[Budget of the United States Government]
[V. Investing in the Common Good: Program Performance in Federal Functions]
[15. Natural Resources and Environment]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 195]]

 
                 15.  NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------

                 Table 15-1.  Federal Resources in Support of Natural Resources and Environment
                                            (In millions of dollars)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                               Estimate
               Function 300                   1999   -----------------------------------------------------------
                                             Actual     2000      2001      2002      2003      2004      2005
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spending:
  Discretionary Budget Authority..........    23,812    24,041    24,940    25,086    25,354    25,957    26,463
  Mandatory Outlays:
    Existing law..........................       313       467       600       734       883       816       756
    Proposed legislation..................  ........  ........      -218       -69      -461      -363      -277
Credit Activity:
  Direct loan disbursements...............        26        30        34       N/A       N/A       N/A       N/A
  Guaranteed loans........................  ........  ........       100       N/A       N/A       N/A       N/A
Tax Expenditures:
  Existing law............................     1,480     1,500     1,585     1,645     1,710     1,755     1,820
  Proposed legislation....................  ........  ........         8        41       112       214       315
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
N/A = Not available.

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
   The Federal Government spends over $24 billion a year to protect the 
environment, manage Federal land, conserve resources, provide 
recreational opportunities, and construct and operate water projects. 
The Federal Government manages about 700 million acres--a third of the 
U.S. continental land area.
   The Natural Resources and Environment function reflects most Federal 
support for natural resources and the environment, but does not include 
certain large-scale environmental programs, such as the environmental 
clean-up programs at the Departments of Energy and Defense. (See chapter 
11, ``National Defense'' and Chapter 14, ``Energy'').
   Within this function, Federal efforts focus on providing cleaner air 
and water, conserving natural resources, and cleaning up environmental 
contamination. The major goals include:
   protecting human health and safeguarding the natural 
          environment--air, water, and land--upon which life depends;
   restoring and maintaining the health of federally-managed 
          lands, waters, and renewable resources; and,
   providing recreational opportunities for the public to enjoy 
          natural and cultural resources.
   The Federal Government made significant progress to achieve these 
goals in 1999. For example, 85 Superfund site cleanups were completed; 
over three million acres of mined lands, refuges, park lands, and 
forests and 128 ``at risk'' cultural sites on public lands were restored 
and protected; and, 95 percent of national park visitors and 93 percent 
of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recreational users reported being 
satisfied with their visits, which meets or exceeds goals set for 
customer satisfaction for 1999.
   Federal lands include the 379 units of the National Park System, the 
156 National Forests; the 521 refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge 
System; and the 264 million

[[Page 196]]

acres managed by the BLM mainly in Alaska and 11 Western States (see 
Chart 15-1).

                                     


 Lands Legacy

   In 2001, the $1.4 billion Lands Legacy initiative will allocate $600 
million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) to acquire 
Federal lands and interests and provide grants to States to conserve 
their open space. In addition, Lands Legacy will support: (1) 
conservation and restoration of lands to preserve wildlife habitat, 
natural resources, and historic sites; (2) planning assistance for 
States and local governments to protect local green space, urban parks, 
and greenways; and, (3) Federal and State efforts to restore ocean and 
coastal resources.
   In 2001, Interior will acquire approximately 180,000 acres in 
          the California Desert region to complete the Wildlands 
          Conservancy acquisition, 3,300 acres to expand refuges in the 
          Everglades of South Florida, over 400 acres of prime habitat 
          in two national park units on the Virgin Islands, and key 
          tracts within the boundaries of six Civil War battlefields.
   In 2001, USDA's Forest Legacy program will support permanent 
          easements for 183,000 acres, up from 158,000 acres in 2000.
   In 2001, USDA's Farmland Protection Program, which remains 
          part of the Lands Legacy initiative but will be funded through 
          the Administration's mandatory farm safety net proposal at $65 
          million annually, will protect approximately 130,000 acres of 
          farmland threatened by development through permanent 
          easements.
   The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 
          will increase the number of restored acres of coastal habitat 
          by 15,000 acres in 2001.

[[Page 197]]

   As a complement to the Lands Legacy initiative, the Administration 
will propose the Livable Communities initiative that includes, among 
other components, Better America Bonds, a financing tool funded through 
federal tax credits, that will generate $10.8 billion in bond authority 
over five years for investments by State, local, and Tribal governments. 
Better America Bonds will be used to preserve green space, create or 
restore urban parks, protect water quality, and clean up brownfields and 
other contaminated lands.

 National Parks

   The Federal Government spends over $2 billion a year to maintain a 
system of national parks that covers over 83 million acres in 49 States, 
the District of Columbia, and various territories. Discretionary funding 
for the National Park Service (NPS) has steadily increased (almost five 
percent a year since 1986) and fee receipts have grown from $93 million 
in 1996 to about $180 million in 1999. Yet, the popularity of national 
parks has generated even faster growth in the number of visitors, new 
parks, and additional NPS responsibilities. Over the past 30 years, the 
number of national park units has grown by 50 percent and the number of 
national park visits has increased from 164 million to almost 300 
million today.
   With demands growing faster than available resources, NPS is taking 
new, creative, and more efficient approaches to managing parks and has 
developed performance measures against which to gauge progress. NPS and 
other Department of the Interior bureaus are systematically addressing 
facility maintenance and construction needs through newly established 
five-year lists of priority projects. The bureaus will update these 
lists annually to track progress in addressing top priorities and 
completing funded projects on time and at cost.
   In 2001, NPS will:
   Maintain the percentage of park visitors that summarize their 
          experience as good or very good at 95 percent--the 1999 
          results of a new survey using an enhanced methodology and 
          covering over 300 parks.
   Help State and local governments through NPS partnerships to 
          add an additional 500 miles of recreational trails, 750 miles 
          of recreational river corridors, and 24,800 acres of 
          recreational parkland, compared to 1,380 trail miles, 420 
          river miles, and 11,530 parkland acres added in 1999.
   Complete 768 data sets for natural resource inventories in 
          2001 out of 2,287 required, compared to 223 completed through 
          1999.

 Conservation and Land Management

   The 75 percent of Federal land that makes up the National Forests, 
National Grasslands, National Wildlife Refuges, and the BLM-administered 
public lands also provides significant public recreation. BLM provides 
for nearly 75 million recreational visits a year, while over 35 million 
visitors enjoy wildlife each year at National Wildlife Refuges. With its 
133,000 miles of trails, the Forest Service is the largest single 
supplier of public outdoor recreation, providing 341 million 
recreational visitor days last year.
   Federal lands also provide other benefits. With combined annual 
budgets of about $5 billion, BLM and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) 
manage lands for multiple purposes, including outdoor recreation, range, 
timber, watershed, wildlife and fish, and wilderness. BLM, USFS, and NPS 
have been identified by the Vice President's National Partnership for 
Reinventing Government as High-Impact Agencies. As part of the efforts 
to cut red tape and streamline processes, these agencies produced an 
integrated nationwide outdoor recreation information system that gives 
all Americans quick and easy electronic access to information about 
recreation use, permits, and reservations on Federal lands.
   Some high-priority reinvention projects include:
  ``Service First'': Proposed in the 1996 Reinventing Government report, 
USFS and BLM are working together to deliver seamless service to 
customers and ``boundaryless'' care for the land. This began as two 
pilot projects in Colorado and Oregon to: improve customer service with 
one-stop shopping; achieve efficiencies in operations to reduce or avoid

[[Page 198]]

costs; and, take better care of the land by taking a landscape approach 
to stewardship rather than stopping at the traditional jurisdictional 
boundaries. USFS and BLM are also looking to streamline major business 
processes to make them work better for both employees and customers.
   Financial Management: USFS is implementing a new general ledger 
system and re-engineering its budget process to better align budget 
planning and execution with the agency's strategic goals. The 2001 
Budget will be presented to Congress using a clear, redesigned budget 
structure that connects funding categories to performance measures. In 
this way, forest managers are given the resources to manage the forests 
with increased accountability in achieving defined goals.
   In 2001, the USFS, along with BLM, will propose to decouple their 
mandatory programs from timber receipts. In 2000, the level of funding 
for USFS staff to carry out timber stand improvement depends upon the 
volume of timber harvested. This system has the potential to create an 
incentive for staff to increase timber production in order to increase 
payments--an effect that is often times at odds with a desire to manage 
the national forests according to scientifically determined criteria. 
The revised policy would restore management and increase accountability, 
by severing the linkage between program spending and timber harvest 
volumes, and thereby eliminate concerns that the funds influenced 
management decisions and financed organizational costs. The new 
mandatory account structure will preserve funding at known, fixed, and 
dependable amounts and display budget information more visibly, allowing 
the agency, Congress and the public an expanded role in funding priority 
and allocation decisions.
   BLM and USFS concentrate on the long-term goal of providing 
sustainable levels of multiple uses while ensuring and enhancing 
ecological integrity. Their performance measures include:
   USFS in 2001 will target increased funding to needed 
          watershed restoration work by increasing acres of watershed 
          restoration work by 25 percent (to 25,000 acres) over 2000 
          levels of 20,0000 acres; increasing the acres of noxious weed 
          control by 52 percent (to 85,000 acres) over 2000 levels of 
          56,000 acres; maintaining the pace of obliterating existing 
          roads at the 2000 level (2,500 miles), as compared to 1,200 
          miles in 1998; and increasing the number of acres treated for 
          fire hazard reduction to a minimum of 1.5 million, compared to 
          a 2000 planned level of 1.3 million.
   For priority watersheds, BLM will enhance the ecological 
          integrity of an additional 2,000 miles of riparian areas and 
          135,000 acres of wetlands in 2001, compared to 1,700 miles and 
          128,000 acres enhanced in 1999; BLM will also treat 300,000 
          acres for fire hazard reduction by prescribed fire and 
          mechanical means, compared to 1997 levels of 70,000 acres.
   The Interior Department's Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), with a 
budget of $1.75 billion, manages 94 million acres of refuges and, with 
the Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), 
protects species on Federal and non-Federal lands.
   In 2001, FWS will again ensure that the refuge acreage is 
          protected, of which 3.5 million acres will be enhanced or 
          restored. In 1999, FWS met its goal of enhancing or restoring 
          3.3 million acres of refuge land.
   FWS will also increase by one million acres the number of 
          protected, non-Federal acres in Habitat Conservation Plans up 
          from 2.5 million in 1999; keep 20 more species off the 
          endangered species list, compared to a 1998 baseline of seven 
          species kept off the list; and, improve or stabilize the 
          populations of 37 percent of species listed a decade or more, 
          over a 1998 baseline of 36 percent.
   NMFS will implement programs in 2001 to reduce the number of 
          overfished fisheries from 95 to 74 out of the 286 overfished 
          stocks.
   Half of the continental United States is crop, pasture, and 
rangeland. Two percent of Americans manage this land--farmers and 
ranchers. The Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Natural Resources 
Conservation Service provides technical assistance to them to improve 
land management practices.

[[Page 199]]

   Under USDA's Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), the Federal Government 
buys long-term or permanent easements from landowners that take the land 
out of production and restore it to wetlands. Landowners receive up to 
100 percent of the fair market agricultural value for the land and cost-
share assistance to cover the wetland restoration expenses. At the end 
of 2000, cumulative acreage in the WRP will total 935,000.
   In 2001, WRP acreage enrollment activity will reach the 
          authorized cap of 975,000 acres. In support of the 
          Administration's farm safety net proposal and the Clean Water 
          Action Plan, the 2001 budget proposes to increase enrollment 
          to 250,000 acres annually through 2010.
   USDA will use a number of programs to address the goals 
          outlined in the Clean Water Action Plan's Animal Feeding 
          Operations Strategy, resulting in the installation of 15,000 
          animal waste management systems to protect water from 
          agricultural pollution, an increase of 64 percent over 2000.
   Through several programs, USDA will also implement resource 
          management systems to control erosion and improve habitat on 
          6.0 million acres of grazing lands, compared to 5.8 million 
          acres in 2000.
   USDA's Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), which 
provides funds to farmers and ranchers to adopt sound conservation 
practices, will again target funds in 2001 to conservation priority 
areas such as Maine's Penobscot Nation and Texas's Edwards Aquifer. 
These areas use EQIP funds to address problems ranging from erosion to 
threatened and endangered species to water quality. The budget proposes 
$325 million in mandatory funding for EQIP, a $151 million increase 
above 2000, in support of the farm safety net proposal and the Clean 
Water Action Plan. For more information on conservation and USDA's 
investment in land management, see Chapter 18, ``Agriculture.''

 Everglades and California Bay-Delta Restoration

   Federal and non-Federal agencies are carrying out long-term 
restoration plans for several nationally significant ecosystems, such as 
those in South Florida and California's Bay-Delta. The South Florida 
ecosystem is a national treasure that includes the Everglades and 
Florida Bay. Its long-term viability is critical for the tourism and 
fishing industries, and for the water supply, economy, and quality of 
life for South Florida's six million people. Economic development and 
water uses in California's San Francisco Bay-San Joaquin Delta watershed 
have diminished water quality, degraded wildlife habitat, endangered 
several species, and reduced the estuary's reliability as a water source 
for two-thirds of Californians and seven million acres of highly 
productive agricultural land.
   The Vice President announced the completion of the comprehensive plan 
to restore the Everglades on July 1, 1999. This plan will also 
accommodate other demands for water and related resources in South 
Florida. The Administration will submit legislation to authorize this 
plan in 2000. By September 30, 2002, five of the 68 currently known 
federally endangered and threatened species in South Florida will be 
able to be ``down-listed'' or removed from the list.
   The Bay-Delta program expects during 2000 to select the preferred 
long-term plan to solve critical water-related problems in the 
California Bay-Delta. The plan will contain specific, measurable 
performance goals for levee protection, ecosystem restoration, and water 
conservation, storage, and conveyance.
   In 2001, as part of implementing that plan, participating 
          agencies expect to make up to 200,000 acre-feet of water 
          available to Federal water project contractors that would not 
          otherwise have been available.

[[Page 200]]

 Scientific Support for Natural Resources

   The management of lands, the availability and quality of water, and 
improvements in the protection of resources are based on sound and 
objective natural resources science. Interior's U.S. Geological Survey 
(USGS) provides research and information to land managers and the public 
to better understand ecosystems and species habitat, land and water 
resources, and natural hazards. In 1999, USGS provided impartial 
scientific information by delivering results from more than 900 
investigations to natural resource managers, other decision-makers, and 
the public to assist sound natural resource management.
   In 2001, the USGS will participate in the Lands Legacy initiative 
with a budget that includes $50 million for this initiative, including 
$30 million to the Community/Federal Information Partnership, an 
interagency effort to provide communities with the geospatial 
information and GIS technological assistance they need to make sound 
planning decisions and preserve open space. Communities will also 
receive earth science data to improve mapping, data analysis, and 
planning capabilities.
   The Commerce Department's NOAA manages ocean and coastal resources in 
the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone and in 12 National Marine 
Sanctuaries. Its National Ocean Service and NMFS manage 201 fish stocks, 
163 marine mammal populations, and their associated coastal and marine 
habitats. NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS), using data collected by 
the National Environmental Satellite and Data Information Service, 
provides weather forecasts and flood warnings. Its Office of Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Research provides science for policy decisions in areas such 
as climate change, air quality and ozone depletion.
   In 2001, NWS' ongoing modernization will increase the lead 
          time of flash flood warnings to 57 minutes and the accuracy of 
          flash flood warnings to 70 percent; increase the lead time of 
          severe thunderstorm warnings to 21 minutes and the accuracy of 
          severe thunderstorm warnings to 86 percent, and increase the 
          accuracy of heavy snowfall forecasts to 65 percent. Since 
          1986, lead times for severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings 
          has improved significantly. For example, in 1986 the lead time 
          for severe thunderstorm warnings was 12 minutes versus 21 
          minutes lead time in 2001.

 Pollution Control and Abatement

   The Federal Government helps achieve the Nation's pollution control 
goals by: (1) taking direct action; (2) funding actions by State, local, 
and Tribal governments; and, (3) implementing an environmental 
regulatory system. The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) $7.3 
billion in discretionary funds and the Coast Guard's $140 million Oil 
Spill Liability Trust Fund (which funds oil spill prevention and 
cleanup) finance the activities in this subfunction. EPA is an NPR High 
Impact Agency whose discretionary funds have three major components--the 
operating program, Superfund, and water infrastructure financing.
   EPA's $3.9 billion operating program provides the Federal funding to 
implement most Federal pollution control laws, including the Clean Air, 
Clean Water, Resource Conservation and Recovery, Safe Drinking Water, 
and Toxic Substances Control Acts. EPA protects human health and the 
environment by developing national pollution control standards, largely 
enforced by the States under EPA-delegated authority. For example, under 
the Clean Air Act, EPA works to make the air clean and healthy to 
breathe by setting standards for ambient air quality, toxic air 
pollutant emissions, new pollution sources, and mobile sources.
   In 2001, EPA will certify that five of the estimated 38 
          remaining nonattainment areas have achieved the one-hour 
          National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone (see 
          Chart 15-2).
          
          
   In 2001, air toxic emissions nationwide from stationary and 
          mobile sources combined will be reduced by five percent from 
          2000 (for a cumulative reduction of 35 percent from the 1993 
          level of 4.3 million tons).
   Under the Clean Water Act, EPA works to conserve and enhance the 
ecological health of the Nation's waters, through regulation of point 
source discharges and through multi-

[[Page 201]]

agency initiatives such as the Administration's Clean Water Action Plan.
   In 2001, water quality will improve on a watershed basis such 
          that 550 of the Nation's 2,150 watersheds will have greater 
          than 80 percent of assessed waters meeting all water quality 
          standards, up from 500 watersheds in 1998.
   Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act and the 
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, EPA regulates pesticide use, 
grants product registrations, and sets tolerances (standards for 
pesticide residue on food) to reduce risk and promote safer means of 
pest control. EPA also seeks to reduce environmental risks where 
Americans reside, work, and enjoy life, through pollution prevention and 
risk management strategies.
   In 2001, EPA will reassess an additional 1,200 of the 9,721 
          existing pesticide tolerances to ensure that they meet the 
          statutory standard of ``reasonable certainty of no harm'' (for 
          a cumulative 60 percent), including an additional 208 of the 
          848 tolerances having the greatest potential impact on dietary 
          risks to children (for a cumulative 66 percent).
   In 2001, the quantity of Toxic Release Inventory pollutants 
          released, disposed of, treated, or combusted for energy 
          recovery (normalized for changes in industrial production) 
          will be reduced by 200 million pounds, or two percent, from 
          2000 reporting levels.
   In 2001, EPA will initiate safety reviews on chemicals 
          already in commerce by obtaining data on an additional 10 
          percent of the 2,800 high-production volume chemicals on the 
          master testing list, as part of the implementation of a 
          comprehensive strategy for screening, testing, classifying, 
          and managing the risks posed by commercial chemicals.
   Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, EPA and authorized 
States prevent dangerous releases to the environment of hazardous, 
industrial nonhazardous, and municipal solid wastes by requiring proper 
facility

[[Page 202]]

management and cleanup of environmental contamination at those sites.
   In 2001, 106 more hazardous waste management facilities will 
          have approved controls in place to prevent dangerous releases 
          to air, soil, and groundwater, for a total of 70 percent of 
          2900 facilities.
   EPA's underground storage tank (UST) program seeks to prevent, 
detect, and correct leaks from USTs containing petroleum and hazardous 
substances. Regulations issued in 1988 required that substandard USTs 
(lacking spill, overfill and/or corrosion protection) be upgraded, 
replaced or closed by December 22, 1998.
   In 2001, 93 percent (an estimated 651,000) of active USTs 
          will be in compliance with these requirements, which improves 
          upon the 65 percent (approximately 553,800) of then-active 
          USTs in compliance as of the December 22, 1998, deadline. Over 
          the past decade, more than 1.4 million substandard USTs have 
          been permanently closed.
   In October 1997, the President announced immediate actions to begin 
addressing the problem of global climate change, and included the 
Climate Change Technology Initiative (CCTI) in the 1999 Budget. This 
budget provides $227 million for the third year of EPA's portion of 
CCTI, much of which focuses on the deployment of underutilized but 
existing technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The 
partnerships EPA has built with business and other organizations since 
the early 1990s will continue to be the foundation for reducing 
greenhouse gas emissions in 2001 and beyond.
   In 2001, greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced from 
          projected levels by approximately 66 million metric tons of 
          carbon equivalent per year through EPA partnerships with 
          businesses, schools, State and local governments, and other 
          organizations. This reduction level will be an increase of 
          eight million metric tons over 2000 reduction levels.
   In 2001, EPA will develop the infrastructure to implement the 
          Clean Air Partnership Fund, which will demonstrate smart 
          multi-pollutant approaches that reduce greenhouse gases, air 
          toxics, soot, and smog.
   The $1.45 billion Superfund program pays to clean up hazardous spills 
and abandoned hazardous waste sites, and to compel responsible parties 
to clean up. The Coast Guard implements a smaller but similar program to 
clean up oil spills. Superfund also supports EPA's Brownfields program, 
designed to assess, clean up, and re-use former industrial sites.
   In 2001, EPA will complete 75 Superfund cleanups, continuing 
          on a path to reach 900 completed cleanups by the end of 2002; 
          it completed 85 cleanups in 1999.
   In 2001, EPA Brownfields funding will result in 200 site 
          assessments (for a cumulative total of 2,100), 500 jobs 
          generated (for a cumulative total of 5,400), and the 
          leveraging of $100 million in cleanup and redevelopment funds 
          (for a cumulative total of $1.8 billion).
   In 2001, the Coast Guard will reduce the rate of oil spilled 
          into the Nation's waters to 4.62 gallons per million gallons 
          shipped from a statistical baseline of 5.25 gallons in 1998.
  EPA water infrastructure funds provide capitalization grants to State 
revolving funds, which make low-interest loans to help municipalities 
pay for wastewater and drinking water treatment systems required by 
Federal law. The $1.625 billion in the 2001 Budget is consistent with 
the Administration's plans to capitalize these funds to the point where 
the Clean Water State Revolving Funds (CWSRF) and the Drinking Water 
State Revolving Funds (DWSRF) provide a total of $2.5 billion in average 
annual assistance. The $74 billion in Federal assistance since passage 
of the 1972 Clean Water Act has dramatically increased the portion of 
Americans enjoying better quality water; nearly 181 million people now 
receive the benefits of secondary treatment of wastewater. Ensuring that 
community water systems meet health-based drinking water standards is 
supported by both the DWSRF and operating program resources.
   In 2001, 500 CWSRF projects will initiate operations, 
          including 300 projects pro

[[Page 203]]

          viding secondary treatment, advanced treatment, CSO correction 
          (treatment), and/or storm water treatment. A cumulative total 
          of 6,200 projects will have initiated operations since 
          inception of the program.
   In 2001, 91 percent of the population served by community 
          water systems will receive drinking water meeting all health-
          based standards in effect as of 1994, up from 83 percent in 
          1994.
   USDA gives financial assistance to rural communities to provide safe 
drinking water and adequate wastewater treatment facilities to rural 
communities. The budget proposes $1.6 billion in combined grant, loan, 
and loan guarantees for this assistance, a 24-percent increase over the 
2000 program level. Part of those funds will go toward the Water 2000 
initiative to bring indoor plumbing and safe drinking water to under-
served rural communities. Since 1994, USDA has invested almost $2.1 
billion in loans and grants on high-priority Water 2000 projects Nation-
wide. The Administration proposes continuing the Water 2000 initiative 
into 2001, based on its successful five year record of targeting funds 
to underserved communities, leveraging resources from other public and 
private sources, and maintaining the strong loan repayment record of the 
Water and Waste Disposal program.
  In 2001, USDA will fund 350 high-priority water 2000 projects.
  The Office of Surface Mining (OSM), in partnership with States, 
reclaims abandoned coal mines and restores the lands to productive use 
for communities using funds from the Abandoned Mine Lands Reclamation 
Fund.
   In 2001, OSM will reclaim 9,100 acres of abandoned coal mine 
          lands, 1,000 acres more than in 2000.

 Water Resources

   The Federal Government builds and manages water projects for 
navigation, flood-damage reduction, environmental purposes, irrigation, 
and hydropower generation. The Army Corps of Engineers operates Nation-
wide, while Interior's Bureau of Reclamation operates in the 17 western 
States. The budget proposes $4.9 billion for the agencies in 2001--$4.1 
billion for the Corps, $0.8 billion for the Bureau. The budget includes 
a proposal to create a new Harbor Services Fund to increase funding for 
the Corps' operations, maintenance, and construction activities at our 
Nation's ports and harbors and help ensure a safe and economically 
competitive port system. The budget also includes $135 million for 
Everglades infrastructure projects and $20 million for Challenge 21, an 
initiative to restore riverine ecosystems while providing flood hazard 
mitigation for communities. While navigation and flood damage reduction 
remain major missions of the Corps, its responsibilities increasingly 
have expanded to include the restoration of aquatic and wetland 
ecosystems.
   In 2001, the Corps will:
   Maintain controlled commercial navigation and flood damage-
          reduction facilities in a fully operational state at least 95 
          percent of the time.
   Achieve ``no net loss'' of wetlands by creating, enhancing, 
          and restoring wetlands functions and values that are 
          comparable to those lost when the Corps issues permits to 
          allow wetlands to be developed.
   The Bureau of Reclamation manages, develops, and protects water and 
related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in 
the interest of the American public.
   Over the past few years, the Bureau has continued to supply water and 
power efficiently throughout the West. In 1999, the Bureau delivered or 
released 30.7 million acre-feet of water to Reclamation-owned and 
operated facilities, 3.7 million over the minimum contracted amounts 
due. It also generated power needed to meet contractual commitments and 
other requirements 100 percent of the time.
   In 2001, the Bureau will deliver or release the amount of 
          water contracted for from Reclamation-owned and operated 
          facilities, expected to be no less than 28 million acre-feet, 
          and generate power needed to meet contractual commitments and 
          other requirements 100 percent of the time, depending upon 
          water availability.

[[Page 204]]

 Tax Incentives

   The tax code offers incentives for natural resource industries, 
especially timber and mining. The timber industry can deduct certain 
costs for growing timber, pay lower capital gains rates on profits, take 
a credit for investments, and quickly write-off reforestation costs--in 
total, costing about $610 million in 2001. The mining industry benefits 
from percentage depletion provisions (which sometimes allows deductions 
that exceed the economic value of resource depletion) and can deduct 
certain exploration and development costs--together, costing about $265 
million in 2001.
  In 2001, Better America Bonds will provide tax incentives for State 
and local governments to protect local green spaces, improve water 
quality, and clean up abandoned industrial sites.
