IN THIS WEEK'S UPDATE:
* Fisheries/endangered species
* Energy policy
* Appropriations
* Bush administration environmental nominees
* Congressional calendar
* Take action
* Jobs
The Pacific Salmon Recovery Act, HR 1157, is scheduled to hit the House floor this week. Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) is the sponsor of the bill, which is nearly identical to legislation passed in the House last September (HR 2798) but did not have time to work its way through the Senate. The Pacific Salmon Recovery Act would give authority to provide financial assistance to five states (Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, and Idaho) and qualified tribal governments for salmon research and habitat restoration activities. $200 million would be equally divided among the states over three years, with 15% allocated to tribal governments. Specific projects that would be funded include watershed evaluation, assessment and planning for specific watershed improvements; watershed planning and project monitoring and evaluation; and watershed organization support. In addition, other potential projects include post- completion maintenance and monitoring, and training for private landowners on sustainable land and water management practices to protect and restore salmon habitat. In order to ensure that the funding goes toward salmon protection, the bill would ban states and tribes from participating if they cut other spending on salmon habitat programs.
This Thursday the House Resources fisheries subcommittee will hold the third in a series of hearings on the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which expired in September 1999. The law, last authorized in 1996, regulates commercial and recreational fishing in federally-controlled ocean waters, and is also known as the Sustainable Fisheries Act. The subcommittee is expected to explore how ecosystem-based fishery management can be integrated into the Act. This concept focuses on habitat and biodiversity rather than traditional individual species management.
The House Resources Committee will hold a hearing this Saturday in Klamath Falls Oregon to investigate the tension between irrigated agriculture and the Endangered Species Act at the Bureau of Reclamation's Klamath Project. The Bureau has been forced to stop distributing irrigation water to hundreds of farmers this summer in order to protect fish (including endangered coho salmon, Lost River sucker and shortnosed sucker) and a wintering population of over 1000 bald eagles =96 the largest in the contiguous 48 states. Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman's Associations has pointed out that protecting and restoring endangered Klamath River coho salmon would have important economic benefits. "Downriver economic losses have already been staggering," Spain said. "Roughly 3,780 family-wage jobs have already been lost in these downriver fishing- based economies by the failure to protect and restore salmon within the Klamath basin, and several thousand remaining jobs are now at risk."
Hearing: 9:00 am, Saturday, June 16th at the Klamath County Fair Grounds, 3531 South 6th Street, Klamath Falls, OR
Last week House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-LA) effectively killed Rep. Joe Barton's (R-TX) emergency power bill (H.R. 1647) by canceling attempts at marking it up. The markup failed when committee members were unable to agree on whether to include price caps for wholesale power prices in the legislation. Environmentalists welcomed the development, as the bill, though already stripped of some of its worst elements, still contained a Clean Air Act override and a provision that may have allowed subsidized Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) customers such as the aluminum industry to resell their contract power allotment at higher prices. Such resale of subsidized power could force BPA to seek greater hydroelectric generation, which typically comes at the expense of migrating salmon in the Snake and Columbia rivers.
This Wednesday the House Appropriations Committee will mark up the agriculture appropriations bill for FY 02. The bill will allocate $74.2 billion among various programs, and would provide more funding than was requested in Bush's proposed budget. The increase would be directed toward a number of conservation programs headed by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Agriculture Department's main conservation branch. Most NRCS funds provide technical assistance to over one million landowners annually. Other conservation programs that would receive additional funding include watershed and flood prevention, resource conservation and development, and watershed surveys and planning. In addition, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program received $26 million more than requested to assist farmers. The Administration did not seek funding for the Wetland Reserve Program, the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program and the Farmland Protection Program, and these programs were not funded in the Agriculture subcommittee markup.
Markup: 10:00 am, Wednesday, June 13, in 2359 Rayburn
The Interior bill will be the first bill considered this week when the full Appropriations Committee meets this Wednesday to act on the formal allocation of funding for all 13 subcommittees. The $18.9 billion funding package includes $800 million more than requested by the Bush administration, including substantial increases in the water resources division of the U.S. Geological Survey, which the Administration had sought to cut. The Interior subcommittee rejected an Administration proposal to end citizen enforcement of endangered species listing deadlines and critical habitat designations through the courts. However, the subcommittee did implement the administration's request to cap funding for new listings at $8.1 million, a $2.1 increase over last year's funding. Endangered species advocates argue that even this raised cap will slow down the listing process, thus further endangering imperiled species; they are seeking $24 million for listings this year.
Markup: 10:00 am, Wednesday, June 13, in 2359 Rayburn
Floor action is possible this week for a number of nominees awaiting confirmation by the Senate for federal environmental and energy positions.
According to Senate Majority Whip Harry Reid (D-NV), Stephen Johnson awaits confirmation by the full Senate to be assistant administrator for toxic substances for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Jeffrey Holmstead also waits to be confirmed as the EPA's assistant administrator for air and radiation. Committee members are waiting for the release of documents Holmstead created while working for former President Bush. James Connaughton's nomination to head the White House Council on Environmental Quality is expected to come before the full Senate this week for a vote. Steven Griles' nomination awaits a Senate vote on becoming deputy secretary of Interior. Griles, a former coal and oil lobbyist, has received strong opposition from the environmental community. John Graham still awaits confirmation by the full Senate to be head of the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Graham's positions on risk analysis have drawn criticism from a wide range of environmental and other public interest organizations. If confirmed, the position would give Graham veto authority over a wide range of environmental regulations. Jesse Hill Roberson is still awaiting a second confirmation hearing to be the Department of Energy's assistant secretary of environmental management.
SENATE: Wednesday, June 13 Hearing on EPA, CEQ appropriations Appropriations Committee 10 a.m., 138 Dirksen Hearing on electricity restructuring Government Affairs Committee 9:30 a.m., 342 Dirksen HOUSE: Tuesday, June 12 Hearing on coal, oil and gas R&D Science Committee 10 a.m., 2318 Rayburn Hearing on several park bills Resources Committee 10 a.m., 1334 Longworth Hearing on energy tax laws Ways and Means Committee 2 p.m., 1100 Longworth Wednesday, June 13 Markup of Interior spending bill Appropriations Committee 10 a.m., 2359 Rayburn USDA appropriations markup Appropriations Committee 10 a.m., 2359 Rayburn Hearing on national energy policy Energy and Commerce Committee 10 a.m., 2123 Rayburn Hearing on energy tax laws Ways and Means Committee 10 a.m., 1100 Longworth Thursday, June 14 Magnuson-Stevens hearing Resources Committee 9:30 a.m., 1324 Longworth Hearing on nuclear, hydrogen research Science Committee 10 a.m., 2318 Rayburn Markup of supplemental budget request Appropriations Committee TBA, 2359 Rayburn Saturday, June 16 Hearing on Klamath Basin water and endangered species issue Resources Committee 9:00 a.m., Klamath County Fair Grounds, 3531 South 6th Street, Klamath Falls, OR
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Legislative information taken from sources including: Environment and Energy Daily, Greenwire, Congressional Green Sheets, and members of the American Rivers conservation staff.
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