Page 2 sal, repair of public facilities, and other important maintenance work, we will only have more costly repair bills in the future. There Although the Coosa River Navigation Project, which would extend the navigation project from Montgomery to Gadsden, received a negative benefit/cost analysis, I am encouraged that the State of Alabama is seriously pursuing the project. will be no request for construction funds in fiscal year 1987. However, State officials are working to increase its contribution to the non-Federal share of the project's cost. I am hopeful that we will be in a position to get the Coosa segment of the system on track in the near future. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate having had this opportunity to voice my strong support for the Coosa-Alabama River System. Thank you for your consideration of my request. Mr. BEVILL. The first witness on our list will be Ms. Mary George Waite. We will be glad to hear from you now. As these members come in, I may interrupt to take them so they can get back to their respective committee hearings, so you will understand we do this continuously to keep them from being held up too long. Ms. WAITE. Mr. Chairman, I am Mary George Waite, the Vice President of the Coosa-Alabama River Improvement Association, Inc., and I am here today--I am not Senator Lister Hill Proctor, as you can tell, who is the President of our association. Senator Proctor sends you his best and wants me to tell you that he is really supporting this project, but he is a State Senator in Alabama and he was unable to be in Washington this morning. We are real proud to bring this real fine delegation back again before your committee, and we just have to say, and I, particularly, that the Chairman of this committee just happens to be the best Congressman on the Hill, and I am not prejudiced; I just live in his district. We know, so we are so happy that you are here, and we are so proud of you and what you do for these United States. Mr. BEVILL. Thank you. Ms. WAITE. We want to thank your distinguished colleagues, too, on this subcommittee. We feel like old friends, particularly with you two sitting there and some more of them, because we have been here before, and we will be back, we really will. Mr. BEVILL. If we can help you come back that will be good. Congressman Myers of Indiana and I were sworn in the same day. Congressman Rudd of Arizona is here, a former FBI agent, and he does a great job representing these big water resource projects in the nation now, and Congressman Myers is on the Wabash River, so he knows the problems of floods and flood control, the importance of it. I understand Senator Denton has come in. Gary, didn't know you were here. If I may just interrupt you there, Mary George, I am going to ask the Senator so he can testify. Senator Denton, you may proceed as you wish. Thank you for deferring, Ms. Waite. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity, Mr. Chairman, to express my support for the waterway projects that are a vital economic interest to Alabama. I want to commend you, Mr. Chairman, the Chairman of the subcommittee and the Chairman of the full committee, for their support of those projects. There are a number of important waterway projects throughout the State that require sufficient funding for continued operation and maintenance. The O&M funds which the Corps of Engineers has found necessary for the following year is as follows: $19.6 million for the TennTom; $9.16 for the Mobile Harbor; $12.2 for the Black Warrior Tombigbee; $7.0 for the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway; $1.3 for the Perdido Pass; a half million for the Dauphin Land Bay; $293,000 for Dog River and Fowl River; $680,000 for the Bon Secour Bay area; and $141,000 for the Bayou Coden. The Corps of Engineers has requested appropriations for the construction of several projects. They include $15 million for deepening the Mobile Harbor; $10.5 million for the Oliver Lock and Dam on the Black Warrior; and $2.3 million for the Three Mile Creek Flood Control in Mobile. In addition, they request $60,000 for a study to deepen the Bayou La Batre Channel. I know, Mr. Chairman, you are familiar with all of those projects and you know they are worthwhile. That is the number which the Corps has put on the requirements, and we think they are appropriate. No one knows better than you, Mr. Chairman, how hard hit Alabama waterways have been by competition in the coal, steel, and textile industries, as well as others, and much of this is caused by the high value of the dollar which we hope is relating itself more advantageously now. Consistent development of our State's waterways is a major concern to the business interest of Alabama, as you know, Mr. Chairman, and is as essential for providing adequate transportation to existing industry and continued growth. Our waterways connect north with the south. Alabamians consider our waterways our greatest national resource. As you know, the President's Fiscal Year 1987 appropriations budget request for the Alabama-Coosa River, including the Clayburn Lock and Dam, is $4.9 million, but the Coosa Alabama Association feels strongly that $10.3 million is needed to adequately address the problems with their navigational channel downstream. I must stress the need for more money for the Alabama-Coosa Project. There is a tremendous number of people involved in that concern. The consistent reliability of the nine-foot channel during dry summer months is essential if industry is to take advantage of the river system from Montgomery to Mobile. The additional money is needed to finish the two-year project begun in Fiscal Year 1985. Environmental permit clearances have been delayed, and the project is incomplete. We are confident the additional money would allow the Corps to complete the project during Fiscal Year 1987. I am glad that due to efforts by the interim legislative committee on the Coosa River Navigation Project the State has fulfilled its non-federal responsibilities with regard to that project. As you know, Mr. Chairman, Congress recently passed an Omnibus Waterway bill that will prove to be a blessing and, in some ways, a curse for economic life of waterways. The bill included funding for several Alabama projects, but at the same time leveed a heavy user fee upon the already struggling towing industry. This fuel tax will hit our State hard. Your careful consideration, Mr. Chairman, of the request and points that I have made and the consideration of your committee will permit water transportation to move ahead in Alabama for improved commerce permitting increased federal revenues as well as greater prosperity in our state. I want to thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. BEVILL. Very good. Very good. Chair recognizes Mary George Waite. Ms. WAITE. Thank you. We have a very fine delegation that has come today, but we have lots more support back in Alabama. So, in addition to our delegation, we have submitted a detailed statement of our requirements and a package of 34 statements from people back home, along this waterway. Most of them are letters from private firms and individuals. Others reflect the position of counties and municipalities, and we ask that these statements be entered into the hearing record, Mr. Chairman. Mr. BEVILL. All right. Without objection, those statements will be made part of the record. [The information follows:] |