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Update: November 5, 1999
- YOUNG-MILLER BILL LANGUAGE RELEASED
- HOUSE RESOURCES COMMITTEE SCHEDULES ACTION
Representatives Don Young (R-AK) and George Miller (D-CA)
have brought us one step closer to passage of an historic
conservation funding bill. Yesterday, they jointly released a
revised version of H.R. 701, the
Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA), that is the product of
many months of negotiation. It provides over $2.8 billion
annually to conservation programs and includes some promising new
provisions.
This new version of H.R. 701 will be brought before the House
Resources Committee on Tuesday, November 9th, or Wednesday the 10th
for a Committee vote.
Outlined below are the ways in which this new draft of H.R 701
advances us beyond the status quo (i.e. beyond current law), areas
of concern that it raises, and missing features that should be in a
permanent conservation funding bill.
Pro’s and Con’s of H.R.
701
Advances over current law:
Approximately $2.4 billion annually over the next 11 years for
the following programs: coastal conservation, stateside Land and
Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), state wildlife agencies, urban parks
(UPARR), historic preservation, federal and tribal land restoration,
easements, endangered species, Payment in Lieu of Taxes fund (PILT),
and the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA)
New conservation programs established for federal and Tribal
land restoration, easements, and endangered species recovery
efforts
Stateside LWCF, UPARR, and historic preservation programs are
revitalized
Substantial infusion of new funds into state wildlife programs
Sets precedent for automatic conservation appropriations and use
of offshore drilling leasing revenues for more than just LWCF
Provisions of Concern
Creates a direct link between offshore drilling and amount of
revenue received by drilling states and their municipalities (for
municipalities there is also a link between amount of revenue and
number of oil refineries); this could create an incentive for
increased offshore drilling and onshore development of refineries
Coastal conservation funding could be entirely diverted for
non-conservation purposes, including potentially damaging activities
related to the mitigation of offshore drilling impacts (e.g. funds
could be used for offshore drillling-related infrastructure)
Willing seller requirements under federal side of LWCF may
hinder some land acquisitions
Unmet Goals/Missed Opportunities
Funding for all programs available for only 11 years -- funding
will not begin until fiscal year 2003, and will expire in 2015
No requirement that federal LWCF funds be expended annually
Nothing to require that states emphasize nongame species in the
expenditure of these funds; state wildlife agencies not required to
develop or implement comprehensive state-wide plans that address the
needs of all species
Unless modified, the easement title will not necessarily lead to
the protection of farmland, ranchland, and forested lands; Forest
Legacy is not funded by this bill
No progress has been made in the effort to improve LWCF to allow
for unique and substantial land acquisitions under the state-side
component of LWCF; these improvements would have facilitated the
acquisition of significant, one-time-only parcels, such as those now
for sale in the northeast
Conclusion
Despite the significant advances over current law, the unmet
goals and areas of concern will need to be addressed before this
bill will garner the widespread support it needs to become law.
Representatives Young and Miller are expected to discourage
amendments during mark-up in order to preserve their carefully
constructed compromise. As a result, we do not expect to get
our desired changes during the Committee’s mark-up.
Nonetheless, we will actively encourage the Committee to pass the
bill because it is an essential step in a much longer legislative
process. There will be many additional opportunities to
improve the bill and we will continue to advocate strongly for
necessary changes.
For those of you that have a copy of the "Giving Back to
Nature: Conservation Funding" video, try and show it to at least
one group by the end of this month and get letters of support to
Capitol Hill. If you do not have a copy of the video and have a
group that you could show it to, contact Pam Goddard at mailto:%20goddard@nwf.org for
your free copy. The only way we will be able to push this over the
goal line is to show significant public support now!
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