Copyright 1999 Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.
Federal Document Clearing House Congressional Testimony
May 03, 1999
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 582 words
HEADLINE:
TESTIMONY May 03, 1999 WILLIAM CLIFFORD SMITH CIVIL ENGINEER AND LAND SURVEYOR
HOUSE RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND REINVESTMENT
BODY:
Written Testimony to Committee on Resources
U. S. House of Representatives May 3, 1999 Testimony by William Clifford Smith
In Support of Conservation and Reinvestment Act of 1999 H.R.
701 Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee on Resources, I am William Clifford
Smith, a Civil Engineer and Land Surveyor from Houma, Terrebonne Parish,
Louisiana. I have lived in this area all of my life. The community in which I
live is 65 miles southwest of New Orleans and 30 miles north of the Gulf of
Mexico. This area is between the mouth of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya
Rivers. We truly live in the Delta area. The Mississippi and its tributaries
provide drainage and navigation improvements for 41% of the surface area of the
United States, of which all of this water and navigation flows through Louisiana
to the Gulf of Mexico. Over the last approximately I 00 years, the United States
government has leveed and controlled the Mississippi River and tributaries for
flood control and navigation improvements. It is estimated that approximately
70% of the grain exported from the United States traverses the Mississippi River
through Louisiana to international markets. For the benefit of the nation, these
flood control and navigation improvements have had some protection to our area,
but it has also been a major cause of the coastal deterioration of our lands. In
my community, over the last 60 years, we have lost approximately 400,000 acres
of surface area to the Gulf of Mexico. This has primarily been caused by the
controlling of the rivers and the cutting off of the delta building process. At
the same time, the exploration for oil and gas in coastal and offshore Louisiana
has been accelerating; and the navigation and access canals for pipelines and
other transportation needs have intensified this deterioration. Not only has our
area provided vast amounts of oil and gas for consumption by the United States
economy, but we are also the major port of embarkation for foreign oil coming
into our nation. It has been estimated that 70% of the energy consumed in the
United States originates from the Gulf Coast. I believe that House Bill 701 is a
proper way to allow funds to flow from the United States Treasury to areas such
as ours for truly mitigation benefits for the improvements necessary to reverse
the environmental impacts that are being affected in this region. Because of the
sacrifices our region has made for energy resources, flood control, and
navigation, it certainly seems reasonable that some of the direct wealth that
our area contributes to the national treasury should be used to mitigate,
control and manage the recurring natural resources that we have remaining. Our
fragile coastal area is still truly a national treasure and probably is the most
productive ecological area in the whole nation. We provide vast amounts of
seafood to this nation, and if the alarming coastal erosion problem is not
properly managed this vast resource for our nation will be lost forever. Surely
we in Louisiana cannot afford, and should not be expected, to provide all the
funds necessary for the resource management necessary to reverse some of these
drastic environmental and ecological changes that are happening, to us. Since we
now have documented that we are losing, in Louisiana, approximately 35 square
miles a year to coastal erosion, we humbly request that House Bill 701 be
approved by this committee and enacted by Congress as quickly as possible.
LOAD-DATE: June 2, 1999 
