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• APPROPRIATIONS
• DAMS
• PARKS AND PUBLIC LANDS
• LINKS TO PAST UPDATES:

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American Rivers Policy Update For the week of November 15, 1999

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APPROPRIATIONS

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Funding Debate Continues:

Returning from a Veteran s Day recess, Congress returns once again to annual appropriations for FY 00. Five bills remain in dispute between legislators and the Clinton Administration Labor, Health, Human Services, and Education; Commerce, Justice, and State; Department of Interior and Related Agencies; District of Columbia, and Foreign Operations. One of the most contentious issues that must be resolved is the link between US payment of nearly $1 billion in arrears to the United Nations and restrictions on aid to international family planning groups. The House and Senate are due to vote Wednesday on a further week-long extension of stopgap funding to give time for Congressional action on the five bills and for the president to sign them into law. The continuing resolution lasts through Nov. 24, nearly eight weeks after the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal year.

Congressional negotiators wrapped up the Interior Appropriations bill on Monday night after repeated rewriting of the riders that had been added by the Senate. According to Representative Ralph Regula (R-OH), the $15 billion bill included increased funding for land purchases under President Clinton s Lands Legacy Initiative and $5 million more for energy conservation programs. Under the agreement, a ban on raising royalty fees charged to oil companies for drilling on public lands would end on March 15, instead of after 180 days as in the original bill. Also, the Administration succeeded in narrowing a Senate rider to limit restrictions on the amount of federal land available for dumping mine waste.

Senator Byrd s (D-WV) rider to exempt mountaintop coal mining in his state from Clean Water Act is still alive and could be attached to one of the remaining appropriations bills. Senator Byrd has offered a new version of the proposal, and negotiators have stated that the issue is in the hands of the White House. Senator Byrd s proposal would allow mountaintop removal mining companies to fill and pollute stream valleys with mining waste. The rider is in response to a recent landmark court decision that greatly limits the amount of valley fill from mountaintop removal mining. Byrd's rider may apply to strip and mountaintop removal mines across the nation.

Congress hopes to wrap up the lingering appropriations bills this week so that legislators can adjourn for the year by Friday.

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DAMS

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California Wilderness Dams:

Last week, the House passed a bill to require the Secretary of Agriculture to continue to provide for the maintenance and operation of 18 concrete dams and weirs located in the Emigrant Wilderness in California s Stanislaus National Forest. H.R. 359, introduced by Representative John Doolittle (R-CA), would allow the US Forest Service to delegate the work and cost of maintaining the dams to local private groups. The California Department of Fish and Game has been responsible for maintaining some of the dams, but can no longer afford to do so. Representatives also passed a bill to allow Central Valley Project water users to use federally owned water storage and delivery systems to wheel water purchased from the state water project to their customers (H.R. 3077).

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PARKS AND PUBLIC LANDS

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OCS Revenue Bill Passes House Resources:

Last Wednesday, the House Resources Committee approved a major bill (H.R. 701) to create the Conservation and Reinvestment Act Fund and dedicate more than $3 billion annually from federal offshore oil and gas receipts to impact aid to coastal states and land conservation, wildlife, and recreation programs. The bill approved by the committee combines features from bills offered by Representatives Don Young (R-AK) and George Miller's (D-CA). The bill provides some $900 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, $150 million for conservation easements and species recovery, $1 billion for coastal impact assistance, $350 million for stateside wildlife conservation, and some $600 million for urban parks and recreation, historic preservation, and a variety of other programs. The compromise draft bill removes many of the CARA restrictions on federal land acquisition that had created stumbling blocks for legislators.

Despite of all its benefits, some environmental groups are uneasy about the bill. They worry that the bill includes unacceptable incentives for off-shore drilling, could serve to open sensitive new areas to oil drilling, does not have adequate restrictions on how the coastal impact money could be spent, and could allow the money to be spent on infrastructure and other environmentally damaging coastal development.

Gore Offers Land Protection Plan:

On November 15, Vice President Al Gore announced a proposal to spend $2 billion over the next decade to set aside more parkland and combat suburban sprawl. Money for the initiative would come from a mining industry fee.

Currently, the federal government does not charge a royalty for hardrock minerals extracted from public lands. Coal, oil and gas producers, however, pay federal land royalties ranging from 8-12.5 percent. Other industries that consume natural resources on federal lands, such as loggers, also pay royalties. Gore s plan also includes offering tax incentives to ensure that some privately owned land passes into public hands.

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LINKS TO PAST UPDATES:

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