A resolution honoring the life of Washington Post columnist and Atlantic Monthly editor Michael Kelly, and expressing the deepest condolences of the Senate to his family on his death.

Mr. President, I am a Midwesterner by birth. I come from the flatlands of Illinois, cornfields and prairies. Frankly, it has meant I see things differently than others. I can still recall as a young boy the first time I saw an ocean. I was off to my brother's wedding in California, all of about 9 or 10 years old, and I got to see the Pacific Ocean. It was an amazing spectacle to me. I had never seen anything like it. The closest I had come to that was the Mississippi River. I developed a special attachment and passion of taking my family, as they grew up, to oceans on a regular basis, to beaches, and the great time you have together.

I never reflected on the fact that the great, vast, mighty body of water, that ocean, might some day be vulnerable; it seemed so impenetrable, so vast, so diverse, so huge.

This week in Washington, the Pew Oceans Commission will release its report. The chairman of that commission is an old friend of mine, a great public servant, Leon Panetta of California. I commend this report to everyone in the country, whether you live near an ocean, as most Americans do, or you are from the Midwest and a flatlander, as I am. It talks about a great resource of America and a great resource of the

world which is in crisis, the great resource of the world which is in peril.

The area of the ocean under United States jurisdiction spans 4.5 million square miles, more than any other single country. According to Jane Lubchenco, professor of Oregon State University, our ocean property as a nation is 23 percent larger than our Nation's land area, making our ocean the country's largest public domain.

I met Professor Lubchenco last week in Italy at a seminar that focused on international global environmental issues. She spoke at length and in stark terms about what is happening to the oceans. Our ocean ecosystems are unique treasures, places where we can discover the mystery of life, work and vacation, and pursue scientific study. Losing the quality of our oceans and marine life that thrives in them would be a tremendous loss.

In addition, damage to ocean ecosystems can cause significant damage to our economy, public health, and even our national security.

As the Pew Commission reports, our oceans face a crisis due to contamination and failure to address problems over the years. Take, for example, this statistic. The National Academy of Sciences estimates that oil running off of our streets and driveways in America ultimately flows into the ocean, creating an Exxon-Valdez-size spill every 8 months. I was at Prince William Sound in Alaska after the Exxon Valdez spill, something I will never forget, going to tiny remote islands, seeing them literally covered with crude oil, seeing the wildlife that had been rescued, some of it perished almost immediately, and with others, valiant attempts were made to save them; 10.9 million gallons of crude oil dumped in Prince William Sound. That is how much oil we dump as a nation into the ocean every 8 months with the runoff from driveways and parking lots finding its way to streams and rivers and our oceans.

These problems have tragic consequences. Many of our public beaches have been closed over the years due to high levels of harmful contamination. The United States Environmental Protection Agency about 8 or 9 years ago created a Web site which reported on ozone and the impact it would have on public health. It became increasingly popular as more and more parents with children facing asthma attacks went to this Web site to see if it was safe to send their kids to school. What was the ozone reading? Then, almost coincidentally, the EPA released information about beaches around America that had been closed because of contamination. That, too, became an extremely popular Web site. Families planning vacations and weekends would go to this Web site and find out whether the beach they wanted to visit would be open to the public or safe for bathing in.

It is an interesting comment, is it not, in the world we live in, the Nation we live in, with all of our progress, that one of the sources of information we turn to most frequently is whether we can breathe the air or can expose our children to a beach or lake shore that might be contaminated.

There is also a problem related to the fishing industry and its impact, the impact of the ocean contamination. There was a paper published in the May 15 issue of Scientific Journal, Nature, that reported 90 percent of all large fish--tuna, marlin, swordfish, shark, cod, and halibut--90 percent of those species are gone. Do you remember the fish orange roughy? I bet you do. In the last few years it was a pretty popular fish. Almost everywhere in America you would go to a restaurant and orange roughy was on the menu. Try to find it today. It has been fished to near extinction. They discovered where to fish for orange roughy on the coast of New Zealand and went to depths they had never been able to fish at before and successfully found the species. It was fished out. It turned out to be popular and no efforts were made to conserve it. As a consequence, you will be able to tell your children you once had a fish called orange roughy. It is not likely they will ever taste one.

An article in the Washington Post also reports the significant fish shortages and how the fishing industry is close to collapsing in many parts of the United States and around the world. This week's U.S. News & World Report devotes its cover story to the problem of empty oceans.

I will address one part of this problem, something we can do about it in a hurry. It relates to cruise ships.

One of the major contributors to ocean pollution is the cruise ship industry, which in 2001 carried 8.4 million passengers in North America. I do not have anything against cruise ships--they provide many Americans ample opportunities to relax and learn about oceans and marine wildlife. However, they are exempt from critical regulations that would help protect the beautiful and inspiring oceans and marine wildlife that many cruise ships aim to present to travelers.

I am going to give some data here that I think is incredibly shocking.

According to EPA and industry data, a typical 3,000 passenger cruise ship each week generates 210,000 gallons of black water, which is raw sewage; 1 million gallons of gray water, included runoff from showers, sinks and dishwashers; 37,000 gallons of oily bilge water, which collects in the bottom of ships and contains oil and chemicals from engine maintenance that are toxic to marine life; more than eight tons of solid waste; millions of gallons of ballast water, which is brought into ships to facilitate balance and then released back into the ocean, containing potential invasive species; and toxic wastes including dry cleaning chemicals such as PERC and photoprocessing chemicals.

These wastes are damaging to our oceans. Interestingly enough, any city in America which generated that kind of waste would never be allowed to dump it on the land or in an adjoining river. But if you happen to be a cruise ship that is traveling in the waters of America, you are virtually exempt from the Clean Water Act and you can dump, in certain locations within the oceans off the coasts of America, with virtual impunity, with one notable exception. The State of Alaska-- thank goodness for them--has established much stricter standards than the Clean Water Act imposes on the cruise ship industry that does its business outside States around America.

According to the organization Oceana, raw sewage can sicken and kill marine life, including corals, and contributes to algae blooms that cloud the water, reduce oxygen levels and kill fish. Furthermore, invasive species, those that are not native to the area where they are released in ballast water, can colonize new areas, and, in so doing, replace and harm local species. We have become painfully familiar with invasive species in the Great Lakes, and the government and industry are making efforts to address it. I am proud to be representing a state that adjoins that great Lake Michigan, but we know about Zebra Mussels and forms of eels that have been dumped in ballast water and invaded what was a sound marine life in the Great Lakes.

Wastes from cruise ships can also affect human health. According to Oceana, the recent outbreaks of the Norwalk virus on cruise ships have sickened more than 3,000 passengers and crew, forcing many people to abandon their vacations early. The Norwalk virus is found in human waste and on hands and surfaces that may have had contact with it. It can be spread by shellfish contaminated by sewage from boats. In addition, wastes can wash up on our beaches and near our shoes, threatening people who work or vacation there.

Despite the fact that cruise ships generate all of this waste, and are an identifiable source of pollution, they are exempted from the regulations that implement the Clean Water Act's point source permitting system. Indeed, cruise ships can dump raw, untreated sewage into the water once the ship is more than three miles off U.S. shores. They can also dump gray water and ballast water without a permit, even when they are docked at ports that are in U.S. waters. Finally, they are permitted to dump solid garbage into the ocean when they are at least 12 miles from the shore.

This problem is not confined to our domestic cruise ship industry. According to a February 2000 GAO report, foreign-flagged cruise ships were involved in 87 confirmed illegal discharge cases in U.S. waters from 1993 to 1998.

In August 2000, EPA issued a ``Cruise ship White Paper,'' providing a blueprint for strengthening the laws regulating cruise ships. However, Congress has failed to act on this issue.

We cannot delay any longer. that is why I will introduce legislation to strengthen the Clean Water Act and other relevant laws regarding the cruise ship industry.

Specifically,the legislation I am preparing is based on ideas and recommendations generated by the EPA, GAO, and interest groups. Here is what it would do:

Remove the exemption of cruise ships from existing Clean Water Act requirements;

Ban the release of raw sewage anywhere in the ocean, and require treatment standards similar to Alaska's strict standards;

Ban release of so-called ``treated'' wastes within a certain distance of our shores;

Provide for adequate measures to prevent ballast waters from spreading invasive species;

Provide for monitoring of compliance with these requirements and the availability of data for public review;

Enable citizens to bring lawsuits against cruise ships, as provided under the Clean Water Act; and

Increase resources for inspections and strengthen the inspection requirements.

This is truly an international issue, but the United States must not only do its part, it must lead the way. I urge my colleagues to join me. First, read this Pew Oceans Commission report. It is an eye opener. It is a revelation. Wherever you live in the United States, you will value our oceans and you will come to understand the dangers they face.

I also encourage my colleagues to join me by cosponsoring the legislation I am crafting. The oceans, that cover nearly 70 percent of our planet, cannot wait any longer.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, Michael Kelly died nearly a week ago while covering the U.S. Army's Third Infantry Division's march to liberate Baghdad. It is difficult for me to believe that he was only 46 years old. Michael Kelly's contributions to American journalism and American politics were not the contributions of a young man but those of a witty, political observer whose love of his country and delight in the pastime of American politics was as boundless as the American dream itself. Michael Kelly, so deeply committed to preserving freedom and liberty, should be in Baghdad right now relishing in the awakening of the Iraqi people to their new lease on life, liberty, and freedom from fear.

I did not fully realize the extent of his contribution to the American political discourse until I opened the Washington Post yesterday and noticed that his Wednesday column was dark. At that moment, I realized how gaping a void Michael Kelly's death has left in the pages of newspapers throughout the country, and in the hearts and minds of his countless readers.

He was in life, and will remain in death, an icon for all who shared his interest and obvious passion for the theatre of American politics. His bemused commentary and good-natured derision from the balcony of our political arena--and his delight in watching political virtuosi and vaudevillians march across the stage--place him in my book among the great political commentators of our time.

Although I did not know Michael Kelly, his writings reminded me of the satisfaction and glory that accompanies fighting for just causes and deeply held beliefs, however unpopular they may be in certain circles. His life and work stand as reminders of why partisanship--even bitter partisanship--can be often an immensely positive contribution to American politics. Like that of my former colleague and friend, the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Michael Kelly's style of partisanship made an eloquent and thoughtful contribution to the important debates about the future of our country.

Michael Kelly's style--witty, acerbic, curmudgeonly, and independent--invited obvious comparisons to another famous American journalist: H.L. Mencken. Like Mencken, Kelly relished the opportunity to fire rhetorical grapeshot across the bow of his political adversaries. His refusal to mute his criticism of liberal politicians while he was serving as the editor of the left-leaning New Republic is reminiscent of Mencken's long-running feud with President Roosevelt. There is also a superficial connection, too, as Kelly spent an early part of his career as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun, a newspaper made famous under the stewardship of its iconic reporter and editor.

More substantively, Michael Kelly, like Mencken, was much more than a newspaperman. He was a man of letters, and a powerful political voice.

Kelly's most recent endeavors stand as testament to his immense intellect and lasting impact. His tenure as editor of The Atlantic Monthly has resulted in dramatic success for that venerable magazine. And for whatever informal polling is worth, I can attest that members of my staff routinely compete for copies of The Atlantic when they arrive in my office mailroad each month.

He left the comfort of his editor's desk recently to join the U.S. Army's Third Infantry Division as an embedded journalist. Having doggedly defended the moral and security justifications for disarming Saddam Hussein's brutal regime, Michael Kelly risked his life to bear witness to the liberation of the Iraqi people.

Michael Kelly was an eloquent advocate of the moral arguments for regime change in Iraq. Regarding the liberation of the Iraqi people, Kelly wrote in February:

There are 24 million of them, and they have been living

(those who have not been slaughtered or forced into exile)

for decades under one of the cruelest and bloodiest tyrannies

on earth. It must be assumed that, being human, they would

prefer to be rescued from a hell where more than a million

lives have been sacrificed to the dreams of a megalomaniac,

where rape is a sanctioned instrument of state policy, and

where the removal of the tongue is the prescribed punishment

for uttering an offense against the Great Leader.

These people could be liberated from this horror--

relatively easily and quickly. There is every reason to think

that a U.S. invasion would swiftly vanquish the few elite

units that can be counted on to defend the detested Saddam

Hussein; and that the victory would come at the cost of a

few--likely hundreds, not thousands--Iraqi and American

lives. There is risk; and if things go terribly wrong it is a

risk that could result in terrible suffering. But that is an

equation that is present in any just war, and in this case

any rational expectation has to consider the probable cost to

humanity to be low and the probable benefit to be tremendous.

To choose perpetuation of tyranny over rescue from tyranny,

where rescue may be achieved, is immoral.

His predictions have proven accurate, and it is a heartbreaking tragedy that he did not survive the march to Baghdad, where he would have witnessed a new birth of freedom in a land strangled for so long by tyranny and oppression.

Michael Kelly is survived by his wife, Madelyn, his young sons Tom and Jack--whose endeavors he recorded lovingly and amusingly in his columns--and his parents, Thomas and Marguerite Kelly. My prayers and deepest condolences go out to them for their loss.

So today I ask my colleagues to join me in paying tribute to Michael Kelly's life and recognizing his lasting contribution to the twin worlds of American journalism and American politics. I hope my colleagues will support this resolution

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 121, which was submitted earlier today by Senator McConnell.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to this matter appear in the Record as if read.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 15 minutes.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.