San Francisco Bay Restoration Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HUFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me time, and I commend my colleague, Jackie Speier, for her leadership on this issue. And thanks also to the ranking member for recognizing the importance, the critical national importance, of the San Francisco Bay Estuary.

I have the fortune of representing a beautiful district that starts at the Oregon border but goes all the way down to the Golden Gate Bridge. That means I represent a good portion of San Francisco Bay, the North Bay, where we understand all too well how much we have lost--90 percent of the Bay's wetlands have been destroyed.

Starting a century and-a-half ago, there has been incredible degradation of this vital estuary beginning with the Gold Rush, continuing to massive water diversions and pollution inputs, the diking of wetlands, and so on. But despite all of that degradation, San Francisco Bay continues to play a vital role ecologically in our region and an even greater role economically.

We have hundreds of billions of dollars in economic activity every year as a product of San Francisco Bay--outdoor recreation, commercial and recreational fishing, travel and tourism. And we also see the very real benefits in the San Francisco Bay area of coastal resiliency, using natural systems as a buffer against rising sea levels.

The citizens of the nine-county Bay area have stepped up. We recognize the national importance of this resource, and we have supported a ballot measure to support climate adaption and restoration funding. And now it is time for the Federal Government to do its part. That is why I am so pleased to support Congresswoman Speier's bill, the San Francisco Bay Restoration Act, to provide the much-needed Federal partnership to help improve water quality in this important estuary to revive the Bay's wetlands and to protect our coastal communities and our economy.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for the time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source