Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, my colleagues have been very gracious and have gotten a little bit out of the queue, so I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed to address the body for 5 minutes; following me, Senator Sullivan will address the Senate for 10 minutes; and following him, Senator Coons will address the Senate for 5 minutes.

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I rise to voice my opposition to the Water Infrastructure Improvement for the Nation Act. In my view, Senator Boxer and Senator Inhofe have done a lot of good, bipartisan work on this legislation. Infrastructure is hugely important to our country. I constantly say you cannot have a big-league quality of life with a little-league infrastructure, and this legislation in particular has some very important provisions that I and Senator Merkley have worked on for our home State. It includes assistance to help build homes for displaced Native American families, it provides funding to help restore fish and wildlife habitat in our rivers, and it particularly includes assistance for small ports in Oregon and across the country.

The fact is that small ports provide crucial access to commercial and recreation fishing. They are home to ocean science and research vessels. In our part of the world, they are the gateway to the global economy.
Year after year, these ports have faced uncertain funding that threatens good-paying jobs. I worked with other Members to make sure the WRDA bill includes stable, permanent funding--over $100 million annually--for small ports in Oregon and across the Nation.

I highlight this to say what this legislation does for a number of crucial areas--to the economy and our quality of life. Senator Boxer and Senator Inhofe have done very good work, but my big concern is about the rider that was added on California drought, which threatens the west coast fishing industry and has put every single good provision in this legislation at risk.

Water issues have never been easy, and I want to compliment my colleague from California for her hard and long work to get a deal on drought that addresses California's serious and ongoing issues. Oregon is no stranger to water challenges, but there has to be a collaborative, stakeholder-driven process, and this rider is not a product of the kind of compromise you get with a true collaborative effort. In effect, an entire west coast industry feels left out of the discussions. Fisheries and hard-working families in coastal communities that depend on a healthy stock of salmon stand to lose the most, and these stakeholders have told us they have had no meaningful seat at the table.

The rider is not just about water and agriculture in California; it threatens the health and sustainability of the salmon fishing industry up and down the Pacific coast. The drought provision, in my view, also threatens to undermine bedrock environmental laws, such as the Endangered Species Act, and it certainly would create the prospect of the new administration having power of its own volition to override critical environmental protections.

I and my Pacific Northwest Senate colleagues have heard from concerned west coast fishery groups and coastal businesses for days. My constituents are concerned about the implication of pumping water out of the Bay Delta to support a small number--a handful--of very large agribusinesses in California. They believe that hard-working men and women in the fishing industry and coastal businesses are going to pick up the tab for this break for the large agribusinesses. That is not the way to manage water in the West for the long term.

The water infrastructure bill, which is meant to provide support for water-dependent communities, doesn't do a whole lot of good if there are no fish in the ocean. If there are no fish in the ocean and no fishing families or fishing boats in the ports and no fish at the dinner table, the water infrastructure bill is going to be something that we regret. I believe we will regret it in this form.

At a time when coastal communities need as much help as they can get,
this provision threatens to do the opposite. As long as the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act includes this California drought rider, I think it would be a mistake to go forward.

With that, I yield the floor.

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