Committee Democrats Oppose H.R. 2484, Cite Unfunded Mandates
(Washington, DC) - Today, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a markup of H.R. 2484, the Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act of 2011. The bill passed out of Committee, but with unanimous opposition from the Committee Democrats.
At the markup, Committee Democrats argued that action is urgently needed to implement research strategies and action plans to better characterize and respond to these harmful blooms and hypoxic events, but that legislation must authorize the necessary funding levels. H.R. 2454 would reduce funding for NOAA HABs activities to below FY 2008 spending levels while at the same time mandating additional duties for the agencies, burdening the agencies with unfunded mandates. Democratic Members objected to these unfunded mandates.
Harmful Algal Blooms, or “HABs”, are a rapid overproduction of algal cells that produce toxins hazardous to animals and plants. These blooms also block sunlight in water and use up the available oxygen in the water, which causes severe oxygen depletion, or “hypoxia”. Hypoxia can cause a dead zone in a body of water where most marine life either dies or leaves the area. Dead zones occur when water becomes over-enriched with nutrients from sewage, fertilizer and animal manure washing off farmland and lawns, and from vehicle and power plant emissions. Those nutrients feed algae that consume oxygen. The algal blooms are toxic to humans on contact with the water or when consuming fish or seafood that have come in contact with the algae. HABs can have devastating environmental and economic impacts, including large-scale fish, bird, and mammal mortalities; hardships for economies which are reliant on tourism or the harvest of local fish and seafood; and lasting damage that may reduce the ability of affected ecosystems to support a diversity of species. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), HABs and hypoxia are responsible for an average of $82 million in economic damage in the U.S. every year.
Ranking Member Johnson (D-TX) opened by saying of H.R. 2484, “I cannot support such an approach to dealing with a problem that affects much of our country, including the Gulf Coast and the Florida Coast, the Great Lakes, the Chesapeake Bay, and indeed the continued safety of our drinking water nationwide. There will be constructive amendments offered today to correct the shortcomings of the bill before us today by giving Members a clear choice—either increase the funding to pay for the new mandates in the bill, or cut back on the mandates if we are unwilling to pay for them. That is just common sense and good fiscal policy, and I may have to oppose the passage of this bill unless one of the amendments offered by Mr. Miller today is adopted.”
She continued, “If we are going to say we care about this research, and that we care enough about the impacts of HABs to take action, then we actually have to invest in a way that will move this research forward and not further hamstring these agencies.”
Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD), Ranking Member of the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee said, “The legislation considered by the Committee today is not an adequate strategy to help agencies better understand the harmful effects algal blooms pose to our nation’s waterways. In my state of Maryland, dead zones caused by algal blooms have grown to a third of the size of the Chesapeake Bay, jeopardizing the estuary’s plant and animal life. Moving forward, it is critical that we provide our environmental agencies with the resources necessary to meet the responsibilities we give them to address this threat to our waterways.”
Democratic Amendments Offered
Sarbanes (D-MD)– Would require the Interagency HABs Task Force to encourage the development of innovative concepts for the beneficial utilization of biomass from HABs and the growth of certain biofuel crops that reduce runoff that cause HABs. (passed by voice vote)
Edwards (D-MD)– Would ensure that the freshwater activities in the bill include the tributaries of freshwater lakes, rivers, and estuaries. (passed by voice vote)
Wilson (D-FL)– Would ensure that the updating of the assessment and plan on the Northern Gulf of Mexico hypoxia does not hinder the current work and implementation of the Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan of 2008 and that the updated assessment and plan be completed within two years of the enactment of this Act. (passed by voice vote)
Edwards (D-MD)– Would require that the research plan for the Chesapeake Bay also analyze the harmful effects of nutrient loading from agricultural sources, including livestock operations, on Chesapeake Bay dead zones. (failed by recorded vote)
Miller (D-NC)– Would strike the bill’s level of funding and replace with the current level of authorized funding. (failed by recorded vote)
Miller (D-NC)– Would not require NOAA and EPA to carry out all of the mandates in the Act if the level of funding appropriated is not equal or greater than the amount appropriated for FY2011 (failed by recorded vote)
“This bill requires that EPA and NOAA do more, while at the same time cutting their funding. I offered two amendments today that would give these agencies a fighting chance to do what we are asking them to do in this bill. We must be truthful with the American people, cutting funding means cutting important programs like the one we considered today. It is a choice, and you can’t have it both ways,” said Rep. Brad Miller, Ranking Member of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee.
H.R. 2484 was reported out of Committee despite Democrats’ opposition to the bill.
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