HM 0575 2003
1	House Memorial
2	A memorial to the Congress of the United States, urging
3	Congress to enact legislation to halt dredging on the
4	Apalachicola River, to establish a channel of specified
5	dimensions to support commercial barge traffic, to
6	continue authority of the United States Army Corps of
7	Engineers to perform maintenance of the river's navigation
8	channel markings and lock system for recreational boating,
9	and to provide for the restoration and maintenance of fish
10	and wildlife resources and habitats of the Apalachicola
11	River and Apalachicola Bay.
12
13	WHEREAS, Florida's Apalachicola River has been designated
14	by the State of Florida as an outstanding Florida Water, and
15	WHEREAS, the Apalachicola Bay has been designated by the
16	United States as a National Estuarine Research Reserve and by
17	the United Nations as an International Biosphere Reserve, and
18	WHEREAS, the Apalachicola River and Apalachicola Bay are
19	the cornerstones to the economy of six Florida counties and
20	provide thousands of jobs in commercial fishing, recreational
21	fishing, and ecotourism to Floridians, and
22	WHEREAS, Apalachicola Bay provides nearly 90 percent of
23	Florida's oysters and over 10 percent of the nation's oysters,
24	and
25	WHEREAS, the health and productivity of the Apalachicola
26	River and the bay into which it flows are dependent upon the
27	amount and quality of water that flows into and out of the
28	river, and
29	WHEREAS, the Apalachicola River has been subject to
30	navigational dredging performed by the United States Army Corps
31	of Engineers that has resulted in environmental harm, including
32	degraded water quality, loss of productive bottomland, hardwood
33	habitat, and damaged fish habitat, and
34	WHEREAS, the dredging of the Apalachicola River is not
35	economically efficient in that the Federal Government spends an
36	estimated $20 million a year to maintain the river for barge
37	traffic, which amounts to an expenditure of approximately
38	$30,000 per barge, and
39	WHEREAS, the House of Representatives of the State of
40	Florida finds that the cessation of dredging on the Apalachicola
41	River, the establishment of a channel, 9 feet in width and 100
42	yards in length, to support commercial barge traffic, the
43	continuation of the authority of the United States Army Corps of
44	Engineers to perform maintenance of the river's navigation
45	channel markings and lock system for recreational boating, and
46	the restoration and maintenance of fish and wildlife resources
47	and habitats of the Apalachicola River and Apalachicola Bay are
48	essential to the continued ecological and economic health and
49	well-being of the region, NOW, THEREFORE,
50
51	Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
52
53	That the Legislature of the State of Florida hereby urges
54	Congress to enact legislation to halt dredging on the
55	Apalachicola River, to establish a channel, 9 feet in width and
56	100 yards in length, to support commercial barge traffic, to
57	continue the authority of the United States Army Corps of
58	Engineers to perform maintenance of the river's navigation
59	channel markings and lock system for recreational boating, and
60	to provide for the restoration and maintenance of fish and
61	wildlife resources and habitats of the Apalachicola River and
62	Apalachicola Bay.
63	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
64	transmitted to the President of the United States, the President
65	of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States
66	House of Representatives, and to each member of the Florida
67	delegation to the United States Congress.