VIEW THIS ON THE AMERICAN RIVERS American Rivers WEBPAGE WITH DIRECT LINKS TO THE ACTUAL BILLS!!
http://www.amrivers.org/policynew.html
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On Thursday, the House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee will hold an oversight hearing on efforts to restore the Everglades and surrounding South Florida ecosystem, the first of three such hearings this spring. In 1992, Congress appropriated a federal-state project to try and restore the Everglades and Florida Bay ecosystems, which had been severely damaged by years of river channelization and draining for irrigation, subdivisions, flood control and navigation projects, and polluted runoff from farms and other activities. Thus far, the project has cost about $1 billion in federal money. The hearing will focus on the preliminary findings of a General Accounting Office study of the Everglades project, requested by Representative Ralph Regula (R-OH), Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA), Senator Frank Murkowski (R-AK), and Representative Tillie Fowler (R-FL).
The second hearing on the Everglades is scheduled for April 27, when the House Resources Subcommittee on Parks will discuss various laws that promote land acquisition in and around the Everglades National Park and the impact those laws have had on water delivery systems in South Florida and the Miccosukee Indian tribe. On April 29, the Senate Energy Subcommittee on Parks and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior will hold a hearing on the GAO report.
The Everglades project, expected to cost $8 billion over 20 years, is aimed at totally reconfiguring the how water is used and allocated in the region.
The agencies involved include the Corps of Engineers, the South Florida Water Management District, the National Park Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The April 22 hearing will be held at 10:00 a.m. in B-308 Rayburn House Office Building. House Appropriations contacts are Deborah Weatherly, majority, 202-225-3081 and Del Davis, minority, 202-225-3481. The April 27 oversight hearing will be held by the House Resources Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands at 10:00 a.m. in 1324 Longworth House Office Building. The April 29 joint hearing on the GAO Everglades report will be held at 9:30 a.m. in 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building.
For more information on the Everglades, see
http://www.audubon.org/campaign/er/
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Last week, Representatives Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Greg Walden (R-OR) introduced legislation (H.R. 1444) to authorize the Secretary of the Army to develop and implement projects for fish screens, fish passage devices, and other similar measures to mitigate adverse impacts associated with irrigation system water diversions by local governmental entities in the States of Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Idaho. Such screens would decrease fish mortality by keeping fish out of water diversions. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) have introduced similar legislation (S. 294) in the Senate.
If passed, the legislation would direct the Corps to provide technical and financial assistance to farmers, who are required by law to construct fish screens to protect threatened and endangered fish. The legislation requires cost sharing by a local entity and authorizes up to $25 million annually for the program.
When water is diverted from a river-usually through canals and pipes-fish are often swept out of the river channel and die when they wind up in irrigation ditches and on farm fields. Screens allow water to continue to flow for irrigation use, but keep the fish in the river.
The DeFazio-Walden legislation is supported by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition, a coalition of 50 sport and commercial fishing groups, fishing businesses, and conservation organizations.
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On April 24th, a number of West Virginia environmental groups are holding a rally to oppose mountaintop removal mining, an environmentally-devastating practice that has already buried almost 500 miles of streams in the state alone. Mountaintop removal mining made headlines last week when the Coal River in West Virginia was listed in American Rivers' Most Endangered Rivers of 1999. To see the report and information about the plight of the Coal River, see
http://www.amrivers.org/99endangered.html
The rally will be held on Saturday, April 24 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. on the State Capitol Grounds in Charleston, WV. The event is co-sponsored by the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and WV Citizens Action Group. For more information, call 304-522-0246.
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Beginning with a hearing on Tuesday, April 20, the Senate Energy Committee will hold a series of three hearings focused on proposals to substantially increase funding for land conservation. This week's hearing will feature testimony on state and local needs for federal land acquisition, recreation, and conservation. On April 27, Governors Christine Whitman (R-NJ) and John Kizhaber (D-OR) will discuss coastal issues. On May 4, the Senate will discuss the Clinton Administration's Lands Legacy proposal.
Many members of Congress have recently introduced plans focused on controlling sprawl, protecting open space, and use of money from outer continental receipts. Some of the leading bills are S 25, introduced by Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Senator Frank Murkowski (R-AK); Senator Barbara Boxer's (D-CA) S. 446; the Clinton Administration's $1 billion Lands Legacy initiative; Senator Diane Feinstein's (D-CA) S. 532; and Senator Bob Graham's (D-FL) S. 819.
Senator Landrieu and Murkowski's bill would use half of the federal revenues from outer continental receipts - currently $3.5 billion a year - to provide assistance to coastal states, as well as to strengthen federal and state land acquisition and state fish and game programs across the nation. Senator Boxer's proposal would guarantee about $2.3 billion per year to federal and state land acquisition, national and urban park restoration, open space and farmland protection, historic building preservation, and wildlife and fishery restoration. The main difference between the two plans is that Boxer's bill would not provide direct OCS impact payments to states.
Many environmental groups fear such a provision would encourage more leasing, exploration, or development of offshore areas for gas and oil.
Senator Feinstein's bill would automatically appropriate $900 million a year for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and require that 40 percent of that money be directed to stateside grants. Senator Graham's proposal calls for the creation of a permanent account using OCS money to provide $500 million each year to the Department of Interior for national park resource protection and preservation. President Clinton's Lands Legacy calls for a fully funding the LWCF, the first time any administration has done so.
Coinciding with the first of the three hearings, a number of members of Congress, including Senators Murkowski, Landrieu, and Boxer and Representatives Don Young (R-AK), John Dingell (D-MI), and George Miller (D-CA), will participate in the "Local Parks and Recreation Day" rally to highlight the importance of local parks and recreational opportunities in urban and suburban areas. The rally will be held at 2:00 p.m. on the steps of the Capitol on Tuesday, April 20. The US Conference of Mayors and the National Association of Counties are sponsoring the event.
The hearing on April 20 will be held at 9:30 a.m. in 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Senate Energy Contacts are Kelly Johnson, majority, 202-224-4971 and David Brooks, minority, 202-224-4103,
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Once again, tempers have flared over the traditionally biennial Water Resources Development Act, which authorizes new water projects by the Army Corps of Engineers and adjustments in flood control policy. WRDA 1999, S.
507, is headed for a mark up in the House this week, where it is likely stir up controversy over flood control measures for Sacramento.
Reportedly, five members of Congress from California have arrived at a deal to smooth the way for the bill in mark up sessions scheduled in subcommittee and the full House Transportation Committee this week. The members reportedly involved in the agreement are Representatives John Doolittle (R-CA), Wally Herger (R-CA), Doug Ose (R-CA), Richard Pombo (R-CA), and Robert Matsui (D-CA). According to the Sacramento Bee, the agreement involves raising Folsom Dam and adding more outlets at a cost of $150 million, raising levees along the American River, and allowing a number of significant water diversions from the Sacramento and American Rivers.
Environmental groups have expressed strong opposition to the provisions of the agreement. Non of the projects have undergone National Environmental Policy Act Reviews or feasibility studies. The agreement would alter the requirement that local beneficiaries of flood control projects to reimburse the federal government, allowing the federal government to cover up to 65 percent of the project's costs.
Conservation groups still hope to change a number of provisions in the bill, including: (1) expanding funds for relocation and river restoration, (2) blocking authorization of projects which have not been thoroughly reviewed by the Corps, (3) limiting federal subsidies for deep harbor dredging, and (4) blocking construction of Auburn Dam and other water supply projects in California.
To view the Senate version of WRDA, visit
http://thomas.loc.gov and type in S. 507. The view the report, type in 106-34.
To take action on WRDA 1999 by contacting one or more members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, visit the "Action Items" area on the Corps Reform webpage at
http://www.amrivers.org/corpsactionwrda.html
To learn more about Auburn Dam, visit
http://www.taxpayer.net/TCS/AuburnDam/Aubfacts.html
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.R. 1290: Introduced by Representative Walter Jones (R-NC), the American Wetlands Restoration Act would amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act relating to wetlands mitigation banking, and for other purposes. The proposal would make it the national policy to foster wetlands mitigation banking as a means to mitigate the unavoidable loss of wetlands and to do so by providing a regulatory framework for the establishment, operation, and use of mitigation banks, making appropriate use of existing, successful programs for mitigation banking, and taking into account regional variations in wetlands conditions, functions, and values. The bill was referred to the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.
H.R. 1415: Introduced by Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), H.R. 1415 would authorize appropriations for the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The legislation would amend the 1986 act that established the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor to authorize to be appropriated from FY98-FY07 not more than $15,000,000 to carry out the provisions of the act. The bill was referred to the House Committee on Resources.
S. 769: Introduced by Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND), the Dickinson Dam Bascule Gates Settlement Act of 1999 would provide a final settlement on certain debt owed by the city of Dickinson, ND, for construction of bascule gates (structures on the dam to provide additional water storage capacity) on the Dickinson Dam on the Heart River. Built by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1980-81 to provide additional water supply and flood control benefits for Dickinson, the bascule gates no longer provide the city any benefits as it now receives its water supply from the Southwest Water Authority. Having already repaid more than $1,200,000 to the United States for the construction of the bascule gates, Dickinson has been working for several years to reach an agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation to alter its repayment contract. If passed, the bill would require the Interior Secretary to accept a one-time payment of $300,000 in lieu of the existing repayment obligations of the city. Title to the Dam and bascule gates shall remain with the United States. The proposed legislation was read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
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Tuesday, April 20 9:30 a.m.: Senate Energy Committee hearing on land conservation bills.
Location: 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building.
9:30 a.m.: Senate Environment Committee hearing on the nomination of George Frampton for the position of Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
Thursday, April 22 10:00 a.m.: House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee hearing on the Everglades restoration project. Location: B-308 Rayburn House Office Building.
10:00 a.m.: House Resources Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health hearing on Representative Helen Chenoweth's (R-ID) bill to require the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to follow specific public notification procedures before closing roads on federal lands and Representative Scott McInnis' (R-CO) proposal to set aside 18,000 acres in the San Isabel National Forest in Colorado as the Spanish Peaks Wilderness.
Location: 1324 Longworth House Office Building.
10:00 a.m.: House Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans mark up of legislation reauthorizing the 1972 Coastal Zone Management Act and an oversight hearing on limits to federally subsidized development within the coastal barrier resources system.
Location: 1334 Longworth House Office Building. For more information on the CZMA bill, see
http://www.amrivers.org/policy4-12.html
April 12:
http://www.amrivers.org/policy4-12.html
April 5:
http://www.amrivers.org/policy4-5.html
March 29:
http://www.amrivers.org/policy3-29.html
March 22:
http://www.amrivers.org/policy3-22.html
March 15:
http://www.amrivers.org/policy3-15.html
March 8:
http://www.amrivers.org/policy3-8.html
March 1:
http://www.amrivers.org/policy3-1.html
February 22:
http://www.amrivers.org/policy2-22.html
February 15:
http://www.amrivers.org/policy2-15.html
February 8:
http://www.amrivers.org/policy2-8.html
February 1:
http://www.amrivers.org/policy2-1.html
January 25:
http://www.amrivers.org/policy1-25.html
January 19:
http://www.amrivers.org/policy1-19.htmlhttp://www.amrivers.org/policy1-19.html
January 11:
http://www.amrivers.org/policy1-11.html
January 4:
http://www.amrivers.org/policy1-4.html
American Rivers, 1025 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 720 Washington, DC 20005, (202) 347-7550
CHECK OUT OUR HOMEPAGE!! American Rivers
http://www.amrivers.org
QUESTIONS? Contact Suzy McDowell, Conservation Outreach Coordinator, at smcdowell@amrivers.org or 202-347-7550x3040.
Legislative information taken from many sources including Thomas, Congressional Greensheets, Greenwire, and Roll Call.
Suzy McDowell Outreach Coordinator American Rivers 1025 Vermont Ave, NW, #720 Washington, DC 20005 202-347-7550 x3040 smcdowell@amrivers.org
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