The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, of which LaTourette is a senior member and subcommittee chairman, today approved the additional water surveys by voice vote. No further action is needed by Congress because today’s survey measure and the one approved in July for Stow are considered law due to their passage by the full Transportation committee.

LaTourette said he will not have to seek federal funds for any of the water surveys for the five communities because water survey resolutions are 100 percent federally funded through existing funds.

LaTourette said he sought the additional studies after being contacted by the communities following passage of the Stow survey in July. LaTourette has subsequently toured the communities to identify flood-prone areas.

"The officials made the case, and I agree that it won’t help the region if only one specific community is studied," LaTourette said. "The bottom line is we have flooding and sewer problems in all these communities, and it’s better to study them all comprehensively rather than trying to do it piecemeal."

LaTourette said that each of the five communities will be fully surveyed, and the cost of the surveys is expected to be about $100,000 per community.

LaTourette said he’s had several discussions with the Buffalo office of the Army Corps of Engineers about the need for expanded surveys, and has brought the agency up-to-speed about past flooding and sewer overflow problems.