Emergency measures are needed to protect the downstream improvements being made by other Federal agencies, State agencies, and private persons and to prevent further serious erosion and landslides. Emergency measure work for which section 216 funds are requested includes channel clearing, debris removal, seeding, stream stabilization, and other work. In many areas, stream channel capacity is greatly restricted and normal spring flow offers a serious threat of flooding. Work to clear these channels and to protect critical areas must be initiated promptly to avoid serious additional damages next spring. This assistance is required in rural agricultural areas to supplement the Federal-State maximum effort already being made in urban and downstream areas. We urge your favorable consideration of our request for this $16,500,000 supplemental appropriation. Mr. WHITTEN. At this point we have several questions. NEED FOR SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION Are you requesting this supplemental appropriation to replace funds which the Soil Conservation Service has already spent in disaster areas, or is this supplemental needed to begin your work in these devastated areas? Mr. GRANT. The 1973 appropriation act provided $300,000 for installing emergency measures for runoff retardation and soil erosion prevention as provided under section 216 of the Flood Control Act of 1950; $230,000 of these funds have been obligated as of October 3, 1972. The balance of the $300,000 has been allocated to the States and we expect it will be obligated shortly. Under the law no additional funds can be used until this supplemental is enacted. The work to be done under this supplemental cannot be started until that time. This work should be done as soon as possible to prevent unnecessary erosion damage to the land involved. NO INCREASE IN PERMANENT POSITIONS Mr. WHITTEN. Will this request increase the number of permanent positions required by the Soil Conservation Service? Mr. GRANT. No; permanent employees will be reassigned temporarily to areas where emergency work is necessary. Temporary or part-time employees will be hired to continue our regular activities and to assist, as needed, in the emergency work. The short-term nature of this emergency work requires only temporary assignments. FLOODS IN IOWA Mr. SCHERLE. First in the eastern sector of the country and then in the Midwest, floods have unleashed unprecedented disasters on unprepared communities from Rapid City, S. Dak., to Atlanta, Ga. In Iowa the damage is estimated at about $21 million, but this is only a preliminary projection. The experience of Hurricane Agnes, which ravaged the east coast and adjacent inland areas from Maine to Florida, indicates that early estimates tend to be conservative. To date, the Appropriations Committee has approved $2 billion for relief from the devastation of that storm alone. So it is quite likely that our initial forecast will have to be revised upward. Fortunately calamities of this magnitude occur rarely. Because of this fact, however, most communities are ill-equipped to cope with the flood itself or its aftermath. Relatively few lives have been lost but when the flood waters receded, survivors often found they had little left but their skins. Almost no one took the precaution of buying flood insurance. In Wilkes-Barre, Pa., for example, one of the region's hardest hit by Agnes, only two people had flood insurance when they were struck. Most of southwest Iowa was in a similar quandary when the rivers began to rise. I flew out to Iowa to assess the damage personally. As the extent of the destruction became clear, I was in close personal contact with Gen. George Lincoln, Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness; Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz; and the Small Business Administration. All Government agencies participating in emergency disaster relief programs were apprised of the day-to-day developments in our district. So extensive was the damage that the SBA declared 11 counties in southwest Iowa to be eligible for emergency assistance from the Federal Government. President Nixon has declared the region a disaster area, triggering additional Federal aid from a variety of agencies. The law now authorizes loans of up to $55,000 for individual homeowners and $500,000 for businessmen. The special emergency disaster provisions include a forgiveness clause which applies to the first $5,000 of each loan. The remainder must be repaid at 1-percent interest. The counties eligible for this aid include: Fremont, Page, Adair, Cass, Mills, Montgomery, Pottawattamie, Harrison, Shelby, Audubon, and Guthrie. The grim lessons of Agnes and her sisters have not been lost on Government planners. The administration has proposed an extensive expansion of the Federal flood insurance program and suggested that homeowners in flod prone areas be required to buy insurance in order to get other forms of Federal aid, such as mortgage insurance or loans from federally insured institutions. As a further precaution, individuals could not obtain the insurance unless their community adopted effective land use policies which would inhibit further damage from future floods. In order to ease the burden imposed by these requirements, the administration proposes that HUD assume a greater portion of the cost. The suggested subsidy would bring the price of flood insurance issued by private companies down to a nominal $3 per thousand. Thus a policy covering a house worth $30,000 would cost about $90 a year. Maximum total coverage would also be doubled. If these modifications are accepted by Congress and implemented by communities which can benefit from them, the recurrence of floods in the future need not bring the nightmare of ruin caused by this year's torrents. Hopefully we will be better prepared both physically and fiscally next time the floodgates open. While all of these new and expanded programs will be of great benefit in future years, there is an immediate problem in my district in Iowa. The preliminary figures indicate that about $20 million worth of destruction occurred in the Nishna River area. What role will the Soil Conservation Service be playing in providing assistance to this area? Mr. GRANT. This request for a supplemental appropriation for emergency measures work in South Dakota and in the Eastern States affected by tropical storm Agnes was made before the disastrous flood occurred in Iowa. Preliminary estimates indicate that the costs in Iowa under section 216 will amount to around $100,000 and that they probably can be taken care of within the supplemental or within the $300,000 which will be available in the regular 1973 appropriation act. WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL NOTE: The following supplemental request for funds was submitted in connection with the Water Resources Council:) SUPPLEMENTAL REQUEST CONTAINED IN HOUSE DOCUMENT 92-368 WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL WATER RESOURCES PLANNING For an additional amount for "Water resources planning," for preparation of assessments, $850,000, to remain available until expended. This supplemental appropriation will enable the Water Resources Council to begin actual preparation of the second national assessment of water and related land resources. The assessment will form an improved analytical framework for assisting in the determination of the level and priorities of future investments in water resources development. The January budget estimates provided $1 million for this activity. The net effect of this request, therefore, is to reduce both budget authority and outlays. JUSTIFICATION STATEMENT FOR 1975 NATIONAL AND REGIONAL ASSESSMENTS The Water Resources Planning Act includes as one of the functions of the Water Resources Council-to maintain a continuing study and prepare an assessment periodically, of the adequacy of supplies of water necessary to meet the water requirements in each water resource region in the United States, and of the national interest therein. The Public Works and Atomic Energy Appropriation Act for fiscal year 1973 made available to the Water Resources Council at total of $7,086,000 for carrying out responsibilities under title I through IV of the Water Resources Planning Act, including preparation of assessments, management of comprehensive studies, Federal share of operating expenses of river basin commissions and, matching grant funds for States. The appropriation for fiscal year 1973 provides $100,000 for the development of the methodology and preparation of plans of study for the 1975 national and regional assessments. Proposed methodology for the 1975 assessment has been developed and is currently being tested for workability in a pilot study area in the WRC Ohio Region. Also regional work plans are currently being developed by selected regional sponsors for each of the 21 WRC regions. The Council has scheduled completion of these activities by December of 1972 and will be ready to initiate the full-scale assessment process in January 1973. This supplemental appropriation request of $850,000 will be used for full-scale initiation of the 1975 assessment including both regional and national aspects. The President's fiscal year 1973 budget submitted to the Congress in January 1972 included the provision that a supplemental appropriation will be requested to initiate the second assessment of the adequacy of the Nation's water resources. We estimate that these supplemental funds will be expended as shown in tables 1 and 2. Several major factors highlight the need to initiate the 1975 assessment during fiscal year 1973. The Water Resources Planning Act states that the Council shall prepare an assessment biennially or at such less frequent intervals as the Council shall determine. The first national assessment was published in 1968. The Council of Members has determined in its policy statement of July 22, 1970 that the assessment is to be a continuing process with reports made every 5 years. The 1975 assessment should update and put the essential features of on-going and completed framework studies on a nationally consistent and interregionally comparable basis-a task severely in need of completion at the earliest practicable date. By the end of fiscal year 1973 we will be approaching completion of the first two steps of the assessment process; (1) specification of alternative futures, and (2) projection of future supplies and requirements. Completion of the remaining three steps of the five-step assessment process necessary to have a useful product will be carried on during fiscal year 1974 and fiscal year 1975. By the end of fiscal year 1974 the Council will complete (1) activities associated with projecting both supplies and demands for all of the nationally consistent and regional preference alternative futures; (2) adequacy analyses required to relate the demands to the supplies and (3) partial completion of the task of identifying alternative combinations of management, planning, research, and data collection activities to eliminate inadequacies by either modifying demands or increasing available supplies and (4) initiation of the task of developing relative intensity of need information in a manner responsive to users. By the end of fiscal year 1975 four major products will result from the 1975 assessment of water and related land resources. They are: 1. One national and 21 regional assessment reports presenting the results of the assessment process in the context responsive to its intended users and directed to the identification of major problems in each region and subregion of the Nation. 2. A data and information base (both historic and projected) containing all pertinent data used in the assesment process. 3. A computer-oriented program evaluation and assessment system (PREVUE) to permit the periodic preparation of national and regional assessments and to provide valuable program evaluation information on a continuing basis. 4. A user awareness plan to help insure that the analytical assessment process and the results of the assessment are understood by the various users. The 1975 assessment reports and analysis capabilities are being developed to be directly useful to the executive branch, the Congress, their State counterparts, and the participating Federal and State agencies. These reports will present information that can be used to help the users determine the relative intensities of need for on-going and future management, planning, research, and data collection programs both within and among the 21 WRC regions of the Nation. 84-311 O 72-76 |