Providing for Consideration of H.R. 2354, Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2012

Floor Speech

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Ms. MATSUI. I want to thank my colleague from Colorado for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I have been a tireless advocate on behalf of Sacramento's flood protection priorities. Sacramento is the most at-risk metropolitan area for major flooding, as it lies at the confluence of two great rivers, the Sacramento and the American. The city is home to California's State Capitol, an international airport, the State's water and electric grids and over a half million people. If Sacramento were to flood, the economic damages would range between $28 and $40 billion. The consequences of such a flood would be felt across the Nation.

Even in this austere budget environment, it is critical that Sacramento's basic flood protection needs are met. I want to applaud the Energy and Water appropriations subcommittee for including funding for Sacramento's top flood protection projects. Each one of these projects is a critical component to improving the flood protection for the entire Sacramento region. Taken together, the completed projects will bring us closer to the level of flood protection that families and businesses throughout the region need and deserve.

Moreover, these projects are already in the midst of construction. A lapse of funding would not only postpone the safety that the completed projects will provide but would also increase project costs, something that we cannot afford. In fact, these projects have already been funded at the local and State level and are awaiting a sustained Federal match. For example, Federal funding will help finish the Folsom Dam Joint Federal Project, the JFP, where continued construction on the auxiliary spillway will provide greater efficiency in managing flood storage in the Folsom Reservoir. The hundreds of thousands of residents living below the dam will be better protected once the project is finished.

The JFP and our levee improvements will go a long way toward protecting and preventing flooding in Sacramento, but the funding in this bill does not fully support Sacramento's flood protection needs. The levels in this bill are actually below the Corps of Engineers' full capability.

This winter, we have had record-breaking snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which rests just above Sacramento. We are fortunate that the snowpack did not melt all at once. When this occurs, our dams and levees are put to the test.

Mr. Speaker, luck is not something that the American people should have to rely upon. Hurricane Katrina and this year's flooding in the Midwest taught us that we need to take large leaps forward in shoring up our Nation's flood protection infrastructure.

Let's take the opportunity to fix our Nation's flood protection system while the sun is out and not watch another American community get swept away in high water.

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