Date: 2013-11-14
Speaker: SEAN PATRICK MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Since joining the Congress. I have been working across the aisle on a piece of critical legislation. the Dam Safety Act. which gives communities all across America the support they need to ensure that dams have the highest safety standards possible. Many of these provisions were included in the bipartisan Water Resources Reform and Development Act. known as WRRDA. which overwhelmingly passed the House just a few weeks ago by a 4173 vote margin. I certainly want to thank Chairman SHUSTER. Ranking Member RAHALL. and subcommittee Ranking Member BISHOP for their leadership on WRRDA and for working closely with me on this important issue. With major storms like Irene. Hurricane Sandy and Tropical Storm Lee becoming more and more frequent. I believe Congress needs to place a higher priority on strengthening our infrastructure. particularly on our oldest and often most vulnerable infrastructureour dams. Should our dam infrastructure fail in the midst of these storms. the effects could be far more catastrophic and immediate than most other components of our States infrastructure. endangering peoples lives. their property and their livelihoods. Our country has over 87.000 dams. and approximately 10.000 of these dams are what are known as "highhazard dams." There are dams in virtually every congressional district and community across the country. The failure of any of these highhazard dams would cause widespread damage and loss of life and. of course. major economic disruption. and approximately 40 percent of these highhazard dams do not have an emergency action plan. I would like to say that again: more than 40 percent of our most important damsthe highhazard damsthe failure of which could cause the loss of life or major property damage. do not have an emergency action plan. We live in a world now in which we have these extreme weather events. and you dont want to find out the dam is going to fail when you have a superstorm. The Hudson Valleythe communities I representis home to over 800 dams. and nearly 100 of those dams are known as highhazard dams. the failure of which could pose a serious risk to the economy and wellbeing of these communities and families. Unfortunately. during Hurricane Irene. many folks were impacted because of a dam failure. Many of my neighbors in Tuxedos East Village were devastated when the Echo Lake Dam released an estimated 100 million gallons of water. Some people in Tuxedo reported seeing an 8foot wall of water rushing towards the town. causing catastrophic damage to the infrastructure and costing millions of dollars in property damage. For folks like John and Lisa Petriello. who live in the East Village. the failure of this dam flooded their home. cracked their foundation. and ripped the deck off their home. For Gary Phelps. it meant more than $125.000 in property damage. Then for businesses such as SOS Fuels. it meant their headquarters were condemned. In mere minutes. the flood carried away cars and appliances. Folks lost their furniture. their valuables. and their homes. From 2005 to 2009. 132 dams failed. So it is critical that every single community across the country be prepared and be protected. and they can be with this program. This important motion will make the final version of the Dam Safety program even better by authorizing the Dam Safety program at $9.2 million per year over the next 5 years. This is $9.2 million which could. itself. be less than the cost of a single dam failure. yet we know that in just a 5year period 132 dams failed. The National Dam Safety Program provides vital support to assist States like mine. New York. in developing emergency action plans. in implementing existing dam safety programs. in assisting with the purchase of equipment. and in conducting dam inspections. For the first time. the Senate provision would provide public awareness and outreach funding. an essential step to ensuring that all citizens understand the need to prepare for. to mitigate for. to respond to. and to recover from dam incidents and failures. It is far past time to start paying attention to a program that can make a real difference in peoples lives. especially a program that has been passed on a bipartisan basis since 1974. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.