To reauthorize the Steel and Aluminum Energy Conservation and Technology Competitiveness Act of 1988.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3980) to establish a National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 3980, as amended, the bill now under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert) and his staff for their leadership and support for allowing me to bring this important piece of legislation before the Committee on Science. I would also like to thank the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore), who introduced this bill with me, and all of the cosponsors of H.R. 3980 for their support.

Windstorms in the United States, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, continue to cause high levels of injuries, deaths, business interruption, and property damage. Unfortunately, the level of losses due to the windstorms increase each year and will continue to escalate unless technology generation, education, and public policies are improved.

On May 11, 1970, tragedy struck my hometown of Lubbock, Texas. An F5

tornado ripped through downtown Lubbock. Six people were killed, and 500 were injured. The tornado had winds estimated in excess of 200 miles an hour and damaged or destroyed a large portion of our city.

In a few moments between 9:35 p.m. and the time the funnel lifted into the cloud, the tornado devastated a community along an 8\1/2\ mile-wide path. It wrought havoc along a track that was 1\1/2\ miles wide in downtown Lubbock to one-fourth mile wide as it passed over the National Weather Bureau's office located at the airport. The twister was responsible for $125 million in damage, and an estimated 15 square miles of the city was damaged or destroyed.

The National Weather Service estimates that between 1995 and 2002, hurricanes, tornadoes, and thunderstorm winds caused an average of $4.5 billion in damage every year. Texas alone averages 124 tornadoes every year, which is more than double the average of any other State.

Over this past Memorial Day weekend, for example, 175 tornadoes were reported across the country, bringing the preliminary total for May to 544. The storms were responsible for 8 deaths and millions of dollars in damages in 12 States.

June 1 was the official start of hurricane season, and forecasters are predicting an above-normal Atlantic season. Officials anticipate 12 to 15 tropical storms for the season, with six to eight systems becoming hurricanes, with two to four of those becoming major hurricanes.

Last year, Hurricane Isabel, one of the storms to affect the United States, caused 17 deaths and more than $3 billion in damages. Technological advancements in the second half of the century have contributed to better, more accurate severe weather watches and warnings from the National Weather Service, ultimately saving countless lives. Advancements in computer technology also led to progress in numerical weather prediction, allowing meteorologists to apply physics in replicating motions of the atmosphere.

But even as we build on our current weather prediction successes and create new resources to predict windstorms at a greater rate, the United States continues to sustain billions of dollars each year in property damage and economic losses due to wind storms, and the human costs are all too painful.

Over the last 5 years, Texas Tech University Wind Engineering Research Center has received funding under a cooperative agreement with the National Institute For Standards and Technology to research the detrimental effects of windstorms on buildings and to reduce the loss of life from windstorm events. Their work has led to many accomplishments on the national scope. This year alone, they will receive $900,000 to carry on research to improve the economy of shelters and wind-resistant construction.

A variety of cost-effective windstorm hazard mitigation measures exist, and many more are undergoing important research and development at universities like Texas Tech University across this Nation. However, these efforts are not being coordinated at the Federal level to improve the general public's understanding of windstorm impacts, and we are not doing a good job of encouraging implementation of cost-effective mitigation measures for our citizens.

Improving the wind resistance of buildings can only be achieved when there is a demand for wind-resistant construction by homeowners. Hurricane Isabel, the tornado in Lubbock that was so destructive more than 30 years ago, and the 544 tornadoes in the month of May alone are serious reminders of how vulnerable we are and how serious we should be about severe weather safety and preparedness.

Here is what we can do about it. The objective of the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program is to achieve measurable reduction in loss of life and property from windstorms. In a coordinated effort between academia, the private sector and the Federal Government, this legislation will improve distribution of current research findings, develop cost-effective and affordable windstorm-resistant systems, and develop outreach techniques for the general public.

The aim of this act is also to enable the marketplace to form incentives. Improving our understanding of how wind impacts buildings, enhancing the scope and detail of damage data collection, and measuring the degree to which varying mitigation techniques can lessen that impact will make it possible to quantify the value of mitigation. This information will give policymakers, private industry, and individual homeowners the tools to make decisions that take windstorm vulnerability into consideration.

An investment in windstorm impact reduction will pay significant dividends and will save lives, decrease property damage, and reduce the cost of Federal disaster relief in the future. Therefore, I urge Members to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 3980.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I wanted to just summarize a little bit about this bill and to also let folks know that this bill has a lot of endorsements from people that are very active in this type of engineering: the American Society of Civil Engineers, the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, the Manufacturing Housing Institute, the National Association of Wind Engineering, Applied Technology Council, and the International Code Council. These are the organizations that are actively involved in this kind of research, and

they wholeheartedly support and endorse this bill.

One of the things that this bill does is it creates a national windstorm impact reduction program, and it improves our understanding of windstorm issues. And it also brings about a collaboration of the private sector and the public sector so that we can begin to commercialize a lot of the important research that is going on. It really does not do us any good to do a lot of good research in this country if we do not get it into the hands of the people that can actually use that, and those are the homeowners and the building owners around this country.

It also brings some oversight to the process and creates a National Advisory Committee who will oversee the various research. They will be reported back to and given an opportunity to give progress reports to the Congress to make sure that we are providing adequate oversight for the important research dollars that we are providing for this type of research.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart).

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert), the distinguished chairman of the Committee on Science.

(Mr. BOEHLERT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to close by saying that this bill consolidates and coordinates windstorm research that has been going on throughout multiple agencies and brings oversight to that process, and I think that is very important. I think the American people expect us to oversee the moneys that we are appropriating and authorizing; but it also is a public and private partnership, and the whole goal of this bill is to make sure that we get the important research out of the laboratories and into practical solutions that are going to be saving lives and reducing property damage.

So I encourage my colleagues to vote yes on H.R. 3980, the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act of 2004.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I would like to thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert) for following through on his promise to mark up legislation on windstorms in the 108th Congress. I would also like to thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Neugebauer) for sponsoring with me this important legislation. I would also like to thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart) and the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Hart) and the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones), who have worked with me over the past three Congresses. And finally, staff member Jim Turner of the Committee on Science staff and Brian Pallasch of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and my staff person, Jana Denning, have worked tirelessly over the past 5 years on this legislation, and they all deserve thanks.

Almost 6 years ago, my hometown of Wichita, Kansas, was hit by an F4 tornado which plowed through the suburb of Haysville, killing six, injuring 150, and causing over $140 million in damage. The devastation of this attack motivated me to try to do something.

I put together a bill modeled after NEHRP, the successful earthquake research program begun over 30 years ago. My goal is to mitigate loss of life and damage to property due to wind and related hazards. We can do this through early warning of tornadoes, better emergency response, and better design and construction of buildings. I reviewed comments from the American Society of Civil Engineers, the National Association of Home Builders, the insurance industry, meteorologists, emergency managers, academia, industry, and the manufactured housing associations to try to fine-tune this legislation.

On May 4, just last year, almost 4 years to the day after the deadly 1999 Kansas and Oklahoma tornadoes, tornadoes touched down again in metropolitan Kansas City and the surrounding suburbs, as well as in many of my congressional colleagues' districts, destroying property, killing people and injuring our constituents.

These tornadoes, Mr. Speaker, did not check to find out if they were hitting a Republican or Democratic district. Tornadoes are truly an equal-opportunity destroyer. This is not a Republican bill. It is not a Democratic issue. It is a human issue, and it is a human tragedy. And we need to deal with this, and we are dealing with this. And I am grateful to my colleagues across the aisle for dealing with this on a bipartisan basis. These windstorms destroy lives. I have seen it in my own district, and I know that many of my colleagues have as well.

I thank, again, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Neugebauer) for his work on this legislation with me.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Mrs. Christensen).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm), who helped get an initial ``big wind earmark'' that brought $3.8 million to Texas Tech's Wind Disaster Research Program in 1998 and helped lay some of the foundation for the bill that is now going to come to the floor for a vote.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Ms. Herseth), the newest Member of the House of Representatives.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge).

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, first let me thank the gentleman from Texas, and I also want to thank the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore), who has also worked awfully hard on this legislation.

But I have to admit, Mr. Speaker, that I am a bit in awe of the work that the gentleman from Texas has done to get this bill this far. As has been said, many lives and billions of dollars are lost during hurricanes and tornadoes due to really poor mitigation techniques, from the structure of buildings to the planning of evacuation corridors. Hurricane Andrew, for example, in 1992 resulted in $26.5 billion in losses and 61 fatalities. Southern Dade County, by the way, Miami/Dade County, is still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Andrew. Hurricane Hugo in 1989 resulted in $7 billion in losses and 86 fatalities.

I am fortunate to help represent the International Hurricane Research Center, a research center in Florida International University, which is directed by Dr. Leatherman. It was established after Hurricane Andrew. It serves as Florida's center for hurricane research, education, and outreach. Of course, their work really serves the entire Nation. The center has led research on everything from appropriate housing techniques to beach erosion and coastal vulnerability. Like many other wind-related institutions, the International Hurricane Research Center supports this legislation. The sponsor of this legislation was mentioning a number that did. This is one more, which I know the gentleman is aware of, and, again, it will make significant steps in mitigating the effects of wind-related hazards throughout the United States.

This legislation, is a, I think, very important piece of legislation, and the gentleman from Texas has done an incredible job shepherding it through the process; and, again, I am in awe of the job that he has done. This legislation creates a National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program in order to improve understanding of windstorm impacts and develops implementation of cost-effective mitigation measures. This will use the vital research already done to implement a uniform policy that will ultimately lead to better-built office buildings, homes, structures, in order to lessen the impact of hurricanes and tornadoes and other wind-borne tragedies.

It establishes a National Advisory Committee on Windstorm Impact Reduction. Again, this group will routinely assess the effectiveness of the program and make recommendations if any changes are needed down the road. The sponsor has been very key on making sure that there is strong oversight, and I want to thank the sponsor for his leadership there and not only on this issue but particularly on this issue, on this bill.

And, again, I want to thank the sponsor, the gentleman from Texas, and the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore), who also, I repeat, has done a lot of work. I am in awe of the work that has been done on this bill, and it is a privilege to support this bill here on the floor today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3980 and applaud the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Neugebauer) and the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore) for introducing it and getting it to the floor for passage today.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3980 would establish the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program to achieve major measurable reductions in losses of life and property from windstorms. This is critically important to Members like me whose districts are prone to catastrophic windstorms such as hurricanes.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to represent one of the most beautiful places under the American Flag, the U.S. Virgin Islands. While we live in an area that sees its share of hurricanes every year, prior to 1989 we were spared for over 60 years of being hit by one of these storms. Since September, 1989, however, when Hurricane Hugo hit with sustained winds in excess of 200 miles per hour, our islands were changed forever. The devastation wrought by this storm was astronomical. However, just as we were beginning to recover from the legacy of Hurricane Hugo, we were hit with a second devastating storm in September of 1995, Hurricane Marilyn. Since then we were hit by at least four other major storms, the last one being Hurricane Lenny in 1999.

Mr. Speaker, if having to deal with recovering from a major natural disaster was not enough, Hurricanes Hugo and Marilyn left the Virgin Islands with an even more ominous legacy. It almost wiped out the availability of affordable windstorm insurance in the territory.

The lack of available affordable homeowners insurance in the Virgin Islands remains a serious problem for many of my constituents today. With the huge payouts associated with the September 11 attacks and natural disasters of 2 years ago, insurance companies' costs have skyrocketed. To keep from falling into the red, many are passing their costs on to homeowners in the form of higher premiums. For the Virgin Islands, added risk of hurricanes, increased seismic activity, and the lack of competition among insurers make it more difficult for my constituents to find relief from these skyrocketing premiums.

While H.R. 3980 does not directly address the problem of the availability of affordable disaster insurance, it has the very real potential of lowering these costs in the long run if it is successful in lowering or reducing the losses to life and property from hurricanes and other windstorm disasters.

Mr. Speaker, windstorms and the damage and destruction they bring result in higher and higher costs to our Nation every year. Any effort which will result in the reduction of these costs will yield untold benefits for all of us. For this reason I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3980. And I once again want to thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Neugebauer) and the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore) for introducing it and bringing it to the floor today.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3890) to reauthorize the Steel and Aluminum Energy Conservation and Technology Competitiveness Act of 1988, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 3890, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I would first like to thank the gentlewoman from Illinois (Chairman Biggert) and the ranking member, the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson) of the Subcommittee on Energy of the Committee on Science, and also the gentleman from New York (Chairman Boehlert) and the ranking member, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Gordon) of the full Committee on Science, for working with me on H.R. 3890, a bill which will reauthorize the Steel and Aluminum Energy Conservation and Technology Competitiveness Act of 1988.

The legislation reauthorizes the Steel and Aluminum Competitiveness Act of 1988, which established a public-private research initiative, with cost sharing from industry, focused on improving industrial energy efficiency in the steel and aluminum smelting and fabrication industries.

The bill would result in improved energy efficiency in the domestic metals industries, thereby improving our international competitiveness in those industries. Improved industrial energy efficiency also offers environmental benefits through reduced emissions per unit of steel or aluminum produced. It can also help reduce the future demand for energy in the industrial sector, which is extremely important as we see rising fuel prices.

The bill authorizes $13.3 million for this program in fiscal year 2005, the same level that was appropriated for fiscal year 2004. For the outyears, that

is, fiscal years 2006 through 2009, the bill authorizes $20 million per year, for a total $93.3 million over the 5-year cycle of the legislation.

This bill is right for industry, Mr. Speaker; it is good for our energy security, and it is good for the environment.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murphy).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, this initiative is one that is not as common for government, I think, as the American people would like to see. It is designed to help industry to become more efficient in its processes, but also more efficient in its use of energy. So, in the long run, it helps preserve American jobs.

That is why we are here today, Mr. Speaker. We are working on efficiency in technology and efficiency in energy use and, obviously, better emissions.

It is important to our industries to be competitive worldwide as we move this legislation forward.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.