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“What this will mean is the largest ecosystem restoration investment for the upper Mississippi River basin in the history of our county, up to $1.7 billion, which we think is long overdue,” Kind said at a news conference at the U.S. Geological Survey on French Island.
The La Crosse Democrat was talking about the Water Resources Development Act, multi-billion dollar legislation for water projects throughout the country. The House recently passed a compromise version of the bill that now goes back to the Senate for approval.
President Bush hasn’t decided whether to sign or veto the bill, Kind said.
The bill also contains money for expanded lock and dams on the river around Illinois, which are controversial, but Kind said money for restoration of the upper Mississippi is very important and not pork-barrel spending.
Walz, a Democratic freshman congressman from Mankato, Minn., said Kind has mentored him on river issues. He said Kind’s leadership helped move the water resources bill after it was delayed the last eight years.
Walz said the bill has good bipartisan support.
“The ideology of the politics get brushed away on this, and the facts and the science of what we’re moving for are what people are focusing on,” Walz said.
The morning news conference was to be in Brownsville, Minn., to show off island and habitat construction work in Walz’s district. The wet weather forced it to be shifted to the U.S. Geological Survey’s Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center on French Island, in Kind’s district.
Reid Magney can be reached at (608) 791-8211 or rmagney@lacrossetribune.com.
