Nick Rahall: “in 1972 Congress enacted the Marine Mammal Protection Act to protect marine mammals from harmful human activities. It is…”

“in 1972 Congress enacted the Marine Mammal Protection Act to protect marine mammals from harmful human activities. It is a landmark statute in our pantheon of national environmental laws, providing for the conservation and management of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, sea lions, and other marine mammals. In the past, consideration of amendments to MMPA was done on a bipartisan basis, such as significant changes made by Congress in 1994. However, during this Congress, I have stood opposed to further consideration of MMPA legislation the Resources Committee approved almost 1 year to this day, until today. Let me emphasize that my opposition was until today. This was because the bill would have eliminated a fundamental mandate of MMPA known as the ``deadline for the zero rate mortality goal.'' In other words, we, as a Nation, are to strive to put into place management regimes which will reduce, and ideally eliminate, marine mammal fatalities at the hands of human beings. The troublesome provision which would have eliminated the deadline has been dropped from the legislation we are now considering. In this regard I would like to express my appreciation to Chairman Pombo for agreeing to this, and I am pleased to say that I support the bill as amended today and urge its approval by this body. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.”