Richard Pombo

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Resources be discharged from further consideration of the Senate bill (S. 1096) to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate portions of the Musconetcong River in the State of New Jersey as a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 4588) to reauthorize grants for and require applied water supply research regarding the water resources research and technology institutes established under the Water Resources Research Act of 1984, with Senate amendments thereto, and concur in the Senate amendments.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the Senate bill (S. 1378) to amend the National Historic Preservation Act to provide appropriation authorization and improve the operations of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the Senate bill (S. 2205) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain parcels of land acquired for the Blunt Reservoir and Pierre Canal features of the initial stage of the Oahe Unit, James Division, South Dakota, to the Commission of Schools and Public Lands and the Department of Game, Fish, and Parks of the State of South Dakota for the purpose of mitigating lost wildlife habitat, on the condition that the current preferential leaseholders shall have an option to purchase the parcels from the Commission, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the Senate bill (S. 2150) to direct the Secretary of Interior to convey certain Bureau of Land Management Land to the City of Eugene, Oregon, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 486) to provide for a land exchange involving private land and Bureau of Management land in the vicinity of Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, for the purpose of removing private land from the required safety zone surrounding munitions storage bunkers at Holloman Air Force Base, with a Senate amendment thereto, and concur in the Senate amendment.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 482) to provide for a land exchange involving Federal lands in the Lincoln National Forest in the State of New Mexico, and for other purposes, with a Senate amendment thereto, and concur in the Senate amendment.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the Senate bill (S. 1529) to provide for the conveyance of certain Federal land in the city of Yuma, Arizona, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. And I will be brief. I do want to again thank all of those who have worked so hard on this bill for so long. I especially want to thank the ranking member of the committee, Mr. Rahall, who has worked with me not only on this legislation but so many pieces of legislation over the last 4 years and gave us the opportunity to do some real good things on the Resources Committee. I know that as this bill was introduced originally, Barney Frank from Massachusetts was an original sponsor on it. We did a hearing up in his district and listened to the concerns of a lot of the fishermen in the communities that are impacted by this law. Unfortunately, all of the things that we originally set out to take care of are not included in this bill, but where we end up on this, I believe it is a bill that is better than current law. It is a stronger bill. It is something that addresses many of the issues that have been raised over the last several years in hearings and meetings that we have had in trying to improve the Magnuson-Stevens Act. I also want to particularly mention two of the Members on our side of the aisle, Mr. Gilchrest and Mr. Saxton, who worked extremely hard in trying to craft a bill that would fit with the concerns and needs of their constituency. As well as that, Chairman Don Young, former chairman of this committee, chairman of the Transportation Committee, obviously has always put a great deal of effort and work into fisheries issues, and his work will continue into the future in trying to improve this law. But I want to thank Mr. Rahall for all the work not just on this legislation but all the work that he has done over the last 4 years. It has been a great experience for me having an opportunity to work with him. Over the last 4 years, I believe that we have passed more legislation out of the Resources Committee than all the rest of the committees combined. And during that time period we had one bill that went through on a party-line vote, and other than that we were able to work out bipartisan compromises on everything. He and I didn't agree every single time, but we were able to work out something so that we had a bipartisan bill moving, and I appreciate all that he did as my ranking member and I wish him nothing but luck in the future.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to submit into the Record a birthday greeting for my father-in-law, Mr. Franklyn Eugene Cole. I honor Franklyn on his 80th birthday and would like to bring attention to the life Franklyn has lived. Having served his country honorably in the United States Navy during World War II, Franklyn returned to California where he married his wife of 53 years, Rena Cole. Over the years Franklyn built a successful small business and dedicated himself to the education of children while he served on the Jefferson school board for over 30 years. Today, Franklyn lives happily with his wife Rena, two daughters, and five grandchildren. Mr. Speaker, I want to salute Franklyn Cole on his birthday for his unending patriotism and devotion to the American dream.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta provides water for millions of Californians and is a recreational and environmental treasure. In addition, it serves as a home, where generations of us continue to live and work. The Delta, however, is also one of the most flood-prone areas in the world. Hurricane Katrina reinforced the need to do everything possible to protect the Delta. To do otherwise would risk tempting the same human and environmental disaster that devastated New Orleans. Simply accepting that the Delta will flood catastrophically is unacceptable. Over the past two years, we have held productive hearings on protecting the Delta and have steered funding towards actual levee construction. Long-term studies are underway, but I worry that our federal and state agencies are studying levee protection to death and do not have a comprehensive emergency preparedness plan. The reality is hearings and long-term studies don't protect Delta Residents and water users from the immediate threats that swollen waterways present. That's why I introduced H.R. 6014. Experts on the ground who work to keep the levees safe have told me that the most effective levee protection is performed through the California Levees Subvention Program. It's a proven program with tangible results. While we continue to develop long-term strategies for protecting the Delta, funding this existing program will cut through bureaucratic red tape and get needed dirt and rock on the levees in a cost effective manner. My bill is not a cure-all, but it is a bipartisan step in the right direction. It rightly forces the Bureau of Reclamation to funnel money to a proven program that will benefit the agency and the 22 million California water consumers who depend on reliable levees in the Delta. The 2004 Jones Tract levee failure demonstrated that what happens in the Delta, does not stay in the Delta. Private levee failures can have a significant impact on federal agencies: The Jones Tract failure forced the Bureau of Reclamation to shut down its export water pumps to those south of the Delta for several days. The funding in my bill helps prevent future levee failures that could have far- reaching impacts on the entire State. It is simply an ounce of prevention for a pound of cure. Mr. Speaker, I thank you for considering this important and timely legislation. Studies and history have shown that levees in the Delta are vulnerable to breaks at any moment. We must act now to protect our communities and water supply and this bill does exactly that.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I was not able to attend a number of votes that took place September 26, 2006 on the House floor. I take my responsibility to vote very seriously and would like my intentions included in the Congressional Record. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall 479, or the Child Custody Protection Act, S. 403; ``yea'' on rollcall 480, or the Public Expression of Religion Act, H.R. 2679; ``yea'' on rollcall 481, or the Calling on the President to take immediate steps to help improve the security situation in Darfur, Sudan, with specific emphasis on civilian protection, H. Res. 723; ``yea'' on rollcall 482, or the Urging the President to appoint a Presidential Special Envoy for Sudan, H. Res. 992; ``yea'' on rollcall 483, or the Commending the United Kingdom for its efforts in the War on Terror, and for other purposes, H. Res. 989; ``yea'' on rollcall 484, or the Affirming support for the sovereignty and security of Lebanon and the Lebanese people, H. Res. 1017; ``yea'' on rollcall 485, or the National Institutes of Health Reform Act, H.R. 6164; and ``yea'' on rollcall 486, or the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2007, H.R. 5631.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 362, the Marine Debris Research, Prevention and Reduction Act. S. 362 is an important piece of environmental legislation. People in the U.S. and world-wide generate a lot of trash. While every effort is made to ensure the trash is sent to the appropriate place, improperly used trash receptacles, storm runoff, and outright littering send trash into rivers and oceans daily. All of this loose trash becomes marine debris. In return this marine debris has become a pervasive threat in our world's oceans adversely harming marine animals and their habitat. S. 362 follows up on recommendations made by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy which called for action to reduce marine debris. Most importantly it would help identify, determine sources of, assess, reduce, and prevent marine debris and its adverse impacts on the marine environment and navigation safety. It would re-establish the Interagency Marine Debris Coordinating Committee to help ensure a coordinated government response across Federal agencies. In addition, it would also develop a Federal information clearing house to enable researchers to study the sources, scale and impact of marine debris more efficiently. S. 362 is an important step in reducing, and hopefully some day eliminating, marine debris from our ocean environment. S. 362 is a good bill and should receive the support of Members and pass the House today.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote today on the House floor. I take my responsibility to vote very seriously. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on Rollcall No. 454.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize John Marsh, an important figure in the history of the Nation, California, and California's 11th District. This Sunday marks the 150th anniversary of this early pioneer's death at the hand of bandits. The legacy of John Marsh is storied. He was one of the first educated Americans to settle in the far west and was dedicated to bringing more settlers into the region. Born in 1799 in Salem, Massachusetts, he received a bachelor's degree at Harvard University in 1823. Between 1828 and 1832, Marsh studied medicine under an army physician. Marsh arrived in Los Angeles, CA on Feb. 4, 1836. He worked as a self-appointed doctor and was paid in cowhides. Traveling to northern California, he bought a tract of land in 1837 measuring 17,000 acres. He named the land Ranchos Los Meganos, which means ``sand dunes.'' This land included parts of what is currently Contra Costa County and the northern San Joaquin Valley. He had an adobe house built on his property and would treat explorers as they came by. His payment was in heads of cattle, which increased his cattle stock to 6,000, and his settlement grew quite prosperous. Years before the 1849 gold rush, Marsh sent out letters to his friends in Missouri, calling them to come out and enjoy California's environment. These letters were published in many Missouri newspapers and in 1841 30 travelers from that state visited his ranch. Other letters wherein Marsh gave accurate details about the land potential of California reached the governor of Michigan. During the Mexican-American war, Marsh opposed any military endeavors in order for America to gain land. However, he supported the ideals of Manifest Destiny and peaceful westward expansion into Mexico's territory. In order to accomplish this, he continued to write letters and send maps to encourage settlers to come into the area and promote the annexation of California into the United States. During the gold rush, Marsh was able to sell off some of his 6,000 head cattle to feed miners coming into the area. He also found gold himself near the Yuba River before the incoming rush of miners. In 1851 he married a schoolteacher named Abigail Smith Tuck, who gave birth to his daughter Alice. He started construction on a Gothic-style manor made entirely out of stone that included a 65-foot tower. He had it built for $20,000 and it was completed in 1856, after the death of Abigail. On September 24, 1856 Marsh was murdered by three bandits on the road to San Francisco. The Marsh House still stands as a tribute to Marsh's contributions. Marsh's pioneer spirit helped make California and the Nation what it is today, and on the anniversary of his death, I honor his legacy.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Costa).

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Dent).

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

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this bill has a basic premise: Indian gaming should occur on Indian lands; and when a tribe is newly recognized, restored or landless, then it has to include the local community at the table for the simple purpose of signing a memorandum of understanding to address impacts. It is as simple as that. Unfortunately, over the last 17 years, far too many tribes have drifted away from the original purpose and spirit of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and have sought to develop off-reservation casinos in whatever location seemed to be the most lucrative, often far from their tribal lands. Those who have pursued this course have turned the spirit of IGRA on its head. Instead of seeking to bring economic development to the Indian reservation, they have instead sought to bring the Indian reservation to wherever there is economic development. This is wrong, and it threatens both the future of Native American economic development and the integrity of Indian tribal sovereignty itself. When IGRA was written, it mandated that only lands held by tribes prior to October 17, 1988, or lands later acquired directly adjoining those lands, would be eligible for tribal gaming activities. It was a central principle of IGRA that, in general, lands acquired by tribes after enactment of IGRA would be ineligible for gaming. However, IGRA provided for four exceptions, and it was expected that these would be used only rarely. Unfortunately, time has shown that the use of these four exceptions to IGRA's prohibition on gaming on after- acquired lands has been anything but rare. While opponents of reform make the oft-repeated claim that there have been only three off- reservation casinos since 1988, this claim is limited to only one of those exceptions, section 20. It ignores the fact that there are at least 38 casinos in operation today on land that was not held in trust in 1988, nearly 10 percent of the Nation's total number of tribal casinos. Currently, there are at least 50 additional proposals for off- reservation casinos under those four exceptions. Beyond that, there have been dozens upon dozens of other projects announced or proposed over the last several years where paperwork has not yet been filed. Under the two-part determination of IGRA, virtually any land in the country could be targeted for gaming. Each one of those proposed casinos has had a very real and negative impact on public support for tribal gaming. Over the last 2 years, the Committee on Resources has held nine hearings, heard from dozens of witnesses, and received thousands of communications documenting problems arising from off-reservation gaming. The committee has heard a compelling story and the heavy toll that off-reservation gaming proposals impose on local communities, and tribal sovereignty has become very clear. Local citizens have told stories of waking up one day and being surprised to learn that a parcel of land in their community has been purchased by a developer who has announced that he intends to have that land declared a reservation where an Indian casino will be opened. This despite the fact that the community was hundreds of miles from the nearest existing tribal reservation land. We have heard from private property and business owners about how the land-claims exception in IGRA has been abused by those seeking off- reservation casinos. Throughout the eastern United States, numerous land claims have been filed, resulting in costly litigation and the clouding of private property titles. These claims are filed in the hopes of forcing the State to settle the claim with an off-reservation casino. The current land claims exception in IGRA has become an incentive for this type of abusive lawsuit and must be brought to an end. Local leaders have testified about the possibility of their community being significantly and permanently changed by the presence of a newly declared Indian reservation and tribal casino. They have told of their feelings of powerlessness to meaningfully participate and affect the process of the land being taken into trust. And they have spoken of their frustration that the impacts of the proposed casino facility will not be fully mitigated, because after the State's Governor and casino developer take their cut of the action, the tribe does not have enough revenue left to share to offset their impact on the community. H.R. 4893 represents real reform of these abuses, while maintaining the opportunity for tribes to conduct gaming under IGRA on their tribal lands as per the original intent of the law. H.R. 4893 does away with the land-claim exception in the section 20 two-part determination. It reforms the procedures where newly recognized, landless and restored tribes can ask for lands to be placed in trust for an initial reservation. Tribes seeking these lands will now have to satisfy a three-part test to demonstrate that they have a primary historic, geographic, and temporal nexus to the land they wish to acquire for gaming. This will ensure that the initial reservation placement is determined by where the tribal people live and receive services, not by where the market for gaming seems best. One of the most important parts of the bill is that State and local communities will play a more meaningful role in the process and will have an opportunity to give greater input into a casino proposed by a newly recognized and restored tribe. This bill requires the tribe to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the local county for the purpose of providing direct mitigation of impacts from a casino project. H.R. 4893 is a real reform that will solve, once and for all, the problems with off-reservation gaming. It is the responsibility of this Congress to act now to bring the practice of off-reservation gaming to an end and to prevent further damage in the relationship between tribes and local communities over off-reservation casinos and to restore the original intent and spirit of IGRA to today's Indian gaming practice. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. POMBO. 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 the bill now under consideration.

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of our time. Mr. Speaker, over the last 2 years, we have attempted to address this issue in the Resources Committee. Two years ago I put out a draft legislation for discussion that all of the members of the committee, all the Members of Congress, and the interested public had an opportunity to comment on. We got thousands of comments. We held hearings, we got thousands of comments on that draft. We changed that draft. We took all of the input that we got, the testimony that we got, and we put that into that draft, and we continued to work on it. Mr. Kildee, from the very beginning, raised the issue of sovereignty; and it is an important issue to him, as it is to most of the members of the committee, that this is something that we wanted to protect, as it is our constitutional responsibility to protect the sovereignty of tribes and to negotiate with tribes, just as it is to negotiate with states in foreign countries. We took all of that comment, and we came up with a new draft, and we put that out for additional comment. Finally, we introduced the underlying bill. Mr. Kildee brought up the issue of sovereignty and how we dealt with that. We changed the bill we are actually voting on today substantially from that original draft. The original draft did give cities a veto power in essence over trust lands. Many members of the committee and different attorneys that we talked to felt that that would not stand up to a court challenge, and we took that out. But what we did do, as Mr. Rahall pointed out, we gave local cities and counties the ability to negotiate with the tribes to come up with a memorandum of understanding so that they have the ability to make sure that if there is a major new development that is going to happen within their community that they are held harmless, that they have some input into that project going forward, that sewer and water and transportation needs and other things, just like if it was a private developer going in, would be met. That is the requirement that we put in. That somehow is now being deciphered as threatening sovereignty. I will tell you though, and I want to make this perfectly clear, if you care about sovereignty of our Native American tribes in this country, then you better support this bill, because if we do not further regulate the expansion of off-reservation casinos, we will have an attempt made within this Congress to threaten that sovereignty, and we know that that is going to happen because we have seen it over the last few years. The proliferation of Indian gaming throughout the country is a threat to that sovereignty, and we need to do that. Mr. Kildee also talks about in IGRA, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988. It took us years just to draft these amendments to it. This may have taken months, but it wasn't written on Mount Sinai. When you helped to write that bill, it was a $200 million industry. Today it is a $23 billion industry. We have a responsibility to regulate that industry. We have a responsibility as Members of Congress and the Resources Committee to do what we have to do in order to ensure that that sovereignty continues, because if we don't that is a bigger threat to that sovereignty. I would also say, Mr. Speaker, that the Speaker of the House, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert) is a strong supporter of the bill. He asked me to mention that in my closing comments. Unfortunately, he was not able to make it down here on the floor, but he will have a statement to add into the Record. Having said that, I urge passage of the legislation

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4893) to amend section 20 of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act to restrict off-reservation gaming, as amended.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Marine Corporal Jeremiah Cummins, of San Ramon, CA, who recently returned from his third tour of duty in Iraq. Corporal Cummins served in the Third Marine Battalion of the 5th Marines with bravery and honor, and I am honored to represent him in Congress. First sent to Iraq shortly after the initial invasion was winding down, Corporal Cummins spent that tour in a town about 80 or so miles south of Baghdad called Diyauneah. For his next tour he served in Fallujah, which saw some of the fiercest fighting. His third tour saw him stationed a few miles south of Fallujah and patrolling south of that post until the last 6 weeks of the deployment when he was posted in Ramadi, the scene of more fierce fighting. Corporal Cummins is a remarkable young man, and I rise today to honor and thank him for his service, and the service of all those who put themselves in harm's way for our Nation.

Mr. POMBO

Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, today, my colleagues, Neil Abercrombie, Don Young, Jim Saxton and I are introducing the Stevens-Inouye International Fisheries Monitoring and Compliance Legacy Act. This legislation will amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act--the Nation's premier fishery conservation statute--and Title IV of the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act to promote additional measures to reduce Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing activities. In addition, the bill will implement two international fisheries treaties--the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention and the Agreement between the Governments of the United States and Canada on Pacific Hake/Whiting. This legislation continues to build on the United States' tradition of implementing fishery conservation and management measures domestically and internationally. The United States has been a leader at many international fora to move forward policies that require countries to enforce conservation measures on their flag vessels. Some international fisheries commissions have been more successful than others in passing resolutions recommending the implementation of conservation measures for fish species in international waters and tying to these measures adequate enforcement provisions. Title I of the Stevens-Inouye International Fisheries Monitoring and Compliance Legacy Act requires the Secretary of Commerce to work toward getting all international fisheries commissions to adopt effective enforcement provisions for species of fish under their jurisdiction. The effective enforcement of conservation measures for vessels fishing in international waters will help reduce and work toward eliminating the illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities occurring in many high seas areas. This legislation would require the Secretary to work with international fishery commissions to adopt market-based incentives, use vessel monitoring systems, and create international vessel registries as ways to eliminate unregulated fishing activities. Title II and III of this legislation would implement the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention and the Agreement between the Governments of the United States and Canada on Pacific Hake/Whiting, respectively. These two titles will allow for U.S. participation in these important international fishery commissions. As in Title I of this legislation, U.S. participation at these international commissions is critical to moving forward U.S. policies to further conserve Pacific Highly Migratory Species and Pacific Whiting and the adoption of effective enforcement measures. The Senate Commerce Committee, led by Co-Chairmen Stevens and Inouye, have been leaders on this issue and have passed similar legislation through the Senate and the short title of the bill recognizes their leadership in this area. This is an important piece of legislation and I look forward to working with my House Colleagues and my Senate Colleagues to pass this bill to the President before the end of the year.