When you take a step back and look, since 1980 we have had somewhere around 220, 230 disasters in this country that have cost over $1 billion.

We have lost 2,000 square miles of our coast--2,000 square miles.

I represent the state of Louisiana, where we produce 80 to 90 percent of all the offshore energy in Federal waters in the United States.

I want to thank you for your swift response and for your many visits you have made to our State as well.

I want to thank you all for being here today. I want to make sure I understand the background or impetus for this hearing and the legislative proposal.

To date, the Subcommittee has provided approximately $1.7 billion to the State of Louisiana and community development, block grant, disaster recovery funds.

I would argue that a grant and a loan are two very different instruments that do not duplicate one another.

I ask unanimous consent that Members not on the subcommittee be permitted to sit with the subcommittee at today's hearing and ask questions.

I think it is taking advantage of projects where you have lots of potential partners and parties.

What we typically term as a legacy site or an abandoned site in Colorado is that mining took place prior to environmental laws being enacted in Colorado.

I think we could identify a couple of sites in Colorado that would provide a good opportunity to demonstrate a pilot program.

Absolutely, I would agree with that. I think it is critical to provide states with that type of liability protection to implement projects where the end result may not be meeting Clean Water Act standards but is an improvement to water…

I think the ratio of getting $1 to $2 billion in construction for a $100 billion program is ridiculous.

Welcome everyone to the hearing today: 'Building a 21st-Century Infrastructure for America: Water Resources Projects and Policy.'

If we were to charge fees under the auspices of using it for a particular purpose and then spending it elsewhere in the private sector, that is called embezzling. In the Federal Government that is called budgeting.

The subcommittee will come to order.

These projects aren't luxuries. These projects, in many cases, mean life or death.

the timeline for our water resource projects are completely unacceptable.

I think that would be a healthy debate, and I would encourage all my friends--

I want to thank you for that.

I think it is in the best interest of each of our constituents to have accountability, whether we like or dislike the direction of the agency, to have that oversight, that accountability.

I don't think it is really going to fit or address some of the solutions there.

This is an effort to prevent regulation, to prevent litigation, getting on the front end, preventing endangered species, ensuring sustainability of habitat--I think it is very important.

I want to commend Mr. Fortenberry and Mrs. Dingell for introducing this legislation, the objectives of which I could not be more supportive of.

I want to be clear that I am very supportive of the objectives.