Eightmile Wild And Scenic River Act

Floor Speech

EIGHTMILE WILD AND SCENIC RIVER ACT -- (House of Representatives - July 10, 2007)

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Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, I, first of all, want to commend Mr. Sarbanes for his superb summary of this legislation and the context in which it occurred and was introduced this year with the full support of the Connecticut delegation on a bipartisan basis, the Republican Governor of Connecticut, Jodi Rell, who was supporting the bill, and the Connecticut State legislature, which also passed a resolution in support of this measure. I also want to thank Chairman Rahall and Ranking Member Young for helping us bring this bill to the floor and also in particular subcommittee Chairman Grijalva and Ranking Member Bishop for helping this bill through subcommittee and raising important issues, which, as has been pointed out, strike particularly close to home since the City of New London, which was a party to the Kelo case, was the locus of that decision and obviously caused great concern about property rights all across the country.

This bill, however, though, I believe is a balanced bill which represents more than 10 years of hard work by local citizens and elected officials to protect this important river and its intact watershed. The Eightmile River takes its name from the distance between its mouth at Lake Hayword to the Connecticut River and Long Island sound. It is unique in that it is a virtually free-flowing river over its entire run. The entire 62-square-mile watershed has a large forest cover and excellent water quality and is home to diverse fish populations and rare species. It is quite rare for a river of this size to be intact throughout its entire watershed, especially in areas so close to the coast of Long Island Sound and in such a densely populated State as the State of Connecticut.

After securing the go-ahead for a wild and scenic river study approved by this Congress in 2001, local officials and advocates decided early on to base the study on a watershed approach, rather than looking at specific areas of the river.

The wild and scenic study identified six outstanding resource values including its watershed ecosystem, natural communities, and cultural landscape. It concluded that the 25 miles of the meandering Eightmile River should be recommended for designation as ``scenic'' under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

A management plan was approved by the three towns of East Haddam, Salem, and Lyme. And as I mentioned earlier, the General Assembly in Connecticut also joined in support for that management plan.

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Mr. Speaker, as I said from the beginning, this is a locally driven effort, and over the course of this study there were forums, mailings, public meetings, and even a local land use commissioners summit, which demonstrated broad bipartisan support for the legislation.

Although located in a rural area of Connecticut, the watershed is no less susceptible to unchecked growth and development. But it is important, and, again, this I know was raised by the minority, to emphasize that the bill before us today preserves the rights of landowners. Section 2(g)(2) specifically prohibits the use of eminete domain-type powers for this system. And, again, we have experience in Connecticut with the Farmington River Wild and Scenic designation to know that that language is, in fact, a barrier for any kind of unwarranted intrusion by the Federal Government over private property rights. And, again, the amendment, which Mr. Sarbanes referred to, in the subcommittee, if anything, beefed up that protection to make sure that any concerns which may exist about involuntary takings are addressed in this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act will next year celebrate its 40th year of successful environmental stewardship in this country. And it is important to add the Eightmile, a river with unique, intact natural resources, to the list of important rivers protected under this act. Designation as a member of the wild and scenic river system would facilitate long-term coordination among the towns within the watershed and increase local commitment to long-term river protection.

The entire Connecticut delegation is supportive of this endeavor; and to my colleagues in the House, I ask them to join me in support of this legislation. And, again, I thank Mr. Sarbanes for his support.

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