National Estuary Program Reauthorization

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 944.

I am pleased the House is considering H.R. 944, a bill that I introduced along with Congressman LoBiondo and Congressman Murphy to reauthorize the National Estuary Program through 2020.

I want to thank my colleagues for their hard work in pulling this legislation together.

Estuaries are critically important to the health of our Nation's environment and our economy. Their waters are a unique mixture of freshwater, drainage from the land, and salty seawater. Estuaries provide vital nesting and feeding areas for many aquatic plants and animals. They also help maintain healthy ocean environments by filtering out sediment and pollutants from rivers and streams before they flow into the ocean.

In addition to improving habitat for critical wildlife like salmon, restoring estuaries can have important carbon sequestration effects.

For example, a report last year on the Snohomish Estuary in my district found that currently planned and in-progress restoration projects will result in at least 2.55 million tons of CO

2 sequestered from the atmosphere over the next 100 years. That is the equivalent of a year's worth of emissions from a half a million automobiles.

Over half of the U.S. population lives in coastal areas, including along the shores of estuaries. These areas provided 69 million jobs and contributed $7.9 trillion to the economy recently. These gains come from commercial and recreational fishing, as well as tourism and other forms of regulation recreation. By one estimate, restoring our estuary areas could create more than 30 jobs for every $1 million invested.

In the Pacific Northwest and across the country, healthy estuaries like the Puget Sound support fish, birds, and other wildlife, and sustain important economic and recreational activities like trade, fishing, tourism, and many other forms of outdoor recreation.

Estuaries in the Pacific Northwest also serve as habitat and spawning areas for salmon, another critical driver for our regional economy.

Unfortunately, human activities have led to a decline in the health of estuaries, threatening them in many coastal parts of the country. Population growth in areas abutting estuaries have led to an increase in storm water runoff and sewage discharges, ultimately polluting the waters with toxins.

Fortunately, the National Estuary Program, which would be authorized by H.R. 944, is an important part of remedying these problems facing our Nation's estuaries. Since 1987, the program has operated successfully at the EPA in partnership with other State and local entities and has fostered innovative solutions to local water quality programs.

Funding from the program helps create solutions to nurture estuaries back to health, like the comprehensive plan we have for the Puget Sound recovery.

This bipartisan legislation that we have today will ensure that local organizations across the country, in partnership with the EPA, can protect and restore estuaries for the benefit of future generations.

I support this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to support it as well.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

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