Promoting United Government Efforts to Save Our Sound Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. NEWHOUSE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman.

We are all saddened, and deeply frustrated, to see the iconic Puget Sound continue to devolve into a dumping ground of human waste and sewage. It is no wonder, the species in our Nation's largest estuary are facing increasing odds of extinction. We must do more to address this environmental crisis.

An aquatic toxicologist working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has found that growth rates for salmon species in Puget Sound are stunned, metabolisms are distorted to the point of starvation, and physiological functions are disrupted when exposed to high levels of Prozac, caffeine, cholesterol medication, ibuprofen, bug spray, cocaine, birth control pills, and dozens of other drugs and personal care products present in Puget Sound.

Mr. Speaker, I am very glad to see my friends from the west side of the State, Mr. Heck, who has spent a great deal of his illustrious career working on this issue, as well as Mr. Kilmer, who has also spent an inordinate amount of time working on this very, very important issue, working to address the debilitating impact the environmental degradation in Puget Sound is having on shellfish, on the endangered salmon, and on steelhead. And, as was mentioned, on our iconic Southern Resident killer whales, which are truly on the verge of extinction.

As my colleague Cathy McMorris Rodgers and I have been saying for years, we must focus on solutions that the science tells us will directly aid fish species now and not waste our precious resources and time on political motivations like the efforts to tear down our dams. This is a deadly distraction from the actual science-based solutions to support salmon recovery.

I want to continue to work with my colleagues to address problems facing endangered fish species throughout our region in a comprehensive manner. The challenges are many:

We must continue to tackle the pinniped issue, the avian predation issue, but we also must ensure that a robust hatchery program is in place;

We must continue to prioritize the world-class fish passage in our hydroelectric infrastructure;

We must continue to take a serious and thoughtful look at fishing and other human-caused impacts; and

We must build upon the habitat improvements and greater ecological conservation measures.

Mr. Speaker, we must focus on the science, not the politics. We must focus on the facts, not ideology or emotions. While I support the passage of this legislation--and I do--that we are voting on today, I believe it can and should only move forward as part of a much more comprehensive discussion and effort in the Pacific Northwest to address the needs of our iconic species; the protection of our environment; the reliability of our clean, renewable energy infrastructure; and, certainly, the future of our region's economy and livelihood.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source