Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. BOST. Will the gentleman yield?

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Mr. BOST. Mr. Chairman, I do stand in opposition, reluctant opposition. I have a tremendous respect for the gentleman from Missouri. I understand what he is trying to do, and that is that if the activation of the Birds Point levee does occur, that it should be built back.

But when you read the language, the concern I have is that it would actually stop the activation of the levee in the first place.

Understand, when these levees were first built, there were certain key points that were pressure release valves. The Birds Point was one of those. So as it rises, the Army Corps of Engineers has explained through a process of when to go in. And when we say crevasse, we mean we have to actually put explosive charges into the levee to relieve the pressure so that other areas--this is the way the system was built. It was designed by engineers to work this way originally.

The concern that we have is not with the fact that it should be built back, because I agree with the gentleman it should be built back. But the way the language actually reads, we are not sure that it would actually stop the Army Corps of Engineers from doing what it is that they are required by law to do, and that is to use that pressure release valve in times of emergency.

It is true, we have only had to use it twice since those systems have been put in place. It is a sad thing when it occurs. It floods a tremendous amount of crop land, and because it had not been operated in so long, people had built homes in there. Now, that was unfortunate that they built them in that situation, but we cannot endanger all other areas for putting language like this forward. I am more than willing to work with the gentleman on trying to make sure that this language is correct. We just couldn't be able to do that at this time.

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