Limiting Activity on the Ozark National Scenic Riverway

Floor Speech

Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Madam Speaker, next week, the National Park Service will begin holding public meetings on its ridiculous plan to limit recreational activity on the Ozark National Scenic Riverways in Missouri's Eighth District. I urge families and individuals across Missouri to attend these hearings and oppose the Obama administration's changes to the riverways.

Let me reiterate what I have said to the Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, and the Director of the National Park Service, Jonathan Jarvis, that we adamantly oppose the proposal to appease environmentalists by limiting the public use and enjoyment of our riverways. This proposal would hurt small businesses that rely on the riverways and keep my constituents from enjoying the riverways that belong to them.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my constituents to attend public meetings in Van Buren, Salem, and Kirkwood to show opposition to the Obama administration's Park Service's attempts to restrict our access to our rivers.

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