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Last week, the House passed legislation to update coastal water quality standards and establish grants to states for coastal water monitoring and public notification programs. Representative Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) introduced H.R. 999, the Beaches Environmental Assessment, Cleanup, and Health Act.
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This week, congressional panels will hold two more hearings on efforts to restore the Florida Everglades, following on a House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee hearing held on April 22.
In last week's hearing, members focused on the findings of a newly released General Accounting Office study. The GAO report concluded that the massive restoration project, expected to take twenty years and cost up to $11 billion, is in need of an overall strategic plan and a system for resolving disputes among the numerous stakeholders involved in the cleanup effort, including thirteen federal agencies in five departments, seven Florida agencies and commissions, two Indian tribes, sixteen counties, scores of municipal governments, the state's major industries, environmental groups, and other special interests. Although the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force was created in 1993 to coordinate consistent policies, strategies, plans, programs, and priorities, the task force is only a coordinating body and is not vested with decision-making powers.
According to the report, the lack of strategic plan and decision making body has resulted in two projects aimed at restoring natural hydrologic conditions in and around the park - the Modified Water Deliveries System and the reconstruction of a major canal - are two years behind schedule and could go over budget by as much as $80 million.
On April 27, the House Resources Subcommittee on Parks will discuss how various congressionally-authorized land acquisitions are affecting the Everglades restoration project. The subcommittee will focus on two areas - the eastern expansion authorized in 1989 and the purchase of 6,000 acres (known as the 8.5 square mile area) authorized in 1994. Because the homeowners in the 8.5 square mile area are unwilling to sell and only 57 percent of the eastern expansion has been purchased, the National Park Service will not allow the US Army Corps of Engineers to turn on the modified water delivery system, which will require flooding part of the 8.5 square mile area. As a result, water is building up behind the Tamiami Trail, causing damage to the glades there and leaving the area to the south dry because the Corps cannot get natural flow water into the Shark River Slough. The water backup is also flooding home sites belonging to members of the Miccosukee tribe who live on the northern edge of the park.
The third hearing, to be held by the Senate Appropriations Interior Subcommittee and the Senate Energy Subcommittee on Parks will hold a hearing on the findings of the GAO report.
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. House Resources contacts are Tod Hull, majority, 202-226-7736 and Rick Healy, minority, 202-226-2311. The April 29 joint hearing on the GAO Everglades report will be held at 9:30 a.m. in 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Senate Energy contacts are Jim O'Toole, majority, 202-224-4971 and David Brooks, minority, 202-224-4103. Senate Appropriations contacts are Bruce Evans, majority, 202-224-7233 and Curt Dodd, minority, 202-224-5271.
For more information on the Everglades, see
http://www.audubon.org/campaign/er/ and
http://www.amrivrs.org/policy4-19.html
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The Senate Energy Committee will continue its three-part series of hearings on proposals to substantially increase funding for land conservation. This week, the committee will hear from Governors Christine Whitman (R-NJ) and John Kizhaber (D-OR) and will focus on the impacts of outer continental shelf oil drilling on coastal states and ideas to address loss of open space, farmland, and forested areas. On May 4, the committee will highlight the Clinton Administration's Lands Legacy proposal and wildlife issues.
On April 20, the committee hearing focused on state and local needs for conservation and recreation, federal land acquisition issues, and historic preservation efforts.
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. For more information on these bills, see
http://www.amrivrs.org/policy4-19.html .
During last week's hearing, Senator Craig Thomas (R-WY), Chair of the Subcommittee on National Parks, discussed his new bill S. 826, aimed at instituting a "no net gain of federal lands." Senator Thomas' bill would mandate that, in order to purchase 100 or more acres, it would have to sell land of equal value within the same state to a private entity. The legislation would apply only to those states in which the federal government owns more than twenty-five percent of the land, such as is true in Wyoming (50 percent) and Nevada (87 percent).
The hearing on Tuesday, April 27 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. Scheduled to testify are: Governors Whitman and Kitzhaber, Robin Taylor of the Alaska State Legislature, Mark Davis of the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, J.
Allison Defoor of Governor Jeb Bush (R-FL)'s office, Lisa Speer of the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Paul Kelly of Rowan Companies in Texas.
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Having been approved by the House Transportation Committee, the Water Resources Development Act of 1999 is clear for floor action this week. The House committee approved H.R. 1480 by a vote of 49-24 on Thursday after the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment approved the measure on Wednesday. The Senate passed its version of the bill (S. 507) on Monday.
The bill includes a controversial deal developed to get around the issue of the Auburn Dam, which stalled the legislation in the 105th Congress. Struck to appease Representative John Doolittle (R-CA) who has long pushed for the Auburn Dam, the agreement authorizes modifications to the Folsom Dam to improve flood protection for Sacramento and about $300 million in water supply projects for the area at generous cost-sharing terms. Opponents of the agreement argue the deal will benefit Sacramento and cities to the north at the expense of counties and farmers to the south. Assistant Interior Secretary Patricia Beneke stated in an April 21 letter that the Interior Department would seek a veto of the bill if the projects are not dropped.
WRDA 1999 would also reduce the local cost share for shore protection projects from 65 percent, as recommended by the Clinton Administration, to 50 percent.
The legislation also includes a number of projects supported by many in the environmental community, including directing the Army Corps of Engineers to emphasize non-structural approaches to flood control and river ecosystem restoration. This is a move away from the Corps' traditional reliance on dams and levees to control flooding. The new initiative instructs the Corps to look more towards wetlands and estuary restoration, flood warning system improvement, and relocation of buildings and communities out of floodplains.
Funded at $25 million a year for four, the new initiative includes authorization for 15 small aquatic ecosystem restoration projects, increased funding authorizations for sediment decontamination technology and aquatic plant control and increased or extended authorizations for restoration of the Florida Everglades and South Florida ecosystems, the Upper Mississippi and Missouri River systems, and the Great Lakes.
For more information on WRDA 1999, see
http://www.amrivrs.org/policy4-19.html .
For more information or to see the text of any of the bills listed below, go to the Thomas website at http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas2.html and enter the bill number.
H.R. 947/S. 501: Introduced by Representative Don Young (R-AK) in the House and Senator Frank Murkowski (R-AK), Glacier Bay Fisheries Act seeks to address resource management issues in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska. The legislation calls upon the Secretary of the Interior to accommodate the conduct of subsistence fishing and gathering under title VIII of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3111 et. seq.) and the conduct by the State of Alaska, in accordance with the principles of sustained yield, of marine commercial fisheries, except fishing for Dungeness crab in the waters of the Beardslee Islands and upper Dundas Bay.
The bill was referred to the House Resources Committee and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, which held a hearing on the bill on April 15.
H.R. 1199: Representative Richard Pombo's (R-CA) New Wildlife Refuge Authorization Act would prohibit the expenditure of funds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the creation of new National Wildlife Refuges without specific authorization from Congress. Such an authorization by Congress to create a new refuge would be based on a recommendation from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The bill was referred to the House Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans. Representative Pombo sits on the Agriculture and Resources Committees.
H.R. 1205: Introduced by Representative Bart Stupak (D-MI), H.R. 1205 would prohibit oil and gas drilling in the Great Lakes. The bill, which has sixteen co-sponsors, was referred to the House Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
H.R. 1239: Introduced by Representative Bruce Vento (D-MN), the Morris K.
Udall Wilderness Act of 1997 would designate an area of 1,559,538 acres, depicted on a map entitled `Arctic National Wildlife Refuge--1002 Area Alternative E--Wilderness Designation', dated October 28, 1991, as wilderness and a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System.
With 126 co-sponsors, the bill was referred to the House Committee on Resources.
H.R. 1284: Introduced by Representative Don Young (R-AK), the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge Protection Act of 1999 would provide for protection of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge and endangered species and other protected species of fish and wildlife that inhabit or use that refuge. The bill seeks to ensure that scarce wildlife refuge land in and around the Minneapolis, Minnesota, metropolitan area is not subjected to physical or auditory impairment, and to ensure that the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 is adequately implemented. The bill, which has three co-sponsors, was referred to the House Resources Committee.
H. Con. Res. 86: Introduced by Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), H.Con.Res. 86 focuses on Federal decisions, actions, and regulations affecting water. The resolution asserts that, despite spending billions of dollars to meet the challenges of water issues, federal decisions and actions have failed to guarantee clean drinking water, reliable flood protection, sufficient water supplies, or lakes and rivers capable of supporting recreation or wildlife. As a result, H. Con. Res. 86 calls upon the federal government ensure that federal decisions and actions affecting water are better coordinated; promote sustainable use of water and comprehensive watershed plans; consider the impact of decisions on entire watersheds; promote the involvement of citizens, environmental groups, and businesses in watershed planning; establish clear standards for compliance with federal regulations; and allow for flexibility for such compliance, using market forces whenever possible. The resolution, which has no co-sponsors, was referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
S. 835: Introduced by Senator John Chafee (R-RI), S. 835 would encourage the restoration of estuary habitat through more efficient project financing and enhanced coordination of Federal and non-Federal restoration programs, and for other purposes. The bill would establish a voluntary program to restore 1,000,000 acres of estuary habitat by 2010; ensure coordination of Federal, State, and community estuary habitat restoration programs, plans, and studies; establish effective estuary habitat restoration partnerships among public agencies at all levels of government and between the public and private sectors; promote efficient financing of estuary habitat restoration activities; and develop and enhance monitoring and research capabilities to ensure that restoration efforts are based on sound scientific understanding.
The bill has nineteen co-sponsors and was referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
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Tuesday, April 27 9:30 a.m.: Senate Energy Committee hearing on proposals to substantially increase spending on land conservation. Location: 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building.
10:00 a.m.: House Resources Subcommittee on Parks hearing on the various laws promoting land acquisition in the Everglades National Park and how they have affected water delivery systems in South Florida and on the Miccosukee Indian Tribe. Location: 1324 Longworth House Office Building.
2:00 p.m.: House Resources mark up of several forest measures, including bills to reduce the risk of forest fire near homes and communities, encourage the Council on Environmental Quality to expedite environmental reviews of ten sites vulnerable to forest fires, require the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to follow specific public notification procedure before closing roads on federal lands, provide for maintenance of several small dams and weirs in a California wilderness, and designate 18,000 acres of forest wilderness in Colorado. Location: 1334 Longworth House Office Building.
Wednesday, April 28 11:00 a.m.: House Resources Committee mark up of Tongass land grants.
Location: 1324 Longworth House Office Building.
2:00 p.m.: Senate Energy Committee hearing on Oregon land conveyance.
Location: 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building.
2:30 p.m.: Senate Environment Committee hearing on nomination of Peter Frampton to chair the Council on Environmental Quality. Location: 406 Dirksen Senate Office Building.
Thursday, April 29 9:30 a.m.: Senate Appropriations Interior Subcommittee and the Senate Energy Committee joint hearing on the General Accounting Office report on the Everglades restoration project. Location: 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building.
10:00 a.m.: House Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans hearing on the effect of regulations issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service to preserve stocks of fish off the East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. Location: 1334 Longworth House Office Building.
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April 19: http://www.amrivrs.org/policy4-19.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.html
January 11: http://www.amrivers.org/policy1-11.html
January 4: http://www.amrivers.org/policy1-4.html
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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 OR send online mail right now to: Suzy McDowell
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