Sam Farr: “It is more difficult to trace than the Exxon Valdez, which was essentially one spot, a big contamination. These are…”

“It is more difficult to trace than the Exxon Valdez, which was essentially one spot, a big contamination. These are subtle contaminations. But these contaminations are not just chemicals. We have a way of transporting nature. Certainly we have learned about that recently with the way to transport virus, with SARS originating in China ending up affecting us in Toronto and other cities around the world. The San Francisco Bay now has 175 nonnative marine species living in San Francisco Bay brought in by the ships that travel the oceans far and wide. Despite all these indicators that show that the marine ecosystems are unhealthy today, the question is, well, can we save them? Has it gone beyond repair? The gentleman and I know that we have certainly laws that govern our coastlines and oceans; but those laws, as the gentleman said, are outdated. It is time to focus anew. Fortunately, Congress has taken action to do that by creating a commission. With a bill that I authored with Senator Hollings in the Senate that President Clinton signed, and it went into effect when President Bush took office, President Bush appointed the commissioners. They are about to finish their work and give us a report sometime this fall.”