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Last week, the Senate and House Budget Committees passed nearly identical FY'00 budget proposals. Many fear the $1.735 trillion dollar mark will force significant cuts in environmental and other discretionary spending programs.
Caps on discretionary spending in the resolution are a reflection of levels set in the 1997 Balanced Budget Act. Much of the debate on environmental spending during the House markup focused on an amendment to restore $1 billion in cuts next year to Function 300, which funds natural resources and environment accounts. The measure, introduced by Representatives Joseph Hoeffel (D-PA.), Robert Weygand (D-RI), Eva Clayton (D-NC), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jim Moran (D-VA), Darlene Hooley (D-OR) and Rush Holt (D-NJ), was defeated. At the request of Representative Hooley, the committee adopted language to encourage committees with jurisdiction over Northwest salmon issues to allocate more funds to salmon recovery.
Function 300, which will drop by $2 billion by FY'03 but then rebound to current funding levels by FY'07, sets funding levels for programs ranging from river-dredging projects to ozone-monitoring satellites and does not require the president's signature.
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Last week, Senator John Chafee (R-RI) announced his decision to retire from the Senate at the end of this term, giving rise to speculation about the future direction of the Environment and Public Works Committee, which he has made significant impacts on environmental protection in the United States under Senator Chafee's four year leadership. Many believe that with his departure, the committee will assume a much more conservative approach.
Two possibilities to assume Senator Chafee's role as Chair of the committee are Senator Bob Smith (R-NH), who currently heads the Superfund Subcommittee, and Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), who currently chairs the Clean Air, Wetlands, Private Property and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee.
Senator Chafee's retirement will end an 18-year tenure of service in the Senate.
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Representative Don Young (R-AK), chair of the House Resources Committee, last week introduced legislation (H.R. 1142) to require the federal government to compensate private property owners when they are required to give up land for wildlife habitat under the Endangered Species Act.
Environmental groups are strongly opposed to the measure, and supporters of the initiative claimed it would prove politically infeasible. Hearings will be held April 14. In the 105th Congress, the House passed two bills to make it easier for property owners to file takings complaints in court, but the Senate did not pass its companion legislation.
Representative Young was partially motivated to draft the bill in response to a decision by the Fish and Wildlife Service to allow an airport in Minnesota to expand near a wildlife refuge. If its plan moves ahead, the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport will lengthen its runways and allow planes to fly in at 500 feet above the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. In an agreement last fall, the FWS will accept at least $20 million from the Metropolitan Airports Commission, owner of the airport, to cover the estimated $26.7 million needed to purchase land adjacent to the refuge and relocate its educational programs there. Representative Young complained that the Administration's approval of the airport expansion was hypocritical in face of its decision not to allow construction of a road through a wilderness-designated portion of an Alaska wilderness to aid residents' access to medical facilities.
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On March 23, the House Parks and Minerals Subcommittee will discuss Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt's recent use of his authority to withdraw lands from uses including grazing and mining for possible land designation, as allowed under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. In the past three months, Babbitt has used the authority on more than on million acres. The Bureau of Land Management has proposed temporarily withdrawing about 605,000 acres near the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona for possible national monument status and 429,000 acres in Montana's Rocky Mountain front from new hardrock mining claims for a possible 20-year withdrawal. In order to block the proposed withdrawals, Congress must pass a disapproval resolution within ninety days and would need a two-thirds majority to override the nearly guaranteed veto.
The hearing will be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 23 in 1324 Longworth House Office Building. Witnesses include Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in Panel I, and Ernest Lehmann of North Central Mineral Ventures and David Getches of the University of Colorado Law School in Panel II.
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On Wednesday, the House is expected to discuss H.R. 1141, a $1.3 billion supplemental spending bill for FY '99, approved by the House Appropriations Committee on March 11. The legislation carries a number of offsets, including one to extend by 120 days the comment period on the Bureau of Land Management's hardrock mining surface management draft rules. The agency must await the release of a report by the National Academy of Sciences on current state and federal environmental laws dealing with mining, due out on July 31, before it can publish its draft rules. Environmental organizations have expressed concern that the delay will further stall better environmental management of mining operations.
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On March 18, MARC 2000 proposed the Export Facilitation Act, a $1.2 billion bill proposed by barge advocates to authorize construction of five 1,200-foot-long locks on the Upper Mississippi River. The legislation ignores a $51 million Corps of Engineers study that found longer locks economically unjustified. During the hearing, Representatives Kenny Hulshof (R-MO), Jim Nussle (R-IA) and Leonard Boswell (D-IA) signaled their support for the measure. MARC 2000 is a navigation industry trade association.
The Export Facilitation Act would authorize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to replace 600-foot locks at Locks 20 through 25 with 1,200-foot locks to ease congestion and permit additional barge traffic. Two locks on the Illinois River would also be replaced. The Corps is currently studying whether expected increases in barge traffic would justify increasing the length of locks. In recent months, preliminary findings of the Corps' $51 million study show that longer locks will not be economically justified until 2020.
A number of environmental groups are strongly opposed to the measure, including the Izaak Walton League of America, the Sierra Club, American Rivers, the Mississippi River Basin Alliance, the Mississippi River Basin Alliance, and the Environmental Defense Fund. For more information, see http://www.amrivers.org/nav-press.html
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In a two-day hearing last week, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee debated actions the federal government can take to help preserve open space and control sprawling development. At the end of the marathon hearings, two messages were clear: local entities, and not the federal government, should be the lead decision-makers and Congress should remove barriers to redevelopment of brownfields. The primary goal of the hearings was to better understand local efforts to combat the problems of sprawl and loss of open space and what role the federal government should take to advance those initiatives.
Among those testifying before the committee were Nelson Rising of the National Realty Committee and Terry Kauffman of the National Association of Counties. Mr. Rising asserted the best thing the federal government could do is advance policies and legislation to aide state and local governments to grow smarter and reform existing laws that inadvertently impeded the ability of states and local communities to grow in smarter ways. But he emphasized that the federal government must carefully define its role to enable local governments to continue to chart their own paths. Mr. Kauffman agreed, stating that counties and cities would refuse federal funding if such funding required abiding by EPA mandates.
Maryland Governor Parris Glendening (D) detailed the efforts underway in Maryland to control sprawling development, such as new policies to encourage investment in existing communities and smart growth centers. Glendening urged Congress to continue and expand effective programs, emphasize the location of government facilities, use a "sprawl vs. reinvestment" test for decisions, and rethink some broader policy issues.
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On March 17, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works marked up the Water Resources Development Act of 1999 and ordered the legislation to be reported with amendments favorably. S. 507 outlines twenty-eight projects to be built with $2.25 billion in federal aid. The committee added $147 million worth of projects to the already $2.1 billion bill before passing it by voice vote last Wednesday. The projects included in WRDA 1999 range from a $176.2 million navigation improvement effort in Oakland Harbor to a $3.8 million shore protection project in Florida. However, the long-awaited legislation remains aground on the Sacramento dam dispute in the House that prevented passage last year. Representative John Doolittle (R-CA), who supports the controversial Auburn Dam proposal for flood control near Sacramento, California, remains opposed to the Senate bill.
For more information on WRDA 1999, see last week's policy update at http://www.amrivers.org/policy3-15.html and American Rivers press release on the bill at http://www.amrivers.org/miss-press6.html.
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American Rivers has released a new report that details land uses in floodplains and outlines recommendations for a new course for flood control policy. The report describes the values of natural floodplains; new strategies for floodplain management; available programs for relocation, creation of riverside trails and greenways, and restoration of floodplain habitat; alternative floodplain crops; and resultant economic, habitat, and water quality potential. The report also provides a number of detailed case studies.
The report is now available online at http://www.amrivers.org/flood.html. American Rivers Flood Report
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Last week, the House Resources Committee approved four bills to transfer irrigation projects from the federal government to local beneficiaries. Due to strong opposition from the Clinton Administration, however, the legislation may not move any further for awhile. The bills approved include: H.R. 841 to convey portions of Arizona's Gila project from the Bureau of Reclamation to the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District; H.R. 862 to complement another transfer agreement between Bureau of Reclamation and California's Clear Creek Community Services District regarding a water distribution system; H.R. 992 to transfer the Sly Park Dam and Reservoir to California's El Dorado Irrigation District; and H.R. 1019 to shift New Mexico's Carlsbad Irrigation Project from the Bureau of Reclamation to local ownership.
In a letter to Committee Chairman Don Young (R-AK), Eluid Martinez, Commission of the Bureau of Reclamation, made it clear that the Administration is against all four bills because they supposedly interfering with National Environmental Policy Act and other review and negotiations processes. In general, the bills do not merely authorize but instead direct the Secretary of Interior to transfer ownership, ignoring agreements he has made with local parties.
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For more information or to see the text of any of the below bills, go to the Thomas website at http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas2.html and enter the bill number.
H.Con. Res. 63: Representative Doc Hastings' (R-WA) bill expresses the sense of Congress opposing removal of dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers for fishery restoration purposes. The bill claims the dams on the two rivers provide "tremendous" economic and environmental benefits to the nation and the plans to recover federally protected fish species in the Columbia and Snake River System should not rely on dam removal schemes. The bill, introduced on March 18, was referred to the House Committee on Resources and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The bill has ten co-sponsors.
H.R. 1036: Introduced by Representative Lois Capps (D-CA), the Coastal States Protection Act would amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to direct the Secretary of the Interior to cease mineral leasing activity on submerged land of the Outer Continental Shelf that is adjacent to a coastal State that has declared a moratorium on such activity. The bill was referred to the House Committee on Resources and has 30 co-sponsors.
H.R. 1096: Introduced by Representative Nita Lowey's (D-NY) the DeLauro-Lowey Water Pollution Control and Estuary Restoration Act seeks to expand and strengthen efforts to combat the serious and growing water and sediment quality problems in estuaries of national significance identified under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, provide significant levels of federal assistance to states and municipalities seeking to implement comprehensive conservation and management plans for those estuaries, and extend and increase federal support for the state water pollution control revolving fund program. The bill, which has 11 co-sponsors, was referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
H.R. 1113: The Colusa Basin Watershed Integrated Resources Management Act of 1999, introduced by Representative Doug Ose (R-CA) would assist in the "development and implementation of projects to provide for the control of drainage, storm, flood, and other waters as part of a water-related integrated resource management, environmental infrastructure, and resource protection and development projects in the Colusa Basin Watershed in California." The Colusa Basin drains about 1,620 square miles in northern California. Flooding in the basin causes approximately $4.9 million in property damage every year. The Colusa Basin and Bureau of Reclamation joint plan to deal with the flooding issue includes construction of eleven off-stream reservoirs and 10,000 acres of new wetlands and riparian habitat.
The bill is supported by local farm bureaus, irrigation districts, the CALFED program, the California Waterfowl Association, and cities and counties in the basin. The bill has seven co-sponsors and was referred to the House Resources Committee.
H.R. 1124-S. 624: Introduced in the House by Representative Rick Hill (R-MT) and in the Senate by Senator Conrad Burn's (R-MT), the two companion bills would authorize construction of the Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water System in the State of Montana. The purpose of the legislation is to ensure a safe and adequate municipal, rural, and industrial water supply for the residents of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana and to assist the citizens of Roosevelt, Sheridan, Daniels, and Valley Counties outside the reservation in meeting their water supply needs. According to the legislation, 1) the federal government is not meeting its trust responsibility to ensure that the residents of the reservation are provided with adequate and safe water supplies to meet their economic, environmental, water supply, and public health needs and 2) the best available, reliable, and safe rural and municipal water supply to serve the needs of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation is the Missouri River. H.R. 1124 was referred to the House Resources Committee and S. 624 was referred to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
H.R. 1137-S. 623: The Dakota Water Resources Act of 1999, introduced in the House by Representative Earl Pomeroy's (D-ND) and in the Senate by Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND), seeks to complete the Garrison flood control project in North Dakota and provide $300 million for statewide and $200 million for tribal municipal, rural, and industrial water projects. The legislation would amend Public Law 89-108 to authorize these funding increases to "meet current and future water quality and quantity needs of the Red River Valley, to deauthorize certain project features and irrigation service areas, and to enhance natural resources and fish and wildlife habitat." H.R. 1137 was referred to the House Committee on Resources. S. 623 was discharged from the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works by unanimous consent and referred to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
H.R. 1165: Representative Scott McInnis's (R-CO) legislation would redesignate the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument as a national park and establish the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area. The bill has two co-sponsors and was referred to the House Committee on Resources.
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9:30 a.m.: House Appropriations Committee hearing on NASA spending. Location: 2359 Rayburn House Office Building. 10:00 a.m.: House Resources Committee joint hearing on land withdrawals. Location: 1324 Longworth House Office Building. 10:00 a.m.: House Appropriations Committee hearing on Army Corps of Engineers budget. Location : 2362-B Rayburn House Office Building. 2:00 p.m.: House Forests Subcommittee hearing on legislation sponsored by Representative Helen Chenoweth (R-ID) to set in law when requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act can be waived. Location: 1334 Longworth House Office Building. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New 9:30 a.m.: House Appropriations Committee hearing on NASA spending. Location: H-143 Capitol Building. 9:30 a.m.: Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on voluntary carbon dioxide reductions. Location: 406 Dirksen Senate Office Building. 9:30 a.m.: Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on nuclear waste. Location: 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building. 10:00 a.m.: House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on Oil Pollution Act. Location: 2167 Rayburn House Office Building. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New 9:30 a.m.: Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the Kyoto Protocol. Location: 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building. 10:00 a.m.: House Appropriations Committee hearing on foreign aid budget. Location: 2359 Rayburn House Office Building. 10:00 a.m.: House Appropriations Committee hearing on Bureau of Reclamation budget. Location: 2362-B Rayburn House Office Building. 10:00 a.m.: House Appropriations Committee Hearing on energy conservation budget. Location: B-308 Rayburn House Office Building. American Rivers, 1025 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 720 Washington, DC 20005, (202) 347-7550 CHECK OUT OUR HOMEPAGE!! http://www.amrivers.org Back to top This page created and maintained by Chehalis River Council
HEARINGS
Tuesday, March 23
Wednesday, March 24
Thursday, March 25
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