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Effects of Water Flows on Apalachicola Bay: Short and Long Term Perspectives Field Hearing

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Effects of Water Flows on Apalachicola Bay: Short and Long Term Perspectives Field Hearing S. HRG. 113–750 EFFECTS OF WATER FLOWS ON APALACHICOLA BAY: SHORT AND LONG TERM PERSPECTIVES FIELD HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION AUGUST 13, 2013 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 97–796 PDF WASHINGTON : 2015 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:25 Dec 10, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\GPO\DOCS\97796.TXT JACKIE SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia, Chairman BARBARA BOXER, California JOHN THUNE, South Dakota, Ranking BILL NELSON, Florida ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi MARIA CANTWELL, Washington ROY BLUNT, Missouri MARK PRYOR, Arkansas MARCO RUBIO, Florida CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota DEAN HELLER, Nevada MARK WARNER, Virginia DAN COATS, Indiana MARK BEGICH, Alaska TIM SCOTT, South Carolina RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut TED CRUZ, Texas BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii DEB FISCHER, Nebraska MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts JEFF CHIESA, New Jersey ELLEN L. DONESKI, Staff Director JAMES REID, Deputy Staff Director JOHN WILLIAMS, General Counsel DAVID SCHWIETERT, Republican Staff Director NICK ROSSI, Republican Deputy Staff Director REBECCA SEIDEL, Republican General Counsel and Chief Investigator (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:25 Dec 10, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\97796.TXT JACKIE C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on August 13, 2013 ........................................................................... 1 Statement of Senator Nelson .................................................................................. 1 Statement of Senator Rubio .................................................................................... 3 WITNESSES Hon. Steve Southerland II, U.S. Representative, Second Congressional Dis- trict, Florida ......................................................................................................... 6 Letter dated May 13, 2013 to Hon. Bill Shuster and Hon. Nick J. Rahall II from Members of Congress: Steve Southerland II, Corrine Brown, John L. Mica, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Illeana Ros-Lehtinen, Gus M. Bilirakis, Vern Buchanan, Dennis A. Ross, C. W. Bill Young, Ander Crenshaw, Jeff Miller, Mario Diaz-Balart, Alcee L. Hastings and Thom- as J. Rooney ................................................................................................... 8 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 10 Emily Menashes, Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanographic And Atmospheric Admin- istration, U.S. Department of Commerce ........................................................... 12 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 13 Colonel Jon J. Chytka, Commander, Mobile District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army .................................................................. 16 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 18 Jonathan P. Steverson, Executive Director, Northwest Florida Water Manage- ment District ........................................................................................................ 21 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 23 Dan Tonsmeire, Executive Director and Riverkeeper, Apalachicola Riverkeeper ........................................................................................................... 36 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 37 Shannon Hartsfield, President, Franklin County Seafood Workers Association, and Founding Member, SMARRT ....................................................................... 46 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 46 Ricky Banks, Vice President, Franklin County Seafood Workers Association ... 48 Karl E. Havens, Director, Florida Sea Grant College Program, Professor, School of Forest Resources And Conservation, Institute of Food and Agricul- tural Sciences ....................................................................................................... 49 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 51 APPENDIX Comments submitted for the record ....................................................................... 67 Response to written questions submitted by Hon. Marco Rubio to Colonel Jon J. Chytka ....................................................................................................... 161 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:25 Dec 10, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\97796.TXT JACKIE VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:25 Dec 10, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\97796.TXT JACKIE EFFECTS OF WATER FLOWS ON APALACHICOLA BAY: SHORT AND LONG TERM PERSPECTIVES TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2013 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Apalachicola, FL. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 11:06 a.m., in the Franklin County Courthouse Annex Building, 34 Forbes Street, Apalachicola, Florida, Hon. Bill Nelson, presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BILL NELSON, U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA Senator NELSON. This hearing of the Senate Commerce Com- mittee will come to order. We want to thank everybody for being here. And we have a num- ber of elected officials here. We want to thank you for your pres- ence. We want to thank Apalachicola and Franklin County for your hospitality. And we have been looking forward to this. Senator Rubio and I collaborate almost every day that we are in session in Washington. And one of the topics, of course, that we have frequently talked about is the plight of the folks here in the Apalachicola Bay area and the desperate need for that water to flow south on the Chat- tahoochee and the Flint Rivers that then comes into the Apalachi- cola. I want to thank Senator Rubio for first requesting this hearing today. The two of us have a very good personal and professional re- lationship, and it is an example of how bipartisanship ought to work between two Senators from one state. Sometimes you would be surprised at some of the Senators from the same state that don’t necessarily get along. And, fortunately, in the case of Florida, it is a very good working relationship. And we are here today to get the ideas of three panels on what is the problem with Apalachicola Bay, the technical reasons, the technical fixes, and all of the economic issues and the personal issues that are surrounding this problem. Our oystermen, their families, all those who depend on a healthy bay are now depending on us. And for over two decades, we have fought our neighbors to the north over the freshwater that flows south from the Chattahoochee into Apalachicola River and into this bay. And court decisions, some have gone our way, others have not. And now we have NOAA that is lending a hand. (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:25 Dec 10, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\DOCS\97796.TXT JACKIE 2 And, as you know, just yesterday, the Secretary of Commerce— and I just got off the phone with her a few minutes ago—she deter- mined that a fishery resource disaster occurred for the oyster stocks along the west coast of Florida, primarily in the Apalachi- cola Bay area. And she declared that—this is Secretary Pritzker—because of three factors: number one, a drought throughout the southeastern U.S. that has led to below-average river flows; number two, re- duced downstream river flow from man-made dams along the riv- ers; and, number three, increased salinity in the bay that not only stresses the oyster populations but allows the persistent occurrence of oyster predators, such as stone crab and oyster drills. And this collapse has had a tremendous impact on folks living here. Over 2,000 jobs are related to harvesting or the processing of oysters on Florida’s Gulf Coast. And while Federal and state agen- cies are working together to help those fishermen that have been affected, the primary cause of the disaster, a lack of freshwater, still remains. The river and the bay here in Apalachicola are the true economic engines of this region. And without more freshwater, this region’s economy could find itself in jeopardy, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. Think of all the commercial fishing in the Gulf. Many of those fish spawn and grow right here in the bay. In good years, roughly 90 percent of the oysters harvested in Florida and nearly 10 per- cent of all oysters produced in this country came from right here in this bay. And despite the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commis- sion, which said it expects the decline in revenue and pounds of oysters to continue, Senator Rubio and I are here because we think the bay can recover. It has done
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