutrient Task Force have called for increasing the scale and
frequency of monitoring of the sources of nutrients and
conditions of waters throughout the Basin. At present, there is
inadequate scientific data on the amounts and sources of
sediments and nutrients flowing into the UMRB. Local, state,
and federal water quality monitoring and modeling efforts are
not sufficiently coordinated or standardized.
Relying on existing federal, state and local programs, the
bill establishes a sediment and nutrient monitoring network and
an integrated computer-modeling program. These monitoring and
modeling efforts will provide the baseline data needed to make
scientifically-sound and cost-effective decisions aimed at
improving water quality, restoring habitat, and improving
voluntary management practices by landowners. The bill also
contains a provision requiring landowner permission prior to
disseminating information from monitoring stations located on
private lands to protect privacy of the individual landowners.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will be responsible for
establishing the sediment and nutrient monitoring network,
utilizing existing and newly established gages and monitoring
stations. USGS will develop guidelines and an electronic system
for data collection and storage. Using this data, USGS will
also create computer models to assess sediment and nutrient
sources, mobilization, and transport. Supplementary information
on land use, soil use, elevation, and nutrient reduction
efforts will also be collected in a GIS format to accompany the
modeling work. The findings of the monitoring network and the
modeling system will be used to assist with the implementation
of public and private sediment and nutrient reduction efforts.
This bill also provides for the National Research Council
of the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a comprehensive
water resources assessment of the Upper Mississippi River
Basin.
COMMITTEE ACTION
H.R. 3480 was introduced on December 13, 2001 by
Congressman Ron Kind (D-WI), and was referred to the Committee
on Resources. On December 19, 2001, it was referred within the
Committee to the Subcommittee on Water and Power. A
Subcommittee hearing was conducted on March 7, 2002. On March
20, 2002, the Full Resources Committee met to consider the
bill. By unanimous consent, the Subcommittee was discharged
from further consideration of the measure. There were no
amendments offered to the bill, and the bill was then ordered
favorably reported to the House of Representatives by unanimous
consent.
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
Committee on Resources' oversight findings and recommendations
are reflected in the body of this report.
CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT
Article I, section 8 of the Constitution of the United
States grants Congress the authority to enact this bill.
COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII
1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(2) of rule XIII of the
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and
a comparison by the Committee of the costs that would be
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(3)(B)
of that rule provides that this requirement does not apply when
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
2. Congressional Budget Act. As required by clause 3(c)(2)
of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and
section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, this
bill does not contain any new budget authority, spending
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in
revenues or tax expenditures. H.R. 3480 authorizes an
appropriation of $6.25 million a year, and according to the
Congressional Budget Office, if implemented, would cost $31
million over the fiscal 2003-2007 period.
3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. The general
performance goals and objectives of this legislation, as
ordered reported, is to promote Department of the Interior
efforts to provide a scientific basis for the management of
sediment and nutrient loss in the Upper Mississippi River
Basin.
4. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate. Under clause
3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives and section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act
of 1974, the Committee has received the following cost estimate
for this bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget
Office:
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, April 4, 2002.
Hon. James V. Hansen,
Chairman, Committee on Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 3480, the Upper
Mississippi River Basin Protection Act of 2001.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Julie
Middleton.
Sincerely,
Barry B. Anderson
(For Dan L. Crippen, Director).
Enclosure.
H.R. 3480--Upper Mississippi River Basin Protection Act of 2001
H.R. 3480 would establish a sediment and nutrient
monitoring network as part of the Upper Mississippi River
Stewardship Initiative. This new monitoring network would
identify and evaluate significant sources of sediment and
nutrients in the Upper Mississippi River watershed. H.R. 3480
would authorize the Secretary of the Interior, through the U.S.
Geological Survey, to establish guidelines for data collection,
storage, and analysis--as well as the integration of the new
data into current monitoring programs and coordination with
other public and private monitoring programs. In addition, the
bill would authorize the National Research Council of the
National Academy of Sciences to conduct a comprehensive water
resources assessment of the Upper Mississippi River watershed.
The bill would authorize the appropriation of $6.25 million
a year to implement its provisions, plus additional amounts for
the required report. CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 3480
would cost $31 million over the 2003-2007 period, assuming
appropriation of the authorized amounts. CBO assumes that most
of these funds would be allocated for salaries and expenses
related to developing, implementing, and maintaining the new
monitoring network. H.R. 3480 would not affect direct spending
or receipts; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures would not
apply.
H.R. 3480 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
Any costs incurred by state or local governments to participate
in the program authorized by this bill would be voluntary.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Julie Middleton.
This estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
compliance with public law 104-4
This bill contains no unfunded mandates.
preemption of state, local or tribal law
This bill is not intended to preempt any state, local or
tribal law.
changes in existing law
If enacted, this bill would make no changes in existing
law.
ADDITIONAL VIEWS
I applaud the Committee for its diligent work in approving
H.R. 3480. In particular, I would like to thank Chairman Hansen
and Ranking Member Rahall, as well as Subcommittee on Water and
Power Chairman Calvert and Subcommittee Ranking Member Smith,
for their willingness to consider this legislation.
The Upper Mississippi River system, whose tributaries and
basin encompass much of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois,
and Missouri, is widely recognized as one of our nation's great
multi-use natural resources. While the Mississippi River and
its tributaries provide drinking water to approximately 22
million Americans, the system's 1,300 navigable miles transport
millions of tons of commercial cargo via barges. In addition,
40% of North America's waterfowl use the wetlands and
backwaters of the main stem as a migratory flyway, illustrating
the environmental significance of the system as well as
recreation capabilities. Overall, the Upper Mississippi River
Basin provides $1.2 billion annually in recreation income and
$6.6 billion to the area's tourism industries.
Unfortunately, high sediment and nutrient levels threaten
the health of the river system and the vast recreational,
agricultural, and industrial activities it supports. Sediment
fills the main shipping channel of the Upper Mississippi and
Illinois Rivers, costing over $100 million each year to dredge.
Nutrient inputs degrade water quality in the Upper Mississippi
River system and impact far downstream to the Gulf of Mexico.
As a basis for making effective decisions for improving
water quality, accurate data must be available. Building the
nutrient and sediment monitoring system that provides this data
will require extensive communication and coordination between
government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels, as
well as other stakeholders. By utilizing existing monitoring
programs to the maximum extent possible, H.R. 3480 builds upon
existing efforts by authorizing the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS) to coordinate and integrate these efforts, expand where
necessary, develop guidelines for data collection and storage,
and establish an electronic database system to store and
disseminate information. USGS would also establish a state-of-
the-art computer modeling program to identify significant
nutrient and sediment sources, at the subwatershed level, to
better target reduction efforts. In addition, H.R. 3480
includes strong protections for the privacy of personal data
collected and used in connection with monitoring and modeling
activities.
The need for accurate and comprehensive data collection is
essential to addressing the problems of the Upper Mississippi
River Basin. In crafting this strategy, I have worked with
farmers, the navigation industry, sporting groups,
environmental organizations, and government agencies throughout
the region. In addition, this legislation has 16 original,
bipartisan cosponsors.
While focused in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, the
benefits of the programs authorized in this bill would extend
far beyond the five-state region, because nutrients and
sediments from the upper Midwest have impacts all the way down
the Mississippi and into the Gulf of Mexico. Moreover, this
approach can be seen as a pilot for future watershed and basin
initiatives in other parts of the nation.
H.R. 34380 recognizes the need for scientific research on a
sub-basin scale, enables sensible and effective strategies to
be developed, and ensures that more local and regional support
will be gained for those efforts. The sub-basin approach of
H.R. 3480 also fits with the recommendations of the federal
interagency Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient
Task Force, released in a report to Congress on January 18,
2001.
In the ``Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and
Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico,'' the Task
Force notes that water quality throughout the Mississippi River
Basin has been degraded by excess nutrients, and that most
states in the basin have significant river miles impaired by
high nutrient concentrations that can be a human health hazard.
The Action Plan also outlines a series of short- and long-term
goals, including sub-basin coordination and implementation of
sediment and nutrient reduction efforts, and expanding existing
monitoring and modeling efforts to identify additional
management actions to help mitigate nitrogen losses to the
Gulf.
A number of states have also weighed in on the need to
increase monitoring and modeling efforts throughout the Upper
Mississippi River Basin. In an October 23, 2001, letter to Bush
Administration officials, six Governors of states bordering the
Mississippi River wrote that ``* * * a monitoring effort
conducted jointly by the U.S. Geological Survey and the states
is required within the basin to determine the water quality
effects of the actions taken and to measure the success of
efforts on a sub-basin and project level.''
This letter illustrates the need for H.R. 3480 and the
broad support it has received. Water quality problems in the
Mississippi River Basin cross traditional state and
administrative boundaries. Solving these problems requires a
coordinated and cooperative approach between the federal,
state, and local agencies and groups working throughout the
region. H.R. 3480 represents a common-sense move toward
building the scientific foundation necessary to remedy nutrient
and sediment problems in the region, and I urge my colleagues
to support this measure when it reaches the House floor.
Ron Kind.