Wayne Gilchrest: “There are a lot of people from California here. I think that we all have to recognize that yes, there have been some…”

“There are a lot of people from California here. I think that we all have to recognize that yes, there have been some extremes, and there are some examples. And the gentleman from California [Mr. Herger] described an example where some maintenance was held up because of the Endangered Species Act, because of the problems with maintenance and because of the problems of mitigation costs. Those are real issues that actually happened and create layers of bureaucracy that we are trying to swim through, pardon the pun. However, Mr. Chairman, at this point, I think this House would more adequately address the problem if we vote for the Boehlert amendment, which will end in 1998 and in that process ensure that repairs are taking place. In a minute I will offer an amendment to the Boehlert amendment that will deal with the maintenance and the mitigation costs.”