*********************************** American Rivers Policy Update For the week of October 30, 2000 To read the River Policy Update online, visit www.amrivers.org/template2.asp?cat=7&page=221&id=0&filter=0 *********************************** APPROPRIATIONS Weeks behind schedule, Congress and the Administration have yet to finalize work on three of the thirteen annual appropriations bills. Members of Congress will take up another 24-hour continuing resolution today (H. J. Res. 120) to provide stopgap funding for the federal government through midnight Tuesday. The bills still in limbo are Labor, Health, and Human Services and Education; Commerce, Justice, and State; and a tax bill. With President Clinton refusing to sign more than a one-day stopgap spending resolution, Congress spent the weekend in negotiations on the remaining appropriations bills. Commerce, Justice, and State Appropriations Bill: Last Thursday, the House passed the FY'02 Commerce, Justice, and State funding bill, which President Clinton has vowed to veto. H.R. 4942 includes $37.5 billion for the departments of Commerce, Justice and State and the judiciary as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and elements of the stalled Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA, H.R. 701). In its current form, the bill would provide NOAA with $3.05 billion for NOAA, including $420 million for ocean, coastal and waterway conservation programs originally included in CARA. The National Marine Fisheries Service would receive $518 million. Members of Congress would provide just $45 of the $160 million requested by the Clinton Administration for Pacific coastal salmon recovery, subject to authorization, and $20 million for conservation funds to implement the 1999 US-Canada salmon agreement. More money for salmon recovery would come from the State Department section of the bill, which includes $40 million for the treaty. The bill also contains a multiyear authorization, from fiscal 2000 through 2003, totaling $140 million for the two funds, $30 million for economic adjustment for fishermen, $90 million for direct payments to Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California, and $10 million for coastal tribes to enhance and restore salmon habitat. The provisions from CARA added to the Commerce, Justice, and State funding bill include creation of a $50 million wildlife, ocean and coastal conservation account to make grants to states to carry out wildlife conservation programs and $150 million in FY'01 for coastal impact assistance to states with offshore drilling. *********************************** PARKS AND PUBLIC LANDS Bills Heading to President Clinton: On Friday, the Senate approved by unanimous consent a number of lands bills, clearing them for President Clinton's signature, including: * H.R. 2941 to create a national conservation area in the Cienega Creek and Babocomari River watersheds in Arizona near Tucson; * H.R. 4646 to designate 11,300 acres of wilderness in two areas in the George Washington National Forest in Virginia; * H.R. 4312 to direct the National Park Service to study the suitability and feasibility of creating an Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area in Connecticut; * S. 2538 to add Cat Island, MS to the Gulf Islands National Seashore; * H.R. 3388 to authorize $300 million in federal matching funds over ten years to clean up and restore Lake Tahoe's water quality and forest health; * S. 1761 to authorize federal participation and funding for a water delivery and conservation system in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas; * H.R. 1444 to direct the Interior Department to develop and implement projects for fish screens, fish passage devices, and other similar measures. *********************************** WATER RESOURCES WRDA Near Completion: The Water Resources Development Act of 2000 (WRDA, S. 2796) could come to the House and Senate floors at any time if conferees finish their talks. The omnibus legislation that authorized Corps of Engineers water projects contains $1.4 billion to restore the Florida Everglades Ecosystem (the main push for passing WRDA in the 106th Congress), but falls short of expectations of Corps Reform advocates in its failure to include significant reform measures. Among the numerous trouble spots in House-Senate negotiations were the 40 environmental infrastructure projects, worth more than $400 million, included in the House version of the bill. Conferees decided to remove those projects and attach them to the FY'01 appropriations bill for Labor, Health, and Human Services and Education. For more information, see the River Policy Update for October 23 at www.amrivers.org/template2.asp?cat=7&page=222&id=2577&filter=-1 Estuary Bill Clears House, Headed for President's Desk: Last week, the House approved the conference report to an estuary restoration bill that included text from several other resource protection bills. The bill is now ready to go to President Clinton. The conference report to the Estuaries and Clean Waters Act =96 S. 835 =96 would create a national program to promote the restoration of estuaries and establish an interagency council to coordinate federal, state and local activities. The bill would authorize $275 million over five years for the Army Corps of Engineers for restoration projects. The conference report included provisions from the following bills: * H.R. 3039, the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Act. * H.R. 1237, to reauthorize the National Estuary Program * H.R. 3313, the Long Island Sound Restoration Act * H.R. 2957, the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Act * H.R. 1106, the Alternative Water Sources Act * H.R. 2328, to reauthorize the Clean Lakes Program * H.R. 3378, the Tijuana River Valley Estuary and Beach Sewage Cleanup Act California Electricity Resolution Passes: Last Thursday, the House approved a non-binding resolution to expedite the public release of findings from a government probe into the causes of tripling electricity prices and power generation shortages that hit Southern California in the summer. H. Res. 650, introduced by Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-CA), expresses the sense of the House that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should make public before November 1 its findings and recommendations concerning the electricity crisis in California. Bill With Alaska Hydro Provision Passes House: The House approved a bill to reauthorize the Strategic Petroleum Reserve after the Senate make substantial amendments to the bill. The vote clears the way for the bill to go to the president, who is expected to sign it. H.R. 2884 reauthorizes the authority of the Department of Energy to buy or lease oil for, operate, and draw down the Strategic Petroleum Reserve through Sept. 30, 2003. The measure also creates a permanent 2-million-barrel home heating oil reserve in the Northeast. Many environmental groups and the Clinton Administration expressed concern over a provision added to the bill by Senator Frank Murkowski (R-AK) that would provide an exemption from federal authority and allow the state of Alaska to assume all licensing and regulatory authority over hydroelectric projects under five megawatts. For more information contact the Hydropower Reform Coalition, 1025 Vermont Ave. NW, Suite 720, Washington, DC 20005, (202) 347-7550 or email Matt Sicchio at msicchio@amrivers.org ALP Bill Passes Senate: On Wednesday, the Senate passed legislation that would authorize construction of the Animas-La Plata water storage and distribution system near Durango, Colorado. The vote was 85-5. S. 2508 authorizes a new version of the Animas-La Plata (ALP) water diversion project, a costly and destructive project that would divert water from the Animas River in Durango and pump it 500 feet uphill into a reservoir. Senator Russ Feingold offered an amendment to the bill that would ensure that, at a minimum, S. 2508 authorizes only the project that its proponents say the bill does: a smaller version of ALP that must comply with federal environmental and taxpayer protection laws. The Feingold amendment was tabled on a 56-34 vote. For more information about the ALP project, visit http://www.rmc.sierraclub.org/alp/ or email Dylan Norton at norton@rmc.sierraclub.org *********************************** ACTION ALERTS AND PRESS RELEASES Help save Snake River salmon! Visit http://www.salmonforever.org Help save the Missouri River! Visit http://www.savethemissouri.org To see the latest American Rivers action alerts and press releases, visit www.americanrivers.org and click on "Take Action/Join" for action alerts and "Newsroom" for press releases. The direct link for action alerts is www.amrivers.org/template2.asp?cat=8&page=121&id=0&filter=0
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