Kathy Castor To Speak on Water Resources Development Act

Kathy Castor will be holding a press conference tomorrow.

WHAT: Press conference with U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor
WHEN: Friday, June 01, 2007 at 10:00 a.m.
WHERE: Tampa Port Authority
WHY:
- Because the Tampa Port Authority has received a security grant to keep our ports secure, expand the port operations, and bring more jobs and economic opportunities to the Tampa Bay area.

- Because Congress has passed an amendment to save the port workers from the economic burden of having to pay twice for their security badges.

- Because the Water Resources Development Act recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives will provide funds for Tampa Harbor's Cut B navigation project to significantly improve navigational efficiency.

Barbara Boxer made a statement on the Senate floor in support of the bill. Boxer notes that the bill has been seven years in the making.

Mr. President, one of the lessons of Hurricane Katrina is that we ignore our water infrastructure needs at our nation's peril. We cannot allow this long a period of time to lapse between reauthorizing such an important bill and we will not.

Indeed, I hope to work with Senator Inhofe and all my colleagues to prepare another WRDA bill next year, and then continue on the regular biennial WRDA cycle that was customary practice for many years.

The Heritage Foundation has the idea that pretecting beaches from erosion are pork projects. The White House is also against preserving beaches.

But the White House has gone on record as opposing the $15 billion price tag of the WRDA version passed by the House of Representatives, so more negotiating is expected.

The administration expressed concern about spending proposals for wastewater and drinking water infrastructure projects - previously a state and local responsibility.

The statement of policy also expressed concern over "a costly commitment to periodic nourishment of sand beaches..."

A good reason to prevent beach erosion is for coastal flooding. The spending is a small amount compare to the money spent for potential disaster relief.