Estuary Urgent Needs Priority Program Act

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

I rise in support of H.R. 5266 to reauthorize appropriations for the National Estuary Program.

First, Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize my committee colleagues, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo) and the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Larsen), for introducing this legislation.

Our Nation's coasts and oceans provide a wealth of resources for the entire country, and among these areas, nowhere is more valuable than estuaries. Estuaries are bodies of water that receive both water from rivers and saltwater from the sea. This mix makes a unique environment that is extremely productive in terms of its ecosystem values.

Government studies have found that estuaries provide habitat for 75 percent of the U.S. commercial and 80 to 90 percent of the recreational fishing catches.

Perhaps the central problem in the protection and restoration of estuaries is that they ultimately lie downstream. Everything that enters the smallest stream, tributary, or headwater in a watershed eventually runs into a single outlet, impacting in some way all the biological elements of that ecosystem and all of the commerce that revolves around the estuary.

The First Congressional District of New York, which I have had the honor to represent, abuts two priority estuaries with the Environmental Protection Agency's National Estuary Program, the Peconic Bay and the Long Island Sound.

These unique waters are precious to the residents of Long Island, and their continued health and vitality provide multiple benefits to the residents of Long Island and to the economic and environmental health of the region.

I am pleased that this legislation demonstrates the willingness of this Congress to move legislation that protects our water-related environment. The Federal seed money that comes from the EPA's National Estuary Program, when combined with other State and local resources, helps to implement locally-driven solutions to local water quality challenges.

In my view, if there are limits in the success of these programs, they are closely related to the availability of adequate restoration funds.

In the 111th Congress, I was the lead sponsor of another bill, H.R. 4715, the Clean Estuaries Act of 2010, that would have also authorized the National Estuary Program, however, at higher levels than contained in the current bill.

That legislation passed the House on a bipartisan basis and by an overwhelming margin; however, the Senate failed to ever act on that bill.

While H.R. 5266 does represent a significant reduction in the authorization of appropriations for this important program, I commend the bipartisan sponsors of this legislation for ensuring that the new authorization shows some room to increase the funding of these locally- driven restoration efforts, rather than simply cutting those efforts.

Too often these days, we seem driven to cut Federal spending for programs that provide real benefit to our Nation without an awareness of the consequences of these actions.

I can only hope that in the years to come this Chamber will recognize that there are places where the Federal Government can help and should be making increased investments, such as to repair our crumbling infrastructure or to protect our fragile natural environment.

These are only some of the ongoing challenges that face this Nation, and we need a Congress that is serious about taking on the hard questions and about making the right investments, not only for our lives and livelihoods, but for those generations of Americans to come.

Mr. Speaker, again, I support the passage of H.R. 5266, and I urge my colleagues to also support this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Larsen), my friend.

Mr. Speaker, I thought I had one more speaker, but he is not here, so I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5266) to reauthorize the National Estuary Programs, and for other purposes, 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 materials on H.R. 5266.

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

First, I want to thank Mr. Shuster, Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Bishop, and Mr. Larsen for helping me bring H.R. 5266, the National Estuary Programs Reauthorization, to the floor.

I also want to thank my colleagues, Mr. Posey and Mr. Murphy of Florida, in helping me get this legislation drafted and ushered through the committee in a bipartisan way.

This version of the National Estuary Programs Reauthorization is fiscally responsible by reducing the authorization levels by $8 million, while ultimately increasing the amount of money each estuary program will receive. This reauthorization will detail just how the EPA is to spend the authorized and appropriated money.

Unlike many programs under the Clean Water Act, the National Estuary Program is a nonregulatory program; instead, it is designed to support the collaborative voluntary efforts of Federal, State, and local stakeholders to restore degraded estuaries.

Unfortunately, National Estuary Programs have been losing money due to the EPA administrative costs. By setting limits of 5 percent for administrative costs for the EPA, we can guarantee 80 percent of the funding goes to the end user and the NEP and not bureaucratic salaries and red tape.

In this year's reauthorization, we have also set aside 15 percent of the funding for a competitive award program. This program will seek applications meant to deal with urgent and challenging issues that threaten the ecological and economic well-being of coastal areas.

By structuring how the money is spent and lowering authorization levels, this legislation strikes the right balance of fiscal and environmental responsibilities. I urge all Members to support H.R. 5266.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am now pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Posey).

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time, but I do not have any more speakers.

Mr. Speaker, again, I thank my colleagues Mr. Bishop, Mr. Larsen, Mr. Shuster, and Mr. Gibbs. I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this important legislation.

I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I, again, want to thank Congressman LoBiondo for his work on this National Estuary Program and this legislation to reauthorize this important program for another 5 years.

Thank you also for working with me on provisions for my bill, which I introduced with Representative Murphy of Florida--H.R. 5117, the Estuary Urgent

Needs Priority Program. Our provision establishes a competitive awards program for estuaries to help prioritize funding to estuaries facing urgent needs. It does so without spending any additional money. We simply reprioritize and require all money appropriated from Congress for estuaries to actually be spent on estuaries.

Mr. Speaker, the National Estuary Program encourages communities to work toward having healthy estuaries by providing annual base grants for projects to improve and to monitor the quality of their water and the species that live in them. Healthy estuaries provide a diverse home for flora and fauna. Estuaries also provide for countless hours of recreational enjoyment and billions of dollars in economic impact.

My congressional district is home to one of the most diverse estuaries in the country, if not in the world--the Indian River Lagoon. Our lagoon's natural beauty has always been central to our community as a key to improving our quality of life, as a recreational area for fishing and boating with friends and family, and as a significant contributor to our local economy. I raised my family along this 156- mile lagoon, and I know firsthand how important this legislation is to making our local estuary program a success.

We have all seen the adverse consequences of sea grass loss and harmful algae blooms. The opportunity to compete for additional funding, which this bill provides, would be a valuable tool in combating the types of issues we have seen in our estuary. The bill before us redirects money away from the EPA's Washington bureaucracy and toward actual projects and initiatives across the Nation's estuaries.

I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation so that we can continue the great work that the NEP provides as it facilitates estuary protection and restoration initiatives.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5266, the reauthorizing of the National Estuary Program.

I want to thank Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Bishop on the subcommittee and, of course, my colleague whom I share the Aviation Subcommittee with, Mr. LoBiondo, for their leadership on getting this bill to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, estuaries are a critical habitat for salmon, birds, and many other species in the Pacific Northwest, where we know that protecting our natural resources is good for our environment and good for our economy.

My district borders on Puget Sound, which is our country's second largest estuary and is a key driver of our economy in Washington State. Trade, fishing, tourism, and outdoor recreation in our region create and sustain thousands of jobs, and all of these activities are dependent on a healthy Puget Sound. I have long supported estuary restoration in the Puget Sound region, including projects like the Qwuloolt Estuary Restoration Project, which will be the largest tidal marsh restoration project ever completed in Washington State.

Estuary restoration can also be a key component for absorbing carbon emissions and increasing resiliency to the effects of climate change. A recent study of the Snohomish Estuary, in my district, found that currently planned and in-construction restoration projects will result in at least 2.55 million tons of CO2 sequestered from the atmosphere over the next 100 years. That is the equivalent of a year's worth of emissions from a half a million automobiles. This bill is important. It is important for all of us.

I want to thank my colleague again, Mr. LoBiondo, for his hard work on this legislation. I look forward to continuing our productive bipartisan relationship on this and on many other issues. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5266.