On the recordMay 25, 2010
this is a very important amendment, and it is something that our delegation has actually been working on for quite some time, and we have actually passed it before in the Senate, which is a happy circumstance. This language has been unfortunately taken out in conference on several occasions by the Corps of Engineers, so I am thinking now that this disaster has maybe helped them to rethink the worthiness of this amendment, because, again, it doesn't add any money to the Federal budget. This amendment will allow beneficial use of dredged material, so when the Corps of Engineers spends the $170 million we give it every year to dredge our channels, to keep our navigation channels open, they can take that dredged material and use it for a beneficial use. That might be restoring a marsh. It might be building a levee, and it might be stopping oil from hitting the coastline, which would be a very good use, in my mind, of that beneficial dredge material.
