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The Senate adjourned for summer recess before completing work on the FY 00 funding bill for Interior and Related Agencies, leaving a number of issues to be resolved when Congress returns in September. The Interior funding measure, S. 1292, includes $13.924 billion in discretionary spending and includes a number of environmental riders. Because of the riders and the low level of funding for some of the programs included in the Administration s FY 00 funding request, President Clinton has threatened to veto the bill. Of special concern to the White House is the $263 million appropriated by the Senate for the Lands Legacy program, developed by the Administration to bring $1 billion in additional funds for land acquisition, state conservation programs, endangered species protection, and other preservation goals.
Among the objectionable riders were amendments to reverse the Interior Solicitor s opinion to restrict mill site limits to five acres per mining claim, extend the life of grazing permits while the Bureau of Land Management reviews them, deny funding of national forest management plan revisions until permanent planning regulations are completed, and impose a 120-day comment period for a report on the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project.
More amendments may be offered in September when discussion of the bill resumes. Possible additions include adding $30 million to the state side of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, providing $4 million for the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery program, and cutting $33.6 million from the Forest Service's timber sale program and the roads reconstruction/construction account and redirecting the money toward debt reduction, road maintenance, and fish and wildlife restoration.
A number of environmental organizations have expressed concern that the Senate s delay in approving the Interior funding bill will result in a repeat of last year s omnibus spending measure, in which many bills were rolled into one $500 billion package. Their concern centers on the fact that individual provisions, including anti-environmental riders, receive less attention in a huge omnibus measures.
Following are funding levels for select programs in the Senate bill. House numbers are in parentheses.
Bureau of Land Management: Overall -- $1.217 billion ($1.216 billion); Soil, water, and air -- $32 million ($32 million); Riparian management -- $21 million ($21 million); Wildlife habitat and fisheries -- $34 million ($35 million); Threatened and endangered species -- $18 million ($19 million); Recreation management -- $51 million ($51 million); Land and Water Conservation Fund -- $17 million ($20 million).
US Fish and Wildlife Service: Overall -- $829 million ($840 million); Fish, wildlife, and ecological services -- $684 million ($711 million); Refuges and wildlife -- $310 million ($327 million); Fisheries -- $82 million ($79 million); Land and Water Conservation Fund $55 million ($42 million); Cooperative endangered species conservation fund -- $21 million ($15 million); North American wetlands conservation fund -- $15 million ($15 million).
National Park Service: Overall l-- $1.723 billion ($1.721 billion); Operations -- $1.355 billion ($1.387 billion); Land and Water Conservation Fund -- $85 million ($102 million); Urban Park and Recreation Fund -- $0 ($0).
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement: Abandoned mine reclamation fund -- $186 million ($196 million).
US Forest Service: Overall -- $2.672 billion ($2.644 billion); Wildlife and fisheries habitat management -- $100 million ($104 million); Soil, water, and air management -- $57 million ($61 million); Land and Water Conservation Fund -- $37 million ($41 million).
For more information on the Interior FY 00 spending bill, see
http://www.amrivers.org/policy8-2.html
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On August 4, the Senate approved by voice vote S. 1233, its FY 00 funding bill for Agriculture-Rural Development and Related Agencies. Only $14 billion of the $60 billion-plus measure available for discretionary programs, with the rest going to mandatory programs such as food stamps and a farm aid emergency spending provision. Funding levels for conservation accounts in the Senate and House versions of the bill were similar, with the only significant exception being a Natural Resources Conservation Service forestry incentives program. The Senate provided the program with $6 million while the House did not provide it with any money. As a result, conference discussion over the bill in September will revolve largely around the emergency spending provision for farmers. Also, the Senate bill called for 180,000 acres to be enrolled in the Wetlands Reserve Program, but the House version called for 120,000.
In the Senate bill, conservation operations would receive $656 million, compared to $654 million in the House bill (H.R. 1906) and $641 million provided in FY'99. Both bills would fund the Environmental Quality Incentives Program at $174 million and the resource conservation and development account at $35 million.
Following are funding levels for select programs in the Senate Agriculture funding bill for FY 00. House figures are in parentheses:
Conservation programs, Office of Undersecretary Natural Resources and Environment: $1 million ($1 million)
Natural Resources Conservation Service: Conservation operations -- $656 million ($654 million); Watershed surveys and planning -- $10 million ($10 million); Watershed and flood prevention operations -- $99 million ($99 million); Resource conservation and development -- $35 million ($35 million); Forestry incentives program -- $6 million ($0)
Agricultural Research Service: $811 million ($836 million)
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The House passed its funding bill for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for FY 00 on Thursday, setting the stage for a battle with the Senate in conference when Congress returns in September. The House provided the agency with about 25 percent less funding than the Senate. H.R.
2670 includes $35.8 billion in total discretionary spending, including $1.96 billion for NOAA, compared with the Senate s $35.3 billion in total discretionary spending and $2.5 billion for NOAA. The House NOAA funding level is $574 million below the Administration s request.
Within NOAA, the House bill would provide the National Marine Fisheries Service with $350.5 million, well below the $420 million requested by the Clinton Administration and $442 included in the Senate bill. H.R. 2670 would cut conservation and management operations programs cut from $139 million in FY 99 to $133.2 million, fisheries management programs from $61.8 million to $58.3 million, and protected species management programs from $51.9 million to $48.2 million.
For information on other appropriations bills, see
http://www.amrivers.org/policy8-2.html
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Before adjourning for recess, the House Resources Committee approved a number of public lands bills, including:
H.R. 795, sponsored by Representative Rick Hill's (R-MT), to authorize $50 million over the next four years to develop water supplies for the Rocky Boy's Reservation of the Chippewa Cree Tribe in Montana; H.R. 970, sponsored by Representative John Thune (R-SD), to develop water supplies and establish a federal-local cost share for Perkins County in South Dakota; H.R. 1231, introduced by Representative Jim Gibbons (R-NV), to direct the Agriculture secretary to convey national forest lands to Elko County, Nevada, for continued use as a cemetery; H.R. 1444, sponsored by Representative Peter DeFazio's (D-OR), to allow development and use of fish screens, fish passage devices and other methods aimed at protecting fish from adverse impacts from irrigation system water diversions, particularly in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. The bill authorizes $25 million for FY '00 and each year thereafter. For projects on non-federal lands, a 35 percent non-federal cost share is required; and H.R. 1619, sponsored by Representative Sam Gejdenson (D-CT), to expand the Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor in Connecticut to include eight adjacent towns in Massachusetts.
Senator Gordon Smith s bill, S. 416, to direct the Agriculture Secretary to convey a parcel of land to Sisters, Oregon, for use as a sewage treatment facility, was dropped. A Forest Service official raised two major concerns about the bill that the Townsite Act already makes land available to Sisters and the transfer would occur without any compensation to the federal government.
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On August 5, the House Resources Subcommittee on Parks approved a number of public lands bills, including:
H.R. 2339, introduced by Representative Doug Bereuter (R-NE), to establish the national discovery trail category under the National Trails System Act defined as continuous, interstate trails with natural, cultural, and historic resource significance. The bill also would designate the 6,000-mile American Discovery Trail, from Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware to Point Reyes National Seashore in California as the first route in the category.
Senate Frank Murkowski s (R-AK) companion bill, S. 734, awaits Senate floor action.
H.R. 1615, sponsored by Representative John Sununu (R-NH), to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to include another river segment in the designation of part of the Lamprey River in New Hampshire as a recreational river; H.R. 2140, introduced by Representative Nathan Deal (R-GA, to authorize the inclusion of land in the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area in Georgia and direct a revised management plan including the participation of the state, private landowners, public officials, residents, and other groups; and H.R. 20, introduced by Representative Benjamin Gilman (R-NY), to allow the Secretary of the Interior to construct and operate a visitor center for the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River on land owned by New York.
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Last week, members of the House-Senate conference passed the Water Resources Development Act of 1999, which authorizes new projects and set policy for the US Army Corps of Engineers. WRDA, traditionally a biennial package, had been held up since 1998 largely due to conflicts over flood protection measures for Sacramento and a water supply project for Representative John Doolittle s (R-CA) nearby district. WRDA 1999, which will provide $4.3 billion in federal funds for $6.3 billion worth of projects, includes a new flood program and 45 other projects. Under Challenge 21, the new flood control program, the Corps will receive $200 million over five years for a watershed-based flood protection program focused on nonstructural and riverine ecosystem projects. The bill now goes to the White House for President Clinton's signature.
Specifically, WRDA 1999 authorizes 30 new projects, 15 projects pending favorable reports by the Corps by the end of the year, and more than 200 project modifications and other provisions. House-Senate conferees dropped House language to increase the federal subsidy for deep harbor dredging and maintained the revision of the federal/local cost share ration for beach renourishment to 50-50.
Environmental provisions included in the bill were:
Increased annual spending for Upper Mississippi River habitat restoration to $33 million; A new $30 million Missouri River restoration program and expansion of an existing program to buy 118,650 acres of floodplain land; A new 5-year, $200 million floodplain relocation and restoration program; Planning reforms to aid consideration of non-structural flood control projects; Removal of Embrey Dam on the Rappahannock River; The Rio Salado restoration project in Phoenix; No dam on the American River in California; New ecosystem restoration projects for the Indian River (FL), Little Wekiva River (FL), Grand Batture Island (MS), River Des Peres (MO), Reelfoot Lake (TN), Hudson River (NY), Blackstone River (RI), and others; and New watershed management projects in California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Nevada, Oregon, North Carolina, and other states.
To view the Water Resources Development Act of 1999, visit
http://www.thomas.loc.gov and type in H.R. 1480 or S. 507.
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On August 5, the House Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans approved legislation to reauthorize the Coastal Zone Management Act, through which states can receive grants from the federal government to combat pollution. Members of the panel approved H.R. 2669, Representative Jim Saxton s (R-NJ) Coastal Community Conservation Act of 1999, by voice vote after rejecting property rights language. Originally, Representative Saxton wanted mandate that states apply 20 percent of Section 306 grants to nonpoint source pollution sources, but the Coastal States Organization opposed the measure as too prescriptive and opening the door for more federal interference. The final bill includes an amendment offered by Representative Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) to shift the 20 percent earmark to the smaller Section 306 (A) grant program.
H.R. 2669 includes language authorizing grants to study possible restrictions on the use of personal watercraft in shallow coastal areas. The studies will focus on identifying the impact of noise and leaking fuel on wildlife, aquatic vegetation, suspended sediments and shoreline erosion. The bill expands Section 306 to include new coastal community conservation grants with funding levels beginning at $30 million in FY'00 and increasing to $45 million in FY'04.
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No hearings Congress is on recess until September.
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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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