Copyright 2000 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company
The Times Picayune (New Orleans)
September 30, 2000 Saturday
SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. 9
LENGTH: 664 words
HEADLINE:
La. may lose on conservation appropriations;
Proposed bill
threatening to CARA programs
BYLINE: By Bruce Alpert;
Washington bureau
BODY:
WASHINGTON -- Supporters of
legislation to redistribute offshore oil and gas royalty payments for
environmental and conservation programs are considering
blocking House consideration of an alternative proposal they say shortchanges
coastal states like Louisiana.
"We have to get the leadership to
recognize that we should not have to rubber stamp a process that has largely
denied us anything," Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-Chackbay, said.
At issue is a
land acquisition and conservation program attached to a
Department of Interior spending bill negotiated Thursday night by congressional
appropriators and the White House. The bill would provide $1.6
billion next year, with the figure rising to $2.4 billion by
2006.
Tauzin and other supporters of the Conservation and
Reinvestment Act contend that the alternative measure, written by Rep.
Norm Dicks, D-Wash., doesn't provide enough assistance for states like Louisiana
that have suffered environmental coastal damage from offshore oil and gas
drilling. In addition, the CARA supporters said it doesn't provide a guaranteed
flow of money so local agencies can plan long-term environmental programs, such
as wetlands restoration.
"It is understandable how some appropriators
continue to resist the automatic and stable funding mechanisms which define
CARA," Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said. "However, when it comes to protecting
our coastlines and open spaces, expanding our parks and investing in wildlife
conservation, the annual budget grab-bag approach just doesn't
work."
In the House, CARA supporters are considering voting against a
procedural motion needed to bring the $19 billion Interior
Department spending bill to the floor. They are concerned that if Congress
approves the Interior bill, including the Dicks land
conservation proposal, it will make it difficult to win passage
of any other environmental bill, including CARA.
Supporters hope that if
the interior bill can be blocked, it would force the issue into a final round of
budgetary negotiations between the White House and congressional leaders in
which the CARA bill might get better consideration than from appropriators. The
appropriators have long objected to making the environmental programs an
entitlement, as they would be under CARA, because they would lose their
discretionary authority to set spending priorities.
Opposing a
procedural motion is easy enough for members of the Democratic minority, but for
Republicans like Tauzin, a subcommittee chairman, it is considered politically
risky. Tauzin is looking to move up to Commerce Committee chairman if the GOP
retains control of the House next year, and he will need the good graces of the
leadership to accomplish that.
"Clearly, we got some talking to do when
we get back," said Tauzin, declining to commit to specific protest action when
the House returns Monday. But he added that CARA received 315 votes when it won
House approval last year, so there are "a lot of members who have clearly stated
their preference."
The Clinton administration signed onto the Interior
bill after appropriators agreed to drop or modify some environmental riders the
president had opposed.
"The president wants CARA, but we were told over
and over again by the appropriators from both parties that no way would they
accept it," said a White House environmental aide who declined to be identified.
"So, we're going to continue to look for a way to implement CARA. But if it's a
choice of nothing or the Dicks proposal, we'd rather have something."
Dicks called the land acquisition and conservation
proposal "the greatest increase in resources for conservation
in the history of the country."
But Senate Energy Committee Chairman
Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, complained that the language reported by the
appropriators clearly states that the "funding is not mandatory."
"The
Interior Appropriations Committee has substituted end-of-the year smoke and
mirrors for CARA," Murkowski said.
LOAD-DATE: October
24, 2000 
