We are participants, as I said, in Southeast Louisiana Flood, Jefferson and Orleans and St. Tammany. It is a 25 percent-75 percent Federal share. The Corps is, you might call the managing partners, and Jefferson and Orleans are part of the partnership. We are now in our fourth year of the program, of which is funded, this year we are funded out of the President's budget, and it comes out of the water bill. Hopefully we will get an additional add-on. It is a very ambitious expensive program, estimated to cost us about $500 million maximum, $500 million or so on the Federal level, with at 25 percent match, which is a fairly decent amount of local match when you are talking about local dollars. So again, we have had excellent cooperation with the Corps at a district level. I realize the Corps is under a great deal of scrutiny on a national level. But I could not tell you of a better partnership that we have locally within the Corps of Engineers. Mr. SHERWOOD. Thank you. I thank the panel members for their testimony and their patience on this discussion this afternoon of the Long Island Sound Restoration Act and the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Act. The Subcommittee will follow up with additional questions in writing. The Subcommittee stands adjourned. Thank you very much. [Whereupon, at 4:05 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned, to reconvene at the call of the Chair.] TESTIMONY BY MR. ACKERMAN BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON WATER RESOURCES AND FEBRUARY 29, 2000 Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the opportunity to testify today on the restoration of the Long Island Sound, which is a topic that is so important to the millions of people who reside by and visit the Sound. I would also like to commend you, Mr. Chairman for your diligence and commitment to preserving our environment across the nation, including Long Island. I am honored to be here today with the Governor of New York, Governor Pataki, and the Governor of Connecticut, Governor Rowland, along with my colleagues in the House to advocate on behalf of the Long Island Sound. I am proud to represent an area that boarders the Long Island Sound. The Sound is one of our nation's natural treasures with important environmental, recreational, and commercial benefits. It's value as an essential habitat for one of the most diverse ecosystems of the Northeast cannot be understated. Residents and vactioners alike enjoy the Sound for swimming and boating. And the approximately $5 billion in revenue generated by commerce relating to the Sound is vital to the region and to individuals who base their livelihood on the benefits of the Sound. Unfortunately, the effects of millions of people on the shore and within the Sound's watershed are evidenced in the deteriorated water quality. Over the last several years, Long Island Sound has suffered from numerous forms of pollution including toxic chemicals, floating debris, illegally dumped contaminants, runoffs from fertilizer/road salt and pathogen contamination. However the Sound's most pressing problem is Hypoxia, a lack of oxygen in the water caused by nitrogen from sewage treatment plants. In fact, Hypoxia is cited as the cause for a drop in the Sound's fish population. 1 As a result, the pollution is threatening Long Island Sound's multibillion dollar a year fishing industry. The most recent and devastating example is the unexplained and widespread lobster die-off. The lobster mortalities were first observed in western Long Island Sound in the Fall of 1998. A similar, more severe and more extensive phenomenon began in the Fall of 1999 and continues today. After the quick and decisive action taken by our Governor, George Pataki, the Secretary of Commerce last month determined a commercial fisheries failure under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. We must supply adequate resources to address this lobster die-off and to examine possible problems in the water that could have caused this crisis. Preservation of the Long Island Sound is not a parochial issue, but a national one. By its inclusion as a charter member in the National Estuaries Program, the Sound has been designated as one of only 28 estuaries of national significance. Congress has already recognized the National importance of Long Island Sound by creating the Long Island Sound Study (LISS), which involved Federal, state, and local entities, universities, environmental groups, industry and the general public. The Study culminated in the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP). This was a joint effort of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the states of New York and Connecticut. It has been conducted under the provisions of the Clean Water Act, our country's most important law for the protection of our water resources. This 100-plus page document has detailed the many challenges which Long Island Sound faces. Again, most important among these problems is the condition of hypoxia, caused by untreated sewage and other types of pollution. The low level of oxygen that kills fish and other forms of wildlife disrupts the Sound's entire food chain. The study also details the problems of floating garbage, of biological contamination, of industrial waste -- in short, all the things which plague our modern society. We are now ready to move into the implementation phase of the CCMP. The time to act is now. The $80 million which we ask you, Mr. Chairman, and members of the Committee to authorize under this legislation is essential for implementation of remedial efforts to clean up the Long Island Sound. I am pleased that both the states of New York and Connecticut are prepared to match the $80 million authorization with state funds. I am confident that these funds will have a significant impact on the ongoing efforts to improve the quality of the Sound. We must do everything possible to assure the continued funding of these efforts and this legislation is the appropriate means for achieving the desired end. Mr. Chairman, thank you again for this opportunity and your attention to this very important issue. Save the Sound Save. So to no 203 027 9786 Fax 203 967 2677 Save the Sound Inc. at Garvies Point Museum 50 Barry 0: ve Glen Cove NY 11542 Te: 516 759.2165 Toll Free 1 888 SAVE LIS Web www.savethesound org savethesoundësnet net Testimony of John Atkin, President Stamford, CT and Glen Cove, NY on H.R. 3313, the Long Island Sound Restoration Act before The Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment February 28, 2000 Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to testify before this subcommittee this afternoon. My name is John Atkin, and I am President of Save the Sound, Inc. based in Stamford, Connecticut and Glen Cove, New York. I also serve as Connecticut Co-Chair of the Long Island Sound Study's (LISS) Citizen's Advisory Committee (CAC), serve on the Long Island Sound Assembly in Connecticut, and serve on several national boards including Restore America's Estuaries as its Secretary. I formerly served in the Connecticut State House of Representatives (1979-1985) and State Senate (1987-1991). Save the Sound is a 28 year-old non-profit membership organization dedicated to the restoration, protection and appreciation of Long Island Sound and its watershed through advocacy, education and research. We reach about 20,000 children and adults a year through our education programs, monitor the water quality in 12 different harbors around the Sound, and work with elected officials at all levels of government to work for a cleaner Long Island Sound. Long Island Sound is an estuary that is 110 miles long, and 21 miles wide at its greatest width. In 1987 the Clean Water Act was amended to establish the National Estuary Program, and Long Island Sound was one of the original six estuaries to be designated as an Estuary of National Significance under this program. In 1988 a Management Conference for the Long Island Sound Study was convened. The Management Conference was charged with developing a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) for protecting the health of the Sound. The CCMP characterized the priority problems affecting the Sound and identified specific commitments and recommendations by the states of Connecticut and New York, and various federal agencies, led by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The problems listed in the CCMP include hypoxia and nutrient enrichment, toxic substance contamination, Save the Sound Inc. founded in 1972. is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to the estorat o pathogen contamination, floatable debris, and assessment of living marine resources, among others. Of those, hypoxia was identified as the priority problem. In brief, hypoxia, which is defined as dissolved oxygen concentrations of below 3 milligrams of oxygen per liter, is caused in part by excess nutrients flowing from sewage treatment plants around the Sound. During hypoxic conditions, the oxygen levels in the Sound are inadequate to support healthy populations of marine organisms. The excess nutrients, in the form of nitrogen, fuel the growth of planktonic algae. As the algae die and settle to the bottom of the Sound, the decaying process uses up oxygen, and ultimately leads to hypoxia. Since the development of the CCMP in 1994, Connecticut, New York and the EPA recently made a commitment to reduce the nitrogen levels in the Sound by 58.5% within 15 years. This percentage was developed by analyzing the existing limit of technology of reducing nitrogen loading from sewage treatment plants versus its cost-effectiveness. The "knee of the curve" percentage of reduction after graphing these two elements was 58.5%. Nitrogen reduction, and seeking the funding to make it happen, has been a priority of many players around the Sound. The CAC, consisting of representatives of 60 citizen and user groups around the Sound, has consistently made the reduction of nitrogen-loading a priority. Save the Sound last year coalesced with the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) and the state's second largest business organization, the Southwest Area Commerce and Industry Association (SACIA), to urge Connecticut's legislature to increase the bonding money available. This successful effort led to the legislature approving bonding of $120 million a year for 1999 and 2000 as part of the state's Clean Water Fund, to make the necessary infrastructure improvements to Connecticut's waste water treatment plants. Additionally, the legislature approved a mechanism that would increase the grant portion of the funding to the municipality for the nitrogen reduction phase of upgrade. This shows a strong commitment by Connecticut's legislature to highlight the need for reducing the nitrogen in the waste water. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (CT DEP) is also proposing a nitrogen trading plan that is before the Connecticut legislature in the current session. The plan, of which I testified in favor of at a legislative hearing last week, is an innovative method to speed up the process by allowing municipalities to "buy" nitrogen credits from municipalities that have excess capacity. Not only will this trading mechanism speed up the denitrification timetable, but it will reduce its overall costs. The State of Connecticut has a long history of making substantial investments in cleaning up its waters. Since the inception of the State Clean Water Fund in 1986, Connecticut has spent $1.1 billion on wastewater improvements. Of this amount, $245 million has been contributed by the federal government. This leaves a substantial economic contribution on behalf of Connecticut. As previously discussed, the current budget for the Clean Water Fund provides for an annual outlay of $120 million, for a total of $240 million for two years. In other words, in a two year period, Connecticut will almost eclipse the federal contribution for the last 14 years. We simply need more federal assistance in order to complete our daunting task of reducing nitrogen in the Sound by 58.5%. The total cost of making necessary upgrades in existing treatment facilities and building new facilities is estimated to be about $2.8 billion over the next 25 years |