Frank Riggs: “Mr. Chairman, at the outset, let me express as one member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development of the…”

“Mr. Chairman, at the outset, let me express as one member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development of the Committee on Appropriations my appreciation to the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Myers], the chairman of the subcommittee, and the gentleman from Alabama [Mr. Bevill], the ranking member, for their help in including in the fiscal year 1996 Energy and Water appropriations bill $250,000 in funds for the Sonoma County, California Vernal Pools Task Force. These funds which I sought along with my colleague the gentlewoman from California [Ms. Woolsey] will enable completion of the second phase of a preservation plan for Vernal Pools which are a very sensitive and fragile form of ecosystem and wetlands. As the subcommittee chairman knows, the Vernal Pools Task Force was established at my initiative in 1991 before my sabbatical from Congress and its primary goal is simplification of the Army Corps of Engineers permitting process for areas that do not contain high-quality vernal pools.”