| |
As predicted in the Spring '98 edition of the Chattooga
Quarterly, a number of influential Senators and Congressmen are working
relentlessly, through the federal budgetary appropriations process, to dismantle
or block positive steps towards environmental protection and restoration. At
this point in time, there are 18 anti-environmental riders attached to the Interior
Appropriations bills.
The rider process has become the ideal way for our Members of Congress to get
controversial bills attached to federal spending bills. Probably the most important
reason that this tactic is employed is that riders do not have to be openly
debated or introduced as stand-alone bills; they just "ride piggy-back" on essential
funding bills. Oftentimes, the rider is totally unrelated to the funding measure
that carries it. For example, the recently passed (Fiscal Year '98) Emergency
Supplementation for Natural Disaster Relief Act had riders attached by Senator
Larry Craig (Republican from Idaho backed by the timber industry) and Senator
Pete Domenici (Republican from New Mexico backed by the finance and oil industry).
Senator Craig's rider basically nullified the 18-month National Forest Roads
Moratorium, which was proposed by the Chief of the Forest Service and hailed
by many citizens as a great step toward protection and restoration of our national
forests (that contain more miles of roads than the interstate highway system).
However, with this rider attached the moratorium is ineffective. Senator Domenici's
rider adjusted the boundary of the Petroglyph National Monument to allow construction
of a multi-lane highway to facilitate the sprawl of Albuquerque suburbs. The
attachment of these riders, which have nothing to do with emergency disaster
relief, were savvy political moves to get special interest legislation passed
while knowing full well that the Disaster Relief Act was greatly needed by people
suffering from this winter's natural disasters.
Currently in Congress, the Fiscal Year (FY) 1999 Interior Appropriations bills
are being gutted, twisted and torn to facilitate certain Members of Congress'
personal agendas and the special interests of those who have made large contributions
to their re-election campaigns. The Senate version of the Interior Appropriations
bill has so many anti-environmental riders attached, and the House version has
four so far, that we should see that the will of the majority of citizens to
preserve and restore our environment, is being subverted by back door legislation.
The following list describes some of the riders to the Senate's Interior Appropriations
bill.
- Sec. 117 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Mining Regulations: Would
halt the current review of hard rock mining regulations, which would have
started the long overdue process of mining regulations reform for public
lands. The rider would halt this process for up to 18 months while a study
is done to determine the effects of any new regulations; current regulations
date from the year 1872.
- Sec. 120 Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve: This rider would
prohibit the use of funds for the purpose of enforcing regulations to stop
commercial fishing in this National Park, which is the only National Park
where commercial fishing is allowed. The National Park Service wants to
phase out commercial fishing here and restore the park to its intended purpose,
which is preservation, public enjoyment and scientific study.
- Sec. 123 Public Lands Grazing: Would allow the BLM to re-authorize
grazing permits on public lands without allotment-specific National Environmental
Policy Act documents, Endangered Species Act requirements or Federal Land
Policy Management Act analysis through FY 1999, or until the Bureau completes
permit processing. This provision provides an escape clause for the BLM
that allows the agency to delay the analysis required by law, as recently
interpreted by federal courts.
- Sec. 126 Izembek National Wildlife Refuge Road: Would authorize
construction of a 30 mile gravel road through the Izembek National Wildlife
Refuge and Wilderness Area for the estimated cost of 30 million dollars.
The project's purpose is to service the town of King Cove, whose population
is about 800. This project would set a bad precedent for building roads
through wildlife refuges and wilderness areas, and also would waive all
environmental laws during the road's construction. Transportation Unions
contributed heavily to the coffers of the Senator who attached this rider.
- Sec. 127 Land Acquisition in Alaska: Would prohibit the Secretary
of the Interior from spending any funds for land acquisition in Alaska,
unless the Secretary first seeks to exchange unreserved public lands for
the parcel desired. The language would block the federal government's ability
to acquire inholdings from willing sellers in a prompt manner, therefore
jeopardizing rare opportunities to obtain key private land parcels and inholdings.
- Sec. 131 Oil Royalties Rule: Would further delay the long awaited
Oil Valuation Rule from going into effect, thus allowing oil and gas industries
to dodge payment of $86 million in royalties to the federal government until
October of 1999. The new rule has been in the works for the last two years,
and was scheduled to go into effect this summer.
- Sec. 321 National Forest Planning: Would impose a funding limitation
to halt the revision of any new Forest Plans not currently in progress until
new National Forest Management Act regulations are adopted. Potential changes
to this Act include dropping measures that are designed to ensure species
viability on public lands.
- Sec. 322 Forests & Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act:
Would halt all funding to carry out strategic planning under this Act. Sec.
329 exempts existing Forest Plans from current revision deadlines outlined
in the National Forest Management Act and the Forests & Rangeland Renewable
Resources Planning Act.
- Sec. 332 Prescribed Burning: This rider would require the removal
of all "economically viable, commercial wood products" prior to conducting
prescribed burning in national forests. This is an oxymoron, as the very
reason for the prescribed burns is to mimic the natural fire disturbance
that has been suppressed for many years, and which plays an important role
in the natural disturbance regimes of the forest. With this rider, the larger
trees are considered more "economically viable" and therefore would be logged
thereby undermining the ecosystem instead of restoring it, which is the
intended purpose of the burns.
- Sec. 336 Snow Basin Road: Would authorize $13.9 million for a three
mile road to a ski resort. In 1996, a rider attached to a national parks
bill enabled a developer to acquire national forest land through a land
exchange, in order to develop a ski resort to be used for the winter Olympics.
This road to access this site would be built at taxpayer's expense to benefit
the site's private development plans and projected (private) profits. That
amounts to costs to the taxpayer of $4.6 million per mile, to a resort where
the developer will reap private windfall profits.
- Sec. 337 Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project:
This rider would strip multiple federal agencies of any decision making
authority, essentially removing coordinated ecosystem planning from this
project. The rider also would allow site specific activities, such as timber
sales, to go forward even if the cumulative effects of those activities
would jeopardize species listed under the Endangered Species Act.
- Sec. 338 & 340 Logging in the Tongass National Forest and Timber Pricing
in Alaska: The first rider would mandate that the Forest Service to
offer and allow logging next year of 90% of the timber volume proposed by
the Tongass Land Management Plan, which currently is under appeal. This
would force the agency to allow a 150% increase in logging volume from 1997
levels. Sec. 340 addresses timber pricing in Region 10, which includes the
Tongass. This national forest system is still under the old method of pricing,
which ensures a loss to government coffers and a huge profit for private
timber companies.
- Sec. 342 & 343 Grizzly Bear Reintroduction & Salmon Recovery: Sec.
342 would prohibit the US Fish & Wildlife Service from spending any money
to reintroduce grizzly bears into the Selway-Bitterroot ecosystem in Idaho
and Montana. This reintroduction is vital to the grizzly bears recovery
in this area as it is one of the largest remaining roadless area in the
lower forty eight states. Sec. 343 would prohibit any changes in the operation
of any federally-licensed dam in the Columbia River basin without specific
Congressional approval. The rider severely hampers any effort to restore
the Pacific salmon, if that effort involves modifying any existing commercial
use of the Columbia River basin, including hydropower.
- Title II Road Decommissioning: This rider would prohibit funds
to be used to decommission or fix national forest system roads, until all
"unauthorized" roads are decommissioned or fixed. System roads are used
for logging, and many are in terrible condition and are contributing to
mudslides and habitat fragmentation. "Unauthorized" roads are temporary
roads or paths carved by off-road vehicles, which are less harmful and oftentimes
not even recorded as roads. In order to fix or decommission these roads,
they would first have to be inventoried; inventorying these roads would
cause lengthy delays as well as shifting of resources away from fixing the
problems that already exist. This rider is perhaps one of the most pointed
attempts to block sound funding for restoration of watersheds and wildlife
habitats.
- Title II Wilderness Act Implementation: This rider seeks to abolish
Forest Service regulations which are designed to promote solitude in certain
Wilderness Areas by setting limits on the number of people in these areas.
The rider also shifts Wilderness Area management more towards increased
human activity and recreation.
The House of Representatives' version contains very similar riders having to
do with roads being built in places they shouldn't; ecosystem management funds
being held hostage, using Knudsen-Vandenburg Funds for Forest Service administrative
overhead (which is not allowed); and, removing sensitive lands from the Coastal
Barrier Resources Act so that they may be developed. We anticipate more Members
of Congress will jump on the rider bandwagon by adding other special interest
agendas to the Interior Appropriations bill, which will be voted on in August.
The White House has hinted a veto of the whole bill will occur if the riders
aren't removed. However, this becomes a heated political tug-of-war, because
the body of the spending bills are necessary, justifiable and should be passed.
Yet the President no longer has a tool called line item veto to "pare the pork".
This power was revoked in June by the Supreme Court: the line item veto was
declared "unconstitutional". If the President vetoes the Interior Appropriations
bill, it will go back to both Chambers and various Committees; the process starts
over, unless the veto is overridden. This scenario has the potential to develop
into a game of trade-offs, for very bad legislation for not-as-bad legislation.
What you can do: Call, write, email or visit your Senators and Representatives.
Tell them that this is not an acceptable way to legislate! If you would like
to know if your Members of Congress have a tendency to offer special interest
legislation, you can go to the web site called Center for Responsive Politics,
at www.crp.org/index.htm and find out everything you want to know about their
campaign money and where it comes from, even what industrial sector , and personal
financial statements. This web site is very informative and enlightening. Then,
if you want to find out how your representative voted on a particular environmental
issue, go to the League of Conservation Voters' web site at www.lcv.org. Constituents
armed with knowledge about their representatives' campaign money and voting
history have more of a chance of being heard!
Back to the Top
|
|
