Jeff Denham

Mr. DENHAM

Mr. DENHAM. Madam Speaker, the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act will speed up recovery efforts and reduce costs. I want to just touch on one important piece of this legislation. It will allow greater flexibility to reduce rebuilding time and lower costs. This gives the local governments greater flexibility to consolidate or rebuild facilities by allowing FEMA to issue fixed grants on the basis of damage estimates, instead of a traditional reimbursement program. Why that's important--in my area, in the Central Valley of California, we had huge flooding; and as any emergency, you're not prepared. You didn't anticipate it, especially where we have such a huge shortage of water in the Central Valley. When the flooding hit, there was a lot of miscommunication and misunderstanding among local, State and Federal Government, who pays for what, a lot of delays and waiting. With these cost estimates up front, we basically just say spend the money on those estimates, and the FEMA money is there immediately. So we not only help to reduce costs; but most importantly, when you've got a devastated community, what you need is speed of recovery. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DENHAM. Madam Speaker, I would just remind the gentleman from New Jersey that this bill was passed in September by this House and has been sitting in the Senate since September. Even though the President's own appointee, Director Fugate, has been asking for this bill, it has been sitting. So we're looking forward to a bipartisan solution that gets done before March so we can actually help out the Sandy relief fund. I would just like to point to a couple quick facts. The New Orleans Youth Study Center project, as an example, as you'll see from this chart, Katrina was in 2005. Here's what the Governor's office has put together. This one project isn't going to be done until 2016. After 182 meetings and 7 years of bureaucratic red tape, this one project won't be done until 2016; and that's if all goes well, that's when Louisiana hopes to finish this. That's 11 years after Hurricane Katrina. The single biggest factor in cost increases is time, and these delays will almost double the project from $15 million to $28 million. FEMA has spent almost $5 million on a temporary facility alone. There are literally thousands of projects like this across the gulf coast, and there will be thousands more of budget-busting projects in New York and New Jersey if we don't get these reforms signed into law. At this time, Madam Speaker, I'd like to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Palazzo).

Mr. DENHAM. Madam Speaker, I wish to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania, the new chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Mr. Shuster.

Mr. DENHAM. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 219) to improve and streamline disaster assistance for Hurricane Sandy, and for other purposes.

Mr. DENHAM. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to thank Chairman Shuster of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for his leadership on this legislation. His knowledge and years of experience on these issues have been critical to crafting this legislation and bringing it before the House for consideration today. I also want to thank Ranking Member Norton, Ranking Member Rahall, and former Chairman Mica for all of their work and support for these reforms. H.R. 219, the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013, will save money and help devastated communities rebuild much faster than under current programs. However, in order to help those communities impacted by Sandy, the FEMA Administrator has made it very clear that these reforms must be signed into law by March 1. Many of these reforms were already passed by the House in September as part of H.R. 2903. There is also widespread and bipartisan support for these reforms in the Senate. In addition, this bill has strong support from key stakeholders and experts, representing emergency managers, State and local officials, and tribal communities. We know these reforms work. Chairman Shuster laid the groundwork in 2006 when his post-Katrina reform act authorized FEMA to conduct a number of recovery pilot programs. The results are very clear. In each case, costs were dramatically reduced, projects were completed faster, and their process was much more efficient. For example, without making permanent the debris removal pilot program the taxpayer could end up paying six times the cost for debris removal, and it will take much longer. The individuals and households pilot program incorporated in this bill would reduce costs by a similar amount and make temporary housing available faster. In hearing after hearing before our committee, experts, FEMA, and the Office of the Inspector General have all testified communities will be rebuilt faster and taxpayers will save hundreds of millions of dollars with this bill. We know the current process is broken, and we finally know how to fix it, but we have to change the law by March or it will be too late to apply those lessons to the Sandy recovery. It has been nearly 8 years since Hurricane Katrina, and there are still projects that are unresolved. We don't want to have the same mistakes happen with Hurricane Sandy. These reforms will help address those programs, streamline the process, allow communities to rebuild faster and smarter, and save money. The provisions of H.R. 219 are proven and commonsense reforms that have bipartisan support. I urge my colleagues to support the passage of H.R. 219. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DENHAM. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 219.

Mr. DENHAM. Madam Speaker, just in closing, I want to talk about one final example, and it deals with the debris removal. Our bill dealing with debris removal will change, literally saving hundreds of millions of dollars. Without the change in law, FEMA was able to get a 30-day pilot program. This is with Sandy, had a 30-day pilot program, where in New Jersey, utilizing the pilot program, they removed debris for $19 per cubic yard. In Long Island, using the Army Corps of Engineers, it was $129 per yard. That is a huge significant savings, one that, in the debris removal part of this, the 30-day pilot, it's time for it to move along and become part of law. We need to do this now. This bill has broad support from a number of different areas, including the National League of Cities, the United States Conference of Mayors, the Association of State Floodplain Managers, the International Association of Emergency Managers, the Disaster Recovery Contractors Association, the National Association of Counties, the United South and Eastern Tribes Incorporation, just to name a few. With that, Madam Speaker, I would ask for a favorable vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DENHAM

Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with my colleague, Mr. Costa, to acknowledge and honor Robert Nees, Turlock Irrigation District's Assistant General Manager for Water Resources, who is retiring on December 31, 2012; and to thank him for his dedicated 33-years service to the District. Established in 1887, the Turlock Irrigation District, TID, was the first publicly owned irrigation district in the state. In 1893, TID built La Grange Dam on the Tuolumne River in partnership with Modesto Irrigation District, MID, to divert water into their canal systems. In addition, TID operates Don Pedro Dam, Reservoir and Power House, facilities that it owns jointly with MID. Today, TID provides irrigation water to more than 5,800 growers on 150,000 acres of farmland and serves electricity to 100,000 accounts. Mr. Nees joined TID in 1979 as the District's Public Information Officer and developed TID's first legislative and public affairs program. In 1993, Mr. Nees became TID's Water Resources and Public Affairs Administrator, taking on responsibility for all of TID's water- related issues, and in 1995 he was named as TID's Assistant General Manager of Water Resources and Regulatory Affairs. Mr. Nees' current title is Assistant General Manager of Water Resources and his responsibilities include overseeing TID irrigation operations and working with local, state and federal agencies on issues affecting the District's water supply and hydroelectric operations. In 1995, Mr. Nees helped negotiate a settlement agreement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, MID, the City and County of San Francisco, CCSF, conservation groups and state and federal agencies. The agreement included minimum stream flow schedules at La Grange Dam to benefit fish; a program to monitor Chinook salmon populations and habitat in the Tuolumne River; and programs and activities to enhance habitat in the Tuolumne River downstream of Don Pedro Dam. The following year, Mr. Nees developed and implemented a communications plan for TID and participated in the development of the 1996 Fourth Agreement with the City and County of San Francisco that apportioned costs among CCSF, MID and TID arising from the Districts' responsibilities as FERC licensees for the Don Pedro Project hydroelectric facilities. In 1998, Mr. Nees represented TID on the San Joaquin River Group Authority during development of the Vernalis Adaptive Management Plan, VAMP, and the San Joaquin River Agreement, which together established and implemented an alternative means of meeting the San Joaquin River flow objectives contained in the State Water Control Board's 1995 Water Quality Control Plan for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary. Initiated in 2000, the 12-year VAMP program also included protective measures for fall-run salmon and studies of how different San Joaquin River flow levels affect delta resources and water supply conditions. Mr. Nees led TID's voluntary effort to develop a groundwater management plan that included mitigation of overdraft conditions, as well as conservation, recharge, and conjunctive-use activities. When state law made the program mandatory in 2011, Mr. Nees oversaw TID's effort to comply with the requirements for agriculture water use efficiency and improved water measurement and conservation. Mr. Nees also has been TID's lead on a variety of other complex water supply, operations and environmental compliance matters for the District. These include overseeing development of TID's municipal water treatment system, including the 2000-2002 installation of an infiltration gallery in the river to serve both as a future diversion point for a treatment facility for domestic water, and provide more river flow in the critical portion of the Tuolumne River below La Grange Dam for fish habitat. Since 2009, Mr. Nees has worked on the relicensing by FERC of the Don Pedro Project. The current hydroelectric license expires in April 2016. Bob assembled a relicensing team consisting of TID, MID and outside consultants, and Bob has lead the team through all the key steps in the relicensing process, which is now nearing its conclusion. Those of us who work on California water issues will miss Mr. Nees' expertise and his calm and steady hand. Mr. Speaker, please join Mr. Costa and me in honoring Turlock Irrigation District's Assistant General Manager for Water Resources, Robert Nees on his retirement and thank him for his exemplary leadership and service to the District.

Mr. DENHAM

Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with my colleague, Mr. Costa, to acknowledge and honor Allen Short, General Manager of the Modesto Irrigation District, who is retiring on December 31, 2012 after 22 years of service to the agency that provides water and power to thousands of farms, homes and businesses in the San Joaquin Valley of California. During the past two decades, Mr. Short also has been a leader among the Central Valley's other publically owned water and power agencies, spearheading efforts to develop agreements to meet environmental goals for the San Joaquin River system and the Bay-Delta estuary while protecting and enhancing the Valley's economically critical water and power resources. Modesto Irrigation District and the neighboring Turlock Irrigation District hold some of the oldest water rights in California. The two Districts jointly own Don Pedro Dam and Reservoir on the Tuolumne River. MID provides irrigation water for 59,000 acres of farm land, electricity for more than 113,000 retail accounts, and treated drinking water to the City of Modesto. Prior to becoming General Manager in 1993, Mr. Short joined MID as its first Chief of Domestic Water Operations in 1990 and was named Chief--Water Resources and Rights Officer in 1992. That position included overseeing Irrigation Operations, Water Rights and Domestic Water Operations. He was responsible for overseeing the construction and operation of the new domestic water facility that MID completed in late 1994. He had previously held positions as water division manager for the City of San Luis Obispo from 1985 to 1990 and as water treatment operator and treated water supervisor for Stockton East Water District from 1978 to 1985. As General Manager of MID, Mr. Short has been actively involved in water policy matters at the local, state and federal levels. In the late 1990s, he was instrumental in the development of the Vernalis Adaptive Management Plan (VAMP), a 12-year program intended to protect San Joaquin River fall-run salmon; to gather information on the effect of San Joaquin river flows on delta environmental conditions and water supply operations, and; to provide flows from the Tuolumne River and other San Joaquin Tributaries to meet California's 1995 Water Quality Control Plan. Mr. Short played a major role in the development of the San Joaquin River Agreement to provide a framework for implementation of VAMP, which began in 2000, and he led non-federal implementation of the program as Coordinator of the San Joaquin River Tributaries Group Authority, an organization representing local water agencies on the Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Merced and San Joaquin Rivers. In 2006 and 2008, Mr. Short worked closely with Senator Dianne Feinstein and Members of the San Joaquin Valley Delegation in the House to draft provisions for the San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement Act to protect the water supplies and operations of ``Third-Party'' agencies like MID during implementation of the San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement. He has continued to advocate for the interests of local public water agencies in the San Joaquin River Basin as a leading member of the San Joaquin River Tributaries Association. Mr. Short also has been a leading voice on policy matters for public owned electric utilities in the Central Valley and throughout California. He is the former President of the California Public Utilities Association (CMUA), an 80-year-old organization that represents consumer-owned utilities before the California Legislature and regulatory bodies. While serving on the CMUA Board of Directors as its President, Mr. Short led a reorganization of CMUA to improve its effectiveness in representing the interests of public power agencies. He continues to serve on the CMUA Board of Governors. Mr. Short also currently serves as Chairman of the Transmission Agency of Northern California (TANC), a joint powers authority composed of 15 public power agencies. TANC is the Project Manager and largest participant in the California-Oregon Transmission Project, a 340-mile- long transmission line that brings power to California from the Pacific Northwest to improve the reliability of California's electric grid. Mr. Short joined TANC in 2003 as MID's Commissioner and was elected Chairman in 2008. In addition, Mr. Short is the President of M-S-R Public Power Agency, an entity organized in 1980 by MID, Silicon Valley Power and the City of Redding Electric Utility to acquire electric generation and resources for its member agencies. In June, 2012, Mr. Short was invited by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to testify on behalf of M-S-R and the Southern California Public Power Authority at a hearing about implementation of Federal Clean Air Act regulations. After his retirement from MID, Mr. Short will serve as Executive Director of the San Joaquin Tributaries Authority, an organization formed in 2012 to represent local water agencies on the Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced Rivers. Mr. Speaker, please join Mr. Costa and me in honoring Modesto Irrigation District's General Manager Allen Short on his retirement and thank him for his exemplary leadership and service to the District.

Mr. DENHAM

Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure be discharged from further consideration of the bill (H.R. 6633) to designate the United States courthouse located at 101 East Pecan Street in Sherman, Texas, as the ``Paul Brown United States Courthouse,'' and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 6633.

Mr. DENHAM

Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. S. 3311 would designate the United States courthouse located at 2601 2nd Avenue North, Billings, Montana, as the James F. Battin United States Courthouse. Judge Battin received his law degree from George Washington University Law School in 1951. Prior to attending law school during World War II, Judge Battin served in the United States Navy. Early in his career, Judge Battin practiced law in Washington, D.C., and in Billings, Montana. Later, he served in a number of public service positions, including deputy county attorney for Yellowstone County, Montana, and city attorney in Billings. In 1958, Judge Battin served as a State representative in Montana, and in 1961 Judge Battin was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and served as a U.S. Representative from Montana until 1969. In 1969, Judge Battin was appointed by President Nixon to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. During that time, he served as chief judge from '78 to '90, when he assumed senior status. Judge Battin's commitment to public service is clear. I believe his dedication to serving this Nation makes it fitting to name this courthouse after him. I support passage of this legislation and urge my colleagues to do the same. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on S. 3311.

Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 3311) to designate the United States courthouse located at 2601 2nd Avenue North, Billings, Montana, as the ``James F. Battin United States Courthouse.''

Mr. DENHAM

Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on H.R. 6166.

Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure be discharged from further consideration of the bill (H.R. 6166) to designate the United States courthouse located at 333 West Broadway Street in San Diego, California, as the ``James M. Carter and Judith N. Keep United States Courthouse,'' and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. DENHAM

Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, Natural Resources and the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of the bill (S. 3687) to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to reauthorize the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Program, to designate certain Federal buildings, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. DENHAM

Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I send to the desk a joint resolution and ask unanimous consent for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DENHAM

Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the Speaker of the House, the Honorable John Boehner.

Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 6604.

Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DENHAM. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DENHAM. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.