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American Rivers Policy Update For the week of September 27, 1999
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This week, the House and Senate will try to push through a stopgap bill to fund most of the government into fiscal year 2000, as Congress has cleared only four of the thirteen annual appropriations bills needed to keep the government going. If Congress fails to pass such a bill called a continuing resolution by Friday, the start of the next fiscal year, a government shutdown could follow. The bills that Congress does not expect to have finalized by October 1 are Labor, Health, and Human Services; Foreign Operations, Commerce, Justice, State; Agriculture; Interior; Veterans Affairs, Housing, and Urban Development; and Energy and Water.
The House and Senate plan to consider H.R. Res. __ on Tuesday or later in the week.
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Last Friday, House-Senate conferees approved the final version of the FY 00 funding bill for Energy and Water. The bill now goes to the House and Senate floors for approval by both houses. Overall funding for the bill is similar to the $21.3 billion level approved by the Senate and $1.1 billion higher than that approved by the House. Specific figures from the conference report are not yet available because House and Senate Appropriations staff had to rescore the bill due to money-saving provisions dropped in conference.
Earlier, President Clinton s advisors said they would recommend that he veto the House version of the legislation because it included riders restricting White House wetlands policies. According to Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM), the conference report includes those restrictions.
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Chances are slim that House and Senate conferees will meet on funding for the Department of Interior and Related Agencies this week, even though the Senate managed to push through its version of the legislation (S. 1292) last week. On Thursday, the Senate voted 51-47 to continue a ban on President Clinton s efforts to change the system for determining royalties paid on oil extracted from federal lands. The debate over the oil royalty issue an amendment offered by Senator Kay Hutchinson (R-TX) had prolonged deliberation on the bill for weeks.
House Appropriations contacts are Deborah Weatherly, majority, 202-225-3081 or Del Davis, minority, 202-225-3481. Senate Appropriations contacts are Bruce Evans, majority, 202-224-7233 or Curt Dodd, minority, 202-224-5271.
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Last Friday, the Senate passed its FY 00 appropriations bill for VA-HUD-Independent Agencies, which includes the Environmental Protection Agency. House-Senate conferees must now meet on the legislation to bridge any gaps between the House and Senate versions of the funding bills.
Although the Senate restored $12 million for the Montreal Protocol, which assists more than 120 developing nations to phase out ozone-depleting chemicals, the EPA was highly critical of the bill. The bill includes a number of environmental provisions, including requirements regarding proposed stormwater regulations and a delay a rule to increase fees collected by EPA for testing pesticide tolerance levels. President Clinton has threatened to veto the bill for a number of reasons, including a $186 million cut to EPA s operating budget, cuts to the Climate Change Technology Initiative, and a $100 million cut in his request for superfund.
To view the bills, visit the Thomas website at
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Seeking Nominations for Most Endangered Rivers of 2000:
American Rivers accepting nominations for America s Most Endangered Rivers of 2000. Every year, we work closely with grassroots organizations across the country to identify the rivers included in the report. By drawing national attention to the rivers on the list, the report sends a powerful wake up call to mobilize the public and key decision makers to take significant action before it is too late.
If your local river is one of the many facing a significant threat, America s Most Endangered Rivers of 2000 holds the promise of providing it with a much-needed spotlight to bring local, regional, and national attention to its plight and what must be done to protect or restore it. To nominate a river, please complete the enclosed nomination package found on the American Rivers webpage at
http://www.amrivers.org/endanger.html and return it to Suzy McDowell, Conservation Outreach Coordinator at American Rivers. All nominations must be postmarked no later than October 11, 1999.
If you have any questions, contact Suzy McDowell at 202-347-7550 x3040 or smcdowell@amrivers.org
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House Bills to Come to Floor:
The following bills could come to the House floor as early as this week:
S. 323 to elevate the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument to national park status and create several other conservation areas near Montrose, Colorado.
H.R. 717 to direct federal agencies to develop air tour flight management in an around national parks.
H.R. 1934 to provide government grants for efforts to rehabilitate beached marine mammals.
S. 944 to make it easier for seven Oklahoma Indian tribes to lease their lands for oil and gas exploration.
House Passes Natural Resources Bills:
Last Tuesday, the House passed five natural resources bills. The measures are:
H.R. 1243: The National Marine Sanctuaries Enhancement. Passed by voice vote as amended, the measure would reauthorize and amend the law creating the nation's system of marine sanctuaries.
H.R. 1431: The Coastal Barrier Resources Reauthorization Act. Passed on a 309-106 vote as amended, the bill would reauthorize the law that limits federally subsidized development within the coastal barrier resources system.
H.R. 2079: The Terry Peak Land Transfer Act. Passed by voice vote, the bill would okay the sale of approximately 40 acres of land from the Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota to a ski resort.
H.R. 468: The Saint Helena Island National Scenic Area Act. Passed on a 410-2 vote as amended, this legislation would establish a national scenic area on an island in Lake Michigan. H.R. 1231. This bill would direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey certain national forest lands to Elko County, Nev., for continued use as a cemetery, cleared by voice vote as amended.
On the Senate Floor:
The following bills could brought up on the Senate floor this week:
S. 1287, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act Amendments.
S. 1100 to amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to provide that the designation of critical habitat for endangered and threatened species be required as part of the development of recovery plans. For more information, see www.stopextinction.org S. 244 to authorize the construction of the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System.
S. 109 to improve protection and management of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area in Georgia.
S. 501 to address resource management issues in Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska.
S. 744 to grant up to 500,000 acres of federal land to the University of Alaska.
To view the bills, visit the Thomas website at
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Both the House and Senate are examining the controversial Garrison Diversion Project in North Dakota. Last Wednesday, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved legislation to expand the controversial Garrison Diversion project in North Dakota with a $630 million drinking water system. This Thursday, the House Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power will hold a hearing on the House version of the Dakota Water Resources Act H.R. 2918, introduced by Representative Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) on September 22. The adopted Senate version (S. 623) and the House bill include language to reduce the original $770 price tag for the project and to make North Dakota responsible for all and maintenance costs resulting from new construction, as stipulated in an agreement with the Clinton Administration.
The bills also include language intended to calm Canada's concerns about the possible transmission of exotic species that could damage the Hudson Bay watershed and scratched language linking authorization of a natural resources trust fund to construction of unrelated features of the project.
The Canadian government, a number of environmental organizations, and Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) oppose the project and the bill. Their concerns focus on the requirement the US government "determine that adequate treatment can be provided to meet the requirements" of the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty before construction of any water system that would deliver Missouri River water into the Hudson Bay.
Specifically, H.R. 2918 would authorize $200 million in funding for statewide municipal, rural, and industrial programs, $100 million less than in earlier proposals. The legislation clarifies that if a revolving fund were established for these programs, the funds would be treated as federal funds and would require compliance the National Environmental Policy Act.
Both the House and Senate bills would also drop a $40 million bridge project and require North Dakota to pay a pro-rata share of the operation, maintenance, and replacement costs on certain existing facilities; pay all of the operation, maintenance, and replacement costs on new facilities, except those required to meet treaty obligations or comply with reclamation law; and pay all energy costs.
The Clinton Administration is expected to support the bill in principle, but the agreement was based on concepts and not legislative language. Thus, it is possible that the exact language in the bill will not match what the Administration believed to be conveyed in the agreement.
The Garrison project has been the source of controversy among farmers and other residents of North Dakota for decades. It was first introduced as part of massive Bureau of Reclamation Pick-Sloan project, built in the 1940s to control flooding in the lower portion of the Missouri River basin. Under that plan, North Dakota citizens ceded 550,000 acres of land for the construction of the Garrison dam, in return for which they were promised a huge water supply and irrigation project authorized in 1965 as the Garrison Diversion Project. The project was strongly opposed from the start by affected landowners, environmental and taxpayer groups, and the Canadian government.
After just fifteen percent of the construction was completed, progress was stopped on the project until Congress acted in 1986 to pass a Garrison reformulation law that scaled back the original billion-dollar project but authorized some further irrigation work. The 1986 law also required farmers to foot a higher bill for the water they received from the project; attempted to address fish, wildlife, and wetlands concerns; and postponed several parts of the project.
Although Congress has funded the Garrison project at $20 to $30 million a year since 1986, with much of the money going toward construction of rural domestic water systems, the North Dakota delegation contends that promises made to the state have not been met and many rural communities in the state do not have clean and reliable water systems.
S. 623, and companion legislation introduced in the House by Representative Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) (H.R. 1137), would authorize construction $300 million for municipal and industrial water supply projects across the state and $200 million for similar projects on the four Indian reservations within the state, $25 million for a natural resources trust fund, and $6.5 million for recreation projects. In addition, the bill would provide $200 million for water quality and quantity projects to meet the needs of the Red River Valley, possibly including an interbasin water transfer from the Missouri River. North Dakota would repay $345 million of the project cost, and $500 million worth of already-authorized projects would be deauthorized.
The House Resources Water and Power Subcommittee hearing will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 30 in 1334 Longworth House Office Building.
During the hearing, the subcommittee will also discuss H.R. 2889, Representative Chris Cannon s (R-UT) bill to permit the use of savings achieved in certain areas of the Central Utah Project to be spent on other projects and programs as necessary. The bill is essentially identical to language approved by the Senate Energy Committee last week.
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Senate to Discuss Wetlands Bills:
This week, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will mark up a long list of bills, many of them focused on protection of wetlands and coastal waters:
S. 835 to enhance efforts to restore estuaries by making the National Estuary Program more efficient and by improving federal coordination of federal and non-federal restoration programs.
S. 492 to amend the Federal Water Pollution Act to help restore the Chesapeake Bay estuary.
S. 1119 to continue funding of the 1950 Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act.
H.R. 2454 to direct the Secretary of Interior to implement rules to reduce the overabundant population of mid-continent geese degrading the arctic tundra.
S. 1398 to clarify Cap Hatteras areas coastal barrier resource system maps.
H.R. 2724 to make technical corrections to the Water Resources Development Act of 1999.
S. 1631 to reauthorize funding for Long Island Sound Programs.
The markup will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, September 29 in 406 Dirksen Senate Office Building.
To view the bills, visit the Thomas website at
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Sept. 29, 9:30 a.m.: Senate Environment and Public Works Committee markup session on a number of bills, many related to protection of wetlands and coastal waters. Location: 406 Dirksen Senate Office Building.
Sept. 29, 11:00 a.m.: House Resources Committee hearing on how the US Fish and Wildlife Service administers a program that currently funnels more than $500 million to states for fish and wildlife restoration projects. Location:
1324 Longworth House Office Building.
Sept. 29, 1:00 p.m.: House Transportation Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment hearing on growing concern over pollution spreading from an aquifer in Southern California that could potentially affect drinking water for three million people. Location: 2167 Rayburn House Office Building.
Sept. 29, 2:30 p.m.: Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power hearing on the Bureau of Reclamation s operations and maintenance costs and contract renewal procedures. Location: 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building.
Sept. 30, 1:00 p.m.: House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee hearing on the impact of tax breaks in current law aimed at promoting environmental conservation and preservation and proposals for further incentives.
Location: 1100 Longworth House Office Building.
Sept. 30, 2:00 p.m.: House Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power hearing on the Dakota Water Resources Act. Location: 1334 Longworth House Office Building.
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American Rivers, 1025 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 720 Washington, DC 20005, (202) 347-7550
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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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