Copyright 2000 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company
The Times Picayune (New Orleans)
September 19, 2000 Tuesday
SECTION: METRO; Pg. 6
LENGTH: 575 words
HEADLINE:
Erosion on the Hill
BODY:
Time and powerful
congressional enemies are working against a bill that would provide Louisiana
with money for coastal restoration that it needs and deserves.
If the
Conservation and Reinvestment Act isn't adopted this session,
though, it will be a blow against fairness, because that's what the legislation
is really about.
Louisiana and a handful of other states have borne the
economic and environmental brunt of oil and gas exploration for decades, and
this bill would provide them a greater share of offshore oil royalties, as much
as $300 million a year for Louisiana if the House version of
the bill prevails. The version before the Senate spreads the wealth around more,
reducing Louisiana's share to $170 million a year.
Obviously, Louisiana would benefit more from the House version. But
either way, CARA would help Louisiana combat coastal erosion, a serious problem
for our state, but one that also has national ramifications. Louisiana has 24
percent of the country's coastal wetlands and 40 percent of the salt marshes,
and oil and gas drilling are among the factors that have caused Louisiana to
lose those valuable areas to erosion.
Our state has another convincing
claim to make on the money: 80 percent of the $3 billion a year
in offshore revenue comes from leases off Louisiana's coast. The other states
that would get a bigger share of money under CARA are Texas, Mississippi,
Alabama, Florida and California.
The legislation's prospects looked
fairly bright a couple of months ago. CARA, which passed the House last year,
had cleared a key committee -- Senate Energy -- despite opposition from Western
senators who fear that the bill will fuel more federal land acquisition in their
states.
But CARA hasn't come before the full Senate for a vote, and time
is running short. The bill's chief sponsor, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is
gathering signatures from senators who support considering the bill before
Congress adjourns Oct. 6.
Sen. Landrieu has enough votes to shut off a
filibuster, and the legislation does have some strong allies. Senate Majority
Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., supports it -- Mississippi is one of the states that
would benefit from CARA, after all. And the bill has White House backing, too.
But the bill's chances of getting in under the wire are remote unless
supporters can get it attached as an amendment to a final budget package.
That will mean overcoming some powerful opponents. The two senators who
are negotiating a budget deal, John McCain, R-Ariz., and Phil Gramm, R-Texas,
don't support CARA, and they are fighting attempts to put any last-minute
amendments on spending bills.
This landmark legislation deserves a
chance, and it will be a shame if opponents manage to use the clock or
unreasonable arguments to kill it. While senators out West worry about the
federal government gaining more control over land, those of us who live in
Louisiana worry about the acres of coast that are crumbling into the Gulf of
Mexico. One fear is speculation, the other is all too real.
The bill is
also running into opposition -- incredibly enough -- from some environmentalists
who fear that could end up encouraging offshore drilling.
These narrow
viewpoints miss the bigger picture: coastal wetlands are a national resource,
and they are being lost at a frightening rate. Congress has an opportunity to do
something about it, one that it shouldn't let slip away.
LOAD-DATE: October 24, 2000 
