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ARCHIVE 1/27/99
NWF Testimony Before Senate On OCS Conservation Funding
Initiatives
In testimony today before the Senate Energy
and Natural Resources Committee, National Wildlife Federation
President Mark Van Putten emphasized the following:
- Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas drilling poses serious
environmental hazards, including pollution from spills, leaks and
accidents that harms marine wildlife.
- The Conservation and Reinvestment Act of 1999, S. 25, offers
an "important opportunity" to pay for coastal environmental
mitigation and restoration caused by off-shore drilling.
- The National Wildlife Federation "wholeheartedly endorses" S.
25's central theme of investing revenue from the sale of
non-renewable resources into conservation initiatives.
- S. 25 can be significantly improved by including provisions to
assure it does not encourage new off-shore oil and gas drilling.
- The Federation supports S. 25's application of Outer
Continental Shelf revenue to the Land and Water Conservation Fund
and state wildlife programs.
- S. 25 can be strengthened by assuring that funds available to
the states are adequately dedicated for non-game wildlife
management.
"Senators Landrieu and Murkowski's S.
25 is one of the most encouraging of several conservation funding
proposals before Congress," Van Putten said. "The President's Land
Legacy Initiative is another. As the nation's largest
member-supported conservation education organization, the Federation
looks forward to working closely with S. 25's supporters, and all
others favoring responsible bipartisan progress, to achieve a major
conservation funding victory in this Congress." |
