House Proceeding on Oct 29th, 2009 :: 0:55:45 to 1:08:10
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0:55:41 to 0:56:01( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: for herself or his self in the measure. madam speaker, i'm very pleased to yield such time as he may consume, who has no pier -- peer in this body on understanding of the interior subcommittee, mr. dicks, from the state of washington, i yield him such time as he may

0:55:45 to 1:08:10( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Norman D. Dicks

0:56:02 to 0:56:22( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. dicks: thank you. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. dicks: first of all i want to compliment the gentleman from florida for his extraordinary summary of this legislation. i have been on this subcommittee for 33 years. it's the only subcommittee that i have been on that i have

0:56:23 to 0:56:43( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: served throughout my entire care in the house. and i want him to know that we have not forgotten the great state of florida in this legislation. we have major restoration projects. one is the great lakes where the president requested $475 million.

0:56:44 to 0:57:04( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: there's $475 million in this bill for great lakes restoration. the other major projects are the everglades. we are working hard to restore the everglades. i think this is a national treasure. the leaves of grass. all those wildlife species of florida which need to be protected.

0:57:05 to 0:57:25( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: the chesapeake bay restoration, the administration has put a new e.p.a. official in charge there. they are taking more dramatic steps in the and also for theirst time we are recognizing that there are some great national treasures on the west coast. puget sound where i come from,

0:57:26 to 0:57:47( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: the pacific ocean out there has difficulties and problems related to climate change and other difficulties, lack of dissolved oxygen. we have a major restoration program going for puget sound. thsan francisco bay is also another national asset we need to protect.

0:57:48 to 0:58:09( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: in all of concerns, these five -- environmental concerns, these five major restoration initiatives are critical in our bill. now, i also wantto tell my colleagues that i believe, i served on this committee for 33 years, served on this committee with congressmanates from california, i believe --

0:58:10 to 0:58:31( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: congressman yates from california, i believe this is the best interior appropriation bill we ever passed. i know my good friend from california mentioned the fact that there was a this year in this bill. let me explain why that was necessary. first of all, between 2001 and

0:58:32 to 0:58:52( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: 2008 the interior appropriations bill, this is by the way the previous administration, the interior appropriations bill was cut by 16%. so when you add 17, we got a -- over the last nine years, it's a 1% increase. that's not very much. and you divide that over nine

0:58:53 to 0:59:13( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: years, it's just a fraction. the other thing i'd point out is that the e.p.a. budget over that same time frame, 2001 to 2008, was cut by 29%. this is the most important environmental agency we have. and their budget has been drastically cut.

0:59:14 to 0:59:34( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: and there was a cut of the forest service if you take fire out of 35%. so this bill had been hammered. and funding for our native americans had been particularly hard hit. so i felt this was a restoration budget by the obama administration, and this is

0:59:35 to 0:59:56( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: their first budget on the interior, and i think it was justified in every sense of the word. . now, let me go through some of the items that are important for the american people. the environmental protection

0:59:57 to 1:00:18( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: agency, $2.7 billion above 2009 to restore and protect the quality of our nation's air, water and land. and i want to mention the clean water and wastewater treatment plant -- the revolving -- so-called revolving funds. we had $3 tp 6 billion to help -- $3.6 billion to help 1,700

1:00:19 to 1:00:40( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: communities improve their drinking water and wastewater system, an increase ave 2009. e.p.a. estimates a -- listen to this, a $662 billion construction pack log by 2019 for clean -- backlog by 201 for clean water. between our clean water and

1:00:41 to 1:01:02( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: safe water infrastructure, if you took that and all of our highway projects, you'd have well over $1 trillion in backlog. so infrastruct needs to be fixed. and this $662 million came from christy todd wittman,

1:01:03 to 1:01:24( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: the first e.p.a. administer -- administrator under the first bush administration. this is not something anyone now $2.1 billion for the clean water state revolving fund to fund local sewer improvements and help communities meet the goals of the clean water act. $1.38 billion for the drinking water state revolving fund to

1:01:25 to 1:01:46( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: protect pu improving drinking water systems. you know, it's been proven that one of the most important steps of protecting the health of the american peoe or people around the worlds having safe drinking water. this is a american people.

1:01:47 to 1:02:07( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: they care about safe drinking water. and this revolving fund gives money back to the states. the states then loan it out. and $157 million for direct grants to communities for water infrastructure. that is way too low. i am talking with mr. oberstar about this. we need to have more grant

1:02:08 to 1:02:29( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: money to help rural communities, local communities who can't afford to borrow the money. now, we put a provision in this bill this year that 30% of it can be forgiven. that's never been in there until the stimulus package came through. this is critical to rural areas throughout the country. so that this can be more of a grant program.

1:02:30 to 1:02:50( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: but i think -- i talked to my good friend, bill, a good republican from indiana, former -- twice former administrator of e.p.a. he also stood up on the saturday night massacre and refuse to fire arch balanced cox to his great credit. he's now living in washington

1:02:51 to 1:03:12( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: state and he reminds me that during the nixon administration we had $4 billion to $5 billion in grant money to go out to the local comnities on an 80/20 basis. now, that -- think about that. that was in the 1970's. $4 billion to $5 billion. that has been taken away and now we just have a teeny amount

1:03:13 to 1:03:33( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: of grants. and everything else is low. and if we are going to really do somet infrastructure issue, we've got to -- we've got to deal with that. and i mentioned the great bodies of water. of. especially the effort on puget sound. hazardous waste and toxic site

1:03:34 to 1:03:55( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: cleanup, $1.5 blion, $25 million above 2009 to clean up dangerous toxic waste sites around the nation. climate change, one of the most important issues of our time. $385 million, $155 million above 2009 for programs that address global climate change. and we all heard about the

1:03:56 to 1:04:16( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: energy star program, a program that we helped create for local communities to have their own climate change program, $17 million, the continued development of a greenhouse gas registry, first step in controlling greenhouse gases. $55 million for interior language management bureaus on

1:04:17 to 1:04:37( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: the ground monitoring and adaptation in national parks, national wildlife refuges and other public lands. and there is no question in my mind, and we've had hearings. we brought in federal agencies, including people from florida who were very concerned about the impact of global warming. global warming could be devastating to the everglades

1:04:38 to 1:04:59( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: and to the state of florida. if the seas rise, because there, that they would be adversely so this is a serious issue that has to be developed. we also create adonal global warming and wildlife science --

1:05:00 to 1:05:20( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: created a global warming wild wildlife scenes agency. most importantly, our trust sponsibility for native americans and alaskan native programs $6.7 billion, $705.5 million above 2009. and $91 million above the request for programs to support and improve the health care,

1:05:21 to 1:05:43( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: education, public safety and human services for native americans and alaskan natives throughout our nation. on the indian health service, a program that has been underfunded for many, many years, $4.1 billion, $17.8 billion above the request and $47.1 million above 2009 to

1:05:44 to 1:06:04( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: support tribally operated national health care programs and facilities. the bureau of indian affairs, $3.4 million above 2009. and $82 million above the enforcement and economic development programs that will strengthen native communities. and i pu

1:06:05 to 1:06:28( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: a hearing where we allow the native americans to come in and testify, which was ended under the previous regime, we put that back in place so we can hear of the concerns out there. and ere are very serious problems in indian country. none more serious than the law enforcement difficulties there, the fact that native american

1:06:29 to 1:06:50( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: women are victims of rape and other violent crimes. and with only a one-year penalty being able to be established under our federal court system. this is unpalible. we have to change this. and this is something we are working on. and i know something my friend from california is concerned about, $3.5 billion for efforts to prevent and fight wildfires

1:06:51 to 1:07:11( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: at the forest partment of interior. we know the people of california have suffered some terrible fires out there, and i know that the -- mr. dreier, mr. lewis have been very concerned about that. $1.88 billion for wildfire suppression, $526 million above 2009. we got the flame act created.

1:07:12 to 1:07:32( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: we actually did the work in our committee with the senate. we think it's a great flame act that will give us extra money to bring in when we overrun our account. and this is so important because in the past money would be taken from the forest service accounts, from the

1:07:33 to 1:07:55( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: interior accounts and just -- they'd never get that money paid back in most instances. and so this flame act will give us a second account to help when we have these major fires. and i want to point out, as my -- my ranking member pointed out yesterday in the rules committee, 98% of the fires are stopped.

1:07:56 to 1:08:10( Edit History Discussion )

Norman D. Dicks: 98%, but the 2%, the megafires thatet under way do this enormous damage to our national parks, to our forest service lands, to our b.l.m. lands. and we need very serious