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Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New The House Water and Environment Subcommittee of the Transportation Committee will hold an organizational meeting and hearing on the fiscal 2000 funding requests by the Clinton Administration for the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. Transportation Committee Chair Bud Shuster (R-PA) has criticized President Clinton's budget plan, especially the provisions for clean water funding. In its budget plan for FY'00, the Administration requested only $2.6 billion for the EPA's Office of Water, down from $3.4 billion in FY'99. A large portion of the $800 million cut is due to the fact that the EPA did not ask for $341 million for special projects designated by members of Congress for funding during the appropriations process last year. Another source of the cut is EPA's request for only $800 million for the clean water revolving loan fund, down from the appropriated level of $1.4 billion for FY'99. For the Corps of Engineers, the Administration requested almost $4.3 billion for FY'00, down $200 million from funding for this year. Within the budget proposal, President Clinton identified nineteen new construction projects, slated to cost $80 million in the first year. The projects include two environmental projects, seven rehabilitation projects, two dam safety projects, three flood control projects, and five navigation projects. The Administration's budget proposal for the TVA was $7 million, down from $54 million in FY'99. The organizational meeting will be held Wednesday, February 10 at 1:30 p.m. in 2167 Rayburn House Office Building. The budget hearing will follow immediately after. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New The Senate Banking Committee with hold a mark-up hearing on Senator Richard Shelby's bill (S. 313) aimed at repealing the Public Utility Holding Company Act. Although the bill has bipartisan support in the Senate - Chairman Phil Gram (R-TX) and ranking Democrat Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) have co-sponsored the bill - supporters of more comprehensive utility deregulation legislation strongly opposed earlier versions of the bill. PUCHA was passed in 1935 to address growing concern over the dominance of a limited number of interstate holding companies, which had control over 75 percent of the nation's private electric power companies. PUCHA limited the ability of private companies to use the holding company structure for utilities. Senator Shelby's bill would repeal PUCHA, which he views as a significant bottleneck constraining competition between American gas and electric utilities. Opponents of PUCHA repeal argue that doing away with PUCHA alone would not protect customers adequately and could lead to increases in power prices. Instead, PUCHA should be repealed only as part of a more comprehensive piece of electric utility restructuring legislation. The mark-up will be held Thursday, February 11 at 9:30 a.m. in 538 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Contacts on the Senate Banking Committee are: Lendel Porterfield, majority, 202-224-3227; Mitchell Feuer, minority, 202-224-9166. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New The House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee will gather this week to assess the success of the Forest Service's fee collection program. The subcommittee will look at revenues generated by various land uses, including camping, cabin fees, ski areas, hydropower facilities, power lines crossing forest lands, and other non-commodity uses. The hearing will not address revenues generated by logging, mining, or other extractive uses of forest lands. The hearing will be held Wednesday, February 10 at 10 a.m. in B-308 Rayburn House Office Building. House Appropriations Contacts are: Chris Topik, majority, 202-225-3081; Del Davis, minority, 202-225-3481. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New Representative Helen Chenoweth (R-ID) has arranged a field hearing to look at the impacts of grizzly protection measures in the Targhee National Forest on public access to the forest. The land management plan recently developed for the Targhee National Forest, 1.7 million acres along the Idaho-Wyoming border, calls for greatly reducing the density of roads in the forest to improve habitat for grizzly bears. Last year, a number of residents of the region complained when a group of roads were closed to protect grizzly habitat, both inside and outside the designated bear management unit. The hearing will be held Saturday, February 13 at 1:00 p.m. in the Rexburg Tabernacle, 51 North Center, Rexburg, Idaho. House Resource contacts are: Doug Crandall, majority, 202-225-0691; Jeff Petrich, minority, 202-225-6065. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New Representative Helen Chenoweth (R-ID) has introduced another bill aimed at reducing the risk of forest fires near communities and structures. The Forests and Forest Health Subcommittee approved the bill in the 105th Congress, but the full Resources Committee never took up the free-standing bill. The Community Protection and Hazardous Fuels Reduction Act would allow the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to make timber sales with the specific goal of reducing the accumulation of deadwood, underbrush, and other fire fuels in the regions where forest lands come in contact with developed areas. The two agencies would not be allowed to deny sales that would cost more to remove than they would generate in revenue, and such sales would not be included in calculations concerning the revenue effects of the logging program. Environmental groups have opposed this and other similar pieces of legislation, contending they are frequently used to start logging roadless areas or to mask logging of healthy timber that would not otherwise be cut. The hearing will be held Tuesday, February 9 at 2 p.m. in 1334 Longworth House Office Building. House Resources contacts are: Doug Crandall, majority, 202-225-0691; Jeff Petrich, minority, 202-225-6065. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New Senator Craig Thomas (R-WY), Chair of the Senate Parks Subcommittee, hopes to move legislation to expand the role of local governments in land management decisions under the National Environmental Policy Act. The State and Local Government Participation Act of 1999 (S. 352) is similar to the bill Senator Thomas introduced in the 105th Congress (S. 1176). The legislation would give federal and state agencies and county and local governments equal footing under NEPA. Hearings have not yet been scheduled as the bill was referred to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which will likely hold budget hearings first. Environmental organizations opposed Thomas' 105th Congress legislation because local governments tend to emphasize economic values over conservation concerns. The House plans to attack the NEPA question as well, with the Resources Committee including NEPA oversight in its recently adopted agenda for the 106th Congress. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New Although the finer details remain unclear, the biennial water-projects legislation shot down last fall in the House is set to be re-launched in the 106th Congress. The Senate expects to move on a bill little changed from the one it passed in 1998, S. 2131. The bill would have provided about $1.5 billion for 22 new projects under the US Army Corps of Engineers, including flood protection along streams in California, deepening harbors in Texas and Florida, and replenishing beaches in New Jersey. Although House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) has expressed support for the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's desire to pass WRDA this year, the bill could still face rough waters because of Representative John Doolittle's (R-CA) determination to build the Auburn Dam. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair John Chafee (R-RI) plans to re-introduce S. 2131 with hearings in both houses of Congress in the upcoming couple of months. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New The House Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans will hear testimony on a bill (H.R. 39) aimed at stemming the decline of neotropical migratory birds by expanding habitat conservation programs. The bill, introduced January 6 by House Resources Committee Chair Don Young (R-AK), has many of the same provisions as the measure introduced in the 105th Congress. Subcommittee Chair Jim Saxton (R-NJ) and ranking Democrat George Miller (D-CA) have co-sponsored the bill. Senator Spencer Abraham (R-MI) introduced a similar bill (S. 148) on January 19. Many of the elements included in H.R. 39 were taken from two other conservation programs, one designed to protect African elephants and the other tigers and rhinoceros. The overall goal of Senator Young's bill is to expand US participation in international efforts to improve habitat conservation and public education initiatives for neotropical migratory birds. Under H.R. 39, conservation programs approved by the Secretary of the Interior would receive $8 million annually through FY'04, and private entities would be allowed to contribute to the program. The money would be divided between programs within the US and those outside the nation's boundaries. Individuals could submit to the Secretary of the Interior proposals for protecting essential habitat, assessing the condition of neotropical migratory bird flyways, implementing new or improved conservation plans, educating the public, or engaging in population studies. The bill introduced by Senator Abraham would authorize a similar program, but provide funding only through 2003. Also, S. 148 would set up an advisory committee to recommend projects for funding approval. The hearing will be held Thursday, February 11 at 11 a.m. in 1334 Longworth House Office Building. House Resources contacts are: Harry Burroughs, majority, 202-226-0200; Chris Mann, minority, 202-226-2311. 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BUDGET/APPROPRIATIONS
House Transportation Subcommittee to Examine Clinton's Budget Plan:
ELECTRIC UTILITY REGULATIONS
Senate Banking Committee to Look at PUCHA Bill
FORESTS
House Appropriations Subcommittee to Discuss Forest Service Fees:
Field Hearing Scheduled on Idaho Road Closings:
Forest Fire Fuel Reduction Bill Introduced by Rep. Chenoweth:
PUBLIC LANDS
Bill to Expand Local Role Under NEPA:
WATER RESOURCES
WRDA Looks Ready for Movement:
WILDLIFE
House Resources Subcommittee to Address Neotropical Migratory Bird Protection;
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