Wayne Gilchrest: “Everyone here wants to save the lives of people, and everyone here wants to put people out of harm's way, and I would…”

“Everyone here wants to save the lives of people, and everyone here wants to put people out of harm's way, and I would assume that everyone here wants to understand the natural mechanics of the flow of water and the mechanics of creation, how things work. No. 1, this area in California is already exempted as a result of section 7 of the Endangered Species Act from consultation. This area declared a disaster is exempted from the Endangered Species Act. No. 2, the amendment of the gentleman from New York, goes a little bit further than already existing law to ensure that repairs are made at least by December 1998, and it can be extended beyond that. I am going to amend the Boehlert substitute by ensuring that we have some sense of understanding as far as what maintenance means and the cost of mitigation. Now, the present bill on the floor, whether it is the present bill or whether the present bill is amended by the gentleman from California, exempts in a blanket manner the Corps of Engineers from ESA consideration in the following areas: Dams, reservoirs, erosion control, beach replenishment, levies, dikes, walls, diversion channels, channel operations, draining of agricultural lands, you name it, the list goes on and on and on. Now, the issue here is an emergency.”