Transcripts For CSPAN Hearing Focuses On Water Resources And The Economy 20170509

And introduced to everyone, we might go ahead before Opening Statements and do that before we lose someone. I would like to go ahead we already know Lieutenant General todd semonite. Time senatorthis who will recognize pete ron secretary ron is the secretary of transportation in maryland. State hes third been secretary of transportation. Hes also directed the Missouri Department of transportation and new mexico state highway and Transportation Department he just cant hold onto a job. [laughter] we are proud of the work he does in maryland. We have a challenging organization in maryland where the secretary of transportation is responsible for all modes of transportation and coordinating all modes of transportation. Has done an outstanding job and wrecking the department. Ofalso serves as president the American Association of hes held other positions and we are proud to have him before our committee. Recognize senator merkley for your introduction. Thank you, mr. Chairman and the wrecking member for holding the subcommittee hearing to not the importance of only is he a port commissioner, hes been a fisherman and small businessman for over 50 years. Involved in many aspects of the fishing community. He owns and operates a fishing vessel and owns the sacred see tuna brand sacred sea tuna brand. Hes the president of Aquatic Resources inc. And chairman of fish cred. Few people know as intimately as rick the importance of maintenance for our small ports and navigation channels and jetties. Rick should be home preparing his book for annual maintenance but hes here on behalf of the fisherman whose lives and livelihoods depend on this money to make sure they can get to save harbor. Betweenssed every bar francisco and canada thank you for being here, commissioner. Welcome. Senator shelby, would you like to introduce you are senator shelby thank you. Its a great opportunity to meet ryan,to introduce jimmy the director and ceo of the Alabama State Port Authority. Ive known jimmy and his family for many years and the work hes done at the Port Authority of not only vital to our state but also to the gulf coast region. Jimmy is the director and ceo of an Alabama State Port Authority the port of mobile is currently the 10th largest u. S. Seaport and import and export of Domestic Trade by total volume. The ports largest commodities are cold, crude oil, steel and petroleum. Coal, crude oil, steel and petroleum. 60 million tons of cargo moves to that port every year. Jimmy has continuously work to meet the growing demands of a market ina canal 2014, the port authorities submitted their requests to consider increasing the depth and width the corps subsequently began a j report with the deepening and widening which examines the potential costs and benefits associated of the port. The study is expected to conclude in 2019. The port of mobile provides access to nearly 15,000 miles of inland waterways serving the great lakes, ohio valley, upper mississippi and Tennessee Valley ports the port serves as an economic driver for much more than just mobile. The new administration has made Economic Growth a top priority to ensure that our industries and businesses can continue to compete in the increasingly complicated global marketplace. Facilitate this growth, its important that Congress Make infrastructure legislation a party. Thats a priority. Make infrastructure legislation a priority. There are 100 billion annually in economic benefit the Economic Growth associated with such investments. Im think full for the committee today under your leadership working to understand the challenges we are facing. I look forward to hearing the testimony from all the witnesses. Welcome. We have mr. Grant humphries of oklahoma. Nding in ive known his daddy for longer than hes been alive. Its a pleasure having you here in this capacity. Hes a Real Estate Developer and investor and homebuilder. 10 years ago, grant began the process of founding and developing carls landing in oklahoma. Some of you may not be aware of the fact that oklahoma has more wilds of fresh water shoreline than any of the other 50 states more miles of fresh water shoreline. Sharing hes the founder and principal of. Raditional craft homes project, grant has become involved with a community of lake developers in the region and can speak to his and others experiences with getting a project started. I welcome you here today. Is onbcommittee hearing the subject that is very important to our whole nation, including my state of oklahoma. Our nations Water Resources provide our economy with a platform for the movement of goods to facilitate trade with the world and bring jobs and many other benefits to the community that surround them. The projects generate over 109 billion annually in the benefit from over 34 billion in revenue to the United States treasury. Like most of our infrastructure, our Water Resources are aging. They are in great need of repair and upgrades. The last two congresses have worked to authorize new projects and create reforms to provide more federal funding and private investing. Something we couldnt do not too long ago. Todays hearing will exploit the benefits of our Water Resources to local and National Economies and examine the continued it needs that must the u. S. Can remain globally competitive and provide jobs. And other local benefits here at home. In oklahoma, we know these benefits firsthand with ports system connecting oklahoma with the river and the rest of the world. Corps engineers cheaperr state electricity come a jobs, flood protection and many recreational opportunities. The Navigation System is 445 miles long. It spans arkansas and the eastern part of oklahoma. Between the port of muskogee and tulsa port, oklahoma ports are home to over 70 countries and industries shipping 5. 7 million tons of cargo with values of 2. 6 billion, oklahomans the ability to move all kinds of goods without relying solely on one form of transportation keeps shipping costs low, benefiting companies that ship their wares regionally and globally competitive thing and a fitting consumers who can stretch their dollar further. Other army corps projects hope helped our committees by providing for flood Risk Management, water storage, hydropower and recreation. Corpsauthorized use of a project allows the surrounding communities to realize a greater potential for Economic Development and improves the quality of life for those who depend on the infrastructure either directly or indirectly. The challenge before us today is fornderstand the needs repairing and maintaining our current infrastructure and the need for new projects to ensure that the United States remains globally competitive in our communities continuing to reap the benefits of the army corps infrastructure. With the topic of infrastructure in the news during the election cycle of the time is now to work toward solutions to meeting these needs. I think the witnesses for being here today. Comment about a the attendance here this is taking place at the same time were having a Senate Armed Services committee. It is difficult to be two places at once. They will be going back and forth. Let me say what a pleasure it is to be sitting next to you in this committee. As we convene our first public hearing of our subcommittee. Senator in half and i came to the United States congress on the same day in the house of representatives. F. Senator inhof inhoff is one of the most progressive people in this country i know on infrastructure development. Always told him i would be glad to come to a state to campaign for him but he told me he would prefer for me to stay in maryland. The two of us share a passion for the importance of Water Infrastructure, roads, bridges, train systems, the entire modernization of our infrastructure. Both of us understand it means jobs. It means u. S. Competitiveness. It means america having the ability to be globally. Compete globally. Governmente the apart, the private sector part in putting this all together. I want to acknowledge my pleasure to serve as the ranking onber with senator inhoff the subcommittee our first with waterls resources. You heard him brag about his state on water projects. I could spend the next two hours talking about the state of maryland. Im not going to do that, but i will complement secretary ron for the leadership we have in our maryland port. I had a briefing on the maryland port last week. We are doing expertly well. The port of baltimore hit another record month. We are the closest to the midwest than any other east coast port. Baltimore is well known for the cars that come in and out of that port. We are significantly increasing s weacity on container handle a great deal. The general of commerce ranked portmore as the number one with 71 container movements each hour. We are pretty proud of our efficiency. Under our state leadership, we moved quickly, recognizing that the expansion of the panama canal would allow larger vessels to be handled. Baltimore is one of only four eastern u. S. Ports with a 50 foot channel and 50 foot container birth. 2016, a Cargo Carrier from taiwan was the first supersized container ship to reach baltimore through the panama canal. We are ready. S important to our economy i have some numbers. This will be typical of every port in our country. The business of the port jobs s 15,000 direct this is very important to our economy. 3 billion in wages and salaries contributing 310 million to the state and local tax revenues. This is important business for a senator from maryland and important business for a senator from every one of our states and thats why we are particularly pleased to have this hearing. I want to point out that we can do this just cant do this by just one stakeholder alone. Its very important the direct help of the Water Resources and we will talk today about the next important leg. In maryland, midday on the dredging of materials, reclaiming of lands my predecessor was directly responsible for the island, which has been a great model for the nation on allowing the reclaiming of land as well as a location for dredge material. We now need to move on to midday. We will talk about it. We also need the roads and and we alsorail need the private sector. This hearing is an attempt to try to understand we need all of the above. I hope that as a result of this hearing and further hearings we have that we will be able to get the investment by the public and private sector so america can indeed be competitive in our port and Water Activities and so we can get the job growth the country needs. Press sec. Spicer thank you, senator cardin. We worked so well together for so many years. We work on things that become. Roductive when weve been having our meetings on the republican side, we have them every tuesday at for now,i always say for the committee that actually does things. We had the fast act and the water act in the chemical act. And the chemical act. Three of the largest bills that were passed. What we are going to do because and we five witnesses have other committees at the same time, we will try to get a fiveminute maximum. Your entire statement will be made a part of the record. E start with general semonite. Im the semonite commanding general of the United States army corps of engineers and the 54th chief of engineers. Im pleased to be here today to discuss the role of the united army corps of engineers and the associated value of water resource investments across the nation. The corps has played his vatican role in the development of the nations Water Resources and currently manages an extensive water resource portfolio. This includes maintenance of 13,000 miles of coastal navigation channels, 12,000 miles of inland waterways must 241 locks, 14,000 miles of levees and hydropower plants and 75 locations. Provide Risk Reduction for flooding in a River Valleys and 2 billion tons of waterborne commerce and provide up to 24 of the nations hydropower. There are 250 million recreational visits a year, making the corps one of the top federal recreation providers. You bring significant value to the nation. U. S. Maritime Transportation Industry supports 2 trillion in commerce with over 2 billion moving through harbors much else and waterways constructed and maintained by the corps. Weightoverseas trade by and 99 by volume enters or leaves the u. S. Through a u. S. Coastal port. Then when waterway supports this commerce by facilitating the export of 60 of u. S. Grain, 22 of coal and Petroleum Products provide resilient Risk Reduction infrastructure and prepare individuals and committees for potential floods. Was possible for the construction and operation of 383 major dams and reservoir projects that regulate floodwaters in the nations major waterways intermediaries. And tributaries. Hastionally, the corps constructed over 90 coastal shore protection projects that provide storm damage reduction benefits to vulnerable coastal communities. Risk management reduction projects have prevented 65 billion worth of flood damages to urban and rural commuters across the nation. Maintains recreation facilities at over 400 of its multipurpose projects the corps has a long history of developing project with an existing recreation authorities. It leases half of the 5000 recreation sites at these multipurpose projects to the public and private entities, including private sector commercial operators, states and local governments. Private recreation sites include approximately 562 privately ,wned marinas, resorts campgrounds, boat ramps, fuel docks and Convenience Stores and other public use areas. The corps has constructed much of this infrastructure in the first half of the 21st century. Corpsimally half of the lock and dam facilities are 50 dedicates the corps a significant amount of its resources to maintaining the key features of these locks and dams , hydropower facilities and other Water Resources and infrastructure. Theificant portion of program is devoted to maintaining these systems so they can continue to provide economic and environmental benefits to the nation and to address significant risks to safety. To support the current and future requirements, the corps is exploring alternative financing and funding options, including Public Private partnerships. Policy an assessment of requirements and applications, the corps is seeking to demonstrate how a collaboration between the public and private sector may improve the corps abilities to deliver infrastructure needs. We greatly appreciate the support from the congress in addressing these needs. As required in 2014 come of the core provided a report to congress in the spring of 2016 capturing Lessons Learned from the exploration of p3 concepts to date. With the support of congress, the corps was able to start the Fargo Morehead flood Risk Management project in north dakota. We knowledge the congressional direction and the 2017 appropriation language regarding pieceed for a more robust three policy and we look forward to working with congress and the administration to develop this policy guidance. Investments reduce the risk of flood impact brought the nation and restore and protect significant ecosystems and generate lowcost renewable hydropower and support american jobs. Continued investment in critical and for structure projects is an investment in the nations economy and quality life now and in the future. Im happy to answer any questions you have. Thank you, general. Director lyons. Director lyons thank you, mr. Chairman. Organization is the nonfederal sponsor of the port of mobile, which is the 10th largest u. S. Seaport by total trade. The committee understands that 80 of Global Consumption occurs outside our borders. Promote wide bodied are already servicing our terminals albeit inefficiently. Weve attracted manufacturing and retail distribution investment, including walmarts newly announced 2. 6 million square Foot International distribution center, which is under construction now. Growth is unsustainable and our current channel depth and width. My organization has invested 150 million two of our investments in the private terminals were reporting doubledigit cargo growth. The generate 23. 5 billion in economic value and employ over 154,000 people. 4. 6seaports generate trillion in economic value. U. S. Seaports will invest 154. 8 1. 6ion and create 1. 6 million jobs. Ports are doing their part to grow the economy and we provide significant return on federal investment. Now come of the time has come for the demonstration and congress to give equal weight to seaports when grappling with infrastructure investments. Underfundingnt and ,esult in an efficient harbors reducing our Global Competitiveness and aggravating dredging backlog and impacting our tax base and job market. We must endeavor to revise law and reform procedures to better plan, fund, implement and maintain what infrastructure necessary for u. S. Commerce. Thats water in for structure. One, continue by annual review of the Water Resources Development Act to further timely reforms. Submithe course should on its civil works program, provide line item insight into cost. The poor should implement a fiveyear budget cycle. Corps should implement a fiveyear budget cycle. Yearsl only addressed two andwill not include project design, or construction phase funding. There should be budgeted and secured funds through completion. Three, provide full for maintenance obligations. Fiveyear budgeting cycles could provide Congress Specifics while providing new insights into newly authorized project maintenance. 333 waivermlined the process. Much of that science takes a year or more to complete. Guidance requires that the waivers be held until the projects are completed. It adds up to a year to the project. Five, reduce or eliminate the. Xternal peer reviews the court has qualified professionals capable of sound engineering and program delivery. On educatinguses consultants on the why rather delayingd engineering further implementation. We agree we must modern is that modernize our ports. As deepened and why didnt online,channels become we need to take a longer view towards a budgeting and identifying her grim savings by reducing bureaucracy. The Alabama State Port Authority. Hanks this committee i appreciate this opportunity and am happy to address any questions. Thank you, director lyons mr. Humphries . And not, it is a pleasure to be here today , itrman senator inhofe is a pleasure to be here today. Our families had a history on lake eufaula, we have been there over five years now. Over 45 years now. We called the place carlton landing. Acre site. 00 the land is connected to 10 miles of shoreline either owned or controlled by the corps of engineers. It is our understanding that the carlton landing will be used for roll economies, and provides a great place for people to live, work, and play. We have worked closely with the staff since 2007. We have found them capable and committed, i have Great Respect for their authority and their critical nature of their mission. In 2008, we put together a plan for world and landing which included homes, a town center, restaurant, schools, parks and trails. The vision was to complete a lakefront community. We understood our ability to implement that vision would be our abilities to work with the corps. It was suggested that we partner with a Conservation Group so we partnered with the nature conservancy. Then it was suggested that we might have a smoother track to get approval if we were a public entity. We incorporated into a public municipality. A threeyear time frame, through all these steps, the corpsresponse to our zoning but the was courteous, answer was always no. We discovered that due to the is had not been updated since 1977, the previous commander had made promises to federal and environmental agencies that absolutely no changes would be made until a was created. Congress had deferred the eis funding. Corpshands were tied. In march of 2011, senator in hofe met with tolls a district commander. Was now on aff new mission to update the eis. A new Shoreline Management plan was created and the zoning action plan was complete. Today, we are working on dozens of projects still with the corps office trying to bring that vision to fruition. Ultimately, it took us eight years to obtain permission for a boat dock attached you are only in. Time somehow despite our journey has been anything but easy. Believe that our efforts would continue to bear no fruit. In our case, the staff was well intended, but their hands were tied by regulatory learned lock. It is unclear how many corps jects have been affected this should not be the case, because it limits people and creates unrealistic timelines. Upon absolutely dependent obtaining assurances of entitlements in a reasonable timeframe. In preparation for todays hearing, i have received good feedback. Some have had a positive experience with the corps, but several have had a troubling experience here at some have had to walk away from the deals resulting in significant financial loss. I appreciate the nononsense hisoach to accomplishing mission, and i also appreciate the legislative work of the waterfront of element act. In closing, there is a strong market for careful, smart, Sustainable Development on our nations lakes, and waterways. If we are serious about attracting private investment in a way that protects our natural assets while also maximizing their value, i believe it is necessary to set the table for developers and create a better develop in people to a way that works. Thank you. Good afternoon mr. Chairman, senator cardin, thank you for allowing me to discuss the roles of private sectors in our ports. Ints are our key links Transportation Networks and federal navigation channels that provide access to these facilities. I think the committees for continuing to support Maritime Infrastructure and commerce among especially with respect to essential dredging projects that keep our shipping channels, our maritime highways safe and open for business here to this is a high priority for the hogan administration. Of baltimore is an economic engine. It generates approximately and about 28,000 jobs linked to port activities. The average income is 16 higher than the average maryland salary. Our Publicprivate Partnership agreement with Ports America Chesapeake and the availability of container birth has positioned baltimore to attract harbor growth of associated with last months panama can now expansion. Al expansion. These ships need deep water. Army corps of engineers has been very responsive to our port, shippers, carriers, and congressional concerns about the planning process and has initiated reforms that were word of 2014. E because of these planning major porthorized products that provided for improvements to accommodate the new generation of larger and more efficient ships, and capitalized on the improved can among canal. This inventory of new projects along with several ongoing efforts that predate word of 2014, produced 11 projects with a total cost in excess of 4 billion. Out of the 11 projects to date, only to dub it received federal funding, and a third project was that can simply not wait for federal funding. There is an increase over the administrations budget request for those years, it still requires about 15 years to layer existing inventory. In the highly competitive world of economy, the low level of funding to construct improvements is Holding America back and is simply on acceptable it is not only navigation projects that are at issue, like most ports, it is important that its 50ort maintenance of foot deep channel in terms of both depth and width to capitalize on anticipated growth and maintain our existing business. Amid chesapeake a island project that was authorized in word of 2014 will use a dredge material chains and barren islands, and recreate and environmental resource in the middle of the chesapeake tape. Of the chesapeake bay. This faces the authorization in 2021, if it does not receive funds by that time. Project is critical, because it will provide 45 plus years of dredge material placement capacity. I think the chairman and Ranking Member for their support of the midbay project. Additionally, federal funding dredging has been constrained over the last several years and continued constraints will negatively impact the court. With larger ships calling today, it is imperative that baltimores harbor and channels of be maintained. Ans will facilitate efficient and safe maritime commerce. This commerce contributes 26 to the u. S. Gdp. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify, and i will be happy to answer questions. Thank you secretary rahn. Cardin, andember all of the rest of the members, i appreciate the opportunity to speak here for small ports and the Pacific Northwest, oregon, and across the country. I come from a little town called. Andon, oregon a population a little over 3000, and i have it in a commercial fisherman for most of my life. Now, i fish for albacore tuna. Suppliednd i with enough provisions to be at c4 about two weeks at a time, offshore,nd much time because our boats are small and relatively slow, when weather is forecasted that is beyond our means to deal with, we have to go into what ever board is portst to us whatever is closest to us. Weather is even worse, we have to go downwind and take whatever port is on the trajectory. In bad weather, any port is a better than being at sea. Orry port, whether large small, is important. We have preferences, though, and the main reason we have preferences is because of bars. I understand some people here may not be familiar with the term crossing a bar. The Pacific Northwest, understanding that term can mean life or death. Formed where a hump is a in the entrance to a harbor from the downstream sediment that drops when it comes up against the swells and tides of the ocean. Tides, the river waters speeds up and narrows at that hump, and creates the pressure against the incoming swells. Build and stephen, and to buy over, and become en, and become breakers. Breaking bars are a unique condition relative to the rest of the coast. In the Pacific Northwest, every are is a breaking bar at one time or other. I didnt understand until i figure that out, why all of were small ports budgets zeroed out, year after year, administration after administration. Now, i know. So, i want to help you understand how important bar dredging is in the Pacific Northwest. There are a couple of ways to minimize breaking bars. One is to build jetties, and that has been done many, many decades ago all over the pacific lackwest, but because of of funding, most of those jetties are in disrepair and are becoming more dangerous and less effective. Another way is to dredge that hump that i referred to. Every year, sediment coming downstream comes up against the swell, where the river bottoms out, drops that sediment, that is caused by the heavy rains that are typical and characterize the Pacific Northwest coast. There is the thing both methods have in common and that is funding. The portland district of the army corps of engineers does a great job of a dredging our channels, and taking care of things given their resources, but when insufficient lending is provided as is often the case the bar shallow breaks and lives are lost. When those breakers are happening, the boat transiting that bar comes up against a freak or sneaker wave and is bigger or faster than the rest of the waves, and the boat basically turns into a surfboard, loses control and literally rolls over. Many deaths happen because of this. In oregon, there are 15 communities with small ports. Are the equivalent of an anchor business, everybody sitting at this table understands that. That found that 62 Million Dollars of economic benefit is generated annually as a result of our access to sea that is maintained by the port dredging. Operation and maintenance of our infrastructure and is a federal responsibility. I have been encouraged by the recent efforts in congress to money isat all of the paid into the trust fund every year and is it used to fund the corps of engineers. Small ports, we are concerned it will not happen quickly enough. Again, i appreciate this opportunity to talk with you, and i know it might be hard to erstand, but if Everything Everything you have is wrapped up in your boat, and your boat feed your family, im just asking you to give us the best chance we can that we can make it in home to our families. Thank you. He, that was goc very informational. What were going to do is have a five minute session of asking questions, and then if there is a desire for more or a second round, we can do that. Start off, lt. Gen. Semonite. We have been listening to the president now and when he was campaigning talking about a very ambitious infrastructure program, and i would like to ask if you have had conversations either with the president or members of the administration, concerning any of the details of what the plans are from his perspective . Yes, sir. Emonite i think first of all, the most important thing of those discussions has been a theme that all of you have already dead, and that is Many Americans think of roads, airfields, bridges, we need to continue to expand that dialogue to talk about coastal ports and inland waterways. Questionsd several from the administration to my staff asking specifically what are some things that are some significant challenges that you are faced with on budgetary issues and where could there be some projects that would be well served by additional infrastructure funding. I think the other thing, though, is the administration is interested in the potential for privatePublic Partnerships varied we have been asked a lot of questions about what would be the studies or cases where a privatepublic partnership could take some of that burden off of the tax payers. I think the third area is the tostions where comes processes or procedures where we could on encumber you and allow you to do your job in a manner that might be more efficient and effective. Working through the assistant secretary of the army first double works, we have provided answers to some of those questions. We do not know the output right now, we have been in a provide mode. Think it is important that the public knows these conversations are taking place . Conversations,w also. I know that this committee has been very vivid. Remember one of your appearances in reference to the tulsa district, we had that unpleasant experience with a statement ifes it were up to me, there would be no lake development. I want to get in the record right now, your response to that statement. Lt. Gen. Semonite i think theyll say the same thing i said last month. The corps of engineers certainly sees a very act of role or privatePublic Partnerships, and with respect to our recreation facilities and some of the numbers i gave you, we would continue to endorse those. Mythere was a member of staff who felt that, that is not appropriate, then that is on me and i will fix that. I do think it is important to clarify, though, that there are some very specific a ambles where the appropriate specific examples where the appropriate procedures were not followed. And as a result, we had to read west request the right information, design, permitting, that kind of stuff. There could be questions with specific cases that come up here to come up. Yes. That circumstance does not fit those cases, however appeared you talked about the difficulty in navigating the permitting processes with the corps of engineers. Are there other examples you would like to share with us . Sure. It now we are going through a on private land that extends into the lake. It is not part of the corps property, and it is affected by flow. We are trying to put a Waterfront Park and this area, so doing Erosion Control and a swim beach and this is carlton landing we have been wanting to see built out from the beginning. We ran into an issue where there where it is the elevation you can develop a down to that land and not have to worry about flood risk. Below that, we didnt realize there is also a 585 line which is the top of a conservation poll. Officeso get into the before we understood there were a couple of feet we had to get into below 585 that was going to bump us into a general permit adding four to six months onto the pro process. If we had known that at the beginning of the process, it could have been avoided. I think that is good. There is not time to give examples that are out there, but it is a bureaucratic i think everyone up here knows that, and everyone up here knows that. Senator could get cardin. Senator cardin i want to knowledge they tremendous return on investment we get. To one onit is 22 economic benefits. It is a good investment, and i want to get to the point that secretary rahn made and that is because of the backlog of projects and the limited amount of moneys, there are delays, and those delays could very well cause projects that were not authorized to be funded within the time restrictions and could jeopardize the projects being done at all. I take it what we are facing in maryland is not typical to what is happening around the country. That is right. And i think it is a more important to understand the National Ramifications of some of the projects that dont get done. I will talk about midday island. I was the Division Commander in new york. There is Great Potential there. The challenge is, if we dont find a way find a place to put dredge material, these harbors and forth will have more and more challenges. Will run out of land somewhere around 2027 based on current conditions. If we dont find it on the shores of the land and that is hard, because of land of element and condominiums, and everything else, if we dont do it inside the water when the sediment is ok to dump inside the water or if we dont weld islands like midday, dont have any other options. We have to find some solution to be able to solve these problems. I thank you for that and that is why congress authorized midday in 2014. We still had capacity at Poplar Island, we still had capacity for dredge material, but we knew if we did not start that all rolling, we would run out of capacity. And i remember coming to Congress Many years ago with titles on where youre going to be able to put dredge material and it was politically impossible to find a location in the baltimore region to put the dredge material. And then, my predecessors came up with Poplar Island and it became a winwin situation. It is now an Environmental Restoration project, and the location for a significant amount of the dredge material, but that is a running near its capacity. We still have some time left. , can you just tell me where we are in regards to that and how to stay on track as far as being authorized by the army corps and funded. . Where we are as far as midbay, the plan right now is it would be coming on as Poplar Island, which is incredibly popular with the public where wildlife out to see and enjoy the area. As it is being filled to capacity, we need another place to go, and that has been designated as midbay. To study been a dmmp placement of the dredge materials. That has been going on since 2011. It should be completed hopefully sometime this summer, and at that point once we have an it should go to headquarters for approval from the corps of engineers headquarters, and then it has to be funded. All of those things have to occur, but right now we are fairly confident about approval of the dmmp plan. Are approvalsteps and funding. We need to start with that and continue with that to make sure the country continues to benefit from the productivity of the baltimore port. Not on if it doesnt stay on schedule, we run out of capacity, does that mean we jeopardize the ability to depth . E width and for commercial activities . It absolutely does. Right now we are seeing benefits that cannot occur if the general itself is filling in. If we have a major storm that comes up the bay we will lose the capacity of the channel much sooner. Thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you. You. Nk no, thank it. Thank you, i appreciate thank you gentlemen for appearing here today. Thank you very much. It is really good to see you again. Given the topic of todays hearing would like to continue the conversation that we have been having regarding the cedar rapids flood Risk Management project. What i would like to do is share with everyone here today, those on the committee and those of you on the panel and in the audience, that the september 2016 flood which impacted cedar river, where the cedar crested at a level second only to the 2008 500 year flood event , caused cedar rapids to lose 26 million in sales and production due to being essentially shut down for an entire week when they were evacuated due to the floods. As i have mentioned to you before, cedar rapids is our second largest city. Its success is critical to the entire economic wellbeing of iowa. There are products that cedar rapids produces a manufacturers that have domestic and global impacts. For example, breakfast cereal manufacturers in cedar rapids produces 13 of total u. S. Output. Industry in cedar rapids also processes as much as 19 of the global old crops in value added manufacturing per year. What corn accounts for 80 of u. S. To messick ethanol production. Processtity of corn each year in cedar rapids domestiche size of the crop of canada, africa or the russian federation. That is a lot of corn. These are all products and goods that at some point or another rely on the Core Infrastructure to move. With that being said, i noticed a couple provisions i mentioned earlier. I think it could apply to a Community Like cedar rapids. There seems to be new provisions in the core work plan that requires you to provide congress with more descriptions of the Rating Systems used to eat highway projects and explain why certain projects were considered as being less competitive. I also saw the provision that said, administration, budget metrics should not be a reason to disqualify a study or project from being funded. We think that is a great step forward. Can i take this as a sign that the core and the administration are looking to improve its system that calculates the economic benefits of Flood Control projects, and will you commit to continuing to work to make sure that we are able to move the cedar rapids flood mitigation project forward in fiscal year 2018 . You and i have talked several times and no, we are in all of the people of cedar rapids who work a relic back in that flood. Were he wrote heroic. We are committed to do everything we can to continue to champion that project. It willknow exactly fall out in the rest of the process. We have to continue pushing. As it went through all these different examples of what passes through cedar rapids on a daily basis, the impact to the economics of the state is pretty clear. When you are comparing the cost of the property in iowa, it is much lower than the cost of a property on the coastline. You have milliondollar homes, but that doesnt mean to a person living in iowa that their home is worth any less. It is just based on what anyone else believes the vital of a home is. We do value of a home is. A reminder, the assistance that cedar rapids needs from the corp is 3 of the cost of damages it went through in 2008. We need to continue pushing this issue. I look forward to mow conversations with you in the future and a way forward for the people of cedar rapids. Thank you, general. Thank you, senator. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to focus on the harper maintenance trust fund. In 2016 the amount spent was 80 of the incoming receipts. In 2017 that felt the 55 of the receipts. Isquestion for you general, if we had spent all the receipts from 2017, do you have enough Infrastructure Projects for those funds . Senator, there is clearly a very long list of requirements. We definitely have most of the time more requirements than funds available. So the question i want to that go, these receipts into the Harbor Maintenance trust fund, they are from the industry itself, from the shipping. Given the state of our jetties and the state of our dredges, given the state of our locks and shouldnt we spend every dollar that comes in on maintenance of our Water Infrastructure . Sir, i think that obviously a lot of different considerations go into the use of the Harbor Maintenance trust fund. I would just continue to say that we Will Champion full use of that where possible. But as far as exactly how that has expanded, there are obviously a lot of players. Thank you, general. Appropriately, diplomatically stated. The point that yes, there are plenty of Infrastructure Projects that need to be worked on. Mr. Lyons, i believe you said in your testimony that under in seaport channels and harbors and underfunding result in inefficient channels and poorly maintained harbors, reducing u. S. Global competitiveness, all of which adversely impact the u. S. Tax base and job market. Would you support using all of the Harbor Maintenance trust funds to actually sustain, maintain and improve infrastructure . Yes i would. Said thatas a general there are plenty of projects out there. That are a lot of projects are marginally maintained or not even maintained to their full authorized depths. We have especially big problems in the great lakes ports. Our harbor requires maintenance because we are fed by a river. Some years we have much more material to move than others. There are years where we are very marginally able to take care of, and sometimes we have delays where we have to experience a narrower channel we have to go to only traffic because of the size of the channel has filled up in a have not been able to get to it. Yes, i would absolutely support that. Thank you. When you are looking at the ports on the oregon coast and we , anda year of dredging some of these ports that have Rivers Feeding them and so silt coming down the river, is it problematic for the commerce and safety of that community . Absolutely, senator. Case in point on the rogue river, they missed one year of dredging and it was a particularly wet year that year. Now it is going to cost way more than two years worth of dredging to get that caught up because its silted in so badly that now they cannot go in with a regular court dredge. Core dredge. They will have to use a pipe to even get the core dredge in. 800,000 justra to get back to where you can do the normal project. Correct. Sometimes you have a situation where not only is it boats coming in, but also the ability the coast guard get out to rescue. Yes, and that is the case once again on the road. I dont think theyre going to be able to even get the coast guard come in on this bad breaking bar because the coast guard doesnt have enough depth to transit. Usesould easily find important to you economy and the safety of oregons coastal communities for spending some of the unspent Harbor Maintenance trust fund . You bet. Thank you so much to share your perspective. 10 ally do appreciate the set aside. That has been so important to oregons coastal economy. Something we need to keep doing for all of our smaller ports around the country. Merkley. You, senator thank you, mr. Chairman. General will you have had a lot of experience with the corp. We have been talking but the panama canal and its relevance tell us how important the modernization of the panama canal is and what impact it will have or should have on all our. Orts opening ofere at the the panama canal. I was amazed at the amount of volume that came through. , what thatc impact will do both on the economy, gdp. I think that is off the table on how much impact that will have. Would you call it a game changer . Yes sir. Now and in the future . Not every single port will take the big ships, without a doubt. If you dont have the second or third order of affected take the role on down, that wont limit us on our ability to be able to continue to expand internationally. It will hurt our trade overall, will it not . It will certainly have an impact. Feet, 46ort is 45 feet, and some of the ships need 50 feet or close to it, and if they cant put a full load in there, then it is not efficient, is it . Certainly not. Its like flying an airplane and because of the runway, you cant deal with it. Thats correct. Ok. So it is a game changer, is it not . It definitely is. If a port is not the right size than that particular part of the country that cannot receive that ship, therefore industry will where they have an investment. The port of mobile is 45 feet as i understand it, is that right . That is correct. And it has an authorized to go to 55. Yes, in 1986. Widened. O needs to be twoe to ships can move ships can move around . Our current channel is 400 feet wide. When we have ships exceeding, we are extracting to oneway traffic. As i mentioned, we had a lot of widebody tankers coming in that are 150, 160 feet wide. Ships, we arener oneway traffic there. Ps are expensive and it is costing money which is eventually costing the cost structure of ships when they have to build delays into it. We had that occur multiple times every week. Mentioned yourou Container Freight has gone up tremendously. Yes. We are a relatively new container port. We only opened in 2008. Previouslyerties been with products like steel and coal. Manufacturing in the southeast has changed significantly. Retail distribution is beginning to realize that they cannot be totally reliant upon the west coast and east coast to efficiently move at all times, so they are looking for alternate gateways. This is why walmart selected mobile for this 2. 6 million squareFoot International distribution center, one of six big ones that walmart has the country. As a result, we have the bigger ships coming. A lot more Container Freight. A lot more. It grew 19 last year. I know you dont have a map i wish you had a map here to of where mobile is located is,where the panama canal and the proximity to go through the panama canal and you look u have a straight shot to the port of mobile, do you not . Is a straight shot. Mica said, we are and like i said, we are an infant port. We now have three ships a week, every week. One of those shipping lines is going to the large ships this year. Next year the others will go to post an imax post panamax. Verysian trade is important to our port. You know a lot about panama and the ports. Can you share with us your vision of where the panama canal through and comes where it lands up as far as the port of mobile is concerned . As the crow flies. There is clearly a proximity issue that mobile has the other places dont have the advantage of. We are right on schedule now to have that done by november 2019. We dont see any significant problems with getting that done. If congress so finds that on their priority, that will be well postured to be able to be deepened. Channel wider channel would be a gain ginger for the port of mobile, would it not . Yes. The actual depth we dont know. That will be the result of the study. We know. Thank you much. Thank you, mr. Chairman for convening todays hearing. Ant to thank our winners witnesses for participating. Our inland waterway system is a critically important system of our nation and a barometer for gauging the health of the midwest region, environmental and native species. The rivers surrounding illinois provide enormous benefits and i believe congressmans advertising effective protections of these resources, the river system. We do agree . Yes. The mccook reservoir is approximately 91 complete. Million in over 114 damage to chicagoland area and a cost ratio of 2. 96, which is a very high score for an army corps project. Orps willpledge the c work closely with us to complete the project on schedule including fiscal year 2017 funding so we can avoid the type of damages we have suffered over the last three declarations . We see great merit in this. This is a life safety issue, a flood Risk Management project. Clearly the majority of that first half is done and works very well. We will continue to champion that reservoir to get appropriate funding. Thank you. I recognize there may be other agencies pressuring you to abandon this project. I want to make it clear it is unacceptable to leave my constituents at risk, especially when were so close to finishing. Stage two started securing funding over 10 years ago and were just finishing. We dont see any significant other challenges with other agencies. We feel very firm that is a very smart project to finish. Good news. Thank you. When it comes to combating Invasive Species threatening the great lakes come illinois may face the most daunting challenge in the need to effectively stop the asian carp without disrupting inland waterways operations in harming the economy. It is a real balancing act. We canve we can achieve these objectives. Inform a solution. It is why i and many other relates stakeholders are deeply great lakes stakeholders dont want you to delay the plan. Not much transparency or explanation. It was widely reported that this decision was a resort outside pressure from the white house. Will you explain why the report was delayed and provide us with an updated timeline for its release . Senator, you know that report was completed by us, prepared to go out for public comment. I do not know the details of what the cause of us being put on hold for that report. But we will hold until we are advised to release that report. That is something were following guidance. Where is that guidance coming from . All i know is it is coming from my higher headquarters i is the assisted cannot elaborate as to where it would be above that. I dont know. So i need to reach out to the assistant secretary. That would be best. I do think it is very important to move this forward so that we can have something in place. Earlier this year i joined several of my great lakes colleagues to highlight our concerns about the corps reevaluation. Rather than calculating based on traditional methods used for other lock projects, it was our understanding the corps used unique modes of transportation never used before to base his conclusions. The february 21 letter which i asked yunnans consent unanimous consent to be entered into the record, asked the court to calculate the project economic and if its with a manner consistent with other violations. Will you commit to us that the corps will do this within two years . I do not know exactly the particulars of that one and im not prepared to answer that. Sue locke is very important to this nation. We see National Security issues. It is an old block. Lock. I would have to get back to you. We will get back to you. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Really appreciate the testimony today. Very important. Commissioner, i really appreciate your testimony as a senator who represents thousands of fishermen in communities with small ports. Your testimony was particularly compelling. I want to shift the focus little bit more north where im from. General, we had a lot of interest in the arctic right now. I think a lot of people are waking up to that. As a matter of fact, the arctic two daysaving a in alaska all four ministers of the arctic nations will be up there. Au may have seen there was requirement from the secretary of defense and Homeland Security to designate a strategic arctic court given our increasing interest in the arctic, and shipping traffic, Natural Resources come a search and rescue, protecting the environment. Theres a lot going on up there. I wanted to talk about two ports. First report of nome. Corps has over a 100 years history in nome, alaska. There was a focus on the deepwater just studied than some after shell left alaska and the oil and gas exploration. Two additional word of thatsions this past bill came into law in december. Now you commit to us those were designed to help get the corps focused again on nome that you can commit to having nome as part of your work plan moving forward again on the deep draft board study and work that was ongoing, so we have the hiccup of some of those oil and gas issues . Thank you we are actively working on nome now. The benefit cost ratio is below 1 sweat think that is why there was a request. But there are provisions you say you have entire other areas to look at, particularly in the me services 54 different communities throughout western alaska and the nome area. We have sent letters out to both the navy and Homeland Security to be able to make sure we understand where their potential use might be. We are waiting for their response. I can tell you what we hear from that. Be able to see if in fact there is an additional reason from both of them to be able to expand report of nome. I would like to get offline with you because there are two specific provisions in the bill. They are very focused on that. I know we worked with your staff on the language to get the corps moving again. If there are delays any to understand why there are delays when the law has been changed to actually get the corps to move out on this issue. We are working implementation ince to be able to see think the best thing i can do is come see you, i will lay this out. Im not exactly aware of the two extra provisions you are talking about. The information i have is we are waiting for a response back from the two departments as to what would be a strategic rationale ill able to have nome come back and get with you and we walk our way through the spirit through this. Thank you. Let me ask about another potential port in the area. What is the corps view of the effectiveness of using public or private partnerships for the developing of poor spencer port spencer . I dont know on spencer. We are very interested in anything with a p3. The challenge is how do we put together the right package to continue to make it through the system. If we get together i will certainly layout spencer for you as well. Great. Section 119 of the win act to the law related to add further rate regulated can you give me a sense of the timing on that provision and how youre looking at it . The district of alaska has a lot of interest on that provision and we welcome welcome your engagement. We support this as well. Cost chair of the first 450,000, mainly for native american tribes. This is something that we will do. We are writing through exactly what the implementation guidance is to be will to say here is how you qualify for that. Those tribes that do not have enough money to come into his study, we dont think they should be disadvantaged. We support that we just have to get the details together so we can put it on the street and people will know how to apply. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator sullivan. I would like to make a few more comments, actually have another round in case of other members come who have not yet been here. General, when of the reasons i brought this up in terms of the Late Development is just to make sure that everyone remember the i first one i think was in oklahoma and georgia immediately followed. The corps got into that business. That was a long time ago. I wanted to mention another thing too, which is really concerned me for so long, and that is this montgomery lock and dam. You go down the mississippi river, and im sure your family with it, you have its the tree river project. If you take the distance from the mississippi to oklahoma, would be45 miles that done away with and useless if we cannot ultimately find a solution to this montgomery are we waiting for what they refer to as the three river setting . Senator, im going to have to get back to you on that. Projects thatral we are looking to continue to champion, but i do not know exactly where we are at on that particular one. Senator bozeman and i dont need to take the time of the whole panel, but we are very much interested in that. That has been a problem. Montgomery point lock and dam and the depth issue for a long time. What if we set up something and either get the two of us together with you and see if we cant come to some determination . Sound reasonable . Sounds great. In the openings, statement we talked about the development, like your development, what it means to surrounding communities, the economy, what benefits are there that people might not think about, because i know there are great benefits. Will you share your thoughts on that . Id be happy to. When we look at a project like carlton landing, we are in a rural area of oklahoma that has seen economy shift to the urban areas. You have great Natural Beauty but you dont have a lot of drivers. First and foremost we provide jobs in the construction industry. Construction activity alone would add about 125 to 150 trades, with the same number at any time working offsite. Impact overeconomic the longer term we expect to see over 2 billion of private investment as the master plan is built out. We expect carlton landing to be one of the more important projects for southeast oklahoma and also the growth of the oklahoma tourism industry. Im happy to serve on the states Tourism Commission and we think longterm Carlton Lanning could help bring dollars from outside the oklahoma cross state lines back into the oklahoma tourism business. Since our project is a new community is not just subdivision, we also enhance the quality of life. Ruralve the states first charter school. About 80 of the kids attending come from outside of carlton landing. Some drive as far as 30 minutes away. These are kids, some come from Strong Families become some come from situations where their parents are incarcerated or foster care children and where bringing them in and giving them a new opportunity to look and see life with new options. We are excited about that. But all this together, we see Development Activity and Community Building as something that has tangible and intangible and a lotmonetary about it to folks quality of life that you cant put a number two. To. A number thats a greats thing. Growth. Ee the yeah seen such a great growth where private investments are coming in like i said earlier, we just need to set the table. There are some policy procedures that need to take place that help developers understand the regulatory landscape. I had an opportunity to speak with the general before and we will give our recommendations on things that they can do with the and justregulations, educating and laying out a game plan so people understand what the process looks like. You have done a Successful Operation and spread a lot of goodwill and helped a lot of people. Thank you, sir. We stalled just long enough until senator marcum got here. We will recognize him. Thank you, mr. Chairman. You for the water bill from 2014 because in that bill, for there 216 million Boston Harbor project so we could accommodate the new super ships humming through the panama canal. Then i thank you for last years bill because then we added wither 16 million to do additional complicating but necessary features that had to be built in. We thank you for both of that. Thats a perfect example of the way the committee operated under your leadership on all of those issues. Can shuthere is no because there is no actual money construction yet because there is no actual money yet. General, can i get your commitment that you can work with us to telescope the timeframe that it will take to get the funding for that critically essential project for boston . Because without it we are going to be a port that is not able to fully benefit from this change. Senator, thank you for the question. I was Division Commander in new york when we started that project in 2007. On the the 17 budget is street but the 17 workplan is not and the 18 budget will come out in a couple weeks so it is premature for me to talk about where that is at. Congress has given us new starts that we can allocate. As soon as we see where that plays out in a couple weeks we will be able to advise you on Boston Harbor. What is a project that we see merit in two. Into. Be question is where it will be falling in terms of prioritization. I know the project well. Its going to be very helpful, so i thank you for that. Secretary, do we need more direct federal spending to assure americas courts can remain sports can remain americas ports can remain competitive in this new era . Yes. We have to. We have neglected infrastructure across the board for decades. The answer is that yes we have to invest more, and frankly, i am confused as to why we have not, since infrastructure has always seemed to be one of those things that birth that both parties can agree to and was a was critical to our national wellbeing. The answer is yes we need additional federal funds, even just in maryland we have substantial needs that go well beyond the midbay project. As a country that is so integrated into the global economy, we need all of these assets that allow us to link in. In maryland, we are very much linked into that global economy. We have needs for the next phase of construction at our Popular Island project. Cnd canal. Ds there is so much of their that we as a state do not have the capacity to address and frankly, we choir federal investment to make that happen. Require federal investment to make that happen. I thank everyone for their great work in this area. It is the obligation of the members of the senate to assist the communities which we represent, who are adversely affected by sealevel rise, climate change, to a data to the new reality. I gapped to the new reality. Aat is why i have adapted project where sand is pumped onto beaches to protect against coastal erosion and storm surge. The town of sandwich in tosachusetts, it attempted use sand from the federal Cape Cod Canal which otherwise would be dumped into the ocean to protect their town and federal requirements became a major obstacle. The army corps required the homeowners to provide easements, seating away their Coastal Property line forever, even ugly sand from this beneficial use project would only remain on the beach for five years. Ultimately the town was unable to use federal funding for this essential shoreline protection project. General, dost ask you believe it is reasonable for the army corps to require Property Owners to provide easements in perpetuity for beneficial use projects if the sand is only going to last for a few years . Would it be more appropriate for the easement to last as long as that sand remains on the beach, just as kind of a practical way of dealing with the issue . Two things. i dont know the details of sandwich. I know about the sand issue. Im not sure ive ever been asked the question of how long should an easement ask. Last. We can have the dialogue. What we are doing is following the policy which we had been consistent on. If federal dollars are going to put sand on a beach than normally those landowners have to be able to provide access local people to get to the beach. I would just like to be able to work with the army corps on striking a balance, especially if that sand is once again just going to be washed away. We are always looking at options. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you and the Ranking Member for holding this hearing. This really is an important thing is to go forward in trying to figure out some infrastructure problems. Visiting a senator and heard the comment about the three rivers situation that we have in arkansas with the white river, mississippi. I want to reemphasize how important that project is. Whenis not an if, its a it is going to fail. Probably up to one year as far as shutting down the arkansas river, which would be a real problem for arkansas and oklahoma but really the whole nation in the sense of being able to move goods and services. Can i get a quick update . I was not fast enough when the senator asked me, but basically this is only three river setting , we completed the alternatives milestone meeting in december. The tentative plan was completed. Foreleased the draft report technical review. That was last april. Right now were looking at milestone decision scheduled for july 17. Were working our way through this. It is scheduled for march 18 in a chief report in june 18. Thats the current milestone which is aggressive. We do think there is great merit that we want to stay on timeline and this has continued to get funding, premature to talk about , but we continue to see a lot of value in that. We appreciate that and appreciate you pushing forward. Thats a matter of if, not when. Areklahoma and arkansas we experiencing these 500 year floods about every two years. They are really playing havoc. The waterways held up fairly well this last one. It caused a lot of damage. Were in the process of working through that with you. Apart from that, there is a lot of concern about the inefficiency in the delivery of infrastructure investments. Projects that should reasonably be completed in a few years typically last decades, belaying Public Benefits and exponentially increasing cost. All, can private Public Partnerships help andlerate the delivery create better value as far as the infrastructure . Do you have any ideas in the sense that with Publicprivate Partnerships that help with that situation . It definitely would. I will give you a quick data point. What it does is it allows all the funding up front. As opposed to dragging it out over whatever time we could afford it to the federal government we are able to see that upfront investment. I would just give you the simple numbers that i use. The one federal study we havent able to push through which is Fargo Morehead, if you do it the regular way it would take 16 years. The way we are doing it up there is 6. 5 years. I just want to give you a data point. 16 versus 6. 5. The regular way would have been 850 million. Million. Ay is 450 the regular way would be up to 28 contracts. P3 is 11. Are probably what the half the normal process. We have to get the whole team to be synchronized as to how can we then and able p3. There are a lot of people that say p3 has marriage but we have to make sure through all the different mays of the approval process that a p3 can see the light of day. And we are having challenges as to how disorganized that better. How we can synchronize that better. That is great news. I know senators here will work very hard. We will do the same on the water subcommittee. Really looking forward to see how we can make that example happen all over the country versus what we are experiencing right now. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator bozeman. Let me thank our witnesses. I think this hearing points out the importance for us, general, to take a look earlier in the process at the next word a bill. Senator markey is correct come in 2014 we passed the Water Resources bill which was the first time it was seven years earlier with pastor last one. We made a commitment to pass one every two years. We barely did that in 2016 when the last bill was passed in congress. Because weallenge had to do with the rules on how we direct spending and it was not as easy to figure out all the different nuances. One thing is clear we are going to see different rules coming down from this administration, and i think it is going to be important for us to try to figure this out as a Congress Earlier rather than later, which may require some legislative authorization in order to make sure that projects like midbay are not inadvertently jeopardized because of the budgetary scheduling that is being followed on these projects. I would urge us to take an earlier look at just the way we are going to authorize the next water bill so that we can make sure we get it done next year. I expect it will be the next year, not this year. But if we could pay a little earlier attention. Secretary ron, i think you are correct to point out that although in maryland we concentrated on midbay, there are many other projects in maryland and around the nation and im glad you mentioned the cno and cnd. Notlso have other projects finished. General, i could mention our efforts to make sure we protect our btree nurturance and hurricane protection. These are all programs which will require our attention as you look at ways to make sure we can modernize our infrastructure and meet the current challenges. We know that under the best of circumstances, the resources are going to be very difficult on the public side. You know that. Even if we do well is going to be a challenge. We can create more opportunities that we all agree are needed. I think this hearing has been very helpful and i want to thank all the witnesses for your testimony. I doo, too. I thank you for your contribution and your partnership. We have been doing this for a long time together. I thank all the witnesses for coming. Humphries. Y grant i have followed this development and i use this as kind of a model. Aboutented and minute ago a rarely known fact that we had more miles of freshwater shoreline in oklahoma than any of the 50 states. We have a lot of beauty that goes with that. So you made great contributions. I think all the witnesses very much and we are adjourned. I thank all the witnesses very much, and we are adjourned. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] announcer the senators in this subcommittee heading out not to join others on the floor of the Senate Voting in about 10 minutes to confirm Scott Gottlieb to lead the fda. You can continue watching the action live on cspan2. On the other side of the capital, the house out this week. Many members back home for a district work period including illinois congressman who tweeted about hazards members are facing academician, writing he had a great time despite getting a bee sting in an orchard where he checked out the worlds best tasting honey and discussed pollinator health. Illinois member had a a local familyowned manufacturer with about 20 workers. Marsha blackburn, republican from tennessee, sent out this video of her visit to a tmobile call center. The house returning next tuesday , live coverage here on cspan. To experience a for filling, purposeful life, one thing you are going to have to do is this live a large life. You are your own stories. Free to imagine and experience what it means to be human. We have a responsibility in o ur time, as others have had in theirs. Not to be prisoners of history but to shape history. A responsibility to fill the role of pathfinder. Holding fast to your compass of values. Faith, honestly, loyalty, patriotism and generosity. Announcer just a few past commencement speeches from the cspan video library. This year watch speeches by politicians and white house officials on may 20, may 27, may 29, memorial day and june 3 on cspan and www. Cspan. Org. Cspan, where history unfolds daily. In 1970 nine, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies. It is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Announcer coming up tonight, more live coverage on cspan. Eastern, the north dakota senator will join john mccains wife for discussion about efforts to discuss human trafficking. Cindy mccain and senator heitkamp live at 6 30 eastern. Later in the week cia director and fbi director james comey and National Intelligence director James Coates William capitol hill to testify about worldwide threats. You can watch live coverage of the Senate Intelligence Committee Thursday morning 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Today on washington journal we put the spotlight on the coal industry. The life of a coal miner and government regulations. We also spent time at a coal truck and real terminal in ohio. About 25,000 to 30,000 tons of co