|
House appropriators urged to block ESA changes, drilling on public lands |
|
|
|
House appropriators should use their power to stop the Interior
Department from rewriting Endangered Species Act regulations or leasing
additional public lands for oil and gas drilling, Rep. Maurice Hinchey
(D-N.Y.) urged the chairman of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee
on Monday.
In recent years, Democrats have attempted to use the appropriations
process to change the Bush administration's environmental policy on
climate change, logging in Alaska's Tongass National Forest and air
pollution regulations. Such efforts previously came in full committee
or on the House or Senate floor, but now that they are in the majority,
Democrats could write provisions preventing the administration from
using funds on various policies directly in the spending bill.
The Interior subcommittee, of which Hinchey is a member,
should begin with language limiting Interior from implementing any
changes to ESA regulations, Hinchey told the panel chairman, Rep. Norm
Dicks (D-Wash.).
Hinchey asked for language in the chairman's mark "to limit
the administration's ability to impose drastic changes to the
Endangered Species Act through behind-the-scenes regulatory processes,
as was leaked to the public in the past month."
In March, an Interior discussion document of possible
wide-ranging ESA rewrites included an across-the-board overhaul of ESA
that would have scaled back the government's power to list species or
prevent disruptive activities in their habitat (Land Letter, March 29).
Interior's ESA plans also drew the ire of Senate Environment
and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and
Wildlife Subcommittee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) last week.
Draft regulations leaked last month would "reduce
dramatically" the positive effects of ESA on restoring bald eagles, sea
turtles and other imperiled animals, the senators wrote. "The draft
revisions create the impression that the department's leadership is
focusing on reducing the scope and weakening the substance of the
federal government's wildlife protection laws."
Oil and gas drilling limits
On the public lands front, Hinchey wants to force the agency to limit onshore leasing plans.
"We must send a strong message to the agencies funded in our
bill that we will not sit back and quietly accept the administration's
apparent single-use policy of resource extraction on our public lands,"
Hinchey wrote.
Hinchey, lead sponsor of the "America's Redrock Wilderness
Act," a bill that would designate more than 9 million acres in Utah as
wilderness, wants to force the Bureau of Land Management to stop
leasing parcels on those "wilderness-quality" lands. Interior already
has 24 million acres of land leased but not currently in production.
Acting BLM Director Jim Hughes said Congress should consider
the potential consequences of taking such action. In an interview,
Hughes also noted citizens have the ability to comment during the
agency's planning process on potential leases.
"We favor giving the people of Utah input in terms of land-use plans and public participation," Hughes said.
Just in case BLM gets creative, Hinchey also wants language
limiting the agency's ability to reprogram any funds into oil and gas
development accounts. That would ensure money is spent on wildlife and
cultural resources, he said.
For the Forest Service, Hinchey suggests blocking its new rule
allowing for categorical exclusions under the National Environmental
Policy Act to expedite oil and gas drilling permits. That rule was
completed earlier this year.
"The Forest Service has increasingly employed categorical
exclusions to expedite extractive work, and there is no reason
whatsoever that oil and gas development on our national forests should
be streamlined and removed from public scrutiny," Hinchey wrote.
For offshore areas, Hinchey asked Dicks for language in the
fiscal 2008 Interior spending bill that would block the department's
plan to sell oil and gas leases in Alaska's Bristol Bay. Interior's
final 2007-2012 offshore leasing plan unveiled Monday includes, as
expected, sale of leases in the bay rich with sockeye salmon and other
wildlife. A lease sale covering 5.6 million acres would occur in 2011
under the Interior plan.
Hinchey, along with Reps. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) and Wayne
Gilchrest (R-Md.), in April introduced a standalone bill to bar Bristol
Bay leasing.
Bush admin supports NLCS codification
The Bush administration will likely support legislation that
would codify the management system for 26 million acres of sensitive
public lands at a Senate hearing today.
"We expect to support the bill," said BLM's Hughes, noting the administration's official position will come at the hearing.
The bill from Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman
Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) would provide a legal footing for the National
Landscape Conservation System, a Clinton-era program that manages 15
national monuments, 161 wilderness areas, 38 wild and scenic rivers,
and other sensitive areas such as California's Headwaters Forest
Reserve.
"We think the Congress feels it should be put into law like other agencies that have authorizing legislation," Hughes said.
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
