House Proceeding on Mar 12th, 2010 :: 1:12:05 to 1:18:10
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1:12:02 to 1:12:23( Edit History Discussion )

Kathy Castor: a -- and having an authorization process allows us to -- with that i'm happy to recognize the gentlelady from florida, ms. castor, who's been a champion of this as it affects so much of her state, and i recognize her for as much time as she may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. castor: good morning, mr. speaker. i'm very pleased to rise in

1:12:05 to 1:18:10( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Kathy Castor

1:12:24 to 1:12:44( Edit History Discussion )

Kathy Castor: strong support of h.r. 3650. i call this the red tide bill. i'd like to thank my colleague, mr. baird, for his great leadership on this initiative. i've heard some discussion here in the chamb and throughout the capital the last couple of days, why are we taking up tides with algae? well, let's not diminish the

1:12:45 to 1:13:08( Edit History Discussion )

Kathy Castor: issue because this is vitally important for jobs throughout the great state of florida. i'm very pleased that my colleague from florida is in the chair this morning to preside over this. we simply can't go backwards when it comes to jobs in our economy. and red tide is a significant threat to the tourism economy in the state of florida.

1:13:09 to 1:13:29( Edit History Discussion )

Kathy Castor: we depend in florida upon people coming from all over the country and the world to vacation, especially on the beautiful beaches on the west coast of florida where you have the warm waters of the gulf of mexico. there are no better beaches across the entire world than there on the west coast of florida. now, also on the atlantic side

1:13:30 to 1:13:54( Edit History Discussion )

Kathy Castor: is quite lovely and the florida keys. we face a significant threat from red tides. the tourism industry in florida employs over one million people and it is estimated that tourism has a $65 billion impact on our state's economy.

1:13:55 to 1:14:15( Edit History Discussion )

Kathy Castor: . %%%. what happens when this red tide washes in, it's awful. the tourists flea the beaches and the folks -- flee the beaches and the folks that live and work and rely upon those industries really suffer. this happened just a few years ago in 2005. we had terrible red tide

1:14:16 to 1:14:36( Edit History Discussion )

Kathy Castor: outbreaks on the west coast of florida. and i can tell you because i had my family there at the beach with about a dozen other families. we go right after school is out. and what happens is that it causes you -- a lot of difficulty in breathing. your eyes start to water. the fish roll up on -- wash up

1:14:37 to 1:14:59( Edit History Discussion )

Kathy Castor: on the shore, dead fish. you can forget about it. our economy took a real hit because of red tide. the tourists simply don't want to visit polluted beaches. we have beautiful, clean, crystal clear water most of the time. when this red tide invades, it's absolutely awful. you can see where it's directly

1:15:00 to 1:15:20( Edit History Discussion )

Kathy Castor: tied to jobs because then the word spreads. there were news stories over in england and great britain where a lot of our tourists come from and they decided not to take their vacation. now if that happened in this economy, it would be very detrimental. so today's legislation will help us combat that threat. i would like to thank

1:15:21 to 1:15:42( Edit History Discussion )

Kathy Castor: especially thank my colleague from florida, representative connie mack, who does represent the naples, sanibel island area, and there is simply no more beautiful place to vacation than maybe up towards my district in anna maria identify lan. congressman mack and i -- island. congressman macknd i have

1:15:43 to 1:16:03( Edit History Discussion )

Kathy Castor: been working on this since 2007. we introduced the save our shores act to bring more attention to the research in red tide. that's why i'm so grat tide that the science committee, mr. baird, mr. barton have really stepped up and promoted this. it's a bipartisan effort. it's important because it comes on the heels of the tourism

1:16:04 to 1:16:25( Edit History Discussion )

Kathy Castor: bill, the travel promotion act that was signed into law by president obama just last week. it's another good bolstering of the tourism economy and all those important jobs to the sunshine state and all across the country. this legislation will ensure that we learn more about harmful algae blooms so that we can protect our precious coastlines and the tourism

1:16:26 to 1:16:47( Edit History Discussion )

Kathy Castor: related jobs that come with having healthy beaches. according to the national centers for coastal ocean science, the national economic impact of the red tide, the harmful algae blooms, is at least $82 million annually f we can pump in a little bit of research money and figure out what causes this, see that's the problem. we don't really know what

1:16:48 to 1:17:08( Edit History Discussion )

Kathy Castor: causes this red tide. if we are already suffering an $82 million hit, then it is very cost-effective for us to put a little bit more money into research and coordination. there is a lot of good research out there, but i don't think it's being shared widely. so this initiative will help do that.

1:17:09 to 1:17:31( Edit History Discussion )

Kathy Castor: i think we'll be able to avoid devastating losses to tourism, to recreation, to commercial fishing. all across the country. in 1971, florida faced an exceptionally case of red tide and again in 2005. we think that that caused -- florida took a hit of over $100 million.

1:17:32 to 1:17:54( Edit History Discussion )

Kathy Castor: the level of concern about red tide's cost to tourism is still high, even though it's been a couple years since our last big outbreak. but like i said, if we had an outbreak today in this economy, it would severely hurt businesses at a time when we just can't take it anymore. the unemployment rate in my community is about 13%.

1:17:55 to 1:18:12( Edit History Discussion )

Kathy Castor: we rely on folks needing some relaxation time and vacations in the beautiful sunshine state. so that's why i strongly support this initiative. again i want to thank my colleague, representative mack from florida, mr. baird, the science and technology committee, and i'm pleased to