Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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I thank the ranking member of the Science Committee for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, this is an important piece of legislation, and I am glad the House is considering it today. I would like to begin by thanking the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Posey), for his willingness to work with me on an amendment to S. 1254 that was adopted in committee and made some modifications to the legislation we are considering today.

I would also like to thank the full committee chairman, Mr. Smith, and our ranking member, Ms. Johnson, for supporting us as we developed the amendment and moved the bill forward. This was truly a team effort, and our constituents are well served by this collaboration. I want to join Mr. Posey, also, in thanking our staff on both sides of the aisle for their hard work on this bill.

Authorization for the programs under the Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Act expired in 2012, so this reauthorization is long overdue. The rapid overproduction of algae can have devastating effects on aquatic plants and animals, as well as on human health.

For coastal and Great Lakes ecosystems and communities that depend on fishing and tourism to sustain their economies, the effect of algae blooms is a threat to their livelihood. The cost of these blooms has been estimated to be close to $82 million each year, a significant hit to the economy in areas that are still struggling to recover.

This issue was first brought to my attention by Oregon State University scientists and the crab industry in Oregon, where business was struggling when Dungeness crabs were dying because of low oxygen levels in the water, a hypoxic event caused by algal blooms.

I do want to stress, however, that the effect of these blooms is not only felt in coastal communities. Last year, in my home State of Oregon, lakes, ponds, and reservoirs experiencing hypoxic events were closed to protect public health for a combined total of more than 700 days.

Research has helped advance our understanding of and response to harmful algal blooms, but we need to continue to invest in this research. The frequency and duration of these events and subsequent hypoxic conditions are on the rise, and our constituents need us to act.

In order to equip ourselves with the tools we need to manage these events and reduce the environmental and economic damage they cause, we need to better understand how and why algal blooms occur and how they respond to a changing environment.

The bill before us today directs NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to develop and implement a national strategy that takes a regional approach to helping communities understand, predict, and mitigate harmful algal bloom and hypoxic events.

It will not only improve coordination, but also assess the program's activities to ensure that we are prepared for these events and are able to respond in an effective and efficient manner.

This will become increasingly important as coastal populations increase and changes in the environment, such as warmer water temperatures, have the potential to alter the growth, toxicity, and geographic distribution of algal blooms.

The stakeholder community has been calling for the reauthorization of this critical program, and they are eager to see NOAA continue its work on this important issue.

The amendment that Mr. Posey and I included responds to a number of suggestions offered by our colleagues on the Natural Resources Committee, which has joint jurisdiction over these programs; and the amendment clarifies that the bill does not establish any new programs or regulatory authority.

The amendment also ensures that State and local governments, along with other stakeholder groups, are involved in efforts to reduce harmful algal blooms and hypoxia.

Because freshwater ecosystems are also susceptible to HABs, the amendment makes certain that the plan also addresses harmful algal blooms and hypoxia events in the Great Lakes in a cost-effective and technically feasible manner.

NOAA researchers and the academic community have established a strong partnership to lead this effort, and I applaud their work. Now, Congress needs to reauthorize these important programs, so that work can continue; and this bill accomplishes that goal.

I urge our colleagues to support this legislation.

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