The Red Route Highway Through the Town of Garner

Floor Speech

* Mrs. ELLMERS. Mr. Speaker, the Army Corps of Engineers is working to put a highway straight through the town of Garner, in my district, slicing it in half.

* I rise today for the Town of Garner, whose voices must be heard.

* The Red Route would pass through the living room of Brenda and Jerry Summer, older residents whose children and grandchildren have moved back to Garner to be close to them.

* They say it will be the worst thing in the world if they had to move, and have no idea where they would go. Heartbroken, is how Mrs. Summer described the situation.

* I rise for the seniors at the Village at Aversboro that moved in with the confidence they are buying their final home.

* Instead, they're being put through an emotional period of stress, not knowing where they'll end up.

* I stand for the thousands of families that would be displaced and have to find new homes.

* I rise for the 140 year old Springfield Baptist Church, and the 2,000 parishioners, who would literally lose all of their property which is some fifty acres of land.

* All because of the Clean Water Act and the Army Corps refusal to remove the Red Line from consideration.

* The oppressive regulations under the Clean Water Act are stifling economic growth and job creation.

* The Act allows a Dwarf Wedge Muscle and a portion of wetlands to paralyze a town and displace countless families and businesses.

* It gives the Army Corps of Engineers the power to stop development and job growth in their tracks.

* The situation is especially frustrating since the North Carolina Department of Transportation and the North Carolina Turnpike Authority say they will never build the highway.

* Even though the road is not a real option, the Army Corps insists on moving forward, spending hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars to study road that will never be built.

* Meanwhile, the town of Garner is ``Closed for Business'' and economically crippled as the state spends years studying a road with no future.

* I'm not saying the highway should not be built.

* I'm simply asking why the federal government is spending millions in tax payer dollars on a roadwith no future.

* Common sense dictates the Army Corps should find a viable option.

* Common sense dictates the Army Corps should remove the Red Line from the Map today.

* As this map demonstrates, other options are much less destructive and even less costly to build.

* These options do not split a town in half and should be studied in place of the Red Line.

* The North Carolina Turnpike Authority has already dropped three other options from consideration because of public protests in those towns about the potential harm to the community.

* As each day goes by, Garner loses millions of dollars.

* Garner stands to lose a project worth $9 million in investments and hundreds of jobs.

* Investors are literally walking away while the town stands in limbo, a hostage to a heavy handed government agency.

* Further, the proposed route would cut across several tributaries flowing into Lake Benson, a major source of drinking water for Garner.

* Runoff from the road would empty into the lake, increasing sedimentation and the risk of other pollutants.

* With unemployment in my district at almost 10%, the federal government should get out of the way and let businesses grow.

* It's disappointing that the Army Corps, at the behest of Washington regulators, would consider the interests of a few tiny mussels ahead of the interests of the people of Garner.

* The Orange Route is the original plan proposed and has been on the map for nearly two decades.

* In Garner, millions of dollars in investments and thousands of jobs would be lost.

* Twenty-six commercial lots will be destroyed, with a total tax value of over $30 million.

* Approximately 510 residential lots in Garner representing a tax value of over $106 million would be leveled.

* I came to Washington to stop out of control spending and waste and remove job-killing regulations. It didn't take long to find examples of waste and job-killing regulations right here in our district with the continued study of this ``Red Line.'' This option must be taken off the map so Garner can begin growing again.

* Garner families are fighting for their homes and livelihoods, and I stand with them, ready to fight until the Red Line is removed from consideration.

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