Dana Point Desalination Project Authorization Act

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on September 13, 2006, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing on ``The Housing Bubble and its Implications for the Economy.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, September 13 at 11:30 a.m.

The purpose of this meeting is to consider the nominations of John Ray Correll to be director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Mark Myers to be director of the United States Geological Survey, and David Longly Bernhardt to be solicitor of the Department of the Interior.

President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to hold a Business Meeting on Wednesday, September 13, 2006, at 9:30 a.m. to consider the following agenda:

Legislation: H.R. 5689, To amend the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users to make technical corrections, and for other purposes; S.1848, Cleanup of Inactive and Abandoned Mines Act; S. 3630, To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to reauthorize a program relating to the Lake Pontchartrain Basin, and for other purposes; H.R. 3929, Dana Point Desalination Project Authorization Act; S. 3617, North American Wetlands Conservation Reauthoriiation Act of 2006; H.R. 5061, Paint Bank and Wytheville National Fish Hatcheries Conveyance Act; S. 3551, Tylersville Fish Hatchery Conveyance Act; S. 3867, To Designate the Federal Courthouse at 555 Independence Street, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, as the ``Rush H. Limbaugh Sr., Federal Courthouse''; H.R. 5187, To Amend the John F. Kennedy Center Act to authorize additional appropriations for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for fiscal year 2007; S. 3879 ``Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage Contingent Cost Allocation Act''; S. 2348, Nuclear Release Notice Act of 2006; and S. 3591, High-Performance Green Buildings Act of 2006.

Nominees: William B. Wark to be a Member of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board; William E.

Wright to be a Member of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board; Stephen M. Prescott to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Policy Foundation; Anne Jeannette Udall to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Policy Foundation; Brigadier General Bruce Arlan Berwick to be a Member of the Mississippi River Commission; Colonel Gregg F. Martin to be a Member of the Mississippi River Commission; Brigadier General Robert Crear to be a Member of the Mississippi River Commission; and Rear Admiral Samuel P. DeBow, Jr. to be a Member of the Mississippi River Commission.

Resolutions: Committee Resolution for the Republican River Basin-- Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas; Committee Resolution for Beverly Hills, New Haven, Connecticut; Committee Resolution for Hanover Pond; Holly Pond; and Eisenhower Park--Connecticut; Committee Resolution for Mystic Harbor Water Resources Development--Mystic, Connecticut; Committee Resolution for the Burns Waterway Harbor--Indiana; Committee Resolution for Jefferson Parish Flood Control, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; Committee Resolution for the Blackstone River Watershed--Massachusetts, Rhode Island; Committee Resolution for the St. Clair River, Lake Level Study--Michigan; Committee Resolution for the Crow Creek Watershed-- Cheyenne, Wyoming; Committee Resolution to direct GSA to prepare a Report of Building Project Survey; 12 resolutions to authorize the majority of the remainder of the General Services Administration's FY 2007 Capital Investment and Leasing Program; and 8 resolutions authorizing courthouse projects.

Mr. President: I ask unanimous consent that on Wednesday, September 13, immediately following the 9:30 a.m. Business Meeting the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to hold a hearing to consider the following pending nominations:

Roger Romulus Martella, Jr., to be Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency;

Alex A. Beehler to be Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; and

William H. Graves to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Wednesday, September 13, 2006, at 10 a.m., in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building, to hear testimony on ``Taking the Pulse of Charitable Care and Community Benefits at Nonprofit Hospitals.''

THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

committee on foreign relations

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, September 13, 2006, at 9:30 a.m. to hold a hearing on Lebanon.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday, September 13, 2006, at 2:30 p.m. to consider the nominations of Wayne C. Beyer to be Member, Federal Labor Relations Authority, and Stephen T. Conboy to be U.S. Marshal, Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a markup on Wednesday, September 13, 2006, at 9:30 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226.

Agenda

I. Bills: S. 2453, National Security Surveillance Act of 2006, Specter; S. 2455, Terrorist Surveillance Act of 2006, DeWine, Graham; S. 2468, A bill to provide standing for civil actions for declaratory and injunctive relief to persons who refrain from electronic communications through fear of being subject to warrantless electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes, and for other purposes, Schumer; S. 3001, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Improvement and Enhancement Act of 2006, Specter, Feinstein.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on September 13, 2006 at 2:30 p.m. to hold a closed briefing.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Special Committee on Aging be authorized to meet Wednesday, September 13, 2006 from 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. in Dirksen 562 for the purpose of conducting meeting.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on ``Challenges Facing Today's Federal Prosecutors,'' on Wednesday, September 13, 2006, at 2:30 p.m. in SD226.

Witness list

Panel I: Mike Battle, Director, Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC; Susan Brooks, U.S. Attorney, Southern District of Indiana, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC.

Panel II: William Shockley, Former President, National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys, Lake Ridge, VA.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3929, the Dana Point Desalination Project Authorization Act. My legislation will authorize Federal participation in a relatively small ocean desalination project that could have an enormous impact on the future development of desalination projects.

As our country continues to look for new sources of water, particularly in the West, the expansion of our desalinated ocean water capability is essential. While extensively utilized in other parts of the world, most notably in the Middle East, the U.S. has only recently begun to consider large-scale ocean water desalination projects. There are a number of factors that have limited the viability of desalination projects. The major issues confronting ocean desalination are the cost of producing potable water and the potential negative impacts on ocean ecosystems.

The Dana Point Desalination Project is not a typical ocean desalination project. The project will use a unique subsurface ocean intake system that will collect water that naturally seeps through the ocean floor. The system provides a number of benefits over traditional intake systems, including removing the negative impacts on marine life as well as potentially reducing the need for extensive pretreatment filtration. If constructed and successful, the system would remove various concerns expressed by environmental advocates as well as improve the feasibility of future ocean desalination projects.

The Dana Point Desalination Project, to the best of my knowledge, is the only ocean desalination project supported by the Surfrider Foundation. Their support is a direct result of the unique subsurface intake technology that avoids negative impacts to the marine ecosystem. I would like to submit a letter form the Surfrider Foundation detailing their support for the Dana Point project for the record.

The Dana Point Desalination Project could have significant regional and national benefits. H.R. 3929 simply authorizes Federal participation in the project and limits the Federal obligation to $2.5 million to assist with preliminary engineering and environmental studies. No construction dollars are authorized in H.R. 3929.

I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting the Dana Point Desalination Project and passing H.R. 3929.

Surfrider Foundation,

January 10, 2006.

Re Support for MWDOC Beach Well Feasibility Study.

To Whom it May Concern: I am writing on behalf of the

Surfrider Foundation in support of efforts by the Municipal

Water District of Orange County (MWDOC) to investigate the

feasibility of sub-surface beach wells to supply seawater for

ocean desalination.

The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit environmental

organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the

world's oceans, waves and beaches for all people, through

conservation, activism, research and education.

In general, Surfrider Foundation believes that future

demands for water supplies should first be met by fully

utilizing water conservation, wastewater reclamation, and

stormwater management that will capture runoff for beneficial

uses. We feel very strongly that these supply alternatives

combine the benefit of meeting our future water needs while

simultaneously reducing polluted runoff and ocean discharges.

Ocean desalination should be the lowest priority for water

supply choices and only employed using the most

environmentally protective methods and technology.

We are pleased to see this approach to water supply

alternatives reflected in MWDOC's 2005 Urban Water Management

Plan. Furthermore, we are very supportive of the measured

approach MWDOC is taking toward filling a limited role for

ocean desalination in their water supply portfolio. Sub-

surface ``feedwater'' intakes for desalination will avoid the

unnecessary destruction of marine life, and disruption of

healthy marine ecosystems, that accompanies open ocean

intakes.

We look forward to the results of the sub-surface beach

well feasibility study MWDOC is proposing in Dana Point.

Sincerely,

Joe Geever,

Southern California Regional Manager.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Mexico for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I have some familiarity with the project, since it is located in the district which I have the privilege to represent. Water is an issue. It is an issue in the West; it is an issue in California.

We will probably be dealing this week and over the next few weeks and perhaps months with some of the issues of a shortage of various energy projects. We can avoid shortages in water if we work on it early, if we get on some of these projects now.

What this project does, as both the previous speakers indicated, is it is not just something that is good for the district I represent or the area I represent, but is in fact a test project for this new type of desalinization, where you are getting the water, rather than directly out of the ocean on the coast, you are actually bringing the water out underneath the sand, and then back to a desalinization plant, which is off the coast.

That is why it does not have the negative environmental impacts putting a plant directly on the coast right against the water would be. But, also, the sand itself has the effect, we believe, of filtering this water on its way to the desalinization plant, which both reduces the cost, reduces the waste that is created in desalinization, and possibly, we believe, makes the project considerably more efficient and therefore cheaper.

So what this project, if it is successful, will do is it will create desalinization that will be both less impactful on the environment, result in a higher

yield of usable water, and be cheaper along the way. So something that is good for all sides.

The Federal involvement here would only be 25 percent of the entire project, as 75 percent of the cost is being carried by local public agencies. So I appreciate the support on both sides of the aisle for this project and would urge its passage.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3929) to amend the Water Desalination Act of 1996 to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to assist in research and development, environmental and feasibility studies, and preliminary engineering for the Municipal Water District of Orange County, California, Dana Point Desalination Project located at Dana Point, California, as amended.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3929, introduced by our distinguished colleague, Ken Calvert, authorizes Federal participation in a unique desalination research and development project in Southern California.

Water consumers in that area of the State depend on imported water, and local efforts are being undertaken to develop nearby water supplies to reduce this dependence.

Desalination and water recycling are some of the most important ways to create new local water supplies. This legislation provides limited Federal assistance to develop a unique subsurface ocean water collection system that can reduce desalination's cost and eliminate impacts on the environment.

This project will not only help Southern California, but could also be a model for future desalination operations nationwide. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Campbell).

Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers and yield back the balance of my time and urge passage of H.R. 3929.

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

(Mr. UDALL of New Mexico asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, we support passage of H.R. 3929. We need to do more, not less, to help communities that are working to apply new technologies to their water supply problems. This bill provides limited financial assistance for engineering and environmental studies. It does not authorize funds for construction.

The project sponsors are exploring the feasibility of an ocean water desalinization plant using subsurface intake wells, which are protective of the marine environment. If this design is successful, it could encourage other coastal communities that are considering ocean desalinization as a way to stretch their limited water supplies without causing damage to marine life.

It is unfortunate that the Bush administration opposes this bill. Their opposition to H.R. 3929 is short-sighted and ill advised. This administration appears to be on a crusade against the use of innovative technologies to help solve water supply problems.

I hope the bill will be enacted despite their objections.

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

Mr. Speaker, having no further speakers, I yield back the balance of my time.