Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008

Floor Speech

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 -- (House of Representatives - June 26, 2007)

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Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Chairman, in accordance with House earmark reforms, I would like to place in the RECORD a listing of the congressionally-directed projects in my home state of Idaho that are contained the report of the FY08 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill.

The project provides $500,000 within the Environmental Protection Agency, State and Tribal Assistance Grants to the City of Twin Falls for the Auger Falls Wastewater Treatment Project.

Funding such as this is critical to assisting rural Idaho communities in upgrading their water and wastewater treatment facilities. In the case of Twin Falls, this funding is required to comply with unfunded mandates passed down by this Congress and federal agencies. The State of Idaho, under court order, has implemented Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) limits for phosphorus compounds on all significant discharges to the river. The City of Twin Falls Wastewater Treatment Plan, with a daily discharge of approximately 7.1 million gallons of treated wastewater per day, is one of the largest dischargers of phosphorus on the Middle Snake River and periodically exceeds the EPA TMDL limit. The City is planning to meet its TMDL limits through the use of natural treatments on city owned property, in the form of constructed wetlands and habitat creation.

This funding will allow the City of Twin Falls to develop the beneficial wildlife habitats that will function as wastewater treatment systems to further reduce nutrients in City wastewater. This will ensure that the wastewater does not exceed the Environmental Protection Agency's Total Maximum Daily Load mandates for the City's wastewater discharged into the Snake River.

I am proud to have obtained this funding for Idaho and look forward to working with Idaho's communities in the future to meet their water resource challenges.

I appreciate the opportunity to provide a list of Congressionally-directed projects in my district and an explanation of my support for them.

(1) $500,000 City of Twin Falls for the Auger Falls Wastewater Treatment.

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Mr. SIMPSON. Madam Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

I wish to enter into a colloquy with the chairman of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee.

Mr. Chairman, I am very pleased that this legislation increases the funding
for loan repayment for health professionals within the Indian Health Service. As a dentist, I am keenly aware that the IHS dental program has the highest vacancy rate at 34 percent. The loan repayment program has proven to be a successful recruiting and retention tool for dentists and others. However, there is a related issue that I would like to discuss.

Within the next few years, 65 percent of the IHS dental specialists, including pediatric dentists and oral surgeons, will be eligible for retirement. These dentists are in great demand because Indian people have some of the highest oral disease rates in the world. A 1999 IHS survey found that 79 percent of Indian children 2-4 years old had a history of dental decay; 68 percent of adults had untreated dental decay; and 61 percent of elders had periodontal disease.

The dental specialists are a vital component in the IHS dental program. In addition to treating patients, they also train the general dentists for treating complex cases that arise daily in IHS hospitals and clinics.

I hope it is possible to provide additional support for the dental residency program so they can fill these vacancies before reaching crisis proportions.

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