Freedom to Fish Act

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

The pending measure was introduced in the Senate on May 16 of this year, 2013, and passed the very same day. While the bill is apparently a Senate-revised version of the legislation introduced in February of 2013, no committee hearings or markups were held on either bill.

Since 1996, the Army Corps of Engineers has been required to establish restricted areas for hazardous waters upstream and downstream of all Corps dams. As written, S. 982 would revise the current agency policy and would also prohibit the Army Corps of Engineers from establishing any restricted areas in hazardous waters at dams and other structures in the Cumberland River basin for a period of 2 years, and also require them to remove any physical barriers that already exist to prevent access to the hazardous areas. If after the 2-year moratorium, the Corps decided to implement new restricted areas around these dams and other structures, it would continue to be prohibited from erecting any physical barriers to prevent people from entering hazardous areas.

Mr. Speaker, I have serious concerns over this legislation because it does pose risks for public safety and national security. Currently, the Corps restricts access to certain areas above and below the dams of the Cumberland River basin in order to keep people from being sucked into the spill waste or from having their boats swamped or sunk by unplanned releases from the hydropower units, which are very much un-timed. The reason they do this is very simple: to prevent people from drowning and to restrict access to Federal dams that would be targets for terrorism or destruction. Without full-time law enforcement patrols, areas above and below dams are not constantly monitored, and the Corps has not been able to alert and rescue people who get into trouble. They have to base it on people who are in boats nearby to help effect a rescue. Fourteen people drowned in the last few years, and there have been 20 near misses where there is no Corps staff to help.

In fact, according to a report by WRCB-TV in Chattanooga, Tennessee, there have been three fatalities in the hazardous waters immediately downstream of those dams on the Cumberland River. The waters are so hazardous at these locations that wearing a life jacket is ineffective. And I repeat: ineffective.

To legislatively preclude a Federal agency from protecting public health and national security seems a very unwise course of action, and I have significant concerns about the precedent that would be set by this legislation.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might consume to say it'd be nice to know why the Army Corps has not really been effective in getting back to the parties that have asked for information and working with them; and it would be very much interesting to know whether or not it's because of sequestration or budget or whatever, but we might delve into it later.

I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee, Congressman Cooper.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of the time.

I really appreciate the information from my colleagues on the other side. It is only for 2 years, which is time enough to be able to have the Corps and the individual participants be able to come to some agreement.

The fact that there is, according to my colleague, no fishing, I think it's only in certain areas, which would be at the lip of the dam and below the

dam where the spill is where there is danger of boats getting swamped, and so it is something that we need to look forward and see what happens.

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

Chairman Shuster, I want to thank you and Ranking Member Napolitano for agreeing to bring this important legislation to the floor. I will tell you, last September the Army Corps of Engineers made a decision that at the 10 dams located on the Cumberland River, they would put up a barrier of fishing near these dams in the tailwaters.

Despite opposition from the Governors of Tennessee and Kentucky, the Fish and Wildlife Services of Kentucky and Tennessee, Senator Alexander, Senator Corker, Congressman Jim Cooper, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Steve Fincher, myself, Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell and others--we wrote letters to the Corps. We had public meetings with the Corps. We sent petitions to the Corps. We had phone calls with the Corps, and asked them to delay the implementation, primarily because of the sequestration and the amount of money that it would take to put these barriers up, which would be almost $3 million.

Despite our best efforts, and we had meetings at which 400 to 500 people attended, they refused to delay the implementation. So I rise today to support this Senate bill because it delays the implementation for 2 years.

I want to thank the gentlelady for bringing up the safety issue. All of us are very much concerned about the safety issue. But I would like to point out that in the 42 years of the history of these dams on the Cumberland River in Tennessee and Kentucky, there have been 881 drownings in the collective lakes and waters not including the area immediately around the dam. There have only been 14 drownings--and any drowning is too many--but in 42 years around the dam where they are focused on, there have been 14 drownings. I might say that of those 14 drownings, five of them occurred on the banks; two of them were of unknown causes; three were because people were not even wearing life jackets; three were because they were wearing the life jackets improperly; and only one drowning occurred in 42 years where the person was wearing the life jacket properly.

So I would say to the Corps, the real safety issue relates to the collective waters not around the dams. Of course, we all are very much concerned about protecting the homeland, homeland security, and I will tell you in these very rural areas of Tennessee and Kentucky where these dams are located, many people are out there fishing.

I thank the gentleman.

These are very rural areas. I will tell you that the Fish and Wildlife Service provides a great deal of protection and enforcement of broken laws in this area. Many of these people are quite familiar with each other, and I'm not going to be able to address the homeland security issue in detail, except to say that it is enforced. Many of the people who fish there through the fishing competitions and for the economic growth know each other.

But on the safety issue, I would just say 14 drownings in 42 years around the dam itself, 881 in other areas, and so we're not asking that this be a permanent restriction. We are simply asking the Corps to work with the Governors, the Fish and Wildlife Services of both States, the Senate and House, and local county judges to address it in a more permanent way.

So I would respectfully request that you approve the Senate bill, which would simply delay this for 2 years for additional study.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 982) to prohibit the Corps of Engineers from taking certain actions to establish a restricted area prohibiting public access to waters downstream of a dam, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend and include extraneous materials on S. 982.

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

S. 982, the Freedom to Fish Act, would prohibit the Corps of Engineers from restricting public access in the vicinity of the 10 dams on the Cumberland River in Kentucky and Tennessee. This bill, this legislation, was introduced in the Senate by the leader, Senator McConnell, and also by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, and our own in- House version authored by our colleague, Ed Whitfield from Kentucky.

The bill provides for a 2-year moratorium to give the public, the two States, and the Corps of Engineers more time to carefully review conditions at these facilities, and to deal with the immediate threat to fishing, tourism, and the economy.

I applaud our leadership for bringing this legislation to the floor today. This is an excellent example of Congress exercising our constitutional authority to oversee Federal agencies. Far too often, the executive branch and the Federal bureaucracy operate without input and guidance from Congress. My colleagues on the floor of this House every day criticize rules, regulations, and actions by unelected bureaucrats that hurt our districts, our constituents, and our economy. Congress has the right, the constitutional duty, to oversee Federal agencies and provide them with clear guidance and direction.

As chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, problems with the Army Corps of Engineers are frequently brought to my attention by my colleagues from both sides of the aisle, Republicans and Democrats. I am pleased to work whenever possible to address these issues with clear guidance from Congress.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield), the author of the House version of this bill.

I yield the gentleman an additional minute.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr).

I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. Speaker, it's now a great pleasure for me to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Frog Jump, Tennessee (Mr. Fincher).

Mr. Speaker, in closing, once again, I just want to applaud our leadership for bringing this legislation to the floor today. As I said earlier, this is an excellent opportunity, excellent example for Congress to exercise our constitutional authority over these Federal agencies.

With that, I would urge all my colleagues to join in supporting this important legislation, S. 982, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, spring is upon us, a season that is important to several of Kentucky's signature industries. Not only does spring signify horse racing and the Kentucky Derby, but it also marks the beginning of the adventure and outdoor tourism season as well.

Tourism is an $11.7 billion signature industry in my State, employing over 166,000 Kentuckians and accounting for 1 in 10 jobs across the Commonwealth. A major part of Kentucky tourism stems from one of America's favorite pastimes--fishing.

In my district, the Kentucky River is enjoyed by many, many, as it stretches from the Daniel Boone National Forest and meanders through horse farms in the central Bluegrass, specifically in Woodford and Franklin Counties.

Fishermen especially enjoy fishing in the Kentucky River's tailwaters surrounding locks and dams, areas notorious for having an abundance of fish. Unfortunately, the Army Corps of Engineers has decided to prohibit tailwater fishing in a sister river just south of my district, the Cumberland River, where many of my constituents travel to engage in their favorite pastime.

This is yet another example of government overreach, where this time the government is telling us how to fish in water systems that have been safely utilized for generations. We must not allow the Corps to set a precedent for regulating how Kentuckians and Americans alike spend their time outdoors.

As our fragile economy continues to recover, my constituents tell me that they plan on sticking closer to home to recreate this spring and summer. Overregulation of fishing is a deterrent to family time and harms our local businesses that depend on the revenue from seasonal recreation and tourism.

I ask my colleagues to join me in support of the Freedom to Fish Act, which places a 2-year moratorium on the Corps' plan to restrict access to tailwaters in the Cumberland River.

This will allow us time to implement a permanent plan to halt Army Corps from setting a precedent of restricting access to any tailwaters going forward.

I'm an original cosponsor of this legislation--and I applaud the leadership of Mr. Whitfield, my colleague from Kentucky--and that does exactly this: protect fishermen in rural economies and Americans' right to choose how they recreate.

Mr. Speaker, I do rise today to support this legislation and to support the sportsmen from Tennessee and Kentucky. And as you can see, this is an issue where there is bipartisan agreement.

One of my constituents said it so well. They're so frustrated with this situation, and we've heard from so many of them on it. And they said, you know, you can turn on the TV any night and you see government overreach, whether it's the IRS admitting that they have targeted conservative groups or DOJ wiretapping reporters. And then you get home to Tennessee and, at the local level, what you see is the Corps of Engineers coming in and saying, well, by the way, we're going to change something, and you're not going to be able to fish.

Fishing in Tennessee is a tradition. It is a favorite pastime. Sportsmen have been fishing along this beautiful Cumberland River for years. As Mr. Cooper said, it is a beautiful place to be. And since the dams were built, I have to tell you, there are now generations of Tennesseeans, you will see families out together fishing. We have about 900,000 registered anglers in our State, and I have to tell you, I think our office has heard from almost every one of them on this issue. They have been very persistent.

One thing I would want my colleagues to know is that our sportsmen in our State are wonderful stewards of conserving our natural resources and the great outdoors, and they exercise personal responsibility and great care in protecting their favorite place to go fishing.

It is really to the disbelief of the Army Corps of Engineers that we already know when it is safe or not to go fish in these tailwaters. So what we're saying is let's right this wrong, and let's allow individuals to get back and enjoy the Freedom to Fish Act. Pass it today.