November 2, 1971
Page 38834
Mr. BAKER. Mr. President, I am happy to yield 5 minutes on the bill to the Senator from Minnesota.
Mr. MONDALE. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Tennessee for his courtesy. May I join my colleagues in commending the distinguished chairman of the full Public Works Committee, the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. RANDOLPH) and the chairman of the Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution, the Senator from Maine (Mr. MUSKIE) and other Senators, for their magnificent work in developing the legislation now before the Senate.
Mr. President, I share the profound sense of gratitude in the Senate for the outstanding work that they have done.
I believe each of us feels very deeply a sense of horror and outrage at the neglect that has transformed once idyllic rivers and lakes in America from scenic wonders into contaminated wastelands. Witness what has become of the Hudson and Delaware Rivers, the Chesapeake, the Potomac, the Savannah, the Mississippi, the Columbia, and even the remote rivers in the State of Maine. Our lakes, including Lake Erie, Michigan, Tahoe, and thousands of smaller fresh water lakes are in need of urgent care.
In recent months, Congress has sought to prevent the increasing pollution of our waterways. There is progress in the creation of a new Environmental Protection Agency and the Council on Environmental Quality.
But for the most part, we have had far too much talk about the need for stringent standards and enforcement, and far too little action. At stake in this issue is the most precious and limited natural resource in America today.
Our neglect of the Nation's water resources, our shortsightedness in despoiling essential supplies of water are fully documented.
According to the Council on Environmental Quality's 1971 report:
Although the BOD level of wastes actually discharged has remained roughly constant in recent years, the overall quality of the Nation's water probably has deteriorated because of accelerated eutrophication, increased discharges of toxic materials, greater loads of sediment, and other factors.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that almost one-third of U.S. stream-miles are characteristically polluted, in the sense that they violate Federal water quality criteria. Less than 10 percent of all U.S. watersheds were characterized by EPA regional offices as unpolluted or even moderately polluted.
Part of our problem is that we have expended too much energy attempting to determine who is responsible for this situation, and too little time trying to correct it. I am afraid there is plenty of blame to go around, and a multitude of weaknesses in the Nation's water pollution control programs.
Intensive study of Federal water quality programs reveals that every link along the chain is weak; we lack firm standards, strict enforcement, necessary information, and adequate programs for research. All of these efforts are in turn hampered by a critical shortage of funding for water pollution control.
The proposal before us today offers a comprehensive program to remedy each of these problems.
First, it would set a national policy of eliminating the discharge of all pollutants into the Nation's navigable waters by 1985, and it would set an interim goal of water quality protection by 1981.
Second, this legislation would prohibit the discharge of toxic pollutants as an immediate priority toward total water pollution control.
Third, it would greatly expand the Federal program of grants to communities in order to construct waste treatment works and assist in developing programs for regional waste treatment management.
Finally, this legislation would initiate a major research and demonstration effort within EPA to expand knowledge and technological progress in the field of water quality.
Of special significance to my State of Minnesota, are two items in this bill which I would like to discuss at this time. Together these items constitute the essence of the Clean Lakes Act, which I
first introduced with Senator BURDICK 5 years ago and which we reintroduced this year with the support of more than 30 cosponsors.
These sections would provide increased Federal support for the construction of waste treatment facilities and Federal grants for the restoration of the Nation's fresh water community lakes.
There are more than one hundred thousand such lakes in the United States.
While it is not possible to assess the total value of these lakes to our country, a study of just the recreational value of certain lakes in California placed their worth at more than $2 million each.
Consider this value, and all the related values which cannot be measured, in light of the evidence that many of the Nation's fresh water community lakes are now being victimized by municipal and industrial pollutants, agricultural runoff, and accelerated sedimentation. Thousands of these lakes are dying; thousands more are in grave danger.
I am particularly concerned by this problem because one out of every eight of these lakes is located in the State of Minnesota. But the committee's report on S. 2770 states, on page 68:
There is not a State in which the water quality of lakes is not seriously degraded.
Earlier I cited a study of the recreational value of lakes in California. In commenting on this information, the Council on Environmental Quality said that much of this value, "would be lost with the level of deterioration that is now found in many of the Nation's water bodies. The rapidly increasing demands for recreation and scenic amenities will raise the value of losses from pollution."
Last year, through an amendment which I offered in the Senate, the Congress voted to set aside $2 million in Federal funds to evaluate the effectiveness of existing technology to save lakes which are threatened by pollution. Although at that time we were happy at long last to get a pilot program of lake research underway, I point out that that $2 million represents just the recreational value of one lake surveyed in California.
With the help of these pilot programs, we have found that we can save many of the Nation's lakes with currently available methods and procedures for lake pollution control. The principle difficulty that must be overcome now is to apply needed Federal resources to restoring and protecting America's fresh water lakes. States and communities simply cannot afford to do the job alone.
Section 314 of S. 2770 would provide Federal grants for up to 70 percent of the cost of restoring the quality of publicly owned fresh water lakes. This money would be used to clean up thousands of lakes which are already polluted.
In addition, title II of the bill would increase to up to 70 percent the Federal share of constructing sewage treatment plants to prevent pollutants from entering our lakes in the first place.
An authorization of $300 million is provided over the next 3 years to fund the lake reclamation program, and $14 billion dollars is to be allocated over 4 years to build the treatment works.
In my own State of Minnesota, more than 5,000 lakes have already been identified which could benefit from a Federal program for lake restoration. This money could be used to help communities like Albert Lea, Detroit Lakes, and Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota which have made valient efforts to clean up their lakes. Communities across the Nation would be assisted in the next 3 years to restore and protect their treasured lakes.
Mr. President, I am most grateful to the committee, and to Senators RANDOLPH and MUSKIE, for their enlightened concern about our cherished lakes. This is an historic step by the Congress.
For the magnificent fresh water community lakes of this country are threatened now with destruction and this legislation is designed to prevent that destruction. I am hopeful that it will be fully funded and that we will begin, at long last, to save this irreplaceable resource for our country.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD page 68 of the committee report, under the heading "Clean Lakes."
In summary, I believe that the total legislative package before us today is a landmark in Federal pollution control law. It is a bill which is long overdue.
I would hope that my colleagues in the Senate will move promptly to adopt this vital legislation.
There being no objection, the excerpt was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
SECTION 314 – CLEAN LAKES
All States shall identify and classify their lakes according to eutrophic condition, and set up procedures to control lake pollution and restore these lakes. Seventy percent grants are authorized to assist States in carrying out this program with $300,000,000 authorized over three fiscal years.
In many areas of the nation, fresh water lakes and reservoirs are seriously degraded by municipal- industrial pollutants, by agricultural runoff, and by accelerated sedimentation. These pollutants greatly accelerate the rate of eutrophication.
Lake Erie is an example of this process. There is not a State, however, in which the water quality of lakes is not seriously degraded.
Excessive eutrophication, accumulated sludge and other pollutants, reduced flow and severe water level fluctuations, and heavy sedimentation all are contributing to critical conditions which must be remedied promptly if the lakes are to recover and continue their natural function in our national life.
The Committee bill adopts the essence of legislation proposed by Senator Walter F. Mondale which requires each State to classify fresh water lakes according to water quality condition and to develop plans and methods for restoring those lakes. The plans are to be submitted to the Administrator for his approval.
Upon approval by the Administrator, such State will become eligible for Federal grants to pay 70 percent of the cost of carrying out the approved programs. A total of $300 million is authorized for these grants as follows: $50 million for fiscal year 1972, $100 million for fiscal year 1973, and $150 million for fiscal year 1974.
To complement the procedures set out, the bill authorizes the Administrator to develop methods, processes, and procedures to restore fresh water lakes. Only in this manner can the program be fully used. While the Committee recognizes that many such techniques will require development, many methods now available have considerable potential for cleaning and restoring water quality to lakes. In view of the urgent need in many areas of the Nation, these methods should be supported.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, will the Senator from Minnesota yield?
Mr. MONDALE. I am happy to yield to the Senator from Maine.
Mr. MUSKIE. I should like to express my thanks to the distinguished Senator from Minnesota for his persistent and continuing interest in this aspect of the problem, to preserve our fresh water community lakes. Each of us has a different perspective on different problems in this particular area. The Senator's contribution in keeping the committee alerted to all the facets of the clean lakes problem has been of tremendous assistance to us, and certainly in the public interest, and I compliment him for it.
His State and mine have a monopoly on the so-called clean lakes of this country. We want to preserve them. I suppose that is what the Senator has in mind.
Mr. MONDALE. I thank the Senator. I think that the nature of the cosponsorship of the bill indicates it is a national problem.
There are 32 cosponsors of the proposal. At present there are thousands of fresh water lakes dying from pollution. This proposal will go a long way towards fighting the problem and I am grateful to the Senator from Maine and all other Senators for their support.
Mr. HUMPHREY. Mr. President, I wish to commend the distinguished chairman of the committee, the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. RANDOLPH) and the distinguished Senator from Maine for the dedication they have shown in their efforts to provide this Nation with clean air and clean water. I particularly commend the Senator from Maine for his knowledge, his expertise, and his fortitude, all of which are visibly evident in the bill before the Senate today.
The Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution has held hearings both in Washington and in the field. They have seen first hand the problems of water pollution – in Rehoboth Beach, in New Orleans, and in the Great Lakes. They have seen great rivers become primary sources of pollution of the coastal water, they have seen streams used to remove man's waste. They have seen lakes, small and large, polluted and ruined for recreational purposes.
And, they, like all of us, are outraged. Our natural environment has become unnatural – because man has allowed it to be so.
The legislation before us today promises a hope of ending that condition. It establishes as a national goal the elimination of discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters by 1985.
This goal is admirable. And, I believe that it is fully reachable.
The legislation also makes major changes in the enforcement water pollution standards. In fact, it changes the emphasis from one of quality standards to one of limits on effluent discharges.
It strengthens the Water Refuse Act of 1899. And, it restores the Federal-State imbalance endangered by that act. This bill provides for a reintegration of the State role in water pollution control for those States who have a superior plan to the minimum one developed by the Environmental Protection Agency under the provisions of this bill, the State plan would be the main mechanism of enforcement. For those States whose plans are not equal to those developed by the Agency under the rules of this legislation, the States would have an incentive to improve these plans.
There is one section of this bill – section 314 – known as Clean Lakes which requires each State to classify fresh water lakes according to water quality condition and to develop plans and methods for restoring those lakes. The committee report states that upon approval by the administration, the State will become eligible for Federal grants to pay 70 percent of the cost of carrying out the approved programs. This particular section has had wide cosponsorship – my able and distinguished colleague Senator MONDALE is to be commended for his leadership over several years in sponsoring this proposal. In this Congress I joined with him.
The bill contains grants and aids for the development of research and demonstration projects that will allow this Nation to use the best available technology for making our environment livable.
Finally, the bill provides a 4-year program of grants for sewage treatment and water quality facilities funded at a level of $14 billion through liscal year 1975.
This bill is sound legislation. It is farreaching legislation. And, it deserves the support of all Senators.
Mr. BURDICK. Mr. President, I rise in support of S. 2770. I am pleased to note that the clean lakes bill, known as S. 1017, which I cosponsored with Senator MONDALE, has been made a part of this legislation.
When we first introduced the original Clean Lakes Act in 1966, Senator MONDALE and I felt that it was an important first step toward pollution-free inland lakes. Essentially, the bill originally enabled the Federal Government to undertake basic study into the cause and prevention of lake pollution. When on April 3, 1970, the Water Quality Improvements Act incorporated our concept, a long struggle to protect our water resources had moved one step closer to its goal.
The bill which Senator MONDALE and I introduced in February of this year – the bill which has now been incorporated into the measure now before us – goes far beyond this research approach. It permits us to build upon the latest technology, some of which was developed under the auspices of our earlier proposal, and is aimed at the rehabilitation of lakes which are in danger of slipping beyond the point of no return.
Over the past years a wide variety of human endeavors has channeled an unrelieved flow of nutrients into the lakes of our Nation. Some of the offenders have been agricultural runoff, industrial and municipal waste, and even waste from lakeshore cottages and recreational facilities. In a very real sense, we who enjoy the use of the water have been a major source of the problem to which the present act is addressed.
The result has been the eutrophication, or the aging, of our inland bodies of water. In other words, algae has grown so rapidly that sufficient oxygen is not available to support other forms of life. Also, the desirable bacteria necessary to cleanse the waters of the refuse created in the natural life cycle have been pushed out. The result is water choked of life and filled with useless sludge.
Section 314 of today's bill embodies the essence of the bill we introduced earlier this year. It requires each State to classify fresh water lakes according to quality and to develop plans and methods for restoring those lakes which are found to be below accepted guidelines for purity. Upon approval of the plans by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the State will be eligible for Federal funds. A total of $300 million is authorized over a 3-year period for these purposes. The bill before us also authorizes further study into the technology of solving eutrophication and related pollution problems.
We are grateful to the members of the Public Works Committee and the Water Pollution Subcommittee for incorporating this additional tool in the war against pollution. I know the clean lakes provisions will be of inestimable value in helping to solve a variety of our most troublesome water pollution problems.