Rep. Jackson Lee Supports Innovative Storm Water Infrastructure Act

WASHINGTON, July 25 -- Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, issued the following speech, which was published in the Congressional Record July 23, supporting the Innovative Storm water Infrastructure Act (H.R. 3906):

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3906, the "Innovative Storm water Infrastructure Act of 2018."

H.R. 3906 directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a stormwater infrastructure funding task force to study and develop recommendations to improve the availability of public and private sources of funding for stormwater infrastructure.

Houston area residents understand the importance of infrastructure that can mitigate the effects of storm water.

After making landfall, circled back and held in place for nearly four days, Hurricane Harvey dropped an unprecedented amount of rain in the Houston area--so much rain, in fact, that the flood area itself began to act like an inland sea, feeding moisture back into the storm to be dropped as yet more rain.

Hurricane Harvey brought more than 64 inches of rain to the Houston area, flooding 203,000 homes, 13 Superfund sites, and more than 800 wastewater treatment facilities.

The damage caused by Hurricane Harvey exceeds $125 billion.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, second only to Hurricane Katrina.

Nine out of 19 of the official river gauges in Harris County, Texas, recorded all-time-high water levels.

Nederland, Texas recorded 60.58 inches of rainfall, making Hurricane Harvey the highest total rainfall ever recorded in the continental United States. Rainfall within a tenth of an inch of that total was recorded in Groves, a neighboring community.

These both exceed the previous U.S. rainfall record of 52 inches, set by Hurricane Hiki in Hawaii in 1950.

Eighteen locations in southeastern Texas broke previous tropical rainfall records in the contiguous United States, which was set by Tropical Storm Amelia in Medina, Texas in 1978.

Six to ten feet was the maximum water levels above the ground, which occurred near the areas where Harvey made landfall.

Fifty-seven tornadoes were reported during the Hurricane Harvey storm, about half of which occurred near or south of the Houston metro area.

At its peak on September 1, 2017, one-third of Houston was underwater.

Over 300,000 structures flooded in southeastern Texas, where extreme rainfall hit many areas that are densely populated.

Hurricane Harvey is the largest housing disaster to strike the U.S. in our nation's history.

Hurricane Harvey damaged 203,000 homes, of which 12,700 were completely destroyed.

Texans continue to work to recover, but thousands still are not able to return to flood damaged homes.

Next month marks a year since floodwaters swamped America's fourth- largest city, the extent of this environmental assault is beginning to surface, while questions about the long-term consequences for human health remain unanswered.

As disasters become more frequent and populations living in vulnerable areas increase, interest in the health effects of exposure to the combination of natural and technological disasters has grown.

According to experts, when rain falls on the roofs of our homes, streets, and parking lots in cities and their suburbs, the water is unable to soak into the ground as it should.

When a rainstorm occurs, rainwater hits the streets and gravity takes it on the path of least resistance.

Stormwater drains through gutters, storm sewers, and other engineered collection systems and is discharged into nearby water bodies.

Across the country, in every community, rain mixes with chemicals, oils, and other harmful pollutants to flood into our waterways.

Further, higher flows resulting from heavy rains can also cause erosion and flooding in urban streams, damaging habitat, property, and infrastructure.

H.R. 3906 will establish a stormwater infrastructure funding task force program such as the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Stormwater Program (NPDES).

This program is designed to prevent stormwater runoff from washing harmful pollutants into local waterbodies.

Some 500 chemical plants, 10 refineries and more than 6,670 miles of intertwined oil, gas and chemical pipelines line the nation's largest energy corridor.

Nearly 500 Million gallons of industrial wastewater mixed with storm water surged out of just one chemical plant in Baytown, east of Houston, on the upper shores of Galveston Bay.

Benzene, vinyl chloride, butadiene, and other known human carcinogens were among the dozens of tons of industrial toxic substances released into surrounding neighborhoods and waterways following Harvey's torrential rains.

In addition, NPDES will study and develop recommendations to improve the availability of public and private sources of funding for stormwater infrastructure.

The EPA Administrator will ensure that these programs promote the use of innovative stormwater control infrastructure in and coordinate the integration of innovative stormwater control infrastructure into permitting programs, planning efforts, research, technical assistance, and funding guidance.

Mr. Speaker, a stronger investment in stormwater prevention programs allows for the implementations of cutting edge solutions and puts our communities in a path to healthier waters.

I urge my colleges to join me in voting for H.R. 3906.