At 10:40 this morning on Friday, March 12, the US House of Representatives passed the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 2009. The PURRE Water Coalition has been pushing for this legislation for the last two years and was involved in commenting on the draft prior to its introduction on September 25, 2009.
During the debate on the House floor earlier in the week Subcommittee Chairman Brian Baird from Washington State mentioned the support of the PURRE Water Coalition as one of a “broad group of stakeholders.” Prior to final passage, Sanibel Island was mentioned in remarks by Representatives Connie Mack and Kathy Castor.
“There is simply no more beautiful place to vacation than Sanibel and Captiva,” Castor said. “But tourists simply don’t want to visit polluted beaches, and word spreads. It is directly tied to jobs, and if that happened in this economy, it would be very detrimental.”
This legislation would establish and maintain a National Harmful Algal Bloom and hypoxia program. This program would develop and coordinate a comprehensive strategy to address harmful algal blooms and hypoxia. It would provide for the development and implementation of comprehensive regional action plans to reduce harmful algal blooms and hypoxia. It would go a step further and provide the ability to fund research in technology to help communities like Sanibel control and mitigate harmful algal blooms.
In his opening statement prior to a hearing last October, Subcommittee Chairman Brian Baird of Washington State said that “harmful algal blooms pose serious threats because of their production of toxins and reduction of oxygen in the water. These impacts include alteration of the ocean’s food web, human illnesses, and economic losses to communities and commercial fisheries.”
It was clear during the hearing this morning that both witnesses and committee members were concerned about the increase in the frequency and duration of harmful algal blooms in both fresh and salt water. These increases can be attributed to changes in water quality, temperature, sunlight and the increase in the amount of nutrients in the water. All of these are challenges we find in water in and around Sanibel.
Rep. Mack pointed out that HABs don’t just affect marine life but the very quality of life for residents and visitors and can even cause death. He remembered growing up virtually “on the water” in Sanibel, Captiva and Ft. Myers Beach when red tide disturbed life for maybe one week out of a year now and then. “Not long ago, we had 13 straight months of red tide. Clearly something is happening, and I’m not sure we can trust the research that’s out there,” Mack continued.
Baird returned to the podium to conclude his remarks in dramatic fashion: “If you’re a hotel owner and you get notice that a red tide is forming off your beach, you can kiss your season goodbye.”
The bill now heads to the Senate where a similar bill is pending. PURRE hopes passage in the House will improve chances for Senate consideration.
- END THIS ARTICLE -
LETTER PURRE SUBMITTED ON THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE DURING DEBATE:
March 12, 2010
The Honorable Brian Baird, Chairman
Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Baird:
On behalf of the Board of Directors and members of the PURRE Water Coalition I would like to express our continued support for H.R. 3650, the Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act of 2009.
PURRE (People United to Restore our Rivers and Estuaries) was started in 2004. We are a growing organization working on remediation and permanent improvement of the water quality in Southwest Florida’s rivers, estuaries, and the Gulf of Mexico. PURRE has become a regional alliance that includes citizens, businesses, and environmental groups dedicated to restoring and protecting the ecosystem in Southwest Florida.
Our organization has grown through the years has become involved in all of the effects of poor water quality – from environmental destruction to economic harm. We work on the local, state, and federal levels with stakeholders and decision makers to find common sense solutions to lower the pollutants going into our waters and to deal with the adverse impacts.
We have seen first hand what a variety of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) can do to our beaches and our community. Over the years we have experienced a variety of HABs in our waters including red tide and red drift algae. This bill would help us to manage the impact of these events and we strongly support this effort.
We are grateful for your efforts to reauthorize and expand this program, to continue the research and to provide help to communities like ours with efforts to mitigate and control Harmful Algal Blooms.
We look forward to this bill’s passage and to working with NOAA on this program.
With best regards,
Mike Valiquette
Chairman, PURRE Water Coalition
MORE INFORMATION ...
House Approves Bipartisan Bill to Understand, Prevent, and Control Algal Blooms That Threaten Coastal and Fresh Waters
March 12, 2010 (Washington, DC) – Today, the House of Representatives voted 251-103 to approve a bipartisan bill to address the effects of harmful algal blooms in fresh and coastal waters on aquatic plant and animal life and human health.
“We need to protect our coast, oceans, and citizens from the threats that these blooms cause on our beaches, in the food web, and in economic losses to communities and commercial fisheries,” stated House Science and Technology Committee Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN).
“This bill will reauthorize a program that has funded research to advance our understanding and our ability to detect, assess, predict and control these harmful algal bloom and hypoxia events,” said bill author and Energy and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Brian Baird (D-WA). “Since the last reauthorization there has been an increase in the number, frequency, and type of algal blooms and hypoxic events, affecting more of our coastlines and inland waters.”
Harmful algal blooms are a rapid overproduction of algal cells that produce toxins and occur in both salt and freshwater. People and animals are exposed to the toxins when they drink or swim in the contaminated water or consume seafood that has ingested these toxins. The toxins cannot be removed or neutralized through the traditional water treatment methods, like filtering, boiling, or chemical treatments.
In addition to releasing toxins, the blooms can block sunlight in water and use up the available oxygen in the water, causing a severe oxygen depletion. The oxygen depletion, called hypoxia, stresses or suffocates marine animals and plants. Environmental changes in water quality, temperature, and sunlight or an increase in nutrients in the water can cause blooms to increase dramatically.
Harmful algal blooms also have a negative financial impact on a region, if beaches are closed and fishing is suspended. Harmful algal blooms and hypoxia cost the U.S. seafood and tourism industries approximately $82 million annually, according to a conservative estimate from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act, H.R. 3650, directs the NOAA to implement research strategies to better understand and respond to algal blooms and hypoxic events. It requires federal agencies to create a comprehensive and integrated strategy to address and reduce harmful algal blooms and hypoxia.
The bill also establishes a national program to address marine and freshwater harmful algal blooms across the country in both coastal and inland waters. The bill will give local communities the tools and best practices to understand and respond to harmful algal blooms and hypoxia. It will assist in regional, state, tribal, and local efforts to develop and implement appropriate marine and freshwater harmful algal bloom and hypoxia response plans, strategies, and tools.
It will also provide resources for and assist in the training of local water and coastal resource managers in the methods and technologies for monitoring, controlling, mitigating, and responding to the effects of marine and freshwater harmful algal blooms and hypoxia events. The state and regional participation is completely voluntary.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) determined that the bill does not impose any cost on state, local, or tribal governments. The bill has been endorsed by Environmental Defense Fund, Surfrider Foundation, Ocean Champions, and PURRE (People United to Restore our Rivers and Estuaries). The Science and Technology Committee has been working in collaboration with the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
A companion measure, S.952, has been introduced by Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and has passed the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
For more about the Committee’s work on harmful algal blooms, please visit the Committee’s website.
