Political Quotes

“I rise in support of H.R. 4731, a bill I introduced to reauthorize the National Estuary Program. H.R. 4731 is a simple reauthorization of a highly respected and successful National Estuary Program. A program whose authorization will expire at the end of fiscal year 2005. Like the previous authorization, the bill will authorize $35 million annually for the program and will extend the authorization through fiscal year 2010. Estuaries are coastal bays, harbors, sounds and lagoons, places where rivers meet the sea. Estuaries and the lands surrounding them are places of transition from land to sea and from fresh to saltwater. Up to 80 percent of the fish that we catch spend at least part of their lives in estuaries. EPA's National Estuary Program was established by Congress in 1987 to improve the quality of estuaries of national importance. Section 320 directs EPA to develop plans for attaining and maintaining water quality in an estuary.”