Copyright 2000 The Times-Picayune Publishing Co.
The Times-Picayune
May 19, 2000 Friday, ORLEANS
SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. A11
LENGTH: 487 words
HEADLINE:
CONSERVATION BILL STILL FACES UPHILL FIGHT;
ACT WOULD GIVE
STATE $300 MILLION A YEAR
BYLINE: By Bruce Alpert
Washington bureau
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott pledged
Thursday to push forward with legislation that would dramatically increase
conservation financing in Louisiana and other states, but
warned it still faces major obstacles.
At a news conference called by
the bill's chief sponsor, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., Lott mentioned two
potential problems: Western senators opposed to any increase in the federal
government's land holdings, and those who "feel like it's too much money."
"There are going to be things that have to be worked out, but that is
the legislative process," said Lott, R-Miss. "This is a worthwhile effort."
The $2.8 billion Conservation and Reinvestment Act
would use royalty revenue from offshore oil and gas drilling to pay for
conservation, wildlife, recreation and historic preservation
programs, including land acquisition. The measure would provide Louisiana with
more than $300 million a year.
Landrieu said last week's 315-102 passage
of a companion bill in the House gives the policy significant momentum.
Proponents are close to the 60 votes needed to kill a threatened filibuster, she
said.
But getting the measure signed into law won't be easy, despite the
recent endorsement of President Clinton. Not only are property-rights supporters
promising an all-out fight to kill the bill, but some senators have suggested
that they want to rewrite financing formulas so their states would get more
money.
Even Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who appeared at the news
conference as one of the bill's co-sponsors, has said he would like to see a
reallocation of the financing to increase Alabama's share above the projected
$51 million a year.
Landrieu said the fact that the bill has such broad
bipartisan support is encouraging, however.
"Let me just answer one
question that has been asked since the beginning," she said. "The question is:
Can we afford to do this? I would respond, can we afford not to do it? Since
1930, Louisiana has lost more than 1,500 square miles of marsh. The state loses
between 25 and 30 miles each year, nearly a football field of wetlands every
day."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., had her own proposal to
reallocate offshore oil and gas revenue for conservation
programs, but said she decided to sign on to the Landrieu bill because it's the
only one that can pass.
"If you want a bill, this is the bill, I
believe," Feinstein said. She added that for more than 30 years the federal
government hasn't fulfilled its commitment to provide money for key
conservation programs to protect wetlands, estuaries and
endangered species.
"These monies have been hijacked for decades to
balance the budget," Feinstein said. "If we don't take a time of surplus, two
years in a row and 10 years of projected surpluses, and say right now we're
going to straighten out that situation, we're going to do the right thing by the
money, I don't think it's ever going to get done."
GRAPHIC: Trent Lott 'This is a worthwhile effort'
LOAD-DATE: May 20, 2000 
