The $300 million replacement of Chickamauga lock has a good chance this year of being enacted into law along with legislation that would add part of Moccasin Bend to the National Park Service, U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp told the Signal Mountain Chamber of Commerce Tuesday morning.

Speaking at the monthly breakfast at Alexian Village, the Third District congressman said the Corps of Engineers will have a study on lock replacement finished by April 2002 and he expects the Water Resources Development Act of 2002 will include provisions for replacing the lock.

He described the seven-year project as “a major deal” with a new lock being built closer to the center of the channel while the old lock continues to be used.

Legislation to add part of Moccasin Bend to the National Park Service, he said, was referred to committee and the hearings went well.

“This is the first time I’ve said this,” he said. “We expect the bill to be reported out on Sept. 11 and go to the full committee on Sept. 12.” If it clears both the sub-committee and the committee, “and I expect it will, it will be ready to go to the full House this fall.”

He continue, “My goal all along has been to get this legislation out of the House this year and try to get it out of the Senate next year and to have President Bush sign it into law in the timeframe of the 107th Congress.”

He said, “We’re right on schedule” to get the legislation passed. He said at this point he isn’t sure whether the legislation would be “a stand-alone bill” or part of a National Parks Omnibus Bill. He explained that if he expects favorable action on an omnibus bill, he would support including Moccasin Bend, but if not, he would prefer a stand-alone bill providing only for the addition of Moccasin Bend as a national park.

He mentioned campaign finance reform legislation, which he said was not one of the president’s priorities, but would likely be signed if it is passed by Congress. The legislation passed in the Senate, but has not made it through the House. After the breakfast, he said, “we’re 13 votes shy” of having enough to bring the bill to the floor.

He said he is optimistic that it can be achieved.

The congressman touched on several key programs including the president’s six priorities, tax relief which was passed and people are getting their checks, improvement of public education which passed both houses but with a $10 billion difference now being worked out in a compromise which should be signed into law by the end of the year and the Patients’ Bill of Rights which passed both houses with a compromise being worked out. “It looks like there will be a good compromise” and the bill will be signed.

The energy bill, he said, has passed in the House and goes to the Senate. Labor, he added, has stepped in to support the new supply of energy which should help get it through. The Faith Based Initiative passed the house, but doesn’t look promising in the Senate, he continued, but certain programs working with charitable organizations are eligible for support without legislation.

The sixth program involves defense spending in which a review is under way from top to bottom in an effort to make defense and defense spending more efficient.

Discussing funding for replacement of Chickamauga Lock, Rep. Wamp said congress is only required to enact 13 appropriations bills for operation of the government and “once something is put into an appropriation bill” and the bill signed into law, it is mandated.

According to the congressman, a member of the appropriations committee, “They say we’re not suppose to authorize things on an appropriations bill, but we do it all the time.” Congress, he added, “has the power to do that.”

If an appropriations bill provides that funding for Chickamauga Lock replacement be paid for by the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, “that becomes law” and is “a statutory requirement”

At the same time, Congressman Jimmy Duncan of Knoxville is chairman of the subcommittee that will consider the Water Resources Development Act of 2002 and has a special interest in the Chickamauga Lock because of the river traffic through upper East Tennessee. He is expected to use his influence to include the lock in that bill.

He said he expects funding to begin in fiscal year 2003 and considers replacement of the lock “critical because of the commerce on the Tennessee River.”

Rep. Wamp continued, “One of the things that doesn’t get much attention around here is the work we’re doing together on conservation and stewardship.” He said, “Water and conservation go hand in hand.”

He said one-third of the acreage in the United States belongs to the federal government. “You’ve got to protect these natural resources.”

Discussing the preservation of Moccasin Bend and suggesting it could be linked to river walk development, he said believes the golf course should be maintained with the anticipated national park addition and it can serve as an effective buffer between the smell from the sewage treatment plant and areas that might be developed as “people spaces.”

He said he could envision the river walk coming down to the national park with all the history, the native American history, the Civil War and other factors.

He described the Third District as “unique” with its cooperative spirit over the years in improving air quality and the “beautiful things that have happened to Chattanooga in the past 15 years.”