WASHINGTON -- With the addition of $150 million to provide coastal impact aid to coastal states like Alaska and $50 million for a state-based wildlife conservation program, Alaska Sen. Frank Murkowski today said that Congress this year has made a good start in efforts to pass a more comprehensive Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA).

"Passage of the full CARA bill is still our goal, but providing many of the elements in this year's appropriations bills is a good first step," said Murkowski, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The $620 million was included in the Commerce, State, Justice Appropriations bill that was included in the final appropriations bill of the year (H.R. 4577) that passed tonight.

"As passed by the Energy Committee, CARA was a 15-year program with dedicated funding (about $3 billion a year). Our focus was to take the royalties from a non-renewable resource -- oil and gas -- and reinvest them in the nation. I still believe this is a good idea.

"One year of funding is a first step, but it doesn't provide the level of certainty to our states and communities that will allow them to plan and invest wisely," said Murkowski who praised the work of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, in fashioning changes to the Commerce bill.

In early October appropriators agreed on $1.6 billion of CARA aid in a single- year spending alternative to CARA, $1.2 billion in the Interior Appropriations bill, which has already been passed and signed by the President, with another $400 million intended to be added to the Commerce bill to be given to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for fisheries assistance. The revised bill as passed tonight earmarks another $150 million to go to the states most directly impacted by offshore oil and gas production off their coastlines and an additional $70 million for coastal aid and wildlife programs - - bringing total funding to $1.82 billion for FY 2001.

Nearly 35 percent of the coastal impact aid will be passed through to local communities within the coastal zone. Alaska should gain about $13 million next year in coastal impact aid -- the first time the state has gained such aid from the federal government.

"When I went into this process, one of my goals was to right a long-standing wrong that states with Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas development do not reap a reward from the royalties collected on that production. Inland states that have oil and gas development on public lands receive 50 percent of the royalties. Coastal states should get something," said Murkowski.

In addition, the Commerce bill provides another $50 million to wildlife programs in the states for both game and non-game conservation programs. Alaska's share from both the Interior and Commerce bills is estimated to be about $6 million.

Another Alaska Delegation priority in CARA was for additional funding for the payment in lieu of taxes program (PILT) that provides money to communities where the federal government has large land holdings. "This program has never been funded at the full authorized level of $325 million. With the help of the appropriators, we have moved this program up to $200 million for FY 2001. Many communities will see benefits to schools and other services from these additional funds," said Murkowski, who noted Alaska towns, with federal land contained in their borders, should gain $14 million in total PILT funding.

When all of the Interior and Commerce segments of the bill are added together, Alaska should gain about $85 million in additional federal funding this year. The additional money will go to fully fund the stateside program of the Land and Water Conservation Fund that provides money for local park improvements nationwide. Other funding will go for historic preservation, urban park development, fisheries rehabilitation programs, including about $100 million a year for salmon recovery programs in Alaska, Washington and Oregon, and for federal purposes such as repairing facilities in Alaska¹s national parks.*

* Coastal impact assistance, $13 million; Stateside Land & Water Conservation Fund local park money, $2 million; State Wildlife Grants, $6 million; PILT, $14 million total, $2 +million new money; Salmon Habitat Improvements $36 million; urban park aid, $1 million; Urban and Community Forestry aid, $1 million; Youth Conservation Corps funding, less than $1 million; historic preservation, $2 million; USFS Economic Action Programs, $10 million; NAWCA, $1 million; Designated coastal aid, $10 million for the Seward Sealife Center. These total $85 million in new money. There is another $4 million for the Kachemak Bay NERRS Center that brings the total to $89 million. The legislation also envisions another $45 million of undesignated aid for national park maintenance and the federal side of the Land & Water Conservation Fund Program.