Ed Case: “Again, this is a very positive, bipartisan amendment by the Members from New York and indicates that we can, in fact…”

“Again, this is a very positive, bipartisan amendment by the Members from New York and indicates that we can, in fact, proceed in a bipartisan way on these critical issues. As already noted earlier in my remarks, the Great Lakes have experienced record or near-record high levels of water this year and are projected to continue to have high levels next year and well beyond. Many coastal communities and property owners in the Great Lakes are suffering from accelerated land loss and erosion. This amendment rightfully ensures that water level regulating practices can be a part of coastal resilience planning. I only regret that when it comes to our world's oceans, we don't have the luxury of regulating sea levels in accordance with water level regulating practices. We support this amendment and the intent of this amendment, but I must indicate a caution for the Record, and that is that if this amendment leads to the uncontrolled, indiscriminate construction of dams throughout our country, we need to be careful because dams are double-edged swords. They can be a tremendous boon to water regulating practices and electricity, energy, sports and fishing, and many other concerns, but they can have unintended environmental consequences. I would simply caution that as we go forward with the implementation of this amendment, I hope that we pay very close attention to the sound science behind water level regulating practices. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.”