North Texas Zebra Mussel Barrier Act of 2012

Mr. Speaker, I believe the facts of the case that have been clearly enumerated by both sides are very important for this Congress to understand in that this is an agreement on both sides. Yet I think what has happened is that, due to the bipartisan leadership back on the committee between not just Mr. Holt and the chairman but also with the gentleman, Mr. Fleming, it has really come to the aid and assistance, not just in a bipartisan way but in a commonsense way.

It is the opportunity for 1.6 million people who need this desperately to be able to get water at a time of drought, at a time of much consternation in Texas where we have fires and drought and heat and a lot of problems. This means that the people of North Texas know that Chairman Ralph Hall and this committee worked very carefully to make sure that they went through regular order, to make sure that they knew the facts of the case, to make sure that they studied this well.

I really want to offer, not just my support for this, but my thanks to the committee and to the committee chairman for the hard work that has been done by this. I don't make apologies for coming to the floor to do things that are in the best interests of the people of Texas, but this has become necessary as a result of directives back in Texas and the inability of people to clearly resolve this. So I am very pleased to support not just this bill, H.R. 6007, but also the concept of Congress working together through using common sense.

Mr. Speaker, we are here today to discuss an issue which is vital to North Texas. H.R. 6007, the North Texas Zebra Mussel Barrier Act, provides an elegant solution to a growing problem. Currently, 1.6 million customers of the North Texas Municipal Water District, many of whom are my constituents, have restricted access to water as a result of the discovery of zebra mussels in Lake Texoma. Additionally, water transfers have become complicated because of a surveying error resulting in the incorrect designation of the District's Lake Texoma intake station as being in Oklahoma rather than in Texas. This surveyor's error, made more than a decade ago by the Red River Boundary Compact, means that water transfers of zebra mussels now cross a state line. Such a transfer triggers the Lacey Act, which is designed to prevent the spread of invasive species across state lines.

In response, the North Texas Municipal Water District has been forced to suspend all pumping from Lake Texoma for the past three years. This water source constitutes roughly 28 percent of the North Texas Municipal Water District's available supply of raw water. Such a reduction in available resources has put a tremendous stress on the District and its ability to assure its customers that there will be an adequate supply of water in the future.

H.R. 6007 would allow North Texas Municipal Water District to resume water transfers from Lake Texoma through a completely closed conveyance system that delivers water directly into their water treatment facility. To achieve this, the North Texas Municipal Water District has committed approximately $300 million to build a 46-mile long pipeline. The District has approved the funding and obtained the necessary 4-0-4 permits required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin construction.

Such a conveyance system would provide safe and dependable means for the District to access the water they have legal rights to while ensuring, with 100 percent reliability, that Zebra Mussels will not be transferred into Texas waters. Their treatment facility will employ chemical and mechanical means of filtration to eliminate any risk of propagation of invasive species. Such techniques have been proven successful in other areas of the country and have been approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Ultimately, H.R. 6007 will restore the adequate and steady stream of water to over 1.6 million Texans without the use of taxpayer dollars while complying with the Lacey Act's intended goal of preventing the spread of invasive species.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I, of course, rise today in support of H.R. 6007, the North Texas Zebra Mussel Barrier Act of 2012. When I read in the papers and hear in the press that Republicans and Democrats can't get together on anything, well, we're together on something today, and I think the gentlemen have adequately described the enemy.

North Texas has a very serious problem with an invasive aquatic species called zebra mussel. I'd never heard of them before. I hope I never hear of them again. Zebra mussels are going to attach to probably just about anything. They infest and cover rocks, attach to boats and docks, and clog water pipelines. North Texas has a unique situation due to a Texas-Oklahoma boundary change that requires a congressional solution. You know you hear people say it takes an act of Congress to get something accomplished. Well, that's exactly what we're here doing today.

The local water folks have been working extremely hard to prevent the spread of zebra mussels while simultaneously attempting to provide enough clean water for our citizens, but they absolutely need our help. They need this help. H.R. 6007 allows the North Texas Municipal Water District to pump water from Lake Texoma straight into the Wylie, Texas, Water Treatment Plant where the water can be cleaned of zebra mussels without being in violation of the Lacey Act. These folks are the only ones who have tackled and solved this problem. They're not the only ones who have tackled it, but they're the only ones who have solved this problem. It has been at their own expense, and they have solved it. Now they need our support.

In the late 1980s, the North Texas Municipal Water District built the Lake Texoma pump station to better serve its use. This was built entirely within the Texas border and in accordance with the Army Corps of Engineers' 1939 survey, which defined the Texas and Oklahoma boundary line.

In 2000, a variation in the Texas-Oklahoma border was enacted into law, and the pump station ended up straddling the two States. Since the Lacey Act prohibits the transfer of zebra mussels across State lines, it effectively has banned the use of the Texoma water pump station since the year 2009, which was when zebra mussels first appeared in Lake Texoma. The North Texas Municipal Water District generally receives 28 percent of its water supply from Lake Texoma.

H.R. 6007 will enable the water district to resume pumping water to better serve more than 1.5 million users and to do so in a manner that provides safe water in the tradition of its 20-year history. The bill will allow the Texoma water pump to reopen, to provide much-needed jobs and to provide enough clean water to the community during a season of very severe drought, when water is desperately needed.

On May 3 of this year, the Army Corps of Engineers approved a 404 permit that will allow the construction of a 46-mile water pipeline from Lake Texoma straight into the Wylie Water Treatment Plant, which would remove 100 percent of the zebra mussels and would provide clean water for North Texas citizens and businesses.

This is a commonsense solution, a necessary solution and one for which I certainly want to thank the chairman, Doc Hastings.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6007) to exempt from the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 certain water transfers by the North Texas Municipal Water District and the Greater Texoma Utility Authority, 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.

I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of Chairman Ralph Hall's bill to provide relief to 1.6 million people living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area necessitated because of a bizarre set of circumstances.

In 1989, the North Texas Municipal Water District constructed a pumping station in Lake Texoma, providing up to 125 million gallons per day of safe drinking water to one of the most rapidly growing regions in the country, the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Sometime later, the enactment of a boundary adjustment resulted in a small portion of the pumping station being shifted from Texas to Oklahoma. In 2009, zebra mussels were discovered in the lake. This has caused a significant problem because it is in violation of the Lacey Act to transport zebra mussels across State lines.

So, to resolve this, the Water District has proposed to construct a $300 million, 46-mile closed pipeline that will transport Lake Texoma water to its treatment facility in Wylie, Texas. All zebra mussels will then be destroyed there, and the entire effort will be accomplished without any cost to Federal taxpayers.

This project was issued a section 404 Clean Water Act permit in May, and it was supported by the U.S. Wildlife Service district office in Arlington, Texas. However, as happens so many times, the Washington, D.C., headquarters of Fish and Wildlife is not so supportive and has suggested what it describes as a nonlegislative solution: an agreement with the Justice Department not to prosecute North Texas Municipal Water District for transporting zebra mussels.

Now, just think about this, Mr. Speaker. As someone who believes that we are a Nation of law, I am deeply troubled by the notion that a Federal agency would suggest that it would not seek to prosecute, under the law, those who may violate the law. I just think that's the wrong approach, and this approach is the right approach.

So I urge adoption of H.R. 6007, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I'm very pleased to yield 3 minutes to the author of this legislation, our distinguished colleague from Texas, Chairman Ralph Hall.

I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions).

Mr. Speaker, I urge the adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6007, the North Texas Zebra Mussel Barrier Act, provides a very specific and necessary--we believe-- exemption to the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981.

The Lacey Act is vital to our Nation's interests because it prevents the spread of undesirable, injurious species such as zebra mussels. In fact, zebra mussels may be a textbook example, a poster child for injurious introduced species.

These mussels are the bane of many a power plant or municipal water operator. Millions are spent each year just to keep intake and outflow pipes clear of these creatures. They harm our fisheries by crowding out native species and taking all their food, and they're driving many native mussels to extinction.

H.R. 6007 would allow the North Texas Municipal Water District and the Greater Texoma Utility Authority to transport water that contains zebra mussels from the Oklahoma side of Lake Texoma to Texas. However, all the water would be kept in closed conveyance systems, we are assured; and we are further assured that all water would be fully treated, with all zebra mussels being fully removed before being released into any water body. The biologists, the limnologists, the hydrologists, the water engineers assure us of these things.

I do want to emphasize that zebra mussels are pernicious and insidious. I am loathe, and I think many of my colleagues are loathe, to weaken or seek exemption from the Lacey Act, which controls invasive species. However, Texas needs access to this water, and the aforementioned entities have a comprehensive plan for ensuring, we are told, that these water transfers will not cause zebra mussels to spread.

So for these reasons, and with this understanding, I rise in support of H.R. 6007. I do strongly urge that this bill, which is put forward as a remedy for a very difficult and unique situation, should not be used to set any precedent for granting exemptions to the Lacey Act or in any way weakening our protections against invasive species.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield back the balance of my time.