Water Resources Development Act of 2018

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of my amendment, No. 33, to H.R. 8 to improve available resources for the Puget Sound Adjacent Waters Restoration program, also known as PSAW.

The Puget Sound and the waters and wildlife that call it home are cornerstones of Washington State's cultural identity, maritime economy, and environment. As the Nation's largest estuary, a healthy Puget Sound is essential to supporting over 3,000 shellfish jobs and generating an estimated $184 million in revenue annually.

Every EPA dollar spent on Puget Sound recovery efforts have leveraged more than $24 in matching funds from State, local, and tribal partners. The PSAW program supports critical ecosystem restoration projects across 15,000 square miles of northwest Washington State, the Puget Sound drainage basin, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The program is part of the larger Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration Project to restore and protect salmon habitat throughout the Sound, especially for endangered chinook and steelhead.

My amendment doubles the per-project funding cap for PSAW projects to $10 million and raises the overall authorization level for the program by $20 million. As a result, critical Sound nearshore restoration projects in Washington State would be eligible for PSAW funding. Increasing available funds on a project-by-project basis will ensure that the PSAW program is consistent with the Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Program cap.

Recently, the CBO did an analysis of the amendment and found it will have little to no direct impact on the budget.

Mr. Chair, a special thanks to Chairman Shuster and Ranking Member DeFazio for their leadership on this measure as well. I am pleased that we are moving forward on WRDA legislation that invests in the Nation's ports, channels, waterways, and other critical infrastructure to keep the U.S. maritime system competitive.

Maintaining the regular 2-year authorization of this legislation is critical to the Nation's economy and will encourage new, good-paying jobs in the Pacific Northwest. I urge my colleagues to support my amendment to continue the robust Federal investment and stewardship needed to save the Sound.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source