Title
A MOTION requesting the United States Congress appropriate sufficient funds to provide for the interim and permanent repairs to the Howard Hanson dam, and direct the Army Corps of Engineers to make the Howard Hanson dam permanent repair a priority project.
Body
WHEREAS, the federally owned and operated Howard Hanson dam has provided flood protection for residents and businesses of the Green River valley in Washington State since 1961, and
WHEREAS, the Howard Hanson dam has prevented potential flood damages amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars over the last four decades, and
WHEREAS, the Green River valley contains the second largest warehouse and product distribution center on the West Coast, and
WHEREAS, the Green River Valley Industrial Center represents thirty seven billion and three hundred and sixty million dollars in gross business income, four thousand five hundred businesses and over one hundred thousand jobs, and
WHEREAS, the population of the Green River valley watershed is estimated at three hundred and fifty thousand residents, including many low-income families, and
WHEREAS, in January 2009, following a record high level storage of floodwater, the Army Corps of Engineers discovered damage to the right abutment of the Howard Hanson dam, which led to restrictions on the operating capacity of the dam and increased the flood risk to the Green River valley, and
WHEREAS, in the event of a flood, residents and businesses of the Green River valley could be displaced for weeks, months or permanently, and
WHEREAS, flood damage will cost individual citizens and businesses without insurance thousands of dollars for repairs and relocation and severely impact an economic engine for the entire state, and
WHEREAS, the looming threat of a potential flood has caused some businesses to relocate from the Green River valley with a negative impact on economic development, and
WHEREAS, since the damages were found, federal, state and local governm...
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