APPROPRIATIONS: House OKs Interior bill after dropping Democratic policy amendments
Dan Berman, E&E Daily senior reporter
Environmentalists hoping for big things from the Democratic Congress on wildlife and public lands protection were disappointed yesterday, when major amendments on Western rights of way and natural gas leasing were dropped at the last minute and the House defeated an attempt to limit hunting of polar bears.
The amendments were part of the fiscal 2008 billion spending bill ( H.R. 2643 ) for Interior Department, U.S. EPA and Forest Service the House eventually approved, 272-155.
While policy amendments largely failed yesterday, Democrats were able to beat back GOP attempts to strike earmarks and institute across-the-board cuts to the $27.6 billion bill, which includes substantial funding increases for the environmental and land management agencies. President Bush has threatened to veto the measure.
The House did approve an amendment from Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) to extend oil shale study deadlines in the Rocky Mountains, but only after holding the vote open to allow Democratic members to switch their votes.
On Tuesday, the House approved an amendment limiting federal spending on roadbuilding in Alaska's Tongass National Forest and rejected attempts to strike climate change language from the bill.
Roan Plateau tabled
Rep. John Salazar (D-Colo.) and Udall were preparing to offer language to block planned natural gas lease sales atop Colorado's Roan Plateau, but they claim the Bush administration interfered at the last minute to scuttle the amendment.
"We had the votes to pass it," Salazar told E&E Daily . "We had done a vote count. We had a pretty good margin."
At issue is the Bureau of Land Management's plan to allow up to 1,570 new natural gas wells on Roan Plateau as early as next year. The Colorado Oil and Gas Association claims the plateau could hold 9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas -- enough to power 4 million homes for the next 20 years ( Greenwire , June 11). But the Colorado Democrats and environmentalists say the area is too pristine for drilling and have been working on various avenues to stop the proposal.
Though they filed the amendment to block the lease sales three weeks ago with the Appropriations Committee, the Congressional Budget Office informed staff last night the cost would be at least $50 million, Salazar said. According to the House pay/go rules, that potential revenue would have to be offset by cutting spending elsewhere in the bill.
"Getting that information so late, it didn't allow us to figure out where to get an offset," Salazar said. The sponsors attempted to revamp the amendment to simply prevent applications for permits to drill, but CBO was advised that such a step would drive down potential lease sale prices by as much as $10 million.
"We're concerned the Bush administration, the Interior Department, strong-armed CBO," Salazar said. "It wasn't even an issue for three weeks. It's strange that all of a sudden when we're ready to offer the amendment the scoring number comes up and there's no way to go back and find the offset."
Mike Chiropolos of the Western Resource Advocates admitted he was frustrated with the non-vote, but said environmentalists will continue to push for protection of Roan Plateau, citing recent successful congressional efforts to stop drilling in New Mexico's Valle Vidal and the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana. "This natural gas isn't going anywhere," he said.
Rights-of-way detour
A second Udall amendment eagerly anticipated by environmentalists would have prevented Interior from spending money on state and federal claims of public lands under provisions of the 1866 mining law known as R.S. 2477. Yet Udall chose to withdraw the amendment in favor of a colloquy with Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Norm Dicks (D-Wash.).
Had the House voted on the amendment, Kristen Brengel of the Wilderness Society claims it would have been successful. "I feel pretty good we would have won on the issue," she said.
R.S. 2477 allows states to claim rights-of-way that existed before land was designated as federal property, but environmentalists fear the law would be used to increase motor vehicle use and degrade environmental protections on federal lands.
Udall's amendment would address a last-minute policy change from Interior Secretary Gale Norton just before she resigned in March 2006 that allows counties to perform maintenance on roads and trails on federal lands, something critics say will lead to dubious rights-of-way claims ( Greenwire , March 22, 2006). BLM is considering 12 claims under the Norton policy in California, Colorado and Utah.
"They want to do an end-run" around Congress, Udall said on the House floor, calling for members to consider a permanent solution for the issue.
In their discussion, Dicks agreed to ask for quarterly reports on R.S. 2477 issues from Interior and increase oversight of the department on the rights-of-way claims, noted Heidi McIntosh of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "We've got meaningful oversight on something that's a real threat to public lands," she said.
"Chairman Dicks committing to oversight on the issue will be a problem for the administration," Brengel added. "The claims being made on wilderness study areas and on public lands will be watched like a hawk by this Congress."
Udall's office did not return phone calls or e-mails regarding the amendment.
Polar bear amendment misses mark
An attempt by Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) to prohibit the importation of polar bear carcasses into the United States from Canadian trophy hunts failed, 188-242.
Inslee's amendment mirrored language the Senate Appropriations Committee approved last week to bar the Fish and Wildlife Service from using federal money to issue permits allowing the import of polar bear parts. The Marine Mammal Protection Act banned the practice in 1972, but a 1994 exemption currently allows the Interior Department to issue permits to bring in polar bear carcasses from hunts in Canada.
"If we don't get serious about hunting polar bears, we won't be able to hunt them because they don't exist," Inslee said.
In the last 10 years, hunters have killed over 800 polar bears to decorate U.S. homes. Most of the bears come from a managed trophy hunt in Canada. Only subsistence hunting from indigenous groups is allowed in Alaska.
The amendment ran into strong Republican opposition, especially from Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee. "The argument is not that polar bears need to be protected due to the effects of a warming climate," Young said. "The argument is that certain groups do not like hunting and want it stopped."
Hunters pay $30,000 to $50,000 for the privilege of participating in the trophy hunt. Much of that money goes toward polar bear conservation or back to the indigenous population that live near the bears, Republicans noted.
Oil shale studies
Environmentalists enjoyed a narrow victory on Udall's oil shale amendment, to prohibit BLM from issuing final regulations for commercial oil shale leases on public lands in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming in fiscal 2008.
The 2005 Energy Policy Act required an oil shale environmental study to occur simultaneously with research development leases and grants for oil shale and tar sands on public lands.
There is a "rush to commercial development before the Interior Department knows enough to do it right," Udall said on the floor. "The question is not whether to develop oil shale, the question is how and when."
Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) said the amendment is unnecessary because the Energy Policy Act requires BLM to consult with state governors before proceeding with commercial plans. However, governors have complained they will have a limited amount of time to review the BLM documents.
"It's not right to pull the rug out ... from this exciting new source of energy," Lamborn said.
The Udall amendment appeared to fall, 214-217, but Democrats held the vote open for several minutes as members changed their votes, resulting in a 219-215 victory.
Officially, the vote was held open in order to ensure the votes of delegates did not interfere in the outcome. "It wasn't that they held it open," Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) told reporters. "People were switching votes."
With cries of "Shame, shame!", Republicans repeatedly called on Democrats to close the vote and eventually forced a revote. The House approved the amendment the second time as well, 216-210.
The House also approved, by voice vote, an amendment from Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) that would require U.S. EPA to keep at least 200 special agents assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division, a standard set by the Pollution Prosecution Act of 1990.
Spending levels
Democrats easily turned back three GOP attempts to implement across-the-board cuts in the measure yesterday, meaning few substantive changes to funding levels were made over the two days on the House floor.
For Interior, the bill would boost spending by $262 million over fiscal 2007 and $454 million over the White House request to $10.17 billion.
The National Park Service would get $2.52 billion from the House, a $228 million increase over fiscal 2007. The bill would jump-start a major Bush administration initiative by providing $50 million in initial matching funds for private donations to the NPS centennial challenge.
President Bush's centennial challenge calls for $1 billion in mandatory spending -- $100 million over each of the next 10 years -- in donations from the public, friends groups and corporations for the centennial initiative, to be matched "dollar for dollar" by Congress. The $50 million added for fiscal 2008 is included as discretionary spending.
Congress would have to approve separate legislation if it wants to implement a 10-year mandatory spending package for NPS.
At EPA, the House provides $8.1 billion -- a $900 million boost above President Bush's request of $7.2 billion. It also represents a 5.1 percent boost over EPA's current funding level of $7.7 billion.
One of EPA's largest and most popular accounts -- the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund -- received $437 million more than Bush's request in the House bill, coming in at $1.1 billion. The Superfund account netted $600 million, representing $26 million more than fiscal 2007 and $15 million above Bush's request.
Also in the bill:
- The Bureau of Land Management would receive $1.046 billion in non-wildfire-related spending, about $26 million above the Bush administration request and last year's total.
- The Fish and Wildlife Service and its endangered species accounts would receive more money than last year or the president's request. FWS comes in at $1.4 billion, $79 million more than last year. Endangered species would receive $152.5 million, almost $8 million more than last year. The listing and recovery budgets are also up.
- The Minerals Management Service would receive $153.5 million under the royalty and offshore minerals management, roughly even with fiscal 2007. Oil spill research is again funded at $6 million.
- The Office of Surface Mining would get $170 million in fiscal 2008, $1.8 million above the administration's request.
- The U.S. Geological Survey would get $1.033 billion, a $50 million increase and $58 million above the White House request.
- Payment in Lieu of Taxes would get $253 million, after an amendment Tuesday from Colorado and Utah members added $20 million. The White House requested $190 million.
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