Innovative Stormwater Infrastructure Act of 2018

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HECK. Mr. Speaker, pretty simply put, this bill is about addressing the single largest source of water pollution in America, which is stormwater runoff.

It is a nationwide issue from D.C., to Los Angeles, to Milwaukee, to Louisiana. But it is also one that is acutely felt in my home State of Washington, because there, it really does rain a lot. When that rain falls, the rain runs off the roofs. The rain runs down the streets. The rain runs into the storm drainage system. Along the way, it picks up all sorts of nasty, toxic stuff that has been alluded to earlier, stuff like fertilizers, metals, oils, and pesticides. That stuff, all that bad stuff, runs into our lakes and our rivers and, ultimately, in my region of the country, into Puget Sound, which is the largest estuary, by water volume, in the United States.

It has been estimated by scientists that stormwater accounts for up to 80 percent of all water pollution. Gone are the days of the easy-fix solutions of point-source pollution, where we could just pass a law saying: You can't do that anymore. Figure it out.

This is a lot more difficult. It is a lot more decentralized. It is a lot more pervasive. Frankly, it is no less harmful.

And it hurts not just our environment. Let's be clear, this hurts our businesses as well, especially those that depend on clean water.

In our State, we have a robust shellfish industry that employs thousands of people. Stormwater can kill a salmon in a matter of hours. We actually have time-lapse films from underwater showing this, and it is not very much time that has elapsed. This isn't something where they ingest the metal, and then months or years later they die. You can literally watch them die as the stormwater hits the water.

And they are fundamental. Salmon are fundamental to the economy and the culture of the Pacific Northwest and especially to the Native people, who have depended on them since time immemorial.

Salmon support, in fact, in our region of the country, a $30 billion a year economy.

Salmon are also the prey of choice of our beloved southern resident orcas, which we are precariously close to losing altogether. Frankly, we can't save the orcas if we don't save the salmon, and we can't save the salmon if we don't save Puget Sound, and we can't save Puget Sound if we don't deal with stormwater runoff.

Every region has its own story. The gentleman from Louisiana told his most eloquently, and I thank him, about how stormwater is punishing our waterways and, along with it, our way of life and our economy.

That is why State and local governments are implementing green stormwater infrastructure, like rain gardens and permeable pavement, and are building new gray stormwater infrastructure to reduce combined sewer outflows. But that is not enough. It is not enough by a long shot.

State and local governments are stretched thin, and that is why we need the Federal Government to step up and do its partnership role in this.

Back in my State, we estimate that the stormwater problem could be solved with $19 billion in investment between now and 2036; and, frankly, almost all of that is in the Puget Sound region, 98 percent.

That is a lot of money and that is why H.R. 3906 is an important first step to help the experts and the stakeholders come together and come up with innovative ways not to be duplicative and to think outside the box.

Mr. Speaker, I conclude by thanking Chairman Shuster; Ranking Member DeFazio; along with Subcommittee Chairman Graves; Ranking Member Napolitano; my colleague and my friend from New York, Congressman Katko; and their staffs for their work on this bill. I appreciate their help to bring greater attention to the problem of stormwater runoff.

But let's be clear: We have to do more; we have to do a lot more. I look forward to continuing to work with the committee to increase the Federal Government's partnership role in tackling this urgent threat, which, again, is the number one cause of water pollution in America.

Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of the bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source