William Tauzin: “I thank Chairman Shuster and his committee for the excellent work they have done on this bill. I want to particularly…”

“I thank Chairman Shuster and his committee for the excellent work they have done on this bill. I want to particularly call to the chairman's attention language in the bill that is extremely vital for safety, health, hurricane protection, and environmental protection matters dealing with the Parish of Terrebonne in the heart of the Third District of Louisiana. Terrebonne in French means good Earth. Yet it is threatened more and more every day by saltwater intrusion. Parish residents' safe drinking water has been threatened by rising levels of salinity. Hurricane threats to the community have been largely accumulating as a result of damage and erosion to its coastal barriers and to its coastal marshlands. One particular problem involves the Houma Navigation Canal which is a direct outlet to the Gulf of Mexico. As salinity levels rush into this canal, some 200,000 acres of sensitive marshlands are being destroyed and salinity levels are increasingly putting at risk the drinking water of the communities.”