Tribal Economic Assistance Act of 2017

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 97) to enable civilian research and development of advanced nuclear energy technologies by private and public institutions, to expand theoretical and practical knowledge of nuclear physics, chemistry, and materials science, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on S. 97, the bill now under consideration.

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

I rise today, Mr. Speaker, in support of S. 97, the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act. I want to thank Senator Crapo, Senator Whitehouse, Senator Murkowski, and Senator Booker,

as well as Ranking Member Johnson and Chairman Smith for cosponsoring this important legislation, and for their years of leadership in advocating for nuclear energy research and development.

Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to work alongside my Senate counterparts to prioritize fundamental research that will support nuclear innovation and keep America safe, independent, and most importantly, globally competitive.

I also want to thank my colleagues on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee who have worked alongside of me with advancing this legislation.

The Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act, which I introduced in the 114th Congress and the 115th Congress, provides updated statutory direction to the Department of Energy's nuclear research activities to ensure that fundamental research is prioritized and precious resources are not wasted.

Mr. Speaker, this bill lays out a clear set of parameters and a definite timeline for DOE to complete an advanced research reactor facility, which is a crucial part of ensuring innovative materials and nuclear fuels R&D can take place right here in the United States instead of overseas.

While modeling and simulation can accelerate R&D, nuclear energy research must be validated through direct experimentation in the lab. This type of research requires access to a source of fast neutrons, and today, these are only available for civilian research in Russia.

The versatile neutron source authorized in this bill will provide the United States with this vital capability. S. 97 also directs DOE to partner with industry to construct and operate reactor prototypes at DOE national labs.

Mr. Speaker, our national labs provide a very unique environment that safely allows for creative testing and development for advanced nuclear technology without a burdensome regulatory process that can slow progress to a crawl. In order to maintain our nuclear capabilities, the United States must continue developing cutting-edge technology right here at home.

Without the direction provided in this bill, Mr. Speaker, we will continue to rely on foreign research. We will fall further and further behind. We will lose the ability to develop innovative nuclear technology and be left importing next-generation reactor designs from overseas. This is unacceptable.

S. 97 will maintain America's ability to influence security and proliferation standards around the world as more developing nations look to nuclear energy to grow their economies.

The language in this bill is the product of many Science, Space, and Technology Committee engagements with relevant stakeholders and nuclear research and development.

Mr. Speaker, last Congress this language passed the House three times as a standalone bill, with the House amendment to S. 2012 and in the NDAA, each with overwhelming bipartisan support.

This language also has a history of strong support in the Senate. It passed as an amendment in the Senate during the 114th Congress and again as a standalone bill this Congress.

S. 97 is vital to ensure that this important research and development is carried out. We cannot afford to miss the economic opportunity provided by next-generation nuclear technology.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting S. 97, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the great gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith).

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

S. 97 is vital to ensuring America's leadership in nuclear research and development. By harnessing the expertise and unique capabilities of our Nation's national labs, universities, and entrepreneurs, American industry can take the lead in developing groundbreaking advanced nuclear technology for the next generation.

I especially thank my colleagues in the Senate and on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee who have worked hard to get this legislation passed: Senators Crapo, Whitehouse, Murkowski, and Booker, and, of course, Ranking Member Johnson and Chairman Smith, as well as my other colleagues. I also thank the dozens of researchers and stakeholders who provided critical feedback over the past several years as we have been developing this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge the adoption of this commonsense, bipartisan legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. President, I speak on behalf of myself and Senator Harris to reintroduce legislation to establish the Sacramento- San Joaquin Delta National Heritage Area, California's first National Heritage Area. I am very pleased to work with Senator Harris, Congressman John Garamendi, and our colleagues in the State on this much needed legislation. Our legislation will establish a new national heritage area in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to promote environmental stewardship, heritage conservation, and economic development across five delta counties.

The Delta Protection Commission will manage the heritage area in accordance with California law and in partnership with delta communities. The management planning process provided by this legislation will be open to the public and collaborative. Federal, State, Tribal, and local governments, private property owners, and all stakeholders will have a voice in the management planning for the heritage area.

The goal is to conserve and protect the delta, its communities, its natural resources, and its rich history.

In short, this legislation does not affect water rights or water contracts, nor does it is impose any additional responsibilities on local governments or private landowners. Instead, this legislation authorizes federal assistance to support local projects as part of an inclusive process required by State law.

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is the largest estuary in the Western United States and perhaps the most productive and ecologically important watershed in North America. This extensive inland delta is a natural marvel and national treasure that must be protected. The delta offers recreational opportunities enjoyed by millions of Californians and out-of-State visitors alike, who come each year for boating, fishing, hunting, and sightseeing.

The delta provides critical habitat for more than 750 wildlife species, including sandhill cranes and other migratory birds along the Pacific Flyway. It also provides habitat for iconic native fish like the chinook salmon, some as large as 60 pounds, which return each year to travel through the delta to spawn in tributaries upstream.

These same waterways provide freshwater to millions of California households and irrigated farmland south of the delta and elsewhere in the State.

Before being converted for farmland starting in the 19th century, the delta flooded regularly following the springtime snowmelt and once supported the continent's largest Native American communities.

Later, the delta served as the gateway for the California Gold Rush, after which Chinese immigrant workers built hundreds of miles of levees to make the delta's rich peat soils available for farming and to control flooding.

Japanese, Chinese, Italian, German, Portuguese, Dutch, Greek, South Asian, and other immigrants began the area's farming legacy and established proud communities that continue today.

Over the years, the vibrant ``river culture'' endemic to delta communities has attracted the attention of celebrated authors from Mark Twain and Jack London to Joan Didion.

A national heritage area designation would help to preserve this uniquely American story by providing supportive local governments across the delta with a needed management framework, technical assistance, and modest Federal funding.

Today, the delta faces crisis due to proliferate invasive species, urban and agricultural runoff, wastewater overloads, channelization, dredging, formidable water exports, and other stressors.

Many delta islands are now 10 to 20 feet below sea level due to subsidence, and the present levee system is inadequate in providing reliable flood protection for historic communities, agricultural enterprises, and infrastructure. Alarmingly, many existing levees were simply not engineered to withstand earthquakes. Should levees fail,

a rush of saltwater into the interior delta would damage this already fragile ecosystem, disrupt drinking water supplies, flood agricultural land, inundate towns, and damage roads, powerlines, and water infrastructure.

Establishing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta National Heritage Area will secure much needed Federal resources for delta communities. Our legislation recognizes the delta as a working landscape central to California life and seeks to further local projects already underway that promote environmental stewardship, heritage conservation, community revitalization, and economic development throughout the delta.

This legislation also seeks to fulfill the broadly supported 2009 California State law that called for a heritage area designation for the delta and the Delta Protection Commission's own feasibility report in 2012.

Our legislation is a small part of the commitment the Federal Government must make to the California delta. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues at every level of government to restore the delta and its native species, upgrade California's water supply, safeguard against flood risk, improve water quality, and preserve delta communities' rich heritage and continued vibrancy.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Weber) for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, S. 97, the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act, directs the Department of Energy to enable the American nuclear power industry to conduct civilian nuclear energy research and development that will advance our leadership in nuclear technology.

While we are considering the Senate version of this bill today, I would like to credit the author of the original legislation, Energy Subcommittee Chairman Randy Weber, his primary cosponsors, and Science, Space, and Technology Committee Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson for their years of leadership on this issue.

The originating Science, Space, and Technology Committee legislation was developed over 4 years of collaboration, including hearings, coordination with DOE and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and countless meetings with stakeholders. Every effort has been made to ensure this legislation will provide the resources necessary to more effectively and efficiently develop the next generation of nuclear power.

Advanced nuclear energy technology is the best way to make reliable, safe, and emission-free electricity available throughout the modern and developing world. The legislation authorizes the research facilities and infrastructure necessary to help development of new, advanced nuclear reactors here at home, maintaining American leadership in the global nuclear technology sector.

This technological edge allows us to better influence global nonproliferation standards and prevent civilian nuclear energy technology from being misused for weapons development overseas. S. 97 directs DOE to develop plans for long-term research and authorizes critical infrastructure at the DOE national labs. This includes leveraging DOE state-of-the-art super computers to accelerate the theoretical development of advanced reactors.

The bill also authorizes construction of a research reactor at a DOE site. This research reactor will provide access to the fast neutrons necessary to develop advanced nuclear reactors. By investing in research infrastructure, DOE can maximize the impact of Federal research dollars and facilitate the development of a wide variety of nuclear technologies.

Finally, S. 97 creates a reliable mechanism for the private sector to partner with DOE labs to build DOE-certified prototype reactors at DOE sites. While the Science, Space, and Technology Committee has heard from dozens of companies with innovative reactor designs, the ability to move new nuclear technology to the market has been stalled by government approval and licensing red tape.

S. 97 provides an alternative pathway for these nuclear entrepreneurs. The safe development of advanced nuclear technology at DOE sites will provide access to DOE resources and expertise, and fast track the commercial regulatory process by involving nuclear reactors at the earliest stages of prototype design and construction.

Nuclear power has been a proven source of safe and emission-free electricity for over half a century. By enacting this legislation and investing in the capabilities needed by the private sector to develop advanced reactors, we can build on the history of American leadership in nuclear power and reduce emissions around the world.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Weber and Ranking Member Johnson for their work on this bill, as well as our Senate colleagues, including Senator Mike Crapo, Senator Jim Risch, Senator Lisa Murkowski, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, and Senator Cory Booker for leading the effort to pass this bill through the Senate.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly encourage my colleagues to support and clear this legislation for President Trump's approval.

Mr. Speaker and Ranking Member Torres, thank you for bringing this legislation to the floor once again.

I want to elaborate a little bit on what my friend and colleague from Portland talked about. It was more than just a camping trip. It was 3 nights with backpacks, 4 days, 41 miles, and 9,000 feet of gain and loss in elevation. We went all the way around Mt. Hood, which is an extraordinary piece of Oregon, and we had a wonderful time.

Along the way, we had our ornithologist there; we had geologists there; we had biologists; we had advocates for wilderness and advocates for recreation. We were met by, I think it was, the Mazamas with watermelons. One afternoon, they hiked them up I don't know how many thousand feet to share with us. It was really a kind of Oregon-way experience, because we all care deeply about the watersheds, the jobs, the recreation, the beauty, the incredible piece of the world we live in around Mt. Hood.

It is my home area. I grew up around the Hood River. This land exchange has been a battle since the 1970s, in a sense, in that my community long ago said: We don't want a lot of development up in this Crystal Springs watershed and in this very pristine area around the Hood River upper valley. It really belongs around the corner of Mt. Hood, up in Government Camp where there already is development.

This fight has gone on for years; and all sides came together, as we did in our legislation, and said: We agree. And so we said: Fine, we will put that in the bill. They worked it out with the Forest Service and everybody else, and then we said: Okay. They have done the heavy lift for the last, I don't know, 30 years. Forest Service, you just make this transfer and do it in 16 months. That is what the law said.

We are nearly 8 years later and this is still languishing; and, unfortunately, we are back trying again, because we are never going to quit until we are done. We are getting much closer.

In fact, the law we passed back in 2009, Public Law 111-11, deals with this Public Lands Act. It said: ``Deadline for completion of land exchange. It is the intent of the Congress that the land exchange under this subsection shall be completed not later than 16 months after the date of enactment of this Act.''

Again, that was back in 2009. It is important to protect this watershed. It is important that where development occurs, it occurs in the right places. We have always felt that way in Oregon. And, indeed, facilitating this exchange resolves a decades-long controversy and puts development where it belongs, protects a special area in the upper Hood River Valley that needs protection, and finally brings certainty and resolution.

I hope you all will come out and see it, or you can come over to the Energy and Commerce Mt. Hood Room which soon will have a beautiful photograph there of Mt. Hood at Lost Lake, and I encourage you to come over. When you are tired of that, you can come over to the new Crater Lake room in the Energy and Commerce Committee suites as well. I have discovered being chairman of the full committee, you get to name rooms--at least briefly during your tenure--and show off some of the best aspects of your State.

With that, Mr. Speaker, thank you for bringing this to the floor. I look forward to House passage, Senate passage, and getting this puppy signed into law.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 699) to amend the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 to modify provisions relating to certain land exchanges in the Mt. Hood Wilderness in the State of Oregon.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 699, the Mount Hood Cooper Spur Land Exchange Clarification Act, was introduced by Congressman Greg Walden and cosponsored by Congressman Earl Blumenauer to address an ongoing land exchange issue in the State of Oregon.

In 2009, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act authorized a land exchange in Government Camp, Oregon. This land exchange was supposed to be completed within 16 months of the enactment of the legislation; however, this still has not occurred more than 7 years later. The long delay, primarily due to disagreements surrounding easement terms, has frustrated local communities such as Mt. Hood Meadows and other local groups.

This legislation, along with the Senate companion, comes as a result of a mediation session held by the Forest Service in September 2015 to resolve longstanding issues between the agency and the local community. Subsequently, the parties released a joint statement that they arrived at mutually satisfactory terms during the mediation session.

H.R. 699 updates the details and process for the land exchange to clarify issues relating to land appraisals and the parameters of a wetland conservation easement on the Federal portion of the conveyance. This legislation also includes several technical provisions, including changes to conveyance conditions regarding wetland boundaries on the Federal land, reservation of a nonexclusive trail easement, and equalization of values of the exchange properties.

This bill was amended in committee last Congress to address concerns raised by the Forest Service, including clarifying language for the easement allowed in the bill and the length of time allowed for the Forest Service to implement this legislation.

It is illustrative of the state of Federal Land Management that the Forest Service has not already carried out the provisions of this bill. This bill previously passed the House in September 2016, and it is my hope that the Senate will see fit to act on the legislation during this Congress.

I appreciate Congressman Walden's continuous efforts to see this issue addressed once and for all, and I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this bill. I urge adoption of the measure.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am now pleased to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden), the author of this measure, whose dogged determination has brought us within reach of resolving this dispute.

Mr. Speaker, we have no further speakers and yet another show of bipartisan comity.

Mr. Speaker, I ask for adoption of this measure.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.