Amending the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to Reauthorize the National Estuary Program
Floor Speech
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Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to thank Chairman Shuster, Chairman Gibbs, Ranking Members DeFazio and Napolitano, as well as my colleagues Mr. Larsen, Mr. Posey, and Mr. Murphy of Florida for helping to draft this legislation and reauthorization. We all share the hope that this is the last go-around to get this done.
Estuaries across the country, including the Delaware Bay and Barnegat Bay estuaries in my district, have immeasurable economic, ecological, and environmental benefit. They deserve continued congressional support.
This version of the National Estuary Program reauthorization is a bipartisan, fiscally responsible compromise with the Senate that reduces the authorization by $8.5 million. The important part is it ultimately increases the amount of money each estuary program will receive.
Unlike many programs under the Clean Water Act, the National Estuary Program is a nonregulatory program, uniquely designed to support the collaborative, voluntary efforts of Federal, State, and local stakeholders to restore degraded estuaries. Unfortunately, the NEPs have been losing money due to increasing EPA administrative costs. We have heard that before, but, in this particular case, it is really hurting.
To correct that, our legislation details precisely how the EPA is to spend the authorized and appropriated money. By setting limits of 5 percent for the EPA's administrative costs, we can guarantee 80 percent of the funding goes directly to the needs of the estuary and not bureaucratic salary and red tape.
Also, in this year's reauthorization, we have set aside 15 percent of the funding for a competitive award program. This program seeks applications to deal with urgent and challenging issues that threaten the ecological and economic well-being of coastal areas.
By structuring how the money is spent and lowering authorization levels, this legislation strikes the right balance of fiscal and environmental responsibility. I want to thank my colleagues once again for their strong support of this, and I urge all Members to support the bill.
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