Jason Smith: “I appreciate it. I want to thank my good friend from Georgia. It's a great honor being in this Chamber for 42 days. I…”

“I appreciate it. I want to thank my good friend from Georgia. It's a great honor being in this Chamber for 42 days. I definitely have some issues that are quite important to me. Madam Speaker, one issue that I would like to highlight tonight is an issue that threatens my district. It's the National Blueways System. It was conceived on May 24, 2012, by Interior Department Secretary Salazar. The National Blueways System is described as ``a headwaters to mouth approach to rivers management'' and ``a mechanism to encourage stakeholders to integrate their land and water stewardship efforts by adopting a watershed approach.'' Importantly, a river is supposed to be nominated for a Blueways designation by local stakeholders. Though no local stakeholders from my district were included in the nomination process, the White River Watershed, of which 14 counties are in my district, was named as the Nation's second National Blueways in January of this year. Who nominated the White River to become a Blueways? The National Wildlife Refuge Association, an organization based in Washington, D.C. A quick trip to their Web site reveals that in addition to being based in Washington, D.C., around a thousand miles away from the White River Watershed, not a single member of their board of directors is from Arkansas or Missouri. Where's the local knowledge? How is this organization a stakeholder? Local stakeholders eventually found out about the designation and they were furious, as you can imagine.…”