Jackson Gulch Rehabilitation Act of 2008

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

This bill, H.R. 2535, introduced by our California colleagues, Devin Nunes and Jim Costa, is the first step towards improving the water supply situation on the Tule River Indian Reservation. This bill authorizes the Bureau of Reclamation to conduct a feasibility study to capture more surface water on the Reservation.

I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan measure.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I want it to be very clear that I respect extremely Mr. Nunes and Mr. Costa who have introduced the bill that is before us. I also respect Mr. Salazar on the bill about which he was just speaking, because all those bills are very well written bills. They have gone through what we call regular order in this body so that the details have been worked out in a fair and equitable process. They are good, decent bills.

But we meet together on this day of suspensions in a unique concept. As we enter into this Hall, there are symbols placed throughout this building. And those symbols are there to remind us of certain concepts that we should be emulating. Around the top of this room, you see the faces, the side views of the icons of law, the great lawgivers of the history of this world, with Moses, obviously, who is the greatest of all, being the only one with a full face view looking directly at the Speaker. They are here because it reminds us that law, even though it sounds sometimes counterintuitive, is that factor which allows us to be free. Law sets the standard, the example, so that we know where we are going and what we are trying to do, which is why we are so offended when activist judges are creating law based on their whimsy, not on the record of the verbiage itself, why sometimes we also are offended in this body when we create wilderness or we create trail systems without maps, or we create wild river systems that violate the definition of those particular laws and we decide to do so on the whimsy of a simple majority vote.

The gentleman on the right side of the Speaker, when he was Vice President of the United States and thus also the President of the Senate, designed a set of rules by which the Senate would operate. This House has taken those rules, modified them slightly, but uses that as the basis of the rules of order for the way we conduct business here. And we often refer to that as regular order. But bills have concepts that they are supposed to take. If we indeed have a bill coming up later this week which has gone through no public input, has had no hearings, has had no committee reviews, will possibly not have the ability of being amended on the floor or in committee, being written in secret and then presented to us at the last minute, a pattern that has been pervasive during this session, it violates the message of their presence. It violates the concept of what we are trying to do. It says to us it is the wrong way to conduct business, because the basis when we conduct business out of regular order, when we do things behind closed doors and then bring a finished product to a take-it-or-leave-it vote here on the floor, is to basically produce a wrong-headed policy.

That was what these people feared, even though most of them had no concept of what a democratic republic was supposed to be, nor did they care. They always established what the process should be. We are looking at the most significant issue to be faced by this Congress this year and have begun in secret, with no hearings, no input, no public. It suddenly appears on the floor out of regular order. To do so dishonors the memory of each of these individuals who have fought so hard to allow us to have a structured way of coming to common solutions to real problems. And it is one of those things we should not allow ourselves to sink into during this coming week or even the next week.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Granger).

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

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairwoman, and I want to thank Chairwoman Napolitano for all of her hard work on many of the water bills that are before us today. I also want to thank Congressman Nunes and Congressman Costa from California. Being rural water Members, they understand the importance of water to rural America.

Today I would like to speak on H.R. 3437, the Jackson Gulch Rehabilitation Act of 2008. I introduced this bill after hearing from my constituents in Mancos, Colorado, including Gary Kennedy, who is the superintendent of the Mancos Water Conservancy District. Gary told me about how every spring as the snow melts he is terrified that they are going to have a catastrophic failure in the system. And it is only a matter of time.

The Jackson Gulch project is critical to southwest Colorado and has stored and delivered water for domestic, agriculture and recreational uses for over 50 years.

The Jackson Gulch Reservoir supplies water to the town of Mancos and the Mancos Rural Water Company. Many of my constituents in the area depend on the agricultural land to make a living. They cannot afford to lose their water supply.

Also of critical importance, Jackson Gulch is the sole supplier of municipal water for the Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde National Park was founded in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt and is one of our Nation's most treasured archeological sites. Almost 600,000 Americans each year enjoy Mesa Verde National Park and rely on the water of the park that they receive from Jackson Gulch.

This bill is critical to extend the life of Jackson Gulch Project. The project was authorized in 1939, and construction of the project was completed in 1949. Over the past 60 years, the canals and facilities have exceeded their life expectancy and are in dire need of repair.

Congress is faced with a simple decision: Tackle the problem of rehabilitation for $8 million today or wait for a catastrophic failure and face a $30 million price tag for replacement tomorrow. Without action, it's only a matter of time before we have a major failure

and cut off water to Mesa Verde National Park and Coloradans in the southwest.

The most dangerous period is during the spring snow melt when Jackson Gulch Reservoir is being filled. If anything happens during that time, my farmers, the town of Mancos, and the Mesa Verde National Park will be out of business. The estimated cost to rehabilitate the canal system is less than one-third of the cost of replacement.

I urge my colleagues to help us address this important issue for southwest Colorado. There are approximately 300, 350 families living in the town of Mancos and 100 more living in Mancos Valley. The median income in Mancos is only $25,000. Yet in their desperate need for water, they have agreed to pay for 35 percent of the cost. They know this will stretch their budgets, but they are also willing to do their part. Now Congress should do its part and pass this critical bill.

I want to thank the chairwoman; I want to thank the Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as the previous speaker mentioned, in a normal time we would be debating this particular bill that has merit, I am sure. But these are not normal times. We are now in the last weeks before we adjourn this Congress, and we are not addressing the issue that is uppermost certainly in the minds of my constituents, and that is the energy crisis.

I noticed recently we haven't been talking much about the energy potential of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR. There are rumors that we may have a bill this week on energy, but there is nothing mentioned about ANWR. Perhaps that is because the Democrats' later energy bill doesn't mention it at all.

The American Energy Act, however, does give ANWR the attention it deserves. The American Energy Act opens the coastal plain of ANWR to drilling, limiting the footprint to just 2,000 acres. That is one one- hundredth of 1 percent of the whole refuge. I know we have all heard the comparison, but I think it is worth repeating. That is the size of a postcard on a football field.

ANWR has over 10 billion barrels of recoverable oil. That is over twice the proven oil reserves in all my State of Texas. Once ANWR is on line, it could produce as much oil per day as the entire State of Texas.

In addition to increasing the supply of oil and therefore reducing prices, the royalty and tax revenue from ANWR would be considerable. Congress has authorized several programs to help develop alternative and renewable energy sources. However, we have not been able to fully fund those initiatives, so have not seen the benefit we were hoping for when they became law. The American Energy Act reinvests any bonus bids and royalty revenue from ANWR into a trust fund to help fund these initiatives to develop alternative and renewable energy sources.

Poll after poll shows that Americans want more domestic production. My office is flooded with calls and e-mails begging me to convince Speaker Pelosi to allow a vote on drilling in ANWR. We need to increase domestic production. We need to develop alternative energy sources. We need to make renewable energy sources more effective. Allowing access to ANWR, as outlined in the American Energy Act, accomplishes all of these objectives.

Let's heed the call of the American people. After all, that is what we were elected to do. Let's take responsibility and vote today to give them the relief they so desperately are seeking.

I invite my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to join us and vote for real solutions today, this week, on this energy crisis.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2535) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study on the feasibility and suitability of constructing a storage reservoir, outlet works, and a delivery system for the Tule River Indian Tribe of California to provide a water supply for domestic, municipal, industrial, and agricultural purposes, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which 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.

(Ms. BORDALLO asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, the Tule River Water Development Act, sponsored by our colleague from California, Congressman Devin Nunes, would authorize the Secretary of the Interior, through the Bureau of Reclamation, to complete a feasibility study that would evaluate alternatives for a water supply for the Tule River Tribe of the Tule River Reservation. The Tule tribe views this as a very important first step in settling their water rights claims.

This bill has received bipartisan support and I ask my colleagues to support its passage.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Salazar) who will speak on the previous bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I again urge Members to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3437) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to carry out the Jackson Gulch rehabilitation project in the State of Colorado, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which 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.

(Ms. BORDALLO asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

The Mancos Project delivers water from Jackson Gulch Dam to residents, farms and businesses in Montezuma County, Colorado. The project and the Jackson Gulch Dam provide supplemental agricultural water for about 8,650 irrigated acres and at least 237 agricultural businesses. The project is also a domestic water supply for the Mesa Verde National Park.

For almost 60 years, the project has outlived its expected life and is in dire need of rehabilitation. This bill will aid the repair and the rehabilitation of this vitally important project in southwestern Colorado.

I would like to commend our colleague from Colorado, Congressman John Salazar, for his hard work on

the bill before us today. I urge my colleagues to support its passage.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I again urge Members to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.