Copyright 2000 The Kansas City Star Co.
THE KANSAS
CITY STAR
October 5, 2000, Thursday METROPOLITAN
EDITION
SECTION: OPINION; Pg. B6
LENGTH: 358 words
HEADLINE:
Conservation money
BODY:
The
proposed Conservation and Reinvestment Act, which would
transfer millions of dollars from federal off-shore oil leases to
financially starved local and state parks and wildlife programs, is
in
trouble.
Thanks to a deal devised by congressional negotiators on the
Interior Department appropriations bill, the House has approved a
pale
version of the landmark legislation that earlier had been
endorsed by
two-thirds of the House, more than half of the Senate and
President Clinton.
The president has endorsed this inferior agreement, saying that
"while we had hoped for even more" he wanted to praise the
conservation, wildlife and recreation groups, as well as
citizens,
who worked so hard for the conservation act.
This is not the time to give up. Despite the apparent bipartisan
agreement, this latest version of the Conservation and Reinvestment
Act, also known as CARA, should not be the one approved by
Congress.
It falls far short of the original that has been pushed by
conservation groups, cities, counties and states.
Under a strong bipartisan effort, Congress has been on the verge
of
restoring the money to its rightful uses. Of the $3 billion
CARA
would provide, Missouri annually stands to gain $34.7
million and
Kansas $17.3 million for natural resource
preservation and parkland
acquisition. Kansas and Missouri cities and
counties could use their
share of the money to improve state and local
parks, purchase land
for parks, and other recreational purposes.
The
substitute version falls short in the money it would
guarantee over the long
term. In one example, $350 million annually
for nongame
wildlife programs has been cut to $50 million.
Senate
Majority Leader Trent Lott and Minority Leader Tom Daschle
have announced
their intention to push to restore CARA to its former
self. They are backed
by the nation's governors, who have sought
significant
conservation funding for state needs. The original
version
is the one that should be passed.
Approval of CARA could be one of the
most significant victories
of this Congress.
LOAD-DATE: October 5, 2000 
