Plum Island Preservation Study Act
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, I am going to say a few words, and then others who have supported these bills, such as Senator Cornyn, Senator Hoeven, and Senator Welch, will speak to others as well.
The bill that I am very gratified and grateful that this body has now approved is S. 5136, the Plum Island Preservation Study Act, with the amendment that we just approved as well.
Very simply, I have been working on this issue for a long time. Plum Island has been there for a long time. Indigenous people treasure Plum Island; 800 acres with plant and animal species; thriving seal populations; species that now are endangered, like the piping plover and the roseate tern; and over the years, two significant locations: Fort Terry and the Plum Island Lighthouse.
It was a treasure then, and it is a treasure now. I haven't been working on it for as long as, obviously, it has been regarded as a treasure, but over the years that I have worked on it now--more than a decade--with Majority Leader Schumer, Senator Gillibrand, and Senator Murphy, as well as State and local stakeholders and countless advocates, we have come to the realization that we need to preserve Plum Island.
Those 800 acres are in the midst of one of the most densely populated areas in the United States, and Plum Island is a home to those really valuable species of wildlife and habitat, an ecosystem that really supports wildlife up and down the east coast, for example, when populations of birds come there to rest and nest.
We are not going to make 500 acres--let alone 800 acres--of important ecological habitat in the middle of Long Island Sound if it is lost, and it has been threatened with loss because it had served as a site for a research facility, biological research, classified mostly--I have visited it--and that research facility is going to be moved to Kansas. The question has been, What happens now to Plum Island? The possibility of commercial development or residential buildings has been there from time to time.
The requirement existed that Plum Island be sold when the research facility moved. In 2020, Congress successfully repealed the requirement to sell Plum Island and prevented a private developer from coming to develop it and destroy the really enormous ecological and environmental value that it provides. But stopping this sale was not enough. I have continued to push for a permanent preservation outcome for Plum Island, ensuring that the island is protected for generations to come.
Earlier this year, I was proud to introduce a pair of bills that would require our Federal Agencies to work internally and help determine the future of the island. Both of these bills passed out of committee with bipartisan support, and there is bipartisan support for this measure, as there should be, because it is about our environmental future and the preservation of open space and a rare resource for the Nation.
Passage of today's legislation marks a monumental stride towards conserving Plum Island. This measure will require the U.S. Department of the Interior to determine how to designate Plum Island as a unit of the Department of the Interior and how to preserve it for the use of people for generations to come and protect it from development, to conserve it for people to use recreationally, to make sure that it is available for wildlife that can be studied and observed and enjoyed by the people of Connecticut, New York, and all around the country.
I have worked closely with the Department of the Interior on how this study should be done, and I want to thank the Department for its input on the language in this legislation.
The study is crucial as a first step, but, obviously, equally more important, in fact, is the outcome, and it needs to be done before the end of this decade. It must be completed before Plum Island's transition is done.
I want to thank my colleagues again--Senator Schumer, who has been totally dedicated to this cause, Senator Gillibrand, and Senator Murphy--for their cosponsorship for this bill. It will have a lasting and historic effect because it enables Plum Island to become part of our Federal resource protection ecosystem through the Department of the Interior. I urge that this study be conducted quickly, expeditiously, thoroughly, and within less than 5 years. Certainly, it is doable in a couple of years, and I would urge that the Department of the Interior address it right away.
I thank my colleagues for joining me in support of this bill.
I yield to the senior Senator from Texas.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, I had hoped we would be joined by Senator Hoeven, but I just want to commend him for another of the measures we have just approved by unanimous consent.
I am a cosponsor with him of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Museum Artifacts Act. This measure is enormously important to preserve the artifacts and other memorabilia of one of our Presidents-- one of our great Presidents--Theodore Roosevelt.
I have been to that part of the country--the Badlands--and visited that part of the country, and I think this measure will be a fitting, educational resource. It will be a destination.
Now, I think that a lot of people may wonder, why there? Well, Theodore Roosevelt's connection to the Badlands and the Dakotas is well known, and making it a destination will draw more Americans to appreciate that part of our great Nation, which is so beautiful.
I want to commend the private contributors. This library museum will be the result of many private donations and contributions led by a team of one of my constituents Charlie Melcher, and it will be a real tribute not only to Theodore Roosevelt but to America's commitment to its history, its living history, and making it living history for so many young people, families, and others, who will appreciate Theodore Roosevelt's legacy to this Nation.
I see we have been joined by my colleague from Vermont, and I am happy to yield to him.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, thank you for giving us this opportunity, and, again, I thank my colleagues for approving all of these unanimous consents on behalf of land and resources that have such great value, like Plum Island, a national treasure.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source