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With Congress scheduled to adjourn for the year this weekend and stopgap legislation funding for most federal programs due to expire this Friday, congressional leaders are racing to bundle a number of spending measures for FY'99 into one omnibus appropriations bill. GOP leaders in both the House and Senate hope to have the bill on their respective floors this week, but the threat of a White House veto looms large if "anti-environmental" riders are not removed from the bill.
The riders of concern include more than 50 provisions in the Interior, VA-HUD, and other appropriations bills that, according to VP Gore, would change environmental policy "while by passing the normal legislative process." Last week, 150 Democratic lawmakers signed on to a letter urging President Clinton to veto the bills. Among other things, the controversial riders would: threaten recovery of the Northwest salmon by hindering efforts to change operations on any dam in the Columbia River watershed; block the Interior Department from requiring oil companies to pay tens of millions of dollars more to the government for oil taken from federal land; allow construction of a 27-mile road into the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, a wilderness wetland in Alaska; expand logging in the Tongass National Forest; ensure continued commercial fishing in Glacier Bay National Park; keep open a controversial air strip in Denali National Park; and bar the EPA from requiring the removal through dredging of toxic PCBs from the Hudson River and other rivers until further studies are completed.
Floor action is scheduled this Friday for the House Omnibus National Parks and Public Lands Act of 1998 (H.R.4570). The legislation rolls 90 bills for 36 states into one package. Introduced September 15, H.R.4570 received immediate and strong criticism from the environmental community and an administration veto threat. The controversial portions of the bill include:
-H.R. 3625 to create the San Rafael Swell National Heritage Area and conservation area in southern Utah. Environmental groups and the Administration oppose the measure for failing to create enough wilderness areas and for allowing uses not currently allowed under wilderness designation; -H.R.1127 to prevent the President from bypassing Congress when creating a national monument; -H.R.2458 to direct the Interior and Agriculture secretaries to require the removal of overgrown areas of forests in danger of igniting fires near communities when entering timber contracts. The bill also offers logging companies a $150 million-per-year credit toward timber sales when they agree to participate in overgrowth removal projects; and -H.R.4345 to codify when requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act could be waived for severely damaged forests.
The omnibus bill also contains a provision that turned a strongly bi-partisan and locally supported designation of a portion of the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord Rivers as part of the Wild and Scenic River System on its head. In addition to designating 29 miles of a proposed National Wild and Scenic River as a component of the National Trails System, the section strips out many of the key provisions included in H.R.1110, the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord Wild and Scenic Rivers Act introduced by Representative Meehan (D-MA), that were reported favorably by the Resources Committee and endorsed by numerous towns along the river.
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Although Congress probably will not address electric utility restructuring this session, chances are good that legislators will take up the issue in the 106th Congress. Setting the stage for further debate on restructuring, Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA) presented his public utilities private use legislation (S.2182) at a September 30 press briefing. The bill would give publicly-owned utilities the flexibility to choose between remaining with the existing private use law or forfeiting their right to issue tax-exempt bonds for new power generation. Existing private use law restricts publicly-owned utilities from selling or transporting electricity to investor-owned utilities, rural cooperatives, or power marketers. Gorton said five members have signed on to his bill and six more are endorsing it.
He plans to introduce S.2182 next year. Gorton also stated that he expects several deregulation bills to be introduced next year.
On September 30, Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) introduced legislation (S.2533) that would curb federal agencies' authority to impose mandatory conditions for hydropower relicensing. Craig's bill - the Hydroelectric Licensing Process Improvement Act - does not eliminate the power of federal resource agencies such as the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Forest Service to mandate fish passages or land protection conditions in order to receive a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Instead, the legislation would require the resource agencies to consider a broad range of factors based on sound data and peer reviewed by scientists before imposing mandatory conditions for relicensing. The factors include impact on irrigation, recreation, air quality, economic value, navigation, power, conditions of other agencies, and drinking water supply. Currently, federal resource agencies are not required by law to consider such factors before imposing conditions. If passed, the Craig bill would require FERC to impose deadlines of not more than one year for federal resource agencies to impose its conditions after a license application is submitted. The bill would also require FERC to study whether there should be a separate licensing process for small hydroelectric projects.
The week before Craig introduced his bill, Margaret Bowman of American Rivers and the Hydropower Reform Coalition testified before the Subcommittee on Energy and Power of the House Commerce Committee at an oversight hearing held to examine the hydropower relicensing process. Bowman urged Congress to support FERC's collaborative effort on dam relicensing rather than the legislative reforms proposed by the hydropower industry. This view was emphasized by a number of federal and state agencies and environmental groups called to testify at Senate and House hearings on Craig's bill. This collaborative effort involves the hydropower industry, federal and state agencies, tribal governments, and the public in the consideration and environmental review of projects before license approval.
A number of environmental groups, including American Rivers, recently submitted a letter to Senator Patty Murray, Secretaries of the Interior Norm Dicks and Bruce Babbitt, and Chairperson of the Council on Environmental Quality Katie McGinty to request their assistance in securing funding to implement the Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act. In February 1998, President Clinton proposed designating $86 million for the Elwha River as part of the $699 million appropriation for FY'98 from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The funds would allow the Interior Department to complete federal acquisition of the two Elwha dams and begin the first phase of dam removal and river restoration activities. Recently, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees approved allocation of a portion of the FY'98 LWCF funds, including $18.5 million for acquisition of the two Elwha dams. Before the Interior Department can proceed with the project, however, funding for dam removal and river restoration must also be approved. The project represents a unique opportunity to restore salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest in a fiscally responsible and effective manner.
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On Wednesday, the House Agriculture Committee panel will hold a hearing, postponed from last week, on a plan to reduce flood danger by restricting federal strictures on state and local governments. The panel will consider legislation introduced last June by Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), the Virginia Flood Control Act, H.R.4128. Goodlatte's bill would change the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act so that the Agriculture secretary and other federal officials cannot prohibit or condition the ability of governments to remove rocks, vegetation, soil, or other debris deposited by flood waters when their goal is to reduce the risk of future floods.
Goodlatte stated, "I believe that private property rights are the bedrock of our society, and this legislation will put the authority to make decisions back in the hands of landowners."
Last week, the three members of the North Dakota congressional delegation announced their support for a plan to divert the Missouri River to the eastern part of their state, citing economic and agricultural needs. The issue dates back to 1944 when the Flood Control Act authorized the Garrison Diversion Unit as part of the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Plan. GDU called for irrigation development of 1.275 million acres in North Dakota in return for the state playing host to "permanent floods" inundating more than 500,000 acres as a result of dams constructed on the Missouri. Over the years, economic and environmental concerns have been raised, and North Dakotas have debated with federal officials and environmental groups about who is owed what and at what cost. Last November, North Dakota's congressional delegation introduced the Dakota Water Resources Act as alternative legislation. The bill would reduce irrigation to 70,000 acres; rework financing for municipal, rural, and industrial water facilities for up to 130 sites; lay out a process for determining how to meet the water needs of the Red River Valley, and increase funding for wildlife conservation programs.
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Floor action is possible in the Senate this week on S.2500, a bill to protect the sanctity of contracts and leases for coal bed methane gas signed by surface patent holders. The bill, co-sponsored by Senators Craig Thomas (R-WY) and Mike Enzi (R-WY), would grandfather the mineral rights and royalties from federal lease agreements for coal bed methane gas, reversing the effect of a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that shifted the mineral rights for and royalties from methane leases to the federal government. The Senate Energy Committee approved the bill on September 23.
Representative Barbara Cubin (R-WY) is supporting the same language on the House side as an amendment to the omnibus parks bill. A staffer for Thomas stated that if S.2500 or Cubin's amendment fail, delegation members will try to put the language in any bills that are likely to move before Congress adjourns.
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The Senate and House moved quickly last week to pass the conference report on energy and water appropriations for FY '99. Although President Clinton had not yet signed the legislation, there is no veto threat. Congress did not yield to President Clinton's request for funding for the Tennessee Valley Authority's non-power programs, including navigation and flood control. Without the additional funding, the TVA will have to use its revenue from power programs to carry out non-power activities. Conferees responded to the pleas of the Northwest delegation and provided $60 million to the Army Corps for Columbia River fish mitigation programs. The California Bay-Delta ecosystem restoration program received $75 million under the Bureau of Reclamation's reduced FY'99 appropriations of $617 million.
This Thursday, the Senate Environment and Public Work's Drinking Water, Fisheries, and Wildlife Subcommittee will hold an oversight hearing to review scientific and engineering issues related to the Columbia and Snake river system salmon recovery efforts. The initiatives have the goal of minimizing salmon mortality and replenishing salmon stocks in the rivers.
One of the causes of the 40 percent drop in salmon stocks over the past 10 years is new hydroelectric dams constructed along the rivers, which converted them from free-flowing rivers to slack-water reservoirs. Last summer, the House held similar hearings.
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This week, the Senate may pass under a unanimous consent agreement the Energy Conservation Reauthorization Act, S.417. The House passed companion legislation, H.R.4017 on September 28 by unanimous consent. The legislation would renew a number of programs of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act and the Energy Conservation and Production Act, including weatherization programs for low-income households, state block grants to encourage low-income energy conservation, energy conservation programs in schools and hospitals, and export programs for renewable energy and energy efficiency.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday to mark up several land bills, including:
-S.2413, which would direct the Forest Service to develop a management plan for the 580-acre Woodland Lake Park tract in Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona incorporating recreational uses with the participation of Pinetop-Lakeside; and -S.2513, which would transfer jurisdiction of about 2,060 acres of Bureau of Land Management land around Applegate Lake in southern Oregon to the Forest Service; swap jurisdiction of about 1,630 acres of Forest Service land near Sugarloaf Mountain to BLM, and restore 960 acres of Oregon and California railroad lands to the Rogue River National Forest.
The House Commerce Health and Environment Subcommittee has scheduled an oversight hearing Thursday on the implementation of the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act amendments.
Last week, Senate sponsors of bills aimed at restoring and preserving the nation's estuaries stated that passage will have to wait for next year, ending an 18-month struggle to pass the Estuary Habitat Restoration Partnership Act, S.1222, introduced in September 1997. The bill would establish a federal council and provide more than $300 million in grant money over 5 years to local organizations with the goal of saving 1 million acres of estuaries by 2010. In the House, Representative Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) introduced companion legislation at the end of September, but stated that there was little chance that the bill would be acted upon before next year.
Although not listed on the schedule, the House make take up H. Con. Res. 331, a concurrent resolution regarding the inadequacy of sewage infrastructure facilities in Tijuana, Mexico. The non-binding resolution, introduced by Representative Brian Bilbray (R-CA), was passed by the International Relations Committee on Friday. Bilbray said that sewage flowing from Tijuana into the United States has forced beach closings in Imperial Beach, Coronado, and San Diego, and severely degraded the Tijuana National Estuarian Wildlife Preserve. According to the sense-of-Congress resolution, the "United States should review its obligations with Mexico under treaties and other international agreements" if Mexico does not take action to properly deal with the inadequacy of the Tijuana sewage infrastructure facilities. Senator Connie Mack (R-FL) hopes to bring up under a unanimous consent agreement her bill S.1419. The legislation would double the 333-acre tract on the northern edge of the Everglades National Park reserved for use by the Miccosukee tribe, allowing members to construct new housing on the expanded area. The measure was approved unanimously by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on July 29 and endorsed by the Interior Department and the tribe. Florida Governor Lawton Chiles (D) and the National Parks and Conservation Association oppose the measure, asserting that the expansion would infringe upon an area designated as wilderness by Congress in 1978.
A number of relatively non-controversial measures approved by the Senate Energy Committee could be taken up by the full Senate at any time, including bills that would:
-Direct the Forest Service to continue maintaining 18 concrete dams and weirs located in the Emigrant Wilderness in the Stanislaus National Forest in California; -
Authorize the construction of temperature control devices at the Folsom Dam in California to benefit Chinook salmon; -
Authorize the Lewis and Clark rural water system, which would provide safe drinking water for hundreds of towns in southeastern South Dakota, northwestern Iowa, and southwestern Minnesota; and -
Allow the local beneficiaries of the Canadian River Project in Texas to prepay some of the money due under their contract with the Bureau of Reclamation.
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On Tuesday or later this week, the House will take up a VA-HUD FY'99 funding conference report for the Environmental Protection Agency. The bill would allocate $7.6 billion to EPA for FY'99, about $197 million over FY'98 levels but below President Clinton's request for $7.8 billion. The bill would fully fund President Clinton's request for $145 million for the Clean Water Initiatives, a program aimed at combating contamination of rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. Under the President's plan, several clean water programs would receive additional funding: a $95 million increase for non-point source pollution prevention grants, a $20 million boost for general assistance grants to state water agencies, and a $25 million increase in new spending for operating EPA clean water programs. The conference report would provide $1.4 billion to the clean water state revolving loan fund, which provides low-interest loans to municipalities for wastewater treatment plants. This is about equal to FY'98 funding and more than President Clinton's request for $1.1 billion. The bill would meet the Clinton Administration's request for $775 million for the safe drinking water state revolving loan fund.
The House Commerce oversight and investigations subcommittee will hold a hearing this week on the cleanup of the Hanford nuclear weapons site in southeastern Washington. In August, the U.S. Department of Energy announced an agreement with BNFL, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of British Nuclear Fuels Limited, to treat and immobilize radioactive waste from 11 of the 177 underground storage tanks at the Hanford site. The 11 waste tanks requiring treatment at the site contain long-lived, highly radioactive materials.
Treatment of the tanks is of critical importance because leaks could contaminate the groundwater at the site and eventually the Columbia River.
Officials estimate that the project will take 20 years and cost the federal government $6.9 billion.
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On September 30, the Senate passed by unanimous consent the Wetlands and Wildlife Enhancement Act, S.1677, thereby maintaining the flow of millions of dollars in grants to regional and local groups for the preservation of wetlands. The House passed companion legislation, H.R.2556, by voice vote on May 19. The Senate reauthorized the North American Wetlands Conservation Act at $30 million annually through FY'03. The NAWCA encourages voluntary public and private sector partnerships to conserve habitat for waterfowl, migratory birds, and other species that depend on wetlands for survival. NAWCA has funded 575 projects involving more than 800 organizations and is largely responsible for the significant rebound in bird populations.
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Monday: no action
Tuesday: House hearing on Kyoto Protocol - Commerce Committee, 9:30am, 2123 Rayburn. Senate hearing on acid rain - Environment and Public Works Committee, 9:30am, 406 Dirksen. Senate markup of nominations, public land bills - Energy and Natural Resources Committee, 9:30am, 366 Dirksen.
Wednesday: House hearing on flood legislation - Agriculture Committee, 1pm, 1300 Longworth. Senate - no action.
Thursday: House hearing on Hanford privatization contract - Commerce Committee, 10am, 2322 Rayburn. Senate hearing on Safe Drinking Water Act - Commerce Committee, 10am, 2123 Rayburn. Senate hearing on salmon recovery - Environment and Public Works Committee, 9:30am, 406 Dirksen.
Friday: House hearing on Kyoto Protocol - Government Reform and Oversight Committee, time and place TBA. Senate - no action.
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VERY TROUBLED WATERS: DESPITE THE CLEAN WATER ACT, THE QUALITY OF RIVERS WORSEN According to a new report by US News & World Report, the percentage of US rivers designated as "impaired" has increased from 26% to 36% since 1986.
Despite the "monumental progress in cleaning up American Rivers" as a result of the 1972 Clean Water Act, nonpoint source pollution such as silt, bacteria, oxygen-depleting substances, and pesticides continue to threaten our nation's rivers. US News estimated that agricultural waste from hog, poultry, and cattle farms is largely responsible for 70% of the impaired rivers, construction 37%, city sewage systems 14%, urban and suburban runoff 13%, mining 13%, and industrial runoff 9%. (Penny Loeb, US News & World Report, 9/28 issue).
PFIESTERIA EXPERT BLASTS COMMENTS THAT LESIONS DO NOT INDICATE PFIESTERIA Assuming that fish lesions are caused by a fungus instead of the toxic microorganism Pfiesteria piscicida could expose people who live or work near the water to health risks, according to a leading expert in the field.
A study by the U.S. Geological Survey shows that lesions on menhaden in Maryland rivers could have been caused by a fungus.
But JoAnn Burkholder, a North Carolina State University scientist who helped discover Pfiesteria, said Friday that the USGS study doesn't mean officials should stop using lesions as an initial indicator whether Pfiesteria has entered its toxic stage.
``To abandon the lesion approach is to take some very serious chances with people's health,'' Ms. Burkholder said.
Pfiesteria's toxins have been linked with short-term memory loss in humans who came into contact with affected waters.
After the finding by a Maryland medical team was announced last year, Gov. Parris Glendening -- in part on Ms. Burkholder's advice -- began closing rivers when more than 20 percent of the fish caught showed the lesions or sores believed to be associated with the microorganism.
This week's report by USGS fish pathologist Vicki Blazer is quickly becoming a full-blown scientific controversy, with Ms. Blazer and Michael Mac, fisheries program director at the federal agency, suggesting that the study shows the presence of lesions to be an unreliable indicator of Pfiesteria.
BIODIVERSITY: RESEARCH CENTER OPENED WITH $35M GIFT Intel Corp. co-founder and Chair Emeritus Gordon Moore and his wife Betty today announced they will contribute $35 million towards the creation of a biodiversity research center to identify and address emerging threats to the world's "most biologically valuable ecosystems."
The Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, which will be based at the DC headquarters of Conservation International, is expected to bring together experts in such fields as science, technology, economics and conservation to develop action plans in response to environmental threats. CI Chair and CEO Peter Seligmann says the center will "serve as an early warning system by forecasting impending biodiversity crises."
The center's efforts will parallel CI's strategy to save the world's "highest-priority" biological "hot spots," tropical wilderness areas and marine ecosystems (CI release, 10/2). Specific projects will include stopping the destruction of "pristine" forests by "international logging conglomerates," and studying the threats to biodiversity in many developing nations posed by mining, logging and other extractive industries.
Harvard U. ecologist Edward O. Wilson will chair the center's advisory council, and Gustavo Fonseca, CI's VP for Brazil programs, will be its executive director (AP/San Francisco Chronicle/Examiner online, 10/2).
October 3, 1998, Contact: Steve Ellis, Amy Souers, 202-347-7550 GREENING THE GREAT RIVER PARK WINS MISSISSIPPI RIVER RESTORATION AWARD:
American Rivers Applauds Project's Efforts
(Washington, DC)-American Rivers today presented the second annual Mississippi River Restoration Award to Greening the Great River Park, a project designed to restore native vegetation to the Mississippi River Valley in Saint Paul.
Nearly 5,800 volunteers-from local organizations, businesses, schools, and nurseries- have participated in this five-year restoration project.
October 2, 1998, Contact: Tom Cassidy, Amy Souers, 202-347-7550 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS ACT PRESENTS RIVER PROTECTION OPPORTUNITIES: American Rivers applauds Lumber designation, urges designations of additional rivers
(Washington, DC)-American Rivers today celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and the newest addition to the National River System, the Lumber River in North Carolina.
The Act, signed on October 2, 1968, is one of the most important pieces of federal legislation ever passed to protect rivers. It protects 155 miles of the nation's most outstanding rivers from dams and other inappropriate development.
"Wild and Scenic rivers are invaluable to our national heritage. Not only do they provide recreation and tourism opportunities to the public, but they protect threatened plant and animal species and provide dependable supplies of clean water," said Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers.
The Lumber River, 81 miles of which were designated this week by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, is a prime example of a blackwater, bottomland hardwood forest river. It supports endangered species such as the bald eagle, red-cockaded woodpecker, and American alligator and provides outstanding fishing and canoeing opportunities.
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American Rivers 1025 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 720 Washington, DC 20005 (202) 347-7550
CHECK OUT OUR HOMEPAGE!! http://www.amrivers.org American Rivers
Legislative information taken from many sources including: Congressional Green Sheets, Environment and Energy Weekly, and Roll Call.
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News:
(Todd Spangler, Associated Press, 10/3/98).
Future Events:
August 3rd: http://www.amrivers.org/policy8-3.html
July 27th: http://www.amrivers.org/policy7-27.html
July 20th: http://www.amrivers.org/policy7-20.html
July 13th: http://www.amrivers.org/policy7-13.html
July 6th: http://www.amrivers.org/policy7-6.html
June 29th: http://www.amrivers.org/policy6-29.html
June 22nd: http://www.amrivers.org/policy6-22.html
June 15th: http://www.amrivers.org/policy6-15.html
June 8th : http://www.amrivers.org/policy6-8.html
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