Conservation of Wildlife

The CHAIRMAN. Gentlemen of the committee, this meeting was called to start a study of the general subject of pollution, or stream purification under authority of House Resolution No. 44, which reads as follows:

[H. Res. 44, 74th Cong., 1st sess.]

Resolved, That the special committee to investigate all matters pertaining to the replacement and conservation of wildlife is authorized to continue the investigation begun under authority of House Resolution 237 of the Seventythird Congress, and for such purposes said committee shall have the same power and authority as that conferred upon it by said House Resolution 237 of the Seventy-third Congress, and shall report to the House as soon as practicable, but not later than January 3, 1937, the results of its investigations, together with its recommendations, for necessary legislation. Any unexpended balance of the total amount authorized for the use of said special committee under House Resolution 263 of the Seventy-third Congress is hereby continued available until said date.

Our attention was recently called by the Chief of the United States Bureau of Biological Survey to the injurious effect upon migratory birds of oil and other navigable water pollution, and the chief felt that no appropriate action was being taken. He indicated to the chairman of the committee a program that he thought would be helpful.

After discussing that proposed program with the members of the committee, we found that no member of the committee was willing to sponsor pollution legislation without knowing more about the subject and its implications, and so we have arranged for this meeting, and have invited representatives of the Biological Survey and the National Resources Board who have been studying the subject, and also several representatives of conservation agencies, to meet with us.

After calling this meeting the chairman of the committee learned that the Chairman of the House Committee on Rivers and Harbors, Judge Mansfield, of Texas, was likewise considering legislation of this character, and, possibly, if a bill very largely dealing with navigable waters were introduced it would be referred to his committee. Consequently, we have invited Judge Mansfield to meet with us

this morning, and I will ask the Judge if he will not at this time. make a statement to the committee concerning his plans, and indicate to us how we might be of help to him in advancing those plans.

STATEMENT OF HON. JOSEPH J. MANSFIELD, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS AND CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE ON RIVERS AND HARBORS

Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. Chairman, I have just learned a few minutes ago when you informed me, that you had this matter under consideration.

About 2 months ago I requested the legislative reference service, who assist in preparing measures for committees and Members of the House, to prepare a bill to prohibit or limit the pollution of the navigable waters of the United States. I talked it over with them on several occasions, and we had an interchange of views upon it. They have been working on the bill for quite a while.

Some 2 or 3 weeks ago I urged them to hurry along with it because I was afraid Congress might adjourn and no steps be taken in connection with the matter before adjournment. They brought me a draft of the bill yesterday.

I took it home last night and read it over, but I have not had time to thoroughly study it.

Sometime ago Mr. Dingell introduced a resolution which was referred to the Committee on Rivers and Harbors, on July 15, calling upon the President for information in regard to the matter.

He came and consulted me in regard to it. He wanted to get it up under unanimous consent. I believe he had a letter from the President, although I am not quite positive about that. But that is my impression.

I told him I would be very glad if he would do it.

I did not call the Committee on Rivers and Harbors together to consider the matter.

This morning he returned it to me with a letter. It seemed that Mr. Snell did not want action taken without the matter having been referred to the committee, with an investigation and report by the committee.

Mr. PARSONS. What is the nature of the resolution?

Mr. MANSFIELD. It just calls upon the President for information. It reads as follows:

[H. Res. 296, 74th Cong., 1st sess.]

Resolved, That the President is hereby respectfully requested to inform the House of Representatives of the number and distribution of Federal institutions and establishments of every kind and character which are depositing or causing to be deposited raw, untreated sewage into navigable or nonnavigable waters of the United States, and to transmit to the House of Representatives such recommendations with respect thereto as he deems advisable and in the public interest.

This letter which I received this morning requests that the Committee on Rivers and Harbors, to which the resolution was referred, take action upon it as soon as possible so as to get the matter up before the House, in accordance with the suggestion made by Mr. Snell.

The bill I have in mind leaves the matter in the hands of the Secretary of War to investigate and pass upon these measures, and it does not prohibit or penalize anyone until there is a violation of the orders of the Secretary of War to cease and desist in an act of pollution.

It seems to apply to almost every kind and character of pollution. Of course, we have an antipollution bill which the Committee on Rivers and Harbors reported about 1924, I think it was. Mr. Appleby, a Member of the House of Representatives from New Jersey, introduced that bill, and Mr. Lineberger, of California, also introduced one, and the gentleman who represented the Wheeling district in West Virginia, Mr. Rosenbloom, also introduced one.

Mr. BOLTON. Did not Mr. Hudson, of Michigan, also introduce one?

Mr. MANSFIELD. I think so.

Mr. BLAND. As a matter of fact, there were a half dozen resolutions introduced.

Mr. MANSFIELD. There were a number of them, and Mr. Hoover, then Secretary of Commerce, came before the committee and advocated the Lineberger bill, which was limited to oil pollution and only on waters where the tide ebbs and flows.

The bill of the gentleman from the Wheeling district, Mr. Rosenbloom, dealt principally with sulphuric acid in the intensely industrial district around Wheeling, Youngstown, and Pittsburgh, and that section of the country. The acid pollution was destroying the metal in the locks on the Ŏhio River and on the Monongahela River. It killed the fish, and industries found they could not use the water for steaming, and the steamboats had to take tanks of fresh water along for steaming purposes.

That was the purpose of the bill, but it was never carried out. We referred it to the chief of engineers, and the engineers made some investigation.

I requested the Chief of Engineers, at that time General Beach, for some information in regard to the Rhine River, and we found that in the River Rhine the fish were not destroyed, and that was an intensely industrial district, including the Ruhr district. They found that the Germans conserved their acids or materials to a much greater extent that we do, and those that necessarily had to go to waste they treated with alkalies, and then they permitted them to go into the river, so they informed us, and it was found that by the use of lime these sulphuric acid pollutions could be treated, and the acid absorbed, and neutralized and rendered harmless.

Down in the sulphur mines in my district they use great quantities of water for steaming, and they melt the sulphur a thousand feet below the surface. It is necessary for them to have that free of acid.

At each mine they use about a carload of lime a day, so that the water they use for heating can pass over it slowly, and it absorbs the acid in it. Then they heat the water and melt the sulphur in the ground.

It was recommended that these industrial plants in this region up here prepare puddles in which to catch the waste of the sulphuric acid and treat it with lime and not permit it to drain into the Alleghany and the Monongahela and the Ohio Rivers. I do not know

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Conservation of Wildlife: Hearings Before the Select Committee on ..., Volume 1