Standoff in Congress over conservation fund persists

Editor's note: The story, originally published Nov. 18, has been updated to correct an error in what percentage of the fund would be dedicated to promote offshore energy exploration and an offshore energy innovation hub.

WASHINGTON -- The political standoff that has blocked reauthorization of a popular conservation fund in Congress showed no signs of easing during a hearing Wednesday on a Republican proposal to revamp the fund.

Republican Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, convened a hearing on a draft of his plan to revise the Land and Water Conversation Fund. His proposal would require that more money goes to local recreation projects and little if any is used to acquire additional national park or forest land.

"I do have an agenda with this particular piece of legislation. My agenda is for us finally to think big and do something that actually helps people," Bishop said.

He was responding to accusations by Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, ranking Democrat on the committee, that Bishop's hidden agenda was to sell off federal land so it could be developed.

Grijalva tried to bring up a bill he sponsored to permanently reauthorize the conservation fund in its present form. That bill has 195 co-sponsors, including 21 Republicans. The fund, which expired Sept. 30, has used royalties from offshore gas and oil production to provide $17 billion through its 50-year lifetime. The money has funded more than 40,000 local recreation projects. About $10.4 billion of the total has been spent to buy 5 million acres of public lands, mostly in the West.

Bishop denied Grijalva's request. Grijalva then invoked a committee rule that forces a hearing on his bill.

Wednesday's hearing featured no witnesses representing environmental and conservation groups. Almost all have aligned themselves against Bishop's proposal, and their representatives crowded the hearing room.

One, the Western Values Project, took out an ad in Wednesday's Politico that featured a doctored photo of a man with Bishop's face holding a briefcase spilling out with cash. In the background was an oil derrick. The ad says Bishop's proposal would divert money that normally goes into the fund back to the oil companies.

Bishop's proposal does include a provision that would promote offshore energy exploration. Two percent of the fund's annual allotment would go toward establishing pilot offices to streamline offshore permits and to establish an offshore energy technology hub to foster collaboration among regulators, academia and industry.

Bishop's draft also would:

increase to no less than 45 percent the portion of the fund that goes for state grants. Over the lifetime of the fund, about 25 percent has been spent on those projects.

create a program to provide grants of up to $2 million for cities to build and maintain recreational facilities, with priority given to economically disadvantaged communities.

Bill Bryan, director of state parks in Missouri and the secretary-treasurer of the National Association of State Park Directors, said he would welcome shifting a greater portion of the conservation fund to local recreation projects. He said Missouri has received $85 million for 1,300 projects from the fund over its lifetime.

Bryan said the Land and Water Conservation Fund is the only federal matching program targeted for recreation projects. He noted the original legislation required 60 percent of the fund's annual allotment go for state and local projects, but that mandate was lifted in 1976 and the funding mix has shifted toward more federal land acquisition.

Travis Campbell, president of a company that makes and distributes fly fishing gear and vice president of the Outdoor Industry Council, lauded the conservation fund's role in promoting outdoor recreation. Americans, Campbell testified, spend $646 billion a year on outdoor recreation, which generates $80 million in tax revenue.

Tom Wolfe, an outdoors advocate from Arlington, Va., testified he worked with state officials trying to push for a bigger piece of the pie from the LWCF. But he said the main group pushing for reauthorization, the Land & Water Conservation Fund Coalition, refused to consider the idea and ultimately expelled his group from the coalition.

A spokesman for the coalition did not respond to a request for comment.

Bishop's proposal would limit federal land and water acquisition to no more than 3.5 percent of the fund each year. And no more than 15 percent of the acreage could be west of the 100th meridian, which runs from North Dakota through South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.

Conservatives have argued the federal government shouldn't be acquiring additional land when it can't maintain what it already owns. Up to 3.5 percent of the fund each year could be used for maintenance on existing federal property, where there is a maintenance backlog of more than $18.8 billion.

Kristen Sarri, a deputy assistant secretary in the Interior Department, testified the administration opposes the restrictions in Bishop's proposal that are placed on acquiring park and forest land and doesn't think the fund should be used to catch up on maintenance.

Bishop said he was frustrated the Interior Department and the U.S. Forest Service could not provide the committee with detailed information about the land acquired using the conservation fund.

He promised to send a second letter demanding that information.

Bishop concluded the hearing by saying that while his proposal was just a discussion draft, "there has to be some changes."

"A simple reauthorization is not going to cut it," he said.

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