[Senate Hearing 117-680]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                    S. Hrg. 117-680

     DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES 
                  APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023

=======================================================================

                                HEARINGS

                                BEFORE A
                                
                          SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE

                      COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS 
                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                                   on

                               H.R. 8262

   AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 
ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 
                    30, 2023, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

                               __________

                      United States Forest Service
                         Indian Health Service
                    Environmental Protection Agency
                       Department of the Interior
                       Nondepartmental Witnesses

                               __________

         Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations
         
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]         


        Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov

                               __________
                               
                                
                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
46-662 PDF                 WASHINGTON : 2023                    
          
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------     
                               
                      COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

                    PATRICK LEAHY, Vermont, Chairman

PATTY MURRAY, Washington             RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama, Vice 
DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California             Chairman
RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois          MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky
JACK REED, Rhode Island              SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
JON TESTER, Montana                  LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire        LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon                 ROY BLUNT, Missouri
CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware       JERRY MORAN, Kansas
BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii                 JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin             JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
CHRISTOPHER MURPHY, Connecticut      SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West 
JOE MANCHIN, III, West Virginia          Virginia
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland           JOHN KENNEDY, Louisiana
MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico          CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Mississippi
                                     MIKE BRAUN, Indiana
                                     BILL HAGERTY, Tennessee
                                     MARCO RUBIO, Florida

                   Charles E. Kieffer, Staff Director
                  Bill Duhnke, Minority Staff Director

                                 ------                                

 Subcommittee on Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related 
                                Agencies

                     JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon, Chairman

DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California         LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska, Ranking 
PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont                Member
JACK REED, Rhode Island              ROY BLUNT, Missouri
JON TESTER, Montana                  MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland           SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West 
MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico              Virginia
                                     CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Mississippi
                                     BILL HAGERTY, Tennessee
                                     MARCO RUBIO, Florida
                                     RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama, (ex 
                                         officio)

                           Professional Staff

                           Melissa Zimmerman
                               Ryan Hunt
                             Martha Roberts
                            Anthony Sedillo
                             Angela Caalim

                        Emy Lesofski (Minority)
                         Lucas Agnew (Minority)
                         Nona McCoy (Minority)

                         Administrative Support

                       LaShawnda Smith (Minority)

                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              

                                hearings

                         Wednesday, May 4, 2022

                                                                   Page

United States Forest Service.....................................     1

                        Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Indian Health Service............................................    39

                        Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Environmental Protection Agency..................................    69

                        Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Department of the Interior.......................................   115

          Statements and Letters of Nondepartmental Witnesses

Nondepartmental Witnesses........................................   183

                              ----------                              

                              back matter

List of Witnesses, Communications, and Prepared Statements.......   459

Subject Index:

    United States Forest Service.................................   463

    Indian Health Service........................................   463

    Environmental Protection Agency..............................   463

    Department of the Interior...................................   464

 
     DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES 
                  APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023

                              ----------                              


                         WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2022

                                       U.S. Senate,
           Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The subcommittee met at 10:00 a.m. in room SD-124, Dirksen 
Senate Office Building, Hon. Jeff Merkley (chairman) presiding.
    Present: Senators Merkley, Tester, Van Hollen, Murkowski, 
and Hagerty.

                      UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE

STATEMENT OF HON. RANDY MOORE, CHIEF


               opening statement of senator jeff merkley


    Senator Merkley. Thank you, Ranking Member Murkowski, Chief 
Moore, and our other colleagues and constituents, welcome to 
this Appropriations Hearing on the fiscal year 2023 President's 
Budget for the U.S. Forest Service.
    Much has changed since we met here a year ago to discuss 
the Forest Service Budget, an incredible impact, the management 
of our country's forested lands have for the environment, for 
the economy, for outdoor recreation, and for contributing to 
the regional identities in forests in Alaska, Oregon, and 
across this country.
    A big change is that you are here, Chief Moore, in your 
first appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee, as 
Chief of the Forest Service. Congratulations. I am looking 
forward to talking with you about your vision for the agency.
    In 2021 we experienced the most expensive wildfire season 
in U.S. history, exacerbated by a continuing drought across the 
west that shows no signs of ending. Oregon alone suffered our 
third most devastating fire in Oregon's recorded history, with 
the Bootleg Fire.
    That fire became so large that it created its own weather, 
and scorched over 400,000 acres. It cost $100 million to 
suppress. And this came on the heels of a gut-wrenching fire 
season the year before. The Labor Day Fires of 2020, in which 
multiple towns across Oregon were burned to the ground.
    I remember when I heard about Paradise in California, 
thinking, thank goodness have had no devastating fire of that 
nature burning an entire town to the ground. And then the Labor 
Day Fires of 2020, town, after town, after town; so many 
families lost everything, and I will never forget driving over 
600 miles across the state, back and forth, and never getting 
clear of the smoke, and seeing the ruins of towns that looked 
that they had been firebombed in war.
    Everything gone, with a few pipes, or a few bathtubs left, 
cars completely burned out, with the wheels, the magnesium 
wheels had melted and the magnesium had run across the ground, 
just the charred remains representing so much devastation to 
thousands of families.
    This trend is not only affecting Oregon, it is being felt 
across the country. New Mexico is suffering right now, in the 
national news, from massive fires causing evacuations, loss of 
homes, the loss of habitat, destruction in the watersheds that 
provide drinking water throughout the state, and deadly levels 
of smoke-filled air. And this is only the first week of May.
    Last year major fires lasted for weeks leading to the 
record-breaking length of high staffing and preparedness levels 
of over 3 months without respite. Taken together the evidence 
of the last several years portends a very problematic future as 
we face the new normal of climate chaos.
    At the same time, the Bootleg Fire this past year also 
demonstrated the value of community and tribally-led efforts to 
reduce fuels as a way to manage the intensity of wildfires. I 
looked at areas that had been treated in advance with thinning, 
and with prescribed burns, and they looked very different than 
the areas that had not been treated.
    We have to think about how we can do that kind of 
preparation on scale. I look forward to discussing how we work 
together on forest resiliency and restoration in the face of 
continuing climate chaos and catastrophic fire impacting our 
communities.
    Last year we also saw the implementation of several major 
pieces of legislation that provide an influx of funding for the 
Forest Service. Through the Great American Outdoors Act, the 
Forest Service will receive another tranche of the 1.4 billion 
provided over 5 years, to make significant investments in 
deferred maintenance projects; from trail building, to bridge 
replacements, to campground and visitor facility renovations.
    Additionally, the bill created a permanent funding stream 
for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, providing $900 
million for fiscal year 2022, of which the Forest Service 129 
million for land acquisition, and $95 million for Forest Legacy 
projects.
    Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Forest 
Service will receive $5.4 billion over 10 years to invest in 
wildfire risk reduction and ecosystem restoration, including 
funds for fuel breaks and hazardous fuels projects, prescribed 
fire, burned area restoration, state and local grants for 
community wildfire defense, youth conservation core projects, 
collaborative forest restoration projects, and fish passage 
restoration.
    And through the fiscal year 2022 Appropriations Bill, this 
committee provided $7.8 billion, a $400 million increase, in 
the agency's annual funding. These increases were provided to 
radically improve forest restoration and fire risk reduction.
    We increased Hazardous Fuels Reduction Funding to treat 
more of highest risk acres to protect lives and communities, 
restored the Legacy Roads and Trails Program to prioritize fish 
passage improvements, and repurposing unnecessary roads as 
trails, increased grants to states for fire protection and 
forest stewardship, and boosted the funds for research into 
fire behavior, invasive pests and disease, like sudden oak 
death, which is ravaging Southern Oregon.
    That is a lot of change, and a lot of funding from a lot of 
different directions. I am especially proud that we doubled 
funding for the Collaborative Forest Restoration Program. This 
game-changing increase will fund more projects that bring 
together diverse local stakeholders to improve forest 
landscapes. I am pleased that with this new increase and 
project flexibility, all the existing projects in Oregon were 
extended, and a new collaborative in Southern Oregon will soon 
be underway.
    Over the last few decades, and one of the most promising 
things that has happened in terms of bringing a productive 
strategy out of the timber wars of the past, is the 
Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, because 
when all those stakeholders are in the room working out a 
prescription, they share their ideas, they create 
relationships, they go out in the woods and do tours, they talk 
about specific stands under different conditions.
    They reach agreement, and it is phenomenal how different it 
is between having warring parties that are not talking, and 
parties that are committed to working out a common plan, and 
then succeed in doing so.
    More importantly, we have provided $2.9 billion for 
staffing capacity to build up year-round staffing, and return 
the Forest Service to personnel levels that are necessary to 
carry out this work.
    This funding is also available to fulfill the President's 
commitment to improve compensation for Federal Firefighters, 
including providing at least $15 an hour in pay, and to begin 
the process to convert firefighter staff from seasonal to 
permanent employment, an important upgrade in view of the 
reality of longer and more devastating fire seasons.
    I might also note that the idea of fighting fires when the 
fires are burning, and doing forest restoration work when they 
are not, seem to go well together. Given the importance of 
Forest Service employees, and a positive workplace environment, 
to the success of these many programs, I look forward to 
hearing your plans for workforce development, and workplace 
improvements.
    Finally, I want to commend you for releasing the new ten-
year strategy to confront the wildfire crisis. This strategy 
focused on high-risk landscapes, now identified as fire sheds; 
that need to be addressed to reduce communities' exposure to 
potential catastrophic fire. I think this is a critical shift 
and focus, given the threat of ever-increasing, catastrophic 
fire.
    So collectively we have put significant investments into 
changing the forest landscape, and we really need to know how 
all this work together, and how this committee can support you 
in implementing a dramatic turnaround in management of our 
forested lands.
    All that to say, there is much to discuss, and I look 
forward to our conversation.
    And with that, I turn to Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski, for 
any comments she would like to make.


                  statement of senator lisa murkowski


    Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    And good morning Chief. I, too, want to welcome you to your 
first opportunity to testify before the subcommittee. I 
appreciate you being here, and the opportunity to discuss the 
President's Budget Request, and the active role that the Forest 
Service plays around the county, certainly, a very key role in 
my State of Alaska.
    I want to start with just an observation on how the 
political definitions of ``forest health'' and responsible 
forestry practices, appears to swing on a pendulum, 
unfortunately dependent on the occupant of the White House.
    In reality what actually makes for a healthy, productive 
forest, it doesn't change with the politics. This is one of the 
reasons that I have been unhappy, as you know, with the 
decisions as they relate to one of our two national forests in 
Alaska, and that is the Tongass.
    I know, Chief, that you are very aware of the outsized role 
of the Forest Service in Southeast Alaska, along with the 
complexities that are associated with management decisions 
within the Tongass. In recent years, a lot of good people have 
done a lot of good work to craft an Alaska-specific Roadless 
Rule.
    That Roadless Rule exemption finalized in 2020 should 
stand, but instead, we see an administration that is rolling it 
back, and once again, forcing unnecessary, sweeping 
restrictions upon millions of acres in the Tongass. And at the 
same time it seems to me that the Forest Service is just hell 
bent on killing what is left of a very small timber industry, 
starving them of timber supply. There is basically no timber 
program whatsoever in the Tongass anymore. And that is just a 
reality.
    During the Obama administration Secretary Vilsack, through 
a Secretarial Memo, and a subsequent Forest Plan Amendment 
finalized in 2016 placed the Timber Program on a fast-track 
transition from harvesting, primarily, old growth, to primarily 
young growth in 16 years.
    This was not an easy thing. This was not an easy thing for 
many to accept, especially without the full benefit of the 
science to support it, but the secretary told us, he told the 
people of Southeast Alaska that it would ensure that a viable 
timber industry would continue to exist.
    But now, during the Biden administration those hopeful that 
Secretary Vilsack would keep his promise, implement the plan, 
using the inventory science that has been gathered, they are 
losing hope.
    The old growth bridge that was promised has failed to 
materialize, standards and guides meant to apply to old-growth 
harvesting are applied to young-growth stands, causing the loss 
of millions of board feet, if any sales are planned at all. And 
it is especially bitter for those who took an early leap of 
faith, collaborated with the agency, collaborated with the 
environmental groups and the tribes, and invested in that 
promised transition.
    The Tongass exemption to the Roadless Rule has never been 
only about timber. It has been about the entire economy of 
southeast. It is the single-largest impediment to economic 
access in the region, and it affects all sectors across the 
economy. It impacts transportation, mining, renewable energy, 
tourism.
    When I look at the map of the nearly 17 million acres that 
make up the Tongass, I can't accept that we have to choose 
between having a healthy forest and having a healthy economy. 
We can and we should be allowed to do both.
    And Chief, I am counting on you to work with me, work with 
the people of Southeast to provide just that opportunity; and 
that Southeast Alaska Sustainable Strategy may result in some 
projects, but what I am hearing from folks back home, is that 
it is not sufficient to support a year-round economy.
    The chairman has mentioned the issues related to fire, and 
I know that we are going to have a lot of discussion about that 
this morning, but really, regardless of the issues, whether it 
is wildland firefighting, hazardous fuels management, special-
use permitting, and beyond, issues surrounding agency capacity 
are often cited as barriers to access.
    The Forest Service has repeatedly committed to making human 
capital planning a priority. In many cases, lack of capacity is 
directly linked to funding, we get that. In others, it is a 
function of problematic priority. We hear a lot about the need 
to hire more full-time, permanent wildland firefighters across 
the country. In Alaska we need increased capacity to facilitate 
our recreation industry, support for critical minerals, mining 
projects, broadband access, and of course as I mentioned 
previously, timber supply for our withering timbering industry.
    Each of my colleagues that interact with the Forest 
Service, I am sure, are going to be able to identify agency 
needs within their states, and that is why I am interested in 
hearing today, not only how the budget request proposes to 
address capacity issues, but more importantly what Forest 
Service is actually doing right now, because people are going 
to want to hear clearly, what is happening on the ground right 
now to address capacity.
    Again, I know that fire is top of the list of worries for 
so many of us, and again, we will continue to hear that, this 
year, fire season in Alaska is expected to get a late start 
because we had a pretty good snowpack, but we have already had 
the first wildland fire at an area of Southwest Alaska, outside 
of Kwethluk, and it burned significant acreage for that region 
at this time of year, in April. And my understanding is that 
fire has finally abated, and not because it was addressed with 
any form of management, Mother Nature managed it because, 
ultimately, that fire went further north and ran into the 
existing snow that was still on the ground.
    But it is not just fire, but yet it is also that tinder for 
the fire that we all worry about, we continue to see areas in 
Alaska where the impacts, the devastation from the spruce bark 
beetle, you drive through and the difference in the trees, the 
colors, whether you are on the ground or in the air, you can 
see the impact, driving through the Mat-Su Valley, through the 
Kenai Peninsula.
    And when you see that immediately you think, what is this 
doing to contribute to further threat of a fire? I know my 
colleagues in the Lower 48 are dealing with drought and similar 
tree mortality issues, so I am hoping that this morning we will 
also get an understanding of what Forest Service wildfire 
planning looks like for this year.
    I also hope to hear about how the Forest Service is 
spending the funding received from the Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Bill, as the chairman mentioned, and how efforts 
are made possible by the funding.
    We will work together with regular discretionary 
appropriations to improve the health and resilience of our 
Nation's forests.
    So again, Chief, I appreciate that you are here today. And 
I look forward to the opportunity, to not only engage with you 
and some questions today, but ongoing throughout the course of 
this year. Thank you.
    Senator Merkley. You have heard from us as is the Senate 
tradition, but we are really here to hear from you. So we look 
forward to your testimony. Please proceed.


                 summary statement of hon. randy moore


    Chief Moore. Okay. So Chair Merkley, Ranking Member 
Murkowski, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for 
inviting me to testify before you today.
    As I close in on my first year, and actually my first 10 
months as Chief, I appreciate the opportunity to provide an 
overview of the benefits that the Forest Service deliver to the 
American people.
    The outcomes we plan to achieve with the resources provided 
in this proposed fiscal year 2023 Budget: The bottom line for 
the Forest Service is in our motto, ``Caring for the land and 
serving people.'' It is what we really are all about. Our job 
is to sustain healthy, resilient landscapes for current and 
future generations. That is underneath that motto.
    The National Forest and Grasslands cover about 193 million 
acres across 43 states and Puerto Rico. They are the source of 
drinking water for more than 60 million people living across 
3,400 communities in 36 states. In 2020 the National Forest 
System supported more than 370,000 jobs, and contributed more 
than $35 billion to the GDP.
    But the benefits that Americans get from their forests and 
grasslands are now at risk. These risks include the wildfire 
crisis facing the nation, and the impacts of our changing 
climate. The Forest Service is squarely facing these risks. 
Improving conditions we are seeing will require some science, 
sustained resources, the use of tools in our toolbox, and a 
robust workforce, as well as work in collaboration with our 
partners.
    I appreciate the confidence that Congress has demonstrated 
in the Forest Service with the Infrastructure Investment and 
Jobs Act. These funds, coupled with the fiscal year 2023 budget 
request, will help restore the long-term health and resilience 
of the Nation's forests and grasslands.
    The Forest Service's fiscal year 2023 discretionary budget 
request is $9 billion. Working with our partners we will 
improve the resilience of landscapes across watershed 
boundaries, we will look to reduce wildfire risk by treating 
the right acres at the right scale. We will be looking to 
restore infrastructure, support our recreation, invest in 
reforesting landscapes that have been ravished by wildfires, 
storms, and other events.
    The wildfire crisis has been building for decades, but we 
now have the science and tools to implement projects that would 
truly make a difference. The budget dedicates about $321 
million for hazardous fuel. Now, this work will support 3.8 
million acres of hazardous fuel reduction treatment projects. 
This investment supports the agency's ten year strategy to 
confront the Nation's wildfire crisis.
    At the same time, we are preparing for another long and 
arduous year, made worse by a continuing severe drought across 
the west, and particularly in the southwest, which we are 
seeing on TV today.
    Also in the Central and Southern Plains, our priority is to 
protect the health, safety, and well-being of the fire 
management community, and the public we serve. Our forces are 
mobilizing to address these significant wildfire situations 
right now across the Southwest.
    Currently, the Forest Service is at about 90 percent 
planned hiring of 11,300 firefighters, for the year as of this 
past April, last week actually. We are putting several things 
in place to address this shortage. The fiscal year 2023 budget 
dedicates about $1 billion to Wildland Fire Management salaries 
and expenses.
    This investment will enable us to pay all firefighters at 
least $15 an hour, it will fund an additional 300 firefighters, 
and support resilience, and mental health programs. But we need 
to find a permanent solution to increase our firefighters' pay, 
and make other system changes to ensure that firefighting is a 
career, and that others will pursue it in the future, so that 
we have the resources to address the challenges we face. And I 
would like to work with you on that.
    Climate change is altering ecosystems nationwide. It has 
amplified impacts of fire, insects, disease, and invasive 
species shrinking habitat for our native plants and wildlife. 
The fiscal year 2023 budget builds on the climate change 
investments contained in the fiscal year 2022 budget.
    Our 2023 budget request of $318 million for forest and 
rangeland research will continue our work in addressing climate 
change and other critical research needs. Our infrastructure 
needs are pressing, as are economic needs of Americans.
    The fiscal year 2023 budget request stimulates construction 
and maintenance activities in national, regional, and local 
economies. We are grateful for the Great American Outdoor Act 
funds that have stabilized our $6.3 billion maintenance 
backlog.
    The National Forests and Grasslands belong to every 
American, they encompass ancestral lands of tribal territories. 
Every person should feel a personal invitation in connection to 
these lands. The Forest Service is addressing equity by 
ensuring that historically underserved groups can more fully 
access and participate in agency programs and services.
    We have taken significant steps to improve policies, 
accountability, training, and to ensure that the work 
environment is equitable, is respectful, and free of harassment 
from any kind.
    We know what is at stake if we don't address the wildfire 
crisis. The health of our communities, the clean water, the 
camping trips, the wood products, jobs that Americans depend 
on, and the national forests and grasslands that provide them.
    The risks facing these lands are significant and growing, 
that is why we need to act now, we need to act together, and we 
need to act with dedication to meet the challenges before us, 
with sound science as our guide.
    We are all in, and we are ready to serve as we have been 
since 1905. Thank you, and again I am grateful to you all for 
your interest and support, and I look forward to any questions 
that you might have.
    [This statement follows:]
                 Prepared Statement of Hon. Randy Moore
    Chair Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski, and members of the 
Subcommittee, thank you for inviting me here today to testify on the 
President's fiscal year 2023 Budget request for the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service.
    The fiscal year 2023 President's Budget for the USDA Forest Service 
discretionary appropriations totals $9 billion, including $2.21 billion 
for the wildfire suppression cap adjustment (in the Wildfire 
Suppression Operations Reserve Fund). In addition to discretionary 
appropriations, the request includes $743 million in mandatory funding 
for Permanent and Trust funds. To address the wildfire crisis we are 
facing, the fiscal year 2023 request focuses on risk-based wildland 
fire management; compensation for wildland firefighters; tackling the 
climate crisis; improving infrastructure, providing economic relief and 
supporting jobs; and advancing racial equity. To improve the conditions 
we are seeing on the ground, it will take use of the best available 
science; hard work shoulder to shoulder with partners; use of all the 
tools in our toolbox; and a robust workforce.
    Since 1905, the Forest Service has served the American people 
through conservation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, 
and productivity of the Nation's forests and grasslands to meet the 
needs of present and future generations. We work with partners through 
our Research and Development and State and Private Forestry mission 
areas to sustain all of the Nation's forests, about 766 million acres 
in multiple ownerships. Overall, that is about a third of the Nation's 
land area. We directly manage the national forests and grasslands, 
including about 19 percent of the Nation's forests. The national 
forests and grasslands cover about 193 million acres on 154 national 
forests and 20 national grasslands in 43 states and Puerto Rico. We 
also work with countries around the globe to support sustainable 
forestry and the conservation of the natural resources that billions of 
people depend on for their livelihoods.
    Our purpose is to sustain healthy, resilient landscapes for all the 
benefits that people get from them, both now and for generations to 
come. We meet the needs of our citizens by conserving the values, 
benefits, goods, and services from the Nation's forests and grasslands. 
People depend on the Nation's forests and grasslands for their social, 
economic, and ecological well-being. The Forest Service meets those 
needs in myriad ways.
    Water is the source of all life, and about 53 percent of the 
Nation's total runoff from rivers and streams comes from forests. 
Almost 18 percent comes from the National Forest System alone, even 
though it occupies only about 8 percent of the Nation's land area. In 
the West, more than half of the total regional runoff comes from the 
national forests and grasslands. Nationwide, more than 60 million 
people depend on the national forests and grasslands for their drinking 
water. More than 3,400 communities in 36 states depend on the National 
Forest System for their municipal water supplies, including cities like 
Portland, Denver, and Atlanta.
    Climate change is causing historic droughts in the West and placing 
water supplies and other natural resources at risk. Carbon 
sequestration is vital for combating climate change. Forests take up 
vast quantities of carbon in trees and soils--in fact, forests are 
America's largest terrestrial carbon sink. Our forests, plus harvested 
wood products and urban forests, offset almost 15 percent of the 
Nation's total carbon dioxide emissions and almost 12 percent of all 
greenhouse gas emissions. The National Forest System alone stores 
almost 14 billion metric tons of carbon, or about a quarter of the 
Nation's carbon storage in forests. Each year, the National Forest 
System adds about 31 million metric tons of carbon of net gain.
    The National Forest System is a tremendous source of jobs and 
economic opportunities for Americans. Many rural communities depend on 
the National Forest System for roads and other infrastructure as well 
as for employment, goods, and services. In fiscal year 2020, the 
National Forest System supported more than 370,000 jobs and contributed 
more than $35 billion to the national gross domestic product (GDP). 
Outdoor recreation alone accounted for 45 percent of those jobs and 38 
percent of the contribution to the GDP in 2020. Forest landscape 
management and investments, including fuels and forest health 
treatments, accounted for more than a quarter of the jobs and 31 
percent of the contribution to the GDP. Forest products, minerals and 
energy, and livestock grazing also played an important role. In fiscal 
year 2021, the national forests generated 12.9 billion board feet of 
timber--enough timber to build about 180,000 new single-family homes. 
Together, various kinds of resource extraction accounted for about a 
quarter of the jobs and 27 percent of the contribution to GDP. Forest 
products alone supported more than 42,000 jobs and contributed more 
than $3.7 billion to GDP.
    The main way that many Americans use and enjoy their national 
forests and grasslands today is for outdoor recreation. We have 370,000 
miles of road to give people access to their favorite spots. Our 
visitors have 159,000 miles of trail they can use across landscapes of 
all kinds. They can use 220,000 miles of stream across the National 
Forest System, and those are the favorite spots by far; most outdoor 
recreation occurs within half a mile of a stream. In 2020, we had 168 
million visitors. People come to use and enjoy the national forests and 
grasslands together with family and friends, with benefits that include 
physical exercise and all the mental and other health benefits that 
come with it. For local communities, this is where they live, work, and 
play. Outdoor activities and scenery give them a sense of identity and 
place, adding to their quality of life.
    All this is now at risk on forests and grasslands nationwide. Many 
ecosystems nationwide are degrading and losing habitat for our native 
plants and wildlife. Climate change is altering environmental 
conditions nationwide. Drought has contributed to outbreaks of insects 
and disease that have killed tens of millions of acres of forest across 
the West. Changing environmental conditions have lengthened fire 
seasons into fire years and worsened wildfires across the West. At the 
same time our forests are becoming more overgrown and unhealthy. 
Expanding development into the wildland urban interface puts more homes 
into fire-prone landscapes. One American home in three is now in the 
wildland/urban interface, increasing wildfire risk to these 
communities, because 80-90 percent of all wildfires are human-caused.
    The growing wildfire risk is due to accumulating fuels, a warming 
climate, and expanding development in the wildland/urban interface. But 
we know what to do based on decades of science and experience. To 
protect communities and natural resources, we need to restore healthy, 
resilient fire-adapted forests.
    For decades, we have been putting fuels and forest health 
treatments into place, but it has been a challenge to coordinate 
funding and capacity across landownership boundaries at the needed 
scale. We have tended to place our treatments where we can rather than 
where we should. The result is that the scale of our work on the ground 
has not matched the place and scale of highest risk; therefore, the 
risk has continued to grow.
    In the right places at the right scale, our science-based thinning 
and burning treatments work to protect communities, infrastructure, and 
natural resources while helping wildland firefighters respond to 
wildfires safely and effectively. We now have the science and tools we 
need to size and place treatments in a way that will truly make a 
difference for confronting the wildfire crisis. Science tells us that 
less than 10 percent of the fire-prone areas in the West are 
responsible for 80 percent of the exposure. That is where our focus 
will be: on the landscapes where the risk to lives, homes, communities, 
and natural resources is greatest.
    The Forest Service cannot succeed in this alone. The wildfire 
crisis facing the nation confronts us across ownerships. This is not 
just about the National Forest System. The highest risk firesheds are 
typically in multiple ownerships, with wildfire ignitions potentially 
coming from multiple directions across boundary lines. Fortunately, we 
have decades of experience working through partnerships and 
collaboration based on common values and shared goals across shared 
landscapes.
    Delivering water, wood, wildlife, and all the other values and 
benefits that our citizens want and need from the Nation's forests and 
grasslands depends on success in confronting the wildfire crisis 
through sustained investments over multiple years. It also depends on 
the hard work of motivated employees who feel valued, safe, and 
respected in a workplace free of harassment that reflects the diversity 
of the people we serve. Understanding the challenges many people have 
faced particularly during the pandemic, we have redesigned services to 
maintain the mental health and resilience of our employees, 
particularly our wildland firefighters. We are working across 
government to enhance the work experiences of firefighters and to 
provide the pay and benefits they deserve.
    The investments highlighted below reflect services the Forest 
Service delivers through our National Forest System, State and Private 
Forestry, and Research and Development mission areas. These investments 
enable the Forest Service, together with our partners, to restore the 
long-term forest health and resiliency across landscapes the American 
people cherish. The citizens we serve deserve nothing less.
  highlights from the president's fiscal year 2023 budget request for 
                          specific priorities
    Each of the requested investments detailed below showcase the 
agency's priorities:

  --$321 million for hazardous fuels reduction, which will allow the 
        agency to mitigate wildfire risk on 3.8 million acres in high 
        priority and high-risk areas. This investment builds on the 
        hazardous fuels funding the Forest Service will receive through 
        the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2023 and supports 
        the objectives of the agency's 10-year wildfire crisis 
        strategy.

  --$1.15 billion for Wildland Fire Management Salaries and Expenses to 
        fund additional firefighters and firefighting support personnel 
        and support this Administration's direction that all 
        firefighters receive a minimum wage of $15 per hour. This 
        increased workforce capacity will enhance year-round fire 
        response and hazardous fuels reduction activity and allow the 
        Forest Service to continue important investments that support 
        the health, well- being, and resilience of the agency's 
        wildland firefighting force.

  --$1.68 billion for National Forest System Salaries and Expenses. 
        Funding will strengthen areas needed to support the 
        Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the agency's 10-year 
        wildfire crisis strategy, and the Great American Outdoors Act. 
        This funding will also help the agency bolster capacity in 
        critical non-fire programs, which have lost staffing in recent 
        years, and thereby enhance social and economic benefits to the 
        American public.

  --$110 million for Recreation, Heritage and Wilderness to increase 
        capacity for critical recreation operations, planning, 
        services, and improvements, with particular emphasis on 
        creating welcoming, sustainable, and equitable recreation 
        opportunities for all Americans with a focus towards 
        underserved and Tribal communities.

  --$98 million for Vegetation and Watershed Management to support 
        healthy and resilient watersheds and landscapes, sustain the 
        production of clean and abundant air and water, assist with 
        meeting the Administration's climate goals, support post-fire 
        restoration work, and contribute to healthy and productive 
        rural communities and Tribal Nations.

  --$45 million for Minerals and Geology Management, which will support 
        efforts to locate and prioritize orphaned oil and gas wells for 
        remediation and the inventory, environmental analysis, and 
        clean-up of mine reclamation sites.

  --$26 million for Grazing Management to support post-fire 
        restoration, provide for strategic incentives to grazing 
        permittees, and build vibrant rural economies.

  --$59 million for Forest Health Management to ensure healthy forests 
        and functional landscapes and to address the effects of climate 
        change on public lands in support of the conservation 
        priorities of the Administration.

    The fiscal year 2023 Budget request also builds on the approach to 
climate change articulated in the fiscal year 2022 Budget and leverages 
the historic investments enacted in the Infrastructure Investment and 
Jobs Act to implement the Administration's climate agenda. The request 
supports the expansion of the scope and scale of research and science 
delivery related to reforestation, carbon sequestration, carbon 
accounting, mitigating forest pests, and post-fire restoration, and 
invests $6 million to support the USDA Climate Hubs in fiscal year 
2023.
    Through Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) (Public Law 116-152) 
funding, the Forest Service continues to repair and upgrade vital 
infrastructure and facilities in the national forests and grasslands 
through the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund. 
GAOA also permanently funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund 
(LWCF), investing in conservation and recreation opportunities in 
public and private lands through the Forest Legacy Program and Federal 
Land Acquisition.
    According to the agency's 2020 economic analysis, Forest Service 
GAOA projects are projected to support approximately 4,400 jobs and 
contribute $420 million to the Gross Domestic Product on an average 
annual basis over the 5-year authorization of the National Parks and 
Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund. In fiscal year 2023, the Forest 
Service proposes $94.3 million for the Forest Legacy Program, $123.9 
million for Federal Land Acquisition, and $285 million for the National 
Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund. The fiscal year 2023 
project lists are included in the fiscal year 2023 Budget request.
      legislative proposals and administrative/general provisions
    The fiscal year 2023 President's Budget proposes several key 
legislative changes to improve our effectiveness in delivering programs 
and services:

  --Interest Bearing Account: This legislative proposal would allow the 
        Forest Service to establish an interest-bearing Treasury 
        account for funds received in settlements and other legal 
        actions. This proposal is based on a USDA Office of Inspector 
        General audit recommendation.

  --An addition to the Administrative Provisions that would provide 
        authority to Job Corps staffs to continue to effectively 
        operate in the new budget structure. The Enterprise Program, 
        Geospatial Technology and Applications Center, remnant Natural 
        Resource Managers, and National Technology and Development 
        Program are already covered under this provision.

  --A new General Provision that would provide legislative relief from 
        the Forest Resources Conservation and Shortage Relief Act of 
        1997. This proposal is in response to a Government 
        Accountability Office audit on timber exports.

  --The Budget also requests 1 year extensions of the following 
        authorities: Mining Applications; Contract Support Costs; 
        Forest Botanical Products; Grazing Permits; Puerto Rico 
        Schooling; Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act 
        Reauthorization; Forest Service Facility Realignment and 
        Enhancement Authorization; Shasta-Trinity Marina Fee; 
        Interpretive Association Authority; Forest Botanical Products; 
        Forest Ecosystem Health and Recovery Fund; and Local 
        Contractors.

    The Forest Service is committed to the values of equity, inclusion, 
and equal opportunities for its employees and the public it serves. We 
are actively recognizing opportunities within the agency that ensure 
historically underserved groups, including Tribes, more fully access 
and participate in Forest Service programs and services. We are also 
embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace and 
ensuring a safe, resilient, and harassment-free work culture where 
employees are treated with respect and dignity. The Forest Service has 
taken significant steps to improve policies, raise accountability, 
upgrade reporting systems, and conduct ongoing training focused on 
workplace environment to stop harassment, bullying, and retaliation. We 
are also creating welcoming, sustainable, and equitable recreation 
opportunities for all Americans. This work is essential and will 
continue in fiscal year 2023.
    In closing, the President's fiscal year 2023 Budget request for the 
Forest Service prioritizes investments to improve the resilience of 
landscapes and watersheds across boundaries and reduce wildfire risk by 
treating the right acres at the right scale; and by restoring 
infrastructure, supporting outdoor recreation, investing in 
reforestation of impacted landscapes, and removing barriers to access. 
We look forward to working with this Subcommittee to fulfill the 
President's goals and our key responsibilities for the long-term 
benefit of the Nation's forests and grasslands, and for all Americans. 
I will be glad to answer your questions.

    Senator Merkley. Well, I thank you very much for your 
testimony. I wanted to, first, ask you about, in your written 
testimony, I don't think you addressed this just now, but notes 
that the National Forest System adds 31 million metric tons of 
carbon net gain, you know, as we have seen the amount of fires 
devastating across the country, and the trees that are dying, 
like the Red Zone in Oregon, where we have massive pine beetle 
infestations.
    And I remember flying in a small plane, and just like, as 
far as I could see, the forest in every direction it was just 
red, red and dying. And now all those needles have dropped. And 
I have hiked through those same areas, just desolated trees.
    So does that 31 million, is that an average over a certain 
number of years? Is that an analysis of 1 year past? Does it 
take into account the loss from disease and from fire?
    Chief Moore. Yes. That encompasses all of that; in fact, 
when our science are telling us that if you look at the 
National Forest in total, it is a carbon sink of about 450 
billion metric tons of carbon. Now, when you look at the 31 
million tons that we have as at a capacity on an annual basis, 
that is inclusive of some of the new growth that take place on 
in our National Forest, but it also minuses some of the things 
like you mentioned, disease and insects, which we know is not 
absorbing carbon when it is dead.
    I think the bigger question might be, you know, how do we 
take advantage of this carbon market? And how should we be 
discussing some of the potential opportunities to manage the 
National Forest, as it relates to carbon sequestration, and 
some of those related things?
    So I think that that is a good question on the table, it is 
something that the agency is starting to discuss, but we have 
to educate ourselves, greatly, from where we are now in that 
issue.
    Senator Merkley. Well, I will come back and follow up 
later. But if it is 30 million tons, and then the entire sink 
is 450 billion, we are talking about one-ten-thousandth of 
increase in carbon storage. That is, you know, less than 10 
percent of 1 percent, or 1 percent of 1 percent. I mean that is 
a very small fluctuation.
    Anyway, it is interesting, and I hadn't seen those numbers 
before, I can come back to that. I want to turn to the 
Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program which I 
mentioned in my remarks, because I have seen the value of 
bringing what were formerly warring stakeholders together, 
creating a strategy, implementing a strategy, keeping it out of 
the courts, providing multi-year plans that result in 
harvesting of logs for the mill, more logs, more jobs in the 
forest, on the trucks, in the mill, making sure that the mill 
knows that there will be a supply. It has been a win-win all 
the way around.
    The Infrastructure Bill provided $100 million for these 
projects over 5 years, but these projects are generally 
authorized for 10 years and then are extended. How do we--how 
are you going to square the investments over 5 years with the 
general structure of these collaboratives? And essentially in 5 
years will we be facing a cliff that committee will need to 
address in trying to extend the collaboratives that are 
developed under the Infrastructure Bill?
    Chief Moore. Yes, Senator. So if we were to continue to 
receive that amount of discretionary funding, additional 
funding would be needed in years six through ten. The hope 
would be to use some of the appropriated dollars to carry those 
collaboratives forward after the 5 years.
    I agree with you 100 percent the collaboratives have been 
great. It has been an outstanding way of bringing the community 
of people together to have more decision space, and what goes 
on out in their forest.
    So we have seen just huge gains in support and 
collaboration by taking that approach. And I know that both you 
and Senator Murkowski have been very instrumental in looking at 
shared stewardship, and really leaning the agency into working 
in that mode. And I think that collaboratives is one of the 
benefits of that method of operating.
    Senator Merkley. Okay. Well, we have to be very aware that 
that is on the horizon, a few years to come. And you mentioned 
that you are at about 90 percent of your hiring goals for this 
season. In terms of thousands of jobs, is that 30- or 40,000 
jobs that are vacant?
    Chief Moore. No. Let me back up just to provide a little 
context on that. So you know, what has been happening with this 
whole fire issue, is that over the past 15 years the Forest 
Service has lost about 40 percent of its non-fire workforce. 
And so now with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, what we are 
looking to do is bring back some of that capacity that we have 
lost over time.
    We have lost--that 40 percent is about 8,000 employees. 
Those are the employees that really work to do the work that we 
are discussing here today. Our hope is to fill about half of 
that, and leverage the other half working with partners, 
nonprofits, and of that nature.
    And so we feel like we have gained some efficiency in the 
work that we do. We feel like we have huge opportunities to 
leverage our ability to get more work done, by working with 
partners. And that is being demonstrated now, whether it is 
through collaborative, or whether it is through other 
opportunities as we look at trying to get a handle on forest 
management.
    Senator Merkley. Okay. Well, let me zero in specifically on 
the positions for fighting fires. How big is the shortfall 
there?
    Chief Moore. So the goal was to hire about 11,300 
firefighters, this is within the Forest Service. We are 
currently at about 10,200, so that is about the 90 percent 
there.
    Now, that number is a national number. There is a lot of 
complexity in that, depending on how you look at it 
geographically. You know, for example, if I were to look at 
Region 5 and Region 6, let us say, Oregon, and Washington, 
California; you know, you have a lot of firefighters there, and 
so what is happening is that we are making offers, there is a 
lot of declinations in those offers. There is a lot of 
competition in the labor market for these skills, because when 
you have counties, states and private firefighters offering 
sometimes double the salary that the Forest Service 
firefighters are making, it is very hard to compete with that.
    And so that is part of the challenge that we are seeing 
now, and why we are only at 90 percent. But that 90 percent it 
is a lot less than that in certain geographic locations, it is 
as low as 50 percent in some areas.
    Senator Merkley. All right, well that 50 percent sounds a 
little scary, thinking about the fires that we will be facing 
in our various states.
    Is it the case then that we should publicize that you are 
hiring, and if folks want to be in the woods on a really 
important public job, with a lot of responsibility. You are 
looking for their applications?
    Chief Moore. Yeah. Well, certainly. And you know, we look 
for certain quals as well. You know, I might add too, you know, 
I say 90 percent, and we have a lot of declinations in some 
areas. You know, we have a plan to shore that out, we are going 
to be hiring all the ways in through July, to fill in some of 
those vacant positions.
    We also have the ability to do contract hiring, what we 
call AD, administratively determined firefighters. We also have 
the opportunity to look at bringing on additional workforce as 
needed. And so we feel like we can make up for that, but how 
that, ultimately, looks is yet to be determined.
    We just finished up our April spring hiring, and those 
statistics are being looked at now, so we will know how 
successful we are with this last hiring round.
    Senator Merkley. Okay.
    Chief Moore. But we do have a plan in place to make up for 
the shortfall that we are currently seeing.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you. Senator Murkowski.
    Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And just adding 
to what you have outlined there, Chief, in your exchange with 
the Chairman, I am very cognizant that Alaska's fire season 
begins earlier than most of the country, and typically that has 
actually worked to our benefit, because when we have the big 
fires, and we need that surge of fire crews, they are able to 
come up from other parts.
    And then conversely, as our season winds down, some of the 
expertise that we have in Alaska is able to be shared in the 
Lower 48. But I also want to mention the extreme 
opportunities--or I don't want to say extreme--but just the 
real opportunities that we have with our village fire crews. 
And the expertise that they have developed over the course of 
years, I continue to hear that there are challenges in ensuring 
that those fire crews have the training that they need, the 
ability to move up.
    But if there was ever a ready, and a capable, and an eager-
to-work demographic, it is certainly there. So I would commend 
that to you.
    I wanted to start off my questions this morning with 
regards to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. As you know I 
was very involved in helping to shape that. I am really quite 
proud of what we were able to put in, the 5.4 billion over 5 
years, the Forest Service receives through the Infrastructure 
Bill. I think these are going to make some real progress 
towards putting our forest on a healthy and resilient path.
    Can you tell me when and how communities will be able to 
take advantage of funding provided for state and private 
forestry, for activities like the early detection, the rapid 
response, against invasives, and then Wildfire Community 
Defense Grants, what are you looking at in terms of your 
timing?
    Chief Moore. So we have already issued the budgets to the 
regions, so they have those moneys now. And where we are, you 
know, where agreements are required, we have program leaders 
and program managers now putting together those agreements and 
contracts to be issued. So they will hit the ground as soon as 
the contract components and the agreement components are put in 
place, but they already have the funding, and they are already 
moving out and implementing those goals.
    Senator Murkowski. Okay. We had a grant symposium in 
Anchorage a couple weeks back, and it was extraordinary to me 
to see the level of interest from Alaskans all over the state, 
who flew into Anchorage to hear just exactly what the details 
are on some of these grants, and the opportunities and the 
timing. So we want to be able to share that information, and 
again, get that out in time of what we know to be just an 
earlier fire season.
    Can you outline how the large investments in thinning, and 
the fuel breaks, and the prescribed fires, and in all of these 
activities that we have funded through the Infrastructure Bill 
how these--I guess how these funds will impact what we are 
trying to do here, with for instance, the efforts to put in 
place fuel breaks. Tell me how we are going to work this?
    Chief Moore. So part of what we were trying to achieve, and 
what we are achieving through the Bipartisan Infrastructure 
Bill is, first of all, bringing the community of people 
together to make some decisions on where they wanted to invest 
initially.
    Now, we have had our scientists map the different fire 
sheds all across the country. And those firesheds are an 
acreage of about 250,000 acres. And so when you look at the 
number of fire sheds in a landscape then we are relying on the 
local community to weigh in on how and where we initially take 
action.
    This first year that we wanted to start activity, you know 
we wanted to kind of hit the ground running, so to speak. You 
know, we wanted to demonstrate that we can make this work. And 
so where we already had NEPA completed, where we already have 
support, whether it is through the collaboratives or other 
places, then we have funded those activities first.
    We are going to fund more than that, but they are the first 
ones in this first year. And you know, the Secretary and I had 
made a trip to Colorado earlier this year to announce the 
beginning of that. So we do have projects that we are looking 
to implement as of this year.
    In fact, you know, I want to recognize that we have been 
moving really quick, because we have not only developed a ten-
year strategy within 5 months, but we have also looked at 
working with the different regions across the country, and 
their collaboratives to look at where we would do these 
projects.
    And so we are there, we have already issued the funding to 
start the work on the first group of projects under the BIL, 
and it is on its way now.
    Senator Murkowski. So if you have outlined your strategy, 
and you know where you are going, have you identified any 
barriers that you are looking at, and saying, okay, this is 
going to make this a little more challenging, and are those 
barriers in the area of just capacity to execute? Can you 
describe whether or not you have the capacity that you need to 
do everything that you are mapping out here for the 
Infrastructure Bill?
    Chief Moore. Yes, Senator. No. We do not have the capacity 
currently. That is what we are to add, is capacity in that. We 
do have the ability to begin the work on these first initial 
projects that I mentioned. In the first ones we looked at about 
ten different Landscapes across eight states, as our initial 
look, and so we--and I will give you an example of how we are 
trying to get this done, and how we trying to build capacity.
    We know that a lot of this work is going to be done with 
and through partners, and in order for that work to be done 
with and through partners we need to make sure that we have our 
agreements in place, and where contracts need to be let, to 
have that workforce in shape.
    So we have begun to hire to higher capacity in our grants 
and agreements staff, as well as our contracting staff, so that 
we are prepared to implement the instruments that it would take 
to get this work done.
    We have also looked at hiring a number of engineers as 
well, because that is a lot of infrastructure work, a lot of 
the road work, trail work. And so now, as we speak, we are in 
the process of hiring foresters, and recreation, special-use 
people, to bring that capacity to the forefront.
    So we are moving out on a lot of different fronts so that 
we can have the best chances of success as possible, as we 
implement the projects, and the works underneath the Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Law.
    Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you. Senator Van Hollen.
    Senator Van Hollen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman; Ranking Member 
Murkowski. Chief Moore, good to see you.
    Chief Moore. Thank you.
    Senator Van Hollen. I want to talk a little about the 
Chesapeake Bay.
    Chief Moore. Yes.
    Senator Van Hollen. As you know, the Chesapeake Bay 
Watershed comprises six states, plus the District of Columbia. 
If you look at the land mass that drains into the Bay, the 
ratio of that land mass to the water body is the greatest in 
the country certainly.
    So it is a big challenge, as more and more people move into 
that watershed, and the forestry piece of this is important to 
preventing the ultimate runoff of pollution into the bay. And 
we have a Chesapeake Forest Restoration Strategy. As you know, 
it was most recently updated in 2020, to rebuild riparian 
forest buffers, tree canopy habitat, and urban and community 
forestry as we work to improve stormwater management.
    And the Forest Service has shown great leadership as a part 
of the program's Forestry Workgroup. But we also know that back 
in 2019 we, collectively, set a goal to restore an additional 
900 miles of forest buffers each year, until at least 70 
percent of the riparian areas in the watershed were forested, 
and we are way short. We are not even close; even as we work to 
meet the 2025 goals of the Chesapeake Bay Agreement.
    So my question to you is, you know can we do? And what role 
can you play in our effort to get back on track and meet those 
goals?
    Chief Moore. So thank you, Senator. And as you know, that 
is more of a state and private issue. So specifically as we 
relate, or as we talk about Chesapeake Bay, we are working with 
the state issuing grants, as well as providing technical 
assistance, to not only the state, but through the EPA as well. 
Particularly as it relates to having forested buffer zone 
there, I think we had about 900 miles or so, of buffer zone, 
forest buffer zone.
    And so we are honoring that by working with EPA and the 
state, and we do provide quite a bit of technical assistance on 
that, as it relates to forestry.
    Senator Van Hollen. So many years ago, as part of an 
earlier version of the Farm Bill, I worked to include in the 
House, provisions that specifically gave the Forest Service a 
more direct role within the Chesapeake Bay cleanup effort. That 
then got folded into a broader national effort, but assuming 
that if we provided through legislation or through 
appropriations a more direct role for the Forest Service, that 
you could put those resources to good use. Is that right?
    Chief Moore. Well, we will honor whatever Congress wants us 
to, and we would do it with delight.
    Senator Van Hollen. Well, I am glad to hear that. I will be 
working with my colleagues here, because we are falling short. 
We are also working to reinstate, we, Senator Cardin, and 
myself, and the congressional delegation, not just from 
Maryland but from others, to reinstate what we call the 
Chesapeake Bay Czar. This was a position that was established 
during the Obama administration, as you know, to oversee all 
the agencies.
    And I am confident that we will have that position filled. 
And I just ask you here to make sure that you and your team, 
you know, are fully plugged into that effort.
    Chief Moore. Sure.
    Senator Van Hollen. If I can have your commitment there.
    Chief Moore. You do.
    Senator Van Hollen. So do you--but you are a member right 
now of the overall sort of Advisory Committee.
    Chief Moore. Right.
    Senator Van Hollen. And as you point out, you are dealing 
with a lot of state forests and private forests, but what is 
your assessment as part of that team as to why we are falling 
so short of the goals?
    Chief Moore. I can't answer that from a Forest Service 
perspective as yet, Senator. But I will certainly look into it 
with staff and get back with you on that.
    Senator Van Hollen. I would appreciate that.
    Chief Moore. Okay.
    Senator Van Hollen. If you can get back to it. That is all 
I have. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you. Chief Moore, one of the 
conversations in my home state is about the best strategies for 
making forests more resilient, more resistant to fire, and we 
have a--really a consensus around, let us say, the Ponderosa 
Pine Forest, where we have seen extensive thinning, mowing, 
prescribed burns, a huge impact on slowing fires down, and 
allowing firefighters to get through the forest to the front of 
the fire, and always a real success.
    And the Milli Fire was bearing down on Sisters, Oregon, and 
when the fire ran into an area that had been thinned and gone 
through several prescribed burns, it really came to a stop. I 
mean, it was really impressive. But we have a significant 
amount of different opinions over other types of forest, and 
some of the Douglas-fir forests. On the one side there is an 
argument that on the second-growth forest where all the 
canopies are the same level, thinning really makes a 
difference, slows down the fire, et cetera.
    And others who bringing to bear and saying, actually when 
you are opening up the canopy you end up with more oxygen 
driving the fire, and it actually doesn't make the forest more 
fire resilient. I just have a request that you will bring your 
best scientists to bear to help us understand how, in different 
types of forests, the strategies work--what strategies work 
best for making the forest more fire resilient. It would be a 
shame if we do things that actually don't work. And can I have 
your commitment to have your scientific teams help us 
understand this issue?
    Chief Moore. Yes. You sure do.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you. Thank you. In fiscal year 2022, 
for the first time in a decade we included Congressionally 
Directed Spending Projects. I don't call them ``congressionally 
directed'', I call them ``community-initiated'', because they 
are community initiated.
    Chief Moore. Yeah.
    Senator Merkley. And it is not about us making decisions, 
we do that all the time. It is about communities making 
decisions, and then us lobbying for what those communities say 
they need. So I was really glad to see that be part of this 
bill.
    One example in Oregon was $500,000 that went to Lomakatsi 
Restoration Project in Southern Oregon, and it will support 
community-driven fuels reduction. We are receiving questions 
now about what is the timeline for when these different 
community-initiated project grants will actually--when they 
will see a check. And any insight on that?
    Chief Moore. Well, as I mentioned earlier, the budget has 
already been allocated out to the regions, and so now it is 
just a matter. I don't know that particular project, that 
specific one, but in general, where we are now is making sure 
that we have the agreements in place, and the teams should be 
working at it as we speak, and as soon as that has been 
checked, then we should start seeing contracts let, or 
agreements begin to be implemented.
    Senator Merkley. Great. If your team in Oregon is running 
into any significant hurdles, I would just ask that they let me 
know.
    Chief Moore. Sure.
    Senator Merkley. So we can try to, collectively, overcome 
those and get these projects underway, because people are very 
excited about getting funding for these various efforts.
    I want to turn to the issue of H-2B workers, and Senator 
Wyden and I pushed really hard for funding back in 2009 and 
2010 for a lot of money to thin forests, produce saw logs, more 
jobs, so on, and so forth, and it turned out that a lot of the 
contracts were not given during a time of high unemployment to 
folks who were hiring in America.
    We had 5,000 people on a waiting list for forest jobs in 
Oregon. They weren't even consulted or notified about these 
jobs, and the contractors who were hiring from out of country 
were undercutting the bids of people who were hiring in-
country.
    Right now, we are at a lower level of unemployment, so it 
is not quite the same situation, but I keep pushing the Forest 
Service to develop regulations to make sure that contractors 
who are working to hire people, who want these jobs, Americans 
who want these jobs.
    I come from Douglas County it is like the David Douglas 
Tree Forest of the country, and people are born with a chainsaw 
in their hand. They love to work in the woods. And the fact 
that they are being completely bypassed by the procedures, 
totally unacceptable, it was a scandal then, it will be a 
scandal again, if we don't have rules and guidelines in place.
    So what is the Forest Service doing to ensure that American 
workers who want to take these jobs are getting fully notified, 
and the contractors who are working to hire them have a full 
chance to get these contracts before we turn to H-2B workers?
    Chief Moore. So Senator, we do have a process where we do--
whenever we have contracts out, we send it out to a list of 
contractors--who is on that list. Now if we are missing some 
companies, or even some individuals in this, we would like to 
know who they are, so we can add them to that--the list that we 
send mailing list out on our contracts. So here again, the 
specifics I am not sure of, but in general, that would be our 
process for how we award contracts.
    Senator Merkley. Well, I will give you an example for the 
types of things that were going on. Contractors were self-
certifying that they had looked for American workers, Self-
certification wasn't working because they were advertising in 
California for jobs; in Oregon they were advertising saying you 
need to speak two languages, which obviously, not very many 
Americans are fluent in two specific languages; all sorts of 
strategies to not--and absolutely no contact with the people 
who are on the state list who wanted these jobs, no 
consultation.
    You all have a report due to us on June 15th to analyze 
this situation, I hope it is a really good report, and it is 
very important that we get it on June 15th. So I wanted to 
raise that. I know that it is a million things you are doing 
right now, but can you make sure we get a comprehensive report 
of how the Forest Service is going to address this problem?
    Chief Moore. Yes, sir, Senator. In fact, I am aware of the 
report, and we are working on it, and the goal is to of course, 
complete it on time.
    Senator Merkley. Great. Thank you. Thank you very much. 
Senator Hagerty.
    Senator Hagerty. Thank you, Chairman; and Ranking Member 
Murkowski. I appreciate you holding the hearing today.
    Chief Moore, good to see you.
    Chief Moore. Thank you, Senator.
    Senator Hagerty. Chief Moore, early in the morning of 
Tuesday, April 26, Tennesseans awoke to the very sad news, that 
the Ocoee WhiteWater facility had been engulfed in flames. 
Fortunately, first responders were there to get the fire under 
control, and no one was injured. Unfortunately, the building 
that hosted the first-ever Olympics kayak and canoe events 
during the 1996 Olympics, and hosts now more than 300,000 
visitors a year, has been deemed a total loss.
    Officials with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and 
the U.S. Forest Service are now investigating the cause of the 
fire. The Ocoee WhiteWater Center means so much to my 
constituents. The Polk County Chamber of Commerce calls it 
``The Crown Jewel of Polk County.'' Local officials tell me 
that the beautiful mighty Ocoee River is the tourism hub that 
Polk County depends on.
    Chief Moore, my first question is: Can you provide me with 
an update as to where we stand, specifically, if you could 
discuss the partnership that you have with state and local 
officials in Tennessee?
    Chief Moore. Yes. So let me first say, too, it is so 
unfortunate that that happened to that facility. It was one of 
the crown jewels across the country anywhere. So we are very 
saddened by that as well.
    Right now, our law enforcement personnel are investigating 
this with state personnel. So you know, until that is complete, 
we won't really know how to proceed forward with that. We do 
know that our expectation is to, for the time being, seal that 
off, at some point look at opening parts of it back up to the 
public. How and when we do that, we will be discussing that 
with a lot of our local constituents and partners out there.
    Senator Hagerty. And I appreciate your working closely with 
our local partners, as we enter the busiest season for outdoor 
recreation in my Home State of Tennessee the local businesses 
there in Polk County really depend on the tourism that the 
Ocoee River attracts.
    And Chief Moore, I want to ask you, if I can tell my 
constituents, that despite the center being closed--and I 
understand the reasons--that the river is open for business?
    Chief Moore. Yes. We will look at. And that is part I want 
to look at. We are not going to make this decision independent 
of a lot of our involvement from the locals down there. So we 
want to look at, when is it, the appropriate time to open the 
river back up. The intent is to certainly open it back up, but 
when, there is a lot of, you know, things that need to take 
place that I am not at liberty to discuss, but we fully intend 
to open it back up. And we will be engaging locals in there, in 
that decision.
    Senator Hagerty. Well, anything you can do to expedite 
that, Chief Moore, is going to be deeply appreciated by me, and 
by everyone in the State of Tennessee, and by the many people 
around the country that want to use that facility. Again, it 
has a dramatic economic impact for Polk County. And Polk County 
has had, as many counties have, has had a rough go. So anything 
that you can do to expedite that and to keep us informed of 
what you need, if it is resources from us, et cetera.
    Chief Moore. Certainly.
    Senator Hagerty. I am going to be tracking this very 
closely. In the longer term, do you have a sense of whether you 
are going to construct a new building there, you know, where 
the old facility was?
    Chief Moore. You know, I would certainly like to tell you 
that we would like to replace that. That is perhaps a 
conversation that we can have with you.
    Senator Hagerty. Mm-hmm. Well, perhaps what we could do is 
have another meeting. We don't have to do it today, but 
offline. But to really lay out what the timeline will be. The 
first, get the river open, I think that is the most critical 
thing, again because of its economic impact, and the longer-
term where you would see on this timeline, a rebuilding of the 
facility.
    But I appreciate your commitment to work with me and my 
constituents as well to give regular update on this.
    Chief Moore. Absolutely.
    Senator Hagerty. If you could do that. I would like to turn 
to another topic, the Land Between the Lakes; that is a one-of-
a-kind recreation area that sits across Kentucky and Tennessee, 
and attracts millions of tourists a year, to fish, to boat, to 
camp, to hike. I was there as a kid, as a Boy Scout, it means a 
lot to the area as well.
    And I want to say that thanks to the leadership of this 
committee Congress has provided additional resources, above the 
regular regional allotment, for the national recreation area 
there, including the Land Between the Lakes.
    There is more work to be done there though. And I co-
sponsored an important bill, led by Leader McConnell that will 
help the Land Between the Lakes secure the Federal resources 
that are necessary to improve recreation, maintenance, safety, 
and to preserve the natural heritage there.
    I am going to continue to work with state, and local, and 
Federal leaders in Kentucky and Tennessee to ensure that the 
Land Between the Lakes is maintained and preserved for 
generations to come, just like it was there for me when I was a 
boy.
    Chief Moore, can you tell me how the additional resources 
that have been provided by this committee, how are you going to 
prioritize those?
    Chief Moore. Yes. So thank you. So we started with the law 
enforcement presence. You know, at one point, probably when you 
were a kid growing up, we had a number of law enforcement 
personnel, and of course the Forest Service was not managing it 
at that time. We had gone down to about three law enforcement 
personnel there to patrol that entire area.
    Senator Hagerty. The area.
    Chief Moore. And so we heard a lot from the local 
community, about needing to get that addressed, even the law 
enforcement community in that area as well. So I had sent down 
our director for law enforcement to meet with law enforcement 
personnel there, to talk about the long-range plan for that 
area; and so since we have hired three additional LEOs, law 
enforcement officers, there so now it is up to six from three.
    Senator Hagerty. Okay.
    Chief Moore. And so we are looking at replacing and adding 
additional personnel there, because it is one-of-a-kind type 
recreation opportunity there. And I think to hear you talk 
about that is one thing, but to be able to visit that area it 
is just a--you know, we talk about jewels here this morning, 
but it is a fantastic recreation place, facility.
    So our intent is to make sure that that is operating, and 
that it is open to the public, and it is an enjoyable 
experience.
    Senator Hagerty. I appreciate that. And I appreciate you 
working closely with Tennessee and Kentucky local officials to 
make that happen.
    Chief Moore. Yes.
    Senator Hagerty. One last question. If you could discuss, 
Chief, how recent changes in the Forest Service budget 
structure have increased transparency, and how that provides 
local leaders with more information about how the management of 
the Land Between the Lakes will be undertaken?
    Chief Moore. Yes. So, if you look historically at the 
budget, and how it came down in the different buckets across 
the agency, and as we had started losing capacity, it was a lot 
of confusion in how employees were going to be funded. I think 
with this new budget process we have here, we know that we have 
a salary and expense bucket.
    Senator Hagerty. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
    Chief Moore. So employees are not trying to chase jobs to 
pay for their salaries. And so I think that that is a really 
good thing. The other thing is that, you know, over time, I 
feel like we needed to do what we are doing now, with budget 
modernization. I have never been one to think that every unit 
needed an entire budget structure, and so we have moved away 
from every unit then having their own budget to have it, you 
know, managed from a broader geographic area.
    And we think that there is a lot of efficiencies, as well 
as transparency in that process. And we are beginning to see a 
lot of, not only salary savings, but efficiencies in how we 
manage the budget. And so now, we are looking at project work 
on the ground, that is what really matters, and we are not 
trying to look at the different pools of salaries where you may 
be working somewhere that it is not a priority.
    Now, it gives us the ability to be more flexible, it gives 
ability to focus on really on project-level work, and to be 
able to communicate our accomplishments in the different 
project-level work.
    Senator Hagerty. No, anything you can do to target 
resources better and prioritize them better, I applaud. Thank 
you for your time here today, Chief.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you, Senator Hagerty. And Senator 
Tester, we are going to go with one question with the Ranking 
Member before she has to run to Homeland Security, and then she 
will return; and we will come to you.
    Senator Murkowski. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And 
thank you Senator Tester.
    Chief, I had mentioned in my opening statement a discussion 
about special-use permits and where we are with capacity to 
issue all that. As you know, in Southeastern Alaska, the Forest 
Service permits, as they come in for whether it is our small 
air carriers who are taking people for over flights, or touch 
and go in places, like Misty Fjords. Everybody has got to get 
their permit. And we have had a lot of tension with that over 
the years, as these have not been able to be issued and in a 
timely manner.
    We are really hopeful that we are going to have a strong 
tourist season this year, bringing a lot of folks back to 
Alaska, and they want to get around within the Tongass there. 
In recent years, Forest Service has used an enterprise approach 
to bringing expertise to regions with the high special-use 
permit demand. I mean, we are poster child for that.
    Last I heard, this effort helped Region 10 clear more than 
40 percent of the special-use permit backlog. What I am--while 
I recognize, okay, that is good progress there, my concern is 
that a surge approach is not going to allow us to both catch up 
on the remaining 60 percent, and then stay current going 
forward.
    So can you tell me what you are doing to put Region 10 on a 
sustainable path for special-use permitting, and if you have 
the capacity to do that?
    Chief Moore. So thank you, Senator. So we are building 
capacity, is the short answer on that. And you know, with the 
bipartisan infrastructure law, it has given us the ability to 
add that. One of the biggest challenges we have had across the 
agency is being responsive in a timely manner to special-use 
requests and permits.
    And so our approach has been to really look at that 
enterprise approach where we would bring in, what we would 
consider a strike team to really get at a lot of the backlog of 
special uses, because, you know, that is the walk-in-the-door 
kind of business.
    And when people are not satisfied with how responsive we 
are, you know, it creates just kind of a bad environment for 
the agency.
    Senator Murkowski. Mm-hmm.
    Chief Moore. And so we have tried to put extra focus on 
that by having these strike teams to get at these backlogs, but 
the requests are huge. But we are determined to work through 
them. And I know cabins may come up later, but we are 
determined to work through that. And I think we are making a 
lot of good progress, and we will just need to continue to 
build on that progress. And I am hopeful, looking at the BIL 
funding, to help us do that, or sustain it.
    Senator Murkowski. Well, I hope that you are right. Again, 
we appreciate the fact that we have got attention to it, and we 
are starting to deal with some of that backlog. But again, how 
do we do this on a sustainable basis?
    Chief Moore. Yes.
    Senator Murkowski. So if you don't think that you have got 
what you need within the Infrastructure Bill, you know, please 
let us know how we can help facilitate. Before we get to 
special-use, to the Forest Service cabins, and you anticipated 
that question, I appreciate that. I wanted to talk about the 
Chugach Region Land Study.
    As you know, under the Dingell Act, the Department of 
Interior, in cooperation with Forest Service, was required to 
complete a study on this within 18 months of enactment of that 
bill. That bill was enacted into law in March of 2019, and we 
are still waiting for the results of the study.
    This is one of those situations where we have to have 
Forest Service and BLM working together, and each time that I 
ask for both of the agencies for an update I get fingers 
pointing one to the other.
    And in fairness I am not interested in assigning blame 
here, but I am interested in knowing when this very important 
study is going to be completed. These land exchanges are super 
critical to our economic health and development in the region. 
And I need to know if you can give me some definitive answer in 
terms of when we can expect to see this study delivered to 
Congress.
    Chief Moore. So you know, I personally followed up with the 
Regional Forester there to get some specifics of where we are, 
particularly with what we are being requested to do. So I have 
been assured by the Regional Forester that as of January, that 
we have given BLM everything that they need to move forward in 
this decision.
    And so Senator, if you are hearing something different, may 
I suggest that both the Forest Service and BLM get in the same 
room with you, so that we can maybe get to the bottom of where 
we are with it.
    Senator Murkowski. I would like to do that. I had hoped 
that you might have an answer for us. This was raised several 
weeks ago in Anchorage directly with the Regional Supervisor 
there. And so I am a little discouraged that we don't have a 
better answer than everybody sit down in the same room here, 
because again, it just seems like both sides are pointing the 
finger at one another.
    And in the meantime, we have a situation where nothing is 
moving, despite the very clear advisory that was contained--it 
wasn't an advisory, it was the law, to say that this report is 
out there. So I will share with you that what I am hearing on 
the ground is that BLM has done everything that they need to 
do, and that it is with the Forest Service at this point in 
time.
    So we have got conflicting information. And again, if you 
are the folks that are waiting for this land exchange, you 
don't care which agency is at fault. All you know is the 
government is the one that is denying the completion of this 
very important conveyance.
    So let us get together and resolve this finally, because it 
is not just the study that we are waiting for, then we have to 
get the exchanges completed, and that in and of itself is yet 
another exercise in time. So we will follow up with you, Chief, 
on that.
    Chief Moore. Well, Senator, let me say you do deserve a 
better answer than perhaps what you are getting. And so I will 
commit to working with my counterpart to see if we can't get a 
better answer than what you are receiving.
    Senator Murkowski. I appreciate that. Thank you, Mr. 
Chairman. I will be back.
    Senator Merkley. Senator Tester.
    Senator Tester. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Chief, it is good to have you here; rather than to see you 
on Zoom. So it is good to see you in person. Any of those three 
people in the back do your bio, they are responsible for it?
    Chief Moore. Well, they have input for sure.
    Senator Tester. Do they? Well, so if you look at the third 
paragraph, ``Moore began his 43-year career in 1978 with USDA-
NRCS.'' That is 44 years. Okay. And I just want to say thank 
you very much for your service to this country.
    Chief Moore. Thank you.
    Senator Tester. Thank you very much for the job you are 
doing. Although sometimes we argue and fight, that is how 
democracies work, right?
    Chief Moore. Right.
    Senator Tester. And we find common ground. I want to come 
back to an issue called the Crazy Mountains for a minute. We 
have talked about this on Zoom before.
    Chief Moore. Mm-hmm.
    Senator Tester. Senator Heinrich and I have been talking 
about this access issue for months. And so the question is, can 
you explain how the Forest Service decides where and how it is 
going to defend prescriptive easements?
    Chief Moore. So a process, and it is in our directives, is 
to really involve our publics. And so we try to work through 
any kind of land disputes with the private landowner, as well 
as just the publics in general. And you know, in the simplest 
form, Senator that is our process of working through the 
disputes, particularly as it relates to access.
    Senator Tester. So is there a formal opportunity for public 
input from public comment in review during the process?
    Chief Moore. Are we talking specifically about the 
``Crazies''?
    Senator Tester. Yeah. And then after you are done with the 
``Crazies'' specifically, generally, for all of them, they all 
should be the same. There shouldn't be much difference, right?
    Chief Moore. But yeah. We always involve the public, I 
mean, as a Federal agency, we can always engage the public and 
involve the publics in particular things.
    Senator Tester. But there is a difference between 
engagement of the public, and public comment opportunities?
    Chief Moore. Yes.
    Senator Tester. Is there a public comment opportunity?
    Chief Moore. Well, that is why I was wanting to know if you 
were speaking in reference to the ``Crazies''.
    Senator Tester. Well, in the ``Crazies''--it is the public 
comment, yeah.
    Chief Moore. In this particular case, there has not been a 
public involvement, public comment period.
    Senator Tester. Okay. So I think it is important. I mean, 
transparency in government is good, and nobody is perfect. Even 
I make a mistake, rarely, but occasionally. And I would tell 
you, you know hunting, you know habitat, you know the great 
outdoors.
    Chief Moore. Yes.
    Senator Tester. The best habitat in the world is not worth 
much unless you can get access to it.
    Chief Moore. Right.
    Senator Tester. Really, if you are looking at it from the 
hunting side of things. So if there hasn't been public comment, 
what recourse do forest users have if a trail that they have 
used for decades is closed?
    Chief Moore. Well, you know, here again, that is part of 
that public process. If our public is concerned about a trail 
that is closed, you know, they would talk and----
    Senator Tester. Oh. They have been chirping, and in fact, 
they even went to the courts. I mean, and I am not advocating 
for any of that, but they have been talking.
    Chief Moore. Yeah. We are talking about prescriptive rights 
though; is that correct?
    Senator Tester. Yeah. I mean, we are talking about 
prescriptive easements, correct.
    Chief Moore. Yeah. So Senator, you know, we have been 
working on this for a while.
    Senator Tester. Yeah.
    Chief Moore. And, you know, we are still trying to find the 
best option for working through access.
    Senator Tester. Okay. So let us approach it from the 
service standpoint. Does access or reduced access, which I 
think can be claimed in the ``Crazies'' example, impact your 
ability, as the Forest Service Chief, to manage this landscape 
for logging, grazing, and other activities?
    Chief Moore. Well, I think you can certainly say that there 
are some potential for that to happen, and when it does happen 
and we try to work through that. And sometimes it is more of an 
issue with litigation that we work through, other times it is 
not. It is through sitting down, and through a public 
involvement, engagement process that we can come to an 
agreement.
    Senator Tester. All right. I am going to get back to 
litigation in a second here. But does the Forest Service have a 
statutory, a statutory responsibility to protect public access 
to public lands?
    Chief Moore. Yes. That is a very tricky question of course. 
So the answer is, we don't have a statutory requirement, but 
yet we do have a requirement to maintain access for public.
    Senator Tester. So I hope we can continue to work on this 
issue together. I think it is really important. I can't tell 
you how important it is.
    Chief Moore. Yes.
    Senator Tester. As you know, I always tell folks, you don't 
have to be a millionaire to be a hunter in Montana, because we 
all own those public lands. But if you don't have access to 
them, and it is sealed off because of whatever reason it might 
be, I won't throw anybody under the bus, then the public really 
doesn't own those lands anymore.
    It is a fact. And as far as litigation goes, and look, I 
have been sued a number of times, in different capacities on 
Boards that I have been on; and these guys aren't crazy, they 
are not. They just want to make sure that--they want to make 
sure that they still have the ability to get in there and enjoy 
the great outdoors.
    I want to talk a little bit about Butte Basin Creek 
Watershed. And I don't anticipate that you know anything about 
it. What this area is, is the water supply for some would 
argue, the greatest city in America, Butte.
    Chief Moore. Okay.
    Senator Tester. Butte, Montana. There, because of climate 
change and beetle kill, there is a ton of dead trees there in 
this drainage that supplies this town, city with water. Okay?
    Chief Moore. Yes.
    Senator Tester. Forest Service land. It is in the back 
country. I mean, during the winter you can skate some miles 
across the lake, but the bottom line is, is that it is going to 
take some work and some planning. These logs have been down so 
long that they are not dimension lumber anymore. They probably 
could be used for something called biochar.
    Chief Moore. Right.
    Senator Tester. And which, by the way, it has got some 
benefits, and something that we should be probably taking a 
harder look at and pushing. But what I want from you today as 
the Chief of the Forest Service, I talked to the Chief 
Executive of Butte-Silver Bow last weekend, last Friday. And he 
said, I need somebody out here from the Forest Service so we 
can look at this, and so I can explain to them what needs to be 
done, so that we can get this cleaned up.
    This is one of those deals, Chief, that if we don't get--
and this ain't going to put logs on trucks, so nobody is going 
to get a promotion for doing a bunch of logging. This is going 
to be cleaning up a watershed that is really, really important 
for this region.
    And if I could get somebody that is of consequence, 
somebody that you trust could actually make a difference, I 
would be very grateful for that.
    Chief Moore. Okay.
    Senator Tester. And so, that would be something that would 
be good. It is very parochial, but I wouldn't be here talking 
to you about it in Washington, D.C., in front of a committee 
that I could beat the hell out of you on a budget, if it wasn't 
important. Okay?
    Chief Moore. Yeah. Well, Senator Tester, I will tell you. I 
know a little bit about that project. In fact, it is one of the 
projects that we are going to be funding this year. And so you 
should be seeing some activity out there taking place this year 
on that particular project.
    Senator Tester. Well, just so you know, and I know you know 
this, I had a debate in Butte in 2006, and this issue was 
brought up. This is 15 years old, and we need to really get on 
it. We do. Thank you.
    Chief Moore. You bet.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you, Senator.
    I want to turn to, the ten-year strategy, and there is not 
a lot of detailed discussion in it on how the Forest Service 
will work with the tribes on fuels management. That is a 
significant issue in my part of the country. The Klamath Tribe 
was involved in the work that helped do fuels treatment in an 
area that was burned by the Bootleg Fire, and it certainly 
helped.
    The Klamath Tribe wants to be a partner with the Forest 
Service on some of the restoration work on the Bootleg. The 
Warm Springs Tribe is pursuing a co-management arrangement on 
Mount Hood National Forest, which abuts our reservation.
    What is your sense or vision for tribal participation in 
forest management, particularly in resilience and restoration?
    Chief Moore. So Senator Merkley, I think the tribes have a 
tremendous opportunity as we look at trying to address the ten-
year strategy. As a matter of fact, if we look at the landscape 
that we made some initial investments in, and I mentioned 
earlier about the different fire sheds, within those 
landscapes, where we have also created a layer, that looks at 
all the disadvantaged communities across the country, 
particularly in the west.
    And so as we look at making decisions on how we want to 
prioritize working in, that is one of the layers for 
consideration of a decision, is that, does it engage 
disadvantaged communities? And if so, then that could be one of 
our decision points.
    So there are a lot of opportunities. The other thing that 
we are trying to really emphasize is that traditional 
ecological knowledge which the tribes have. And they have been 
doing this for many years. We want to continue to take 
advantage of the opportunity that we have to engage them in how 
we make decisions on those landscapes.
    Senator Merkley. So tribes that are interested in 
partnering with the Forest Service will, under your leadership, 
the Forest Service will hold government-to-government meetings 
with them to try to work out arrangements?
    Chief Moore. Yes. In fact, about a-week-and-a-half ago I 
had a tribal roundtable, and the whole idea was to engage them 
as partners into how we make decisions, particularly as it 
affects them. And so the roundtable was very revealing in terms 
of information, and we were really pleased with the outcome. So 
we will follow up with that. And if you are interested in 
knowing more about that, Senator, we can certainly make sure 
that you are----
    Senator Merkley. Thank you, great. No, we will follow up on 
that. There was a program, the Community Capacity and Land 
Stewardship Program that was a partnership with the National 
Forest Foundation, and local organizations that were working on 
smaller scale restoration projects that weren't large enough, 
or in the right geographic areas, to qualify for CFLR, the 
Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program.
    And there was a challenge as to whether those projects had 
the right authorization. So we included a requirement in this 
year's Omnibus to, essentially, provide that framework. And for 
you all to report back to us on June 15th, how you would resume 
those smaller scale projects that have been really so important 
in just a whole number of communities.
    And I want to make sure that----I know that you have got a 
million things on your mind, that you are familiar with this, 
and that these smaller projects--smaller grants have your 
support.
    Chief Moore. Well, they certainly do have our support, in 
fact, as we look at implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure 
Law, a lot of those smaller ones are included in some of the 
project work that we are doing.
    Senator Merkley. Great. Great. Thank you. And I will look 
forward to that June report. The Job Corps Civilian 
Conservation Centers have been, for a long time, part of the 
Forest Service portfolio. There was an effort under a previous 
administration to close the 24 residential Job Corps Centers on 
Forest Service lands, and remodel the program.
    It was a huge outcry, because in my part of the country, 
the folks coming out of these programs who are youth who are 
trying to get back on their feet, often from a troubled or 
difficult past. So it has been a real win, win; a win for these 
youths who find their course in life, and get back on their 
feet, and for the Forest Service that needs their skills and 
training.
    Can you assure me as to whether these programs have your 
support?
    Chief Moore. Yeah, absolutely. And they also have the 
Secretary's support as well. You know, this is one of the 
programs that we are really proud of. And I could tell that you 
are too. We still have the 24 Job Corps Centers. And, you know, 
the Job Corps Center really builds on just a long, proud 
tradition of the Civilian Conservation Corps. So that is 
continuing.
    One of the ways that we are modernizing, or at least 
broadening out the Job Corps, is to look at some of the needs 
that we have on the National Forest. One is the Advanced Fire 
Academy, looking at creating a curriculum within Job Corps that 
gives us the opportunity to train a lot of our Job Corps 
students so they can become future employees working in that, 
as well as in forestry sector.
    And so we are really excited about that. We had two centers 
that offered the advanced fire training. We now have five. And 
so it is building. We feel like there is an opportunity to 
continue to increase how we engage, and interact with Job 
Corps. And so that is a very important component and priority 
for us, Senator.
    Senator Merkley. When can we get the first one of those in 
Oregon?
    Chief Moore. I believe one is in Oregon, but I will double 
check that.
    Senator Merkley. The Advanced Wildfire Training Center? I 
will check, but I am certainly interested in seeing that 
program. I teamed up with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, to 
save those 24 centers when they were proposed for elimination. 
But we would like--so certainly I am an advocate, and I will 
follow up on the Advanced Wildfire Training Centers.
    Chief Moore. Yeah. My information is that one of the new 
ones is in Oregon.
    Senator Merkley. I am glad to hear that. I will be checking 
on it immediately. Only a few seconds left, so I am going to 
not ask you a question, because I know my colleague has--but I 
will come back for a few more after the Ranking Member goes 
through her third round.
    Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    So as promised, Forest Service cabins; I don't know that 
you and I have had a chance to speak directly about it, 
certainly with your predecessor, and others, they know of my 
interest, particularly in the southeastern part of the state 
where these cabins are not only used by families for 
recreation, but they are also oftentimes just a real safe 
haven. If somebody is lost, or injured, or just needs a place 
out of the cold.
    And I have been concerned over the years because we had 
seen these, many of these cabins that had either aged out a 
little bit, or just were in areas where there wasn't high use. 
The Forest Service was basically embarking on a plan to destroy 
or remove the cabins.
    I did work within the Infrastructure Bill to secure funding 
for the operation, repair, reconstruction and construction of 
these cabins. And I just want to make sure that we are clear 
that these are not just priorities for Lisa Murkowski because I 
was raised in that area, and know of the use, but these are 
priorities for Alaskans up and down.
    And again, something that really has enhanced the region, 
and really enhances that relationship that the Forest Service 
has with the locals in the area; so my concern is, is that I 
have heard some rumors that there are still plans to remove 
some cabins rather than to reconstruct, or to repair.
    I have also heard that the plan is for a no-net loss of 
cabin, which in other words, you take off one and you put in 
another, which is not the same thing.
    So if you have an update for me on the status of these 
cabins and the region's plan going forward, if you have that 
now that is super great. I would appreciate it. But would want 
to know how the district and--excuse me--the region is 
intending to use the funding that we provided within the 
Infrastructure Bill.
    Chief Moore. Okay. So Senator, I will look into the 
removing and the no-net loss. But I will tell you that, you 
know, an announcement is forthcoming where we are looking at 
putting a substantial amount of BIL funding into the cabins, 
looking at restoration, and reconstructing on some of them. And 
so that is forthcoming.
    But in terms of the no-net loss, and some of the language 
that you might be hearing, I will look into that.
    Senator Murkowski. Okay.
    Chief Moore. I have not heard that.
    Senator Murkowski. Good, good. Sometimes rumors are just 
nothing more than that. So we will chase them down. I mentioned 
the spruce bark beetle, and what we are seeing in parts of 
Matanuska Valley, and pushing up further into Talkeetna area, 
but also down on the Kenai Peninsula, a real concern, certainly 
for wildland fire.
    And we have, you, the Forest Service through their Western 
Bark Beetle Initiative, been a key partner working with the 
Alaska Division of Forestry. I think that that has been 
important, focusing on the monitoring, some limited tree 
removal, and education assistance.
    And while the education and monitoring are important, I 
think we both know that they are not enough to restore forest 
to a more resilient state. And so that is why we put more 
funding to mitigate wildfire in Alaska, in both the fiscal year 
2022 Interior Bill, and through the Bipartisan Infrastructure 
Bill.
    So can you give me an update this morning in terms of how 
you are planning, how the Forest Service is planning to help 
get this money to communities where the beetle kill really does 
pose that significant wildfire threat?
    Chief Moore. So Senator, first, thank you, for all the work 
that you did and given us the money to do this type of work, so 
much appreciation to you, and your colleagues here, and the 
committee.
    I, you know, like most of our projects or--and like most of 
the work that we do, our intent is to engage with the 
communities out there where the work is to occur, to make sure 
that, you know, they are engaged in this, but also our 
partners. I think one of the questions that we have not talked 
about that I would like to, at least, put on the table is that, 
you know, not just in Alaska, but all across the country, you 
know, we have disease and insect problems.
    And we have other types of small diameter, or low value 
kind of kind of material. And there is a huge opportunity to 
talk about wood innovation.
    Senator Murkowski. Yes.
    Chief Moore. And looking at applying grants to, really look 
at different uses of wood. The cross-laminated timber, the CLT 
is one of those, biochar, which was mentioned earlier, is 
another one of those opportunities. And so I think that as we 
are working with the communities out there, we really want to 
engage them, because we know that trying to create jobs, 
particularly, in our small rural communities is really 
important.
    And we have so much material out there that there is no 
reason that we could not create job opportunities in these 
smaller communities. But in order to do that, we need to really 
jump into this wood innovation. We are really optimistic about 
what we are seeing from our scientists in this area, and I 
think it is one of the frontiers that we could really utilize 
there in Alaska, particularly with the problems you have there 
with the spruce worm.
    Senator Murkowski. Well, I am glad that you have raised 
that. I can't tell you the number of people who have said to 
me, you know, I am driving down the highway to go down to the 
Kenai, and it is just all this dead standing stuff, and there 
must be some use for it. Obviously, if it is right by the 
roadside, it is easier to access. If there is no road access, 
it is really difficult, it is challenging and costly.
    But there, when you think about our ability to be creative, 
let us create some value out of what is a dead commodity that 
will just eventually topple, and be nothing more than fodder 
for fires coming through. So I am interested in knowing what 
the Forest Service is learning, and not only what technologies 
might be out there, but the commercialization of it, and how we 
actually make that real.
    One more question for you. And this relates to pre-
commercial thinning, working to improve young-growth stands, 
whether it is in the Tongass or elsewhere. I think we all 
recognize that pre-commercial thinning is useful, it is 
necessary for healthy forests, and as well as for the wildlife 
habitat.
    There is also a recognition that you have got a limited 
time where thinning is actually effective. And then you get to 
a point, there is a point there where it is really not a viable 
strategy anymore. It is my understanding that to address the 
PCT backlog, the Forest Service needs to treat roughly 6- to 
8,000 acres a year in Alaska.
    This is one of those areas where we do have broad support 
amongst the stakeholders there in Southeast to do the work. Can 
you give me any update there on what Forest Service is doing to 
address the backlog on PCT? And what do you need to--what do 
you need to do to make it happen, again recognizing that you 
have got a window here?
    Chief Moore. Yeah. So first of all, we agree on the 
importance and the significance of this issue. And I will also 
share with you that the region is receiving really a 
significant amount of funding this year to address that issue. 
So we are looking for them to, here again, work with some of 
the locals there in Alaska to decide how best to do that.
    But we are funding that effort, and we are funding it with 
a significant amount to get some of this work done, because it 
is critical.
    Senator Murkowski. Well, critical and time is important. So 
I appreciate that. The last thing I am going to raise, is just 
putting something on your radar--I don't know if you have heard 
of our effort on the Alaska Long Trail?
    Chief Moore. Yeah.
    Senator Murkowski. This is something that a lot of people 
know about the historic Iditarod Trail, but what we would like 
to do is understand the feasibility of whether we could add 
this Alaska Long Trail to the list of national scenic trails. 
This would include a portion of the Iditarod, but it would 
effectively go from Tidewater all the way up to Fairbanks.
    It is something that there is a great deal of interest. We 
actually included in an Energy Bill, out of the committee 
yesterday, a review or a study to determine the feasibility of 
adding the Long Trail. So I just kind of put that out on your 
radar there. We did include funding within the fiscal year 2022 
bill to work on the Southern Trek of the Iditarod Trail, which 
would, again, be part of it.
    So just hoping that you would work with us as, we try to 
provide further recreation opportunities on portions of the 
trail that move through Forest Service lands.
    Chief Moore. Sure. We would.
    Senator Murkowski. Good. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. 
Chairman.
    Senator Merkley. So a couple more questions. And one 
development is that Oregon had 14 timber companies, and 14 
environmental groups that produced a Private Forest Accord, and 
this Private Forest Accord was then enacted by the State 
Legislature to modify our Forest Practices Act. One of the 
issues that they are wrestling with is the implementation in 
regard to stream buffers, and how those stream buffers affect 
sedimentation and other impacts on the streams in terms of both 
the trout and the salmon.
    And they would like to get a lot of help from the Pacific 
Northwest Research Station to understand how to implement this 
in a most effective fashion. This is a place where the Forest 
Service's research efforts could be--get real significant 
results at a time when people are looking for answers. Can we 
get the help of the Forest Service in figuring out how to--I 
realize it is a state law--but how to implement this in an 
effective fashion?
    Chief Moore. Yeah, yeah, it is a state law, and I would be 
interested to know what type of help would be most useful from 
PNW.
    Senator Merkley. Great. Great. We will follow up with you 
in that regard. And then, while we are on the topic of 
research, there is a lot that the Forest Service is doing on 
mass timber, which is important to our state, and 
nanotechnology and wood strength, the ability to develop the, 
you know, 4- to 18-storey buildings with mass timber.
    Not until recently, we were talking about 4 to 12, and 4 to 
14, and 4 to 18, as we understand the technology better. But 
the main point I want to make is that the work that the Forest 
Service is doing in these areas, including the work on sudden 
oak disease, suppression, improving carbon sinks, documenting 
lifecycle carbon impacts. Identifying the best forest 
management strategies for wildfire resiliency, as I mentioned 
before, is to be able to translate that research into products 
that Congress, members of Congress, and members of the House 
and Senate can say, okay that helps inform us about the 
conversations we are having here.
    I am basically encouraging you, and just to get your 
response that your team doing all this excellent work can help 
translate it into products to help inform the debate and 
discussion up here on Capitol Hill.
    Chief Moore. Yeah. I think we would certainly love to be a 
part of that. As you may know the Forest Product Lab in 
Madison, Wisconsin, is one of the premier labs anywhere in the 
world. And so I think when we talk about new technologies and 
wood innovations, we would love to be a part of that 
discussion. So we would be happy to work with you.
    Senator Merkley. I just went to the Mass Timber Conference, 
and it has developed into an industry that has an annual event, 
that has so many companies doing so many fascinating things, 
and numerous different strategies of cross-laminated timber, 
and mass plywood. And we have got a lot of research done, 
through the Oregon State Center, on charring, on how to design 
the joints. It is just a continuous evolution. How to make it 
more beautiful than it already is, et cetera, more earthquake 
resistant than it already is. And so it is an exciting 
development. We hope to really produce and manufacture mass 
timber products to export to the world. And so it is an 
exciting development.
    Thank you very much. Let me turn to my colleague to see if 
she has any final questions.
    Senator Murkowski. Mr. Chairman, I have nothing further. I 
have got some follow-ons that I think we will do with the Chief 
and his team. But just, thank you for being here, and giving us 
your time this morning. And the follow up that we know will 
come.
    I think we both have talked about a lot of the resources 
that are coming as a consequence of the Infrastructure Bill, 
and I think there is opportunity and promise, but we still are 
talking an awful lot about how we build the capacity.
    And Chief, I hope you are right that you think we are going 
to be able to get the necessary folks in time for what we fear 
will be a tough fire season. I recognize that it is really hard 
to find anybody for any jobs right now. And these are tough 
jobs. We recognize that. So just thank you for your efforts.
    Chief Moore. Thank you.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you for your insights, we both come 
from states where forests are a very big deal to us. And so we 
are delighted to have your partnership as we wrestle with these 
issues.

                     ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS

    And if there are no other statements; hearing record will 
be open until the close of business on May 11th, 2022. Thank 
you.
            Questions Submitted by Senator Patrick J. Leahy
    Question. The Northeastern States Research Cooperative (NSRC) 
awards competitive grants for Northern Forest Research, directed 
through the Northern Research Station, the Forest Service, the Hubbard 
Brook Research Foundation, and institutions in each of the four 
Northern Forest states, including the University of Vermont's 
Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. The program 
supports cross-disciplinary, collaborative research across the 26 
million acres of forests, and it focuses research that directly 
supports rural communities and forest-based economies in this 
economically-stressed region. I have been a strong advocate for this 
program since it grew out of the Northern Forest Land Council and was 
authorized through the 1998 Farm Bill.
    The Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative (FEMC) serves as a hub 
to facilitate collaboration among Federal, state, nonprofit, 
professional, and academic institutions for monitoring of forested 
ecosystems, maintaining long-term data, and facilitating its use by 
researchers. The states of Vermont, New York, New Hampshire, 
Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine all actively participate in the 
cooperative. The program is a critical resource for the study of 
ecological trends over time, such as climate change. The FEMC and its 
predecessor, the Vermont Monitoring Cooperative, have, with my support, 
been included in each budget for the U.S. Forest Service since 1990.
    Will the Forest Service continue supporting the Northeastern States 
Research Cooperative and the Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative?
    Answer. The Forest Service supports the mission and goals of the 
Northeastern States Research Cooperative (NSRC) and appreciates our 
many past and present collaborations with the universities and 
institutions that participate in the Cooperative. Since the Cooperative 
was founded in 2001, it has led more than 300 research projects at 45 
institutions. The agency values mutually beneficial partnerships with 
universities, non-profits, and State cooperators to leverage agency 
resources to deliver reliable and actionable science to inform forest 
management. Resources available for strategic partnerships depend on 
the overall funding level for Forest and Rangeland Research. Language 
directing funding above the fiscal year 2022 enacted level to NSRC 
without a commensurate increase in overall funding to Forest Service 
Research and Development would reduce resources available to address 
critical science needs identified by land managers and other 
stakeholders outside the four-state collaborative across the Eastern 
Region. The increasing percentage of the R&D budget committed to 
spending directives like NSRC (50 percent of the R&D budget in fiscal 
year 2022, up substantially from approximately 20 percent in fiscal 
year 2020 and 25 percent in fiscal year 2021) increasingly constrains 
the agency's ability to support ongoing research and science delivery 
addressing other high priority forest science needs. Collaborative 
research partnerships are essential to achieving the agency's mission, 
and these partnerships are most productive and cost effective when the 
agency has discretion to engage with the broadest range of partners 
possible.
    The Forest Service has a long-standing relationship with the Forest 
Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative (FEMC) and has provided financial 
assistance through State and Private Forestry for several decades. We 
are pleased with the direction the organization has taken to develop a 
strategic plan for broadened regional engagement and cooperation and 
its focus on priority issues. This work supports the production of 
information resources and data that enable science to inform resource 
management in the region. We will continue to participate with the FEMC 
and support its efforts.
    Question. Will the Forest Service include these long-standing 
regional programs in its fiscal year 2024 budget request?
    Answer. In planning its outyear program of work, the Forest Service 
anticipates continuing support for NSRC and FEMC as collaborative 
partners to address priority work across the region. This approach 
prepares the agency to meet the expectations Congress provided in the 
report language for the upcoming year. Because we do not have plans to 
have NSRC and FEMC become independent Forest Service programs, funding 
requests for NSRC and FEMC would not be called out explicitly in the 
Agency's fiscal year 2024 budget request. These programs would continue 
to be supported through Forest and Rangeland Research and State and 
Private Forestry.
    Question. One of my greatest achievements while serving Vermont in 
the United States Senate has been supporting the U.S. Forest Service in 
adding well over 100,000,000 acres--more than 25 percent--to the Green 
Mountain National Forest. Vermonters treasure open space and generally 
see the Forest Service as a good steward of the land. In fiscal year 
2022, I secured funds through Congressionally Directed Spending for the 
pending Roaring Branch project. Meanwhile, the Big Spruce/Taconic 
Gateway--another significant potential acquisition--is currently 
unfunded.
    How and on what timeline are you planning to address permanent 
protection of the Big Spruce/Taconic Gateway project?
    Answer. The Forest Service considered the Big Spruce--Taconic 
Gateway project for fiscal year 2023 Land and Water Conservation Fund 
(LWCF) funding; however, the project did not rank high enough under the 
nomination criteria for inclusion in the fiscal year 2023 President's 
Budget. We will be reviewing the project again for fiscal year 2024 
funding and will work with the local unit and partners to strengthen 
the project's nomination package.

                                 ______
                                 

             Questions Submitted by Senator Lisa Murkowski
    Question. Alaska, and many of the western states, have numerous 
historical fuel and fire breaks on Federal and non-Federal lands that 
are in need of maintenance to remain effective. The ability to utilize 
Federal funding to strengthen historical breaks would provide for both 
firefighter safety and protection of communities.
    How will funding provided through the Infrastructure Investment and 
Jobs Act and fiscal year 2022 discretionary funded be allocated and 
applied to the maintenance/preservation of these valuable investments?
    Answer. Maintaining investments in existing fuel and fire breaks is 
essential as we move forward in implementing the 10-year Wildfire 
Strategy, and at the national level, a significant portion of our 
regular hazardous fuels appropriations will be allocated to this 
maintenance work. The Alaska Region, however, has not allocated funds 
specifically to maintaining historical fuel breaks in fiscal year 2022 
because of the need to respond to the ongoing spruce bark beetle 
outbreak. In the last 2 years, the Alaska Region has focused most 
fuels-related work on addressing the outbreak and we anticipate the 
same emphasis will be necessary over the next 3 to 5 years. Notably, we 
estimate that 15 percent of the acres identified for beetle-related 
treatment overlap or are adjacent to previously treated areas. Treating 
these acres to address the beetle epidemic will also strengthen the 
existing fuel and fire breaks. In addition, under State and Private 
Forestry, the Forest Service is working on cooperative agreements to 
obligate Congressionally directed spending to the City of Kenai, Mat-Su 
Borough, and the State of Alaska Division of Forestry. This funding 
will be geared toward fuel breaks and to deal with a significant number 
of dead white spruce.

                                 ______
                                 

             Questions Submitted by Senator Mitch McConnell
    Question. I recently introduced a bill, the Land Between the Lakes 
Recreation and Heritage Act (S.3997), to ensure the U.S. Forest Service 
devotes the appropriate and necessary funds for recreation and 
maintenance purposes at Land Between the Lakes (LBL). This was 
necessary due to ostensive neglect towards this unit from the Forest 
Service (USFS). In fact, while appropriations to USFS as a whole had 
increased by 36 percent over 10 years, allocations to LBL had actually 
decreased. As a result, LBL has had to dip into their reserve funds to 
cover costs that should be provided through the region's allocations.
    Will you commit to working with the unit and regional office to 
devote the appropriate funds and resources to LBL in fiscal year 23 and 
beyond?
    Answer. We commit to working with the unit and regional office as 
resources are allocated to the field. Further, we commit to working 
with your office to ensure your questions regarding allocations are 
answered.
    Question. Diminished funding has forced LBL to restructure their 
budget to meet salaries and expenses. It has also rendered it unable to 
devote resources to improving the unit through maintenance and 
recreational activities. It appears LBL is being punished for 
performing well.
    Does the Forest Service view the LBL reserve account, funded by 
collected fees, as a reason to allocate less to the unit?
    Answer. No, the reserve account is not viewed as a reason to 
allocate less to the unit. In fact, the Forest Service has made a 
significant and sustained investment in the Land Between the Lakes 
National Recreation Area (LBL) through annual appropriations and other 
sources of funding authorized for LBL. LBL receives 10.04 percent of 
the base recreation allocation to the units (not including 
Congressional Directives to LBL). That is the second highest in the 
region behind National Forests in NC at 11.25 percent. The 
Congressional Directive funds received by LBL in fiscal year 2021 
($666,668) and fiscal year 2022 ($1 million) increased the LBL 
allocation for recreation to the highest in the Southern Region. In 
fiscal year 2022, LBL received 52 percent of the base recreation 
allocation to the units due to the $1 million Congressional Directive. 
As a result, the recreation allocation to LBL increased by 67 percent 
while all other units across the Southern Region decreased by 28 
percent. LBL ranks 11th in the Southern Region in visitation with 
958,000 visits or 4 percent of the visits in the region. LBL is ranked 
14th in national forest acres in the region with 171,000 or 1 percent 
of the total acres.
    Additionally, as expenses have increased, reliance on the reserve 
account has also increased. The Forest Service is committed to being 
the best stewards of the dollars we are provided and will continue to 
look for new ways to maximize our existing funding.
    Question. Should the LBL Recreation and Heritage Act become law, 
will you commit to carrying it out exactly as the language intends?
    Answer. The Forest Service recognizes the significance of the Land 
Between the Lakes Protection Recreation and Heritage Act and the 
uniqueness of this treasured piece of public land within the National 
Forest System. We share the commitment to ensure the LBL is a safe and 
enjoyable place for visitors to recreate. The Forest Service would like 
to work with the Minority Leader and Congress to address our concerns 
with the LBL Recreation and Heritage Act to ensure we continue to be 
good stewards of the LBL.
    Question. It has been stated that the main purpose of a National 
Recreation Area is to preserve and enhance recreational opportunities, 
rather than natural resource utilization.
    With this in mind, how do you intend to administer the fiscal year 
23 Budget for LBL?
    Answer. The LBL intends to use fiscal year 2023 funding in the 
following order of priority:

    1. Road and facility maintenance.

    2. Infrastructure improvement.

    3. Additional fencing on the Elk and Bison Prairie to protect the 
elk herd and manage chronic wasting disease

    Question. Will you also commit to better transparency and 
collaboration with local officials and residents to ensure the unit is 
managed in a way that is suitable for those who use it most?
    Answer. LBL leadership has spent several years working diligently 
and purposefully to develop open discourse between the unit and local 
leaders, including engagement and education on the unit's finances. The 
Forest Service intends to continue its investment in LBL through our 
people, funding, and the strong partnerships we have developed with 
local organizations and the communities we serve. We continue to work 
closely with local leaders and staff from the Kentucky and Tennessee 
Congressional Delegations to be transparent with financial data. For 
example, Chief Moore committed to sending the National Law Enforcement 
Director to the LBL to meet with cooperators regarding law enforcement 
on the LBL. This meeting occurred on April 13, 2022, and additional 
meetings will follow. We are committed to continuing local dialogue 
with county officials and Congressional offices around strategic 
investments and opportunities at LBL, and we will continue working with 
our cooperators to support law enforcement needs at LBL.

                                 ______
                                 

               Question Submitted by Senator Marco Rubio
    Question. In January, the U.S. Forest Service announced a 10-year 
``Wildfire Crisis Strategy'' to comply with the provisions of the 
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which appropriated $5.5 
billion to the Forest Service for land management on National Forest 
Service lands, including for active land management and hazardous fuels 
reduction. The Strategy focuses primarily on wildfire risk in western 
states, and does not mention Florida once, despite Florida being home 
to three national forests. Additionally, the Forest Service announced 
$131 million in funding from IIJA in April, with none for Florida.
    How will the Forest Service make equitable allocations of IIJA 
monies moving forward to ensure that wildfire risk can be mitigated 
across all of our National Forests?
    Answer. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided the Forest 
Service a down payment on the work the agency intends to accomplish 
under the Wildfire Crisis Strategy. The 10 priority landscapes 
announced in April 2022 in support of the Wildfire Crisis Strategy 
focus on the West because of the fire history there over the past 
several years. The agency has been working with external partners, 
using science and fire history as an underpinning for determining where 
to prioritize investments. Most of the exposure to communities from 
wildfire exists in the west, and specifically, 80 percent of that 
exposure exists in 10 percent of the landscape within a mixed conifer 
vegetation type.
    Our focus with the Wildfire Crisis Strategy is to mitigate exposure 
as much as we can to high-risk communities, while also maintaining and 
creating resilient landscapes. In addition to this approach, we have 
also looked at other funding sources like disaster relief funds and 
regular appropriation funds to invest in areas like Florida that are 
not priority areas within the Strategy but still need fuels work done 
both on and off national forests.
    The National Forests in Florida received a $720,698 hazardous fuels 
allocation from base appropriations for fiscal year 2022. Additionally, 
of the $6 million the Southern Region received in disaster supplemental 
hazardous fuels funds enacted in the 2022 Continuing Resolution, $1.03 
million was sent to the Ocala National Forest in Florida.

                          SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS

    Senator Merkley. This hearing is adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 11:38 a.m., Wednesday, May 4, the 
subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene subject to the call of 
the Chair.]



     DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES 
                  APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023

                              ----------                              


                        WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2022

                                       U.S. Senate,
           Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The subcommittee met at 10:00 a.m. in room SD-124, Dirksen 
Senate Office Building, Hon. Jeff Merkley (chairman) presiding.
    Present: Senators Merkley, Tester, Van Hollen, Heinrich, 
and Murkowski.

                         INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE

STATEMENT OF HONORABLE ELIZABETH FOWLER, ACTING 
            DIRECTOR
ACCOMPANIED BY JILLIAN CURTIS, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

               OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JEFF MERKLEY

    Senator Merkley. Today, we convene this hearing at an 
important time when health care remains at the forefront of our 
minds as we attempt to move past the COVID-19 pandemic. We 
faced a number of challenges with wave after wave of new 
variants, and we continue to confront the challenges of new 
variants to come.
    But I'm hopeful that we're finally making progress and 
emerging from this pandemic with a better understanding of the 
virus and with more tools in our toolbox available to fight its 
effects and the fact that we're all here in person today is a 
very good sign of the progress that we have made.
    Welcome, IHS Acting Director Elizabeth Fowler. Good to have 
you as well as Indian Health Service (IHS) Chief Financial 
Officer Jillian Curtis. Good to have both of you here today and 
for your willingness to answer the questions that the Senators 
may have.
    I look forward to hearing from both of you on how a 
combination of fiscal year 2022 funding and previously-
appropriated supplemental funding is being used to address the 
pandemic's ongoing impacts in Native communities, how we are 
working to improve patient outcomes, how bipartisan 
infrastructure funding will make an impact on water 
infrastructure, and most importantly, how we are planning to 
deal with future health care challenges with your agency's 
proposed fiscal year 2023 budget.
    Native communities have been disproportionately affected by 
the COVID-19 pandemic with Native COVID mortality rates twice 
as high as non-Native populations. Native Americans and Alaska 
Natives have been hospitalized due to COVID-complications at a 
rate four times higher than non-Hispanic white individuals.
    Unfortunately, these differences are not uncommon even 
outside the context of COVID-19. These disparities in health 
care have long existed. The pandemic simply highlighted and 
exacerbated them.
    So the work to improve health outcomes for Native American 
communities remains a vital challenge that we must tackle. To 
that end, this committee provided Indian Health Service with 
6.6 billion in the fiscal year 2022 Omnibus, a 394 million 
increase in the agency's funding.
    These increases were provided in the hope that we can move 
the needle towards bettering the lives of Native Americans. 
This is not only a moral obligation, it's a trust and treaty 
responsibility that we must never lose sight of.
    We can never fully atone for the sins of the past in this 
country but we can and must do our best to live up to our 
responsibility for providing the best available health care as 
enshrined in treaties. Because no matter who you are or where 
you live, health care simply is and ought to always be a 
fundamental right in America.
    I am pleased to see the Biden Administration shares this 
commitment and has proposed significant new investments in the 
Indian Health Service. The request includes $9.1 billion in 
funding for fiscal year 2023 or a 2.49 billion or 38 percent 
increase, and for the first time the request includes a 
proposal to move IHS from discretionary funding to mandatory 
funding.
    I am keeping an open mind on this proposal and look forward 
to discussing this in more detail in this hearing during our 
questions, but I'll say right now that I agree with the 
sentiments to want to provide financial stability to the agency 
and to Native communities, and I'm pleased to see ideas being 
proposed to prompt discussion on how we can address chronic 
problems.
    I do have concerns, however, that despite the significant 
important reasons to change the funding trajectory, we need to 
also make sure that there is an important congressional 
oversight role and so how do those two pieces fit together: the 
possibility of mandatory funding and congressional oversight.
    I think I speak for most, if not all, of my colleagues on 
this committee when I say this is something we are not easily 
willing to forego. We feel that annual appropriations is an 
important tool for ensuring close oversight and a close working 
relationship with agencies and the programs we oversee.
    We need to learn a lot more about how this proposal would 
work and I look forward to having that detailed discussion with 
you in the near future.
    I am pleased to see proposed IHS facilities requests of 
$1.6 billion, an increase of 626 million or 67 percent, for 
tribal infrastructure, medical equipment, water infrastructure 
investments to improve access to drinking water and clean water 
systems in Indian Country.
    This investment in water infrastructure is critically 
important for the health and well-being of any community. The 
water infrastructure funding provided for fiscal year 2022 
comes on top of the $3.5 billion that I'm proud we're able to 
provide for tribal water systems in the bipartisan 
infrastructure law.
    There is a direct correlation between improved water and 
sanitation systems and improved public health. The 
infrastructure funding was, frankly, an astounding level of 
investment. It cleared out a backlog that we know will soon be 
replaced by other projects that are desperately needed by other 
Native communities.
    I look forward to hearing how all of this funding is being 
spent and how we can continue to focus on these investments.
    In Oregon, for example, the Confederated Tribes of Warm 
Springs has 57 miles of pipes in such a state of disrepair that 
much of the community is repeatedly left without running water 
and are under almost perpetual instructions to have to boil 
their water to make it safe to drink.
    The system is operated by a computer that was established 
from a landfill that's running on a very old and unsecured 
version of Windows. It's been obsolete for many years, just a 
symbol, if you will, of how out of date this infrastructure is, 
how much it's in need of restoration.
    In 2022, these are stories we shouldn't be hearing about in 
the United States of America. We must do better. So there's a 
lot to discuss and I look forward to that conversation.
    And now I'd like to turn to our Ranking Member Senator 
Murkowski for any opening remarks that she would like to make.

                  STATEMENT OF SENATOR LISA MURKOWSKI

    Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good 
morning. Good morning, Ms. Fowler. It's good to have you before 
the committee here this morning. We had an opportunity to have 
you before the Indian Affairs Committee last week, so 
appreciate you coming back to the Hill, and an opportunity to 
discuss the fiscal year 2023 budget proposal.
    Mr. Chairman, you have noted the issue about the decision 
that has been made by the Administration proposing to 
reclassify the entire agency's budget and so I just want to 
thank you for having a hearing on this proposal because given 
that we're looking at this proposed reclassification to put the 
entire agency budget for fiscal year 2023 as mandatory, really 
the 2023 IHS budget proposal is technically not in the 
jurisdiction of the Appropriations Committee.
    So I'm glad that we are having the decision to move forward 
with this hearing despite some jurisdictional issues.
    While we're not completely back to pre-pandemic level of 
activity, I am hopeful that we've turned the corner on COVID. 
Over the course of the pandemic, IHS received approximately 
nine billion in supplemental funding to address both pandemic-
related expenses and other long-term infrastructure needs, like 
electronic health records, information technology, and, in 
addition to the investments made by COVID supplemental 
packages, the bipartisan infrastructure law enacted last year 
dedicated 3.5 billion for the IHS to fund all listed wastewater 
and sanitation projects, as the Chairman has mentioned.
    I have consistently raised this funding as a priority in 
our hearings. So it's no secret that securing the money to 
address the IHS backlog was something that I worked really hard 
on to make sure it was included in the final infrastructure 
package.
    We've heard about potential administrative cost concerns 
associated with these funds. So I'll have some follow-up 
questions related to this in our back and forth after 
statements here.
    When you consider the COVID supplemental packages, the 
bipartisan infrastructure law, and the annual appropriations 
bills, the IHS has received approximately 37.5 billion over the 
preceding 4 years. I think that this demonstrates our 
commitment to working together in a bipartisan manner to 
address our shared tribal priorities across the board.
    Whether working together to navigate the budget 
unpredictability and instability surrounding the 105L issue, 
providing money to fully fund staffing packages, or trying to 
address the overall needs of the entire health delivery system 
while also taking into consideration administration and 
congressional interests during a pandemic, I think the work has 
been together and that has been so important.
    When I became Chairman of this subcommittee back in 2016, 
the annual appropriations level for the agency was 4.8 billion. 
An indefinite appropriation for contract support costs was 
created in my first bill as Chairman. Tribal lease payments 
were not a significant portion of the budget, and one of my 
priority issues, sanitation construction, was funded at 99 
million.
    Last year in Fiscal 2022, the agency received 6.6 billion. 
In 7 years, the IHS has received an approximate 37.5 percent 
increase in programmatic funding while the overall allocation 
of the Interior Appropriations bill received an estimated 
increase of 15 percent over this same period.
    So I think it's important to recognize that this could not 
have been accomplished if IHS was only my priority. This had to 
be a shared priority and it clearly, clearly was.
    The increases the IHS has received relative to the overall 
increases for the Interior bill clearly sends the signal that 
this agency is of bipartisan/bicameral importance, and the fact 
that this subcommittee provided significant increased funding 
to the IHS even during times of budget constraints and caps 
should indicate that we are all dedicated and all committed to 
ensuring access and quality care for Indian Country.
    So in light of all of our shared accomplishments, I was 
disappointed to read the 2023 budget proposal. Last year the 
Administration proposed advanced appropriations for the entire 
agency as well as a budget reclassification for the contract 
support costs and the highly unpredictable 105L tribal lease 
payments.
    Advanced appropriations, as you know, Ms. Fowler, is 
something that I have personally been supportive of over the 
years. I also know that when this concept was proposed in the 
budget last year, many of my colleagues and staff had technical 
questions that went unanswered unfortunately and unexplained 
for months.
    This delay likely contributed to the omission of this 
concept in the final Omnibus bill, but I was hopeful that those 
conversations would have carried forward in an effort to 
potentially set us up for success for at least some accounts in 
fiscal year 2023, but this doesn't appear to be the direction 
that the Administration took.
    Not only does this budget proposal fail to take a lessons 
learned approach in an effort to be successful, this budget 
proposal takes a series conversation and I think it makes it 
less serious which is disappointing.
    Another area of concern is the recent actions of the agency 
related to contract support costs. As you know, a large number 
of tribes and tribal organizations are concerned the agency is 
attempting to change the way these costs are calculated as a 
result of the Cook Inlet Tribal Council decision and the Fort 
Defiance letter.
    So I appreciate the answers to my letter on this topic, but 
I hope that we can get some additional information here today, 
and while we're glad you are here today to provide testimony 
and answer questions, I think it's just so important. We need 
permanent leadership. We need permanent leadership at IHS.
    As we all know, the agency was first put on GAO's High Risk 
List back in 2017 and it's still there. It's critical the 
agency have stable executive leadership in place to make 
decisions and address those high-risk concerns.
    So this past March the Administration nominated Ms. Roslyn 
Tso, a citizen of the Navajo Nation and current Director of the 
Navajo Area Indian Health Service, as the new Director. I do 
believe that this is one of the last nominations for agency 
leadership positions to be received in the Senate.
    So while this is welcome news for us, I am concerned about 
the length of time that it has taken to receive the nomination.
    The annual appropriations process is never easy or quick, 
but it is one that we work on together. So as we look to fiscal 
year 2023, I hope that we're able to continue this bipartisan 
tradition.
    With that, Mr. Chairman, back to you, and I look forward to 
the discussion this morning.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you very much, Senator.
    Now we turn to Honorable Elizabeth Fowler. Welcome.

               SUMMARY STATEMENT OF HON. ELIZABETH FOWLER

    Ms. Fowler. Good morning. Chairman Merkley, Vice Chairman 
Murkowski, and Members of the Committee, thank you for the 
opportunity to testify on the President's fiscal year 2023 
Budget Request for the Indian Health Service.
    Before I turn to the fiscal year 2023 Request, I want to 
first acknowledge and thank each of you for your work over the 
years in growing the IHS budget and prioritizing tribal issues 
within your bill.
    With your support, the IHS budget has grown by 57 percent 
in the last decade, and we know that type of growth is 
challenging to accomplish in a constrained discretionary 
funding environment.
    Patients across Indian Country have benefited from your 
efforts. This growth in funding has enabled us to address some 
of the most critical issues facing the Indian Health System, 
from addressing exponential growth and legally-required 
contract support costs and Section 105(l) lease agreements to 
resolving accreditation emergencies to bolstering the core 
administrative functions of the agency.
    We know you also fought hard to tackle urgent disparities 
facing Indian Country, such as the opioid epidemic, HIV, 
maternal health and suicide prevention.
    Over the years this work has always been underscored by our 
shared goal to improve health outcomes for all American Indians 
and Alaska Natives. HHS deeply appreciates this partnership and 
commitment.
    It is with this shared goal in mind that the Administration 
approached the fiscal year 2023 Budget Request for the Indian 
Health Service. We know that despite our shared efforts, IHS is 
still underfunded. Whether you look at per capita spending 
rates compared to other Federal health programs or other 
national health expenditure benchmarks, it is clear that 
current funding is not sufficient to meet the needs of the over 
2.7 million American Indians and Alaska Native patients that 
IHS serves each year.
    This underfunding of the Indian Health System directly 
contributes to stark health disparities in tribal communities. 
American Indian and Alaska Native people born today have a life 
expectancy that is 5.5 years shorter than the U.S. all races 
population with some tribes experiencing life expectancy as 
much as 12 years shorter than the general population.
    Longstanding health disparities were compounded by the 
pandemic with American Indians and Alaska Natives experiencing 
disproportionate rates of COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, 
and death. Addressing these inequities is a moral imperative 
for our nation, and it will require bold action from all of us 
to ensure we are upholding our commitments to Indian Country.

                     IHS MANDATORY FUNDING PROPOSAL

    That is why the President's fiscal year 2023 budget 
proposes the first-ever mandatory budget for the Indian Health 
Service. I acknowledge that this is a substantial change that 
would fundamentally impact how IHS receives funding from 
Congress. The Administration did not propose this change 
lightly.
    We believe that a change of this magnitude is needed to 
deliver on the government's health care responsibility for 
Indian Country.
    This proposal is in line with longstanding recommendations 
from tribal leaders across the nation, including in the Tribal 
Consultation and Urban Confer HHS conducted last year on long-
term funding solutions for the IHS.
    The fiscal year 2023 IHS budget is a starting point for 
ongoing conversations with tribes and Congress to consider and 
refine the proposal through the legislative process.
    Just to summarize, the fiscal year 2023 budget includes a 
total of $9.3 billion in mandatory funding for the Indian 
Health Service which is $2.5 billion above the fiscal year 
2022-enacted level.
    For fiscal year 2024 to 2032, the budget would grow 
automatically to account for the growing costs of providing 
health care as well as population and pay growth.
    This budget would address the three core issues identified 
by GAO: funding stability, predictability, and adequacy. These 
changes will allow IHS, tribal health programs, and urban 
Indian organizations to more effectively plan and implement 
health care services to best meet their community needs.
    As we work towards securing stable and predictable funding 
to meet the needs of Indian Country, we are committed to 
working closely with our stakeholders and understand the 
importance of working with partners, including Congress.
    Thank you again for the opportunity to speak with you 
today, happy to answer any questions that you might have.
    [The statement follows:]
              Prepared Statement of Hon. Elizabeth Fowler
    Good afternoon Chairman Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski, and 
Members of the Committee. Thank you for your support and for inviting 
me to speak with you about the President's fiscal year 2023 Budget 
Request for the IHS.
    The Indian Health Service (IHS) is an agency within the Department 
of Health and Human Services (HHS) and our mission is to raise the 
physical, mental, social, and spiritual health of American Indians and 
Alaska Natives to the highest level. This mission is carried out in 
partnership with American Indian and Alaska Native Tribal communities 
through a network of over 687 Federal and Tribal health facilities and 
41 Urban Indian Organizations (UIOs) that are located across 37 states 
and provide healthcare services to approximately 2.7 million American 
Indian and Alaska Native people annually.
    On March 28, 2022, the White House released the President's fiscal 
year 2023 Budget, which proposes the first-ever fully mandatory budget 
for the IHS. The bold action taken in the fiscal year 2023 President's 
Budget demonstrates the Administration's continued commitment to 
strengthen the nation-to-nation relationship. This historic proposal 
addresses long-standing challenges that have impacted communities 
across Indian Country for decades.
    The Indian Health system is chronically underfunded compared to 
other healthcare systems in the U.S.\1\\2\ Despite substantial growth 
in the IHS discretionary budget over the last decade, by 57 percent 
from fiscal year 2012 to the current fiscal year 2022 enacted level, 
the growth has not been sufficient to address the well documented 
funding gaps in Indian Country. These funding deficiencies directly 
contribute to stark health disparities faced by tribal communities. 
American Indian and Alaska Native people born today have a life 
expectancy that is 5.5 years shorter than the U.S. all-races 
population, with some tribes experiencing life expectancy as much as 12 
years shorter than the general population. They also experience 
disproportionate rates of mortality from most major health issues, 
including chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, diabetes, unintentional 
injuries, assault and homicide, and suicide. The pandemic compounded 
the impact of these disparities in tribal communities, with American 
Indians and Alaska Natives experiencing disproportionate rates of 
COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and death.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Government Accountability Office Report--Indian Health Service: 
Spending Levels and Characteristics of IHS and Three Other Federal 
Health Care Programs https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-19-74r.pdf
    \2\ U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Report--Broken Promises: 
Continuing Federal Funding Shortfall for Native Americans https://
www.usccr.gov/files/pubs/2018/12-20-Broken-Promises.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                      long-term funding solutions
    Our budget plays a critical role in advancing a healthier future 
for American Indian and Alaska Native people. Growth beyond what can be 
accomplished through discretionary spending is necessary to address 
funding gaps and remediate health disparities. Mandatory spending is a 
more appropriate avenue to provide high-quality healthcare that is 
reliable and widely available for American Indians and Alaska Natives.
    To address this historic underinvestment in IHS, the mandatory 
budget provides $9.3 billion in fiscal year 2023, which includes $147 
million in current law authorized funding for the Special Diabetes 
Program for Indians. This is an increase of +$2.5 billion or 37 percent 
above the fiscal year 2022 enacted level. This immediate surge of 
funding is necessary to address long-standing gaps in healthcare and 
tackle chronic health disparities faced across Indian Country.
    Mandatory funding for the IHS provides the opportunity for 
significant funding increases that could not be achieved under 
discretionary funding caps. Further, this mandatory funding proposal 
would authorize and appropriate funding over 10 years, through fiscal 
year 2032, ensuring predictability that would allow IHS, tribal, and 
urban Indian health programs the opportunity for long-term and 
strategic planning. This increased stability and ability to conduct 
longer-term planning will improve quality of healthcare, promote 
recruitment and retention of health professionals, and enhance 
management efficiencies for individual health programs and the Indian 
Health system at large.
    Specifically, the mandatory budget proposal culminates in a total 
funding level of approximately $36.7 billion in fiscal year 2032. When 
compared with the fiscal year 2022 enacted level of $6.8 billion, the 
Fiscal year 2032 proposed funding level represents an increase of 
nearly +$30 billion or +442 percent. In total, the 10-year budget 
includes over $248 billion for the IHS.
    The budget also exempts the IHS from sequestration for proposed 
funding, which is the legislatively mandated process of budget control 
consisting of automatic, across-the-board spending reductions to 
enforce budget targets to limit Federal spending. Exempting the IHS 
budget from sequestration ensures funding for direct healthcare 
services for American Indians and Alaska Natives is not reduced and is 
consistent with the treatment of other critical programs such as 
veterans' benefits and nutrition assistance programs. The budget also 
includes inflation factors to address the growing cost of providing 
direct healthcare services, including pay costs, medical and non- 
medical inflation, and population growth.
    This request responds to the long-standing recommendations of 
tribal leaders shared in consultation with HHS and IHS to make IHS 
funding mandatory, and IHS will continue consulting with tribes to 
inform future policy and budget requests.
                 prioritizing high quality health care
    In fiscal year 2023, the budget prioritizes investments that 
advance high quality healthcare and tackle the stark inequities that 
exist in the Indian Health system. This includes a +$243 million 
increase to the Indian Health Care Improvement Fund to provide 
additional health services and address resource disparities across the 
Indian health system. Likewise, the budget prevents a sharp reduction 
in services by providing an additional +$220 million to partially 
sustain the one-time American Rescue Plan Act investments that were 
appropriated to expand access to mental health and substance abuse 
prevention and treatment services, and to expand the public health 
workforce in Indian Country.
    The Budget also includes a +$215 million general increase to 
Hospitals and Health Clinics to expand access to direct healthcare 
services, which would provide an estimated 41 thousand inpatient 
admissions and almost 16 million outpatient visits at IHS and Tribal 
facilities. The Purchased/Referred Care program, which supports the 
purchase of essential healthcare services not available in IHS and 
Tribal healthcare facilities, is expanded by +$206 million, providing 
an estimated 7,333 additional inpatient admissions; 182,319 additional 
outpatient visits; and 8,006 additional patient travel trips. This 
Purchased/Referred Care increase would also support establishment of an 
Arizona statewide Purchased/Referred Care Designation Area, as directed 
in the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, which will expand access to 
care for over 67,000 IHS patients in Arizona. The Budget also expands 
dental health services by supporting an additional estimated 1 million 
dental visits in fiscal year 2023 through a +$48 million investment. 
Expansion of these programs is essential to ensure that IHS can provide 
high quality medical services and support critical healthcare services 
through contracts with hospitals and other healthcare providers to 
purchase specialized or critical care when IHS and tribally-managed 
facilities are unable to provide the services directly.
    In addition, Current Services, which offset the rising costs of 
providing direct healthcare services, are fully funded at +$207 
million. These resources will help the IHS to maintain services at the 
fiscal year 2022 levels by shoring up base operating budgets of IHS, 
Tribal, and urban Indian health programs in the face of increasing 
costs. Similarly, +$102 million is provided to fully fund staffing and 
operating costs for eight newly-constructed or expanded healthcare 
facilities. These funds support the staffing packages for new or 
expanded facilities, which will expand the availability of direct 
healthcare services in areas where existing healthcare capacity is 
overextended.
    The budget also makes targeted investments to address our Nation's 
most pressing public health challenges, which disproportionately impact 
American Indian and Alaska Native communities. This includes HIV and 
Hepatitis C (+$47 million), improving maternal health (+$4 million), 
and addressing opioid use (+$9 million).
    IHS also recognizes the importance of providing culturally 
competent care to American Indians and Alaska Natives who live off-
reservation or in urban areas. To address this, the Urban Indian Health 
Program is expanded by +$27 million to provide additional culturally 
competent direct healthcare services through a network of 41 Urban 
Indian Organizations located in urban areas across the country. This 
investment will provide an estimated 1.1 additional million healthcare, 
outreach, and referral services to urban Indian users in fiscal year 
2023.
    In fiscal year 2023, the budget also makes numerous investments in 
high priority areas, such as recruitment and retention of high quality 
health professionals, expansion of the successful National Community 
Health Aide Program, expanding emergency medical services, and other 
activities that support high quality healthcare.
    While these fiscal year 2023 investments will make significant 
progress to address the most urgent healthcare needs, further growth is 
needed to address sustained underfunding of the Indian Health system 
that has resulted in documented gaps in funding and service provision. 
Over 5 years, from fiscal year 2024 to fiscal year 2028, the budget 
grows to address the funding gap for direct healthcare services 
documented in the fiscal year 2018 level of need funded analysis.\3\ 
The level of need gap analysis calculated $11.2 billion as the point in 
time estimated funding shortfall identified for a baseline of health 
services in fiscal year 2018. This funding increase would be 
distributed across the IHS funding lines that provide direct healthcare 
services, ensuring a broad benefit of this investment for all tribes, 
while also seeking to address funding disparities within the Indian 
Health system.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ (FY) 2018 Indian Health Care Improvement Fund Workgroup Interim 
Report https://www.ihs.gov/sites/ihcif/themes/responsive2017/
display_objects/documents/2018/2018_IHCIF_WorkgroupInterimReport.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  modernizing critical infrastructure
    In addition to funding for direct healthcare services, additional 
investments are needed to address substantial deficiencies in physical 
and information technology infrastructure across the IHS system. 
Outdated infrastructure can pose challenges in safely providing patient 
care, recruiting and retaining staff, and meeting accreditation 
standards. From fiscal year 2023 through fiscal year 2028, the budget 
includes critical funding increases to reduce or eliminate existing 
facilities backlogs and modernize the IHS Electronic Health Record 
(EHR).
    Specifically, the budget provides $285 million in fiscal year 2023 
and +$6 billion from fiscal year 2024 to fiscal year 2028 to stabilize 
the current system and replace IHS's EHR with a modernized system. The 
current IHS EHR is over 50 years old, and the GAO identifies it as one 
of the 10 most critical Federal legacy systems in need of 
modernization. The IHS relies on its EHR for all aspects of patient 
care, including the patient record, prescriptions, care referrals, and 
billing public and private insurance for over $1 billion reimbursable 
healthcare services annually. The EHR holds an extremely high degree of 
mission criticality given the ability to provide much-anticipated 
clinical and administrative capabilities used in modern systems for the 
delivery of timely and impactful healthcare. Expected benefits from 
adopting and implementing a modernized system include, but are not 
limited to, improved patient safety, improved patient outcomes, better 
disease management, enhanced population health, improved clinical 
quality measures, opioid tracking, patient data exchange, third party 
revenue generation, and agency performance reporting. Additionally, the 
new system will be interoperable with the Department of Veterans 
Affairs, Department of Defense, tribal and urban Indian health 
programs, academic affiliates, and community partners, many of whom are 
on different health information technology platforms.
    The IHS system also faces substantial physical infrastructure 
challenges--IHS hospitals are approximately 40 years old on average, 
which is almost four times the age of the average hospital in the 
United States. Infrastructure deficiencies directly contribute to 
poorer health outcomes for American Indians and Alaska Natives. The 
Budget addresses these needs by fully fund the 1993 Health Care 
Facilities Construction Priority list. The remaining projects on the 
list include the Phoenix Indian Medical Center, Phoenix, AZ; Whiteriver 
Hospital, Whiteriver, AZ; Gallup Indian Medical Center, Gallup, NM; 
Albuquerque West Health Center, Albuquerque, NM; Albuquerque Central 
Health Center, Albuquerque, NM; and Sells Health Center, Sells, AZ.
    Furthermore, the budget includes $102 million in fiscal year 2023 
and +$454 million over 5 years, from fiscal year 2024 to fiscal year 
2028, to ensure IHS can replace medical and laboratory equipment at the 
end of its six to eight-year life cycle. Many IHS hospital 
administrators reported that old or inadequate physical environments 
challenged their ability to provide quality care and maintain 
compliance with the Medicare Hospital Conditions of Participation. The 
administrators also reported that aging buildings and equipment is a 
major challenge impacting recruitment and retention of clinicians.
    Maintaining reliable and efficient buildings is also challenge as 
existing healthcare facilities age and the costs to operate and 
properly maintain healthcare facilities increases. Many IHS and Tribal 
healthcare facilities are operating at or beyond capacity, and their 
designs are not efficient in the context of modern healthcare delivery. 
In fiscal year 2023, the Budget tackles this challenge by including a 
+$172 million increase for maintenance and improvement to reduce the 
Backlog of Essential Maintenance, Alteration, and Repair, as well as 
routine maintenance and repair to sustain the condition of Federal and 
Tribal healthcare facilities, and environmental compliance projects to 
meet changing healthcare delivery needs. The Budget proposes to fully 
fund all existing projects by fiscal year 2028.
    Lastly, the IHS is grateful for the additional $3.5 billion in 
Sanitation Facilities Construction funding provided by the 
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). These funds will make a 
transformational impact in shoring up essential sanitation facilities 
across Indian Country. In order to maintain existing project completion 
deadlines and support IHS and Tribes in successfully implementing IIJA 
resources, the budget includes +$49 million to support implementation 
of the $3.5 billion provided by the IIJA for Sanitation Facilities 
Construction (SFC). This funding will support additional salary, 
expenses, and administrative costs beyond the 3 percent allowed in the 
IIJA. These funds would also be available to Tribal Health Programs, 
which is not currently permissible under the 3 percent set-aside for 
administrative costs in the IIJA.
    The budget also proposes a new $18 million program to recruit and 
retain new public health engineers by partnering with colleges and 
universities to implement a scholarship program with service 
requirements in support of Sanitation Facilities Construction projects 
across Indian Country. The IHS owns over 10.2 million square feet of 
facilities across 2,119 buildings and 1,758 acres of Federal and trust 
land. The nature of this space varies from sophisticated medical 
centers to residential units and utility plants. Facilities range in 
age from less than 1 year to more than 167 years. A professional and 
fully- functional workforce is essential to ensure effective and 
efficient operations.
                     supporting self-determination
    IHS continues to support the self-determination of tribes to 
operate their own health programs. Tribal leaders and members are best 
positioned to understand the priorities and needs of their local 
communities. The amount of the IHS budget that is administered directly 
by tribes through Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 
Act contracts and compacts has grown over time, with over 60 percent of 
IHS funding currently administered directly by tribes. Tribes design 
and manage the delivery of individual and community health services 
through 22 hospitals, 319 health centers, 552 ambulatory clinics, 79 
health stations, 146 Alaska village clinics, and 8 school health 
centers across Indian Country. In recognition of this, the budget 
includes a mandatory indefinite appropriation for Contract Support 
Costs and Section 105(l) lease agreements with estimated funding levels 
of $1.1 billion for Contract Support Costs and $150 million for Section 
105(l) Lease Agreements in fiscal year 2023. The budget maintains 
indefinite mandatory funding for these accounts across the 10-year 
budget window to ensure these payments to tribes are fully funded.
          covid-19 response and future emergency preparedness
    Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the IHS has made incredible 
achievements to save lives and improve the health of American Indian 
and Alaska Natives across the nation. The IHS has worked closely with 
our Tribal and Urban Indian Organization partners, state and local 
public health officials, and our fellow Federal agencies to coordinate 
a comprehensive public health response to the pandemic. Our number one 
priority has been the safety of our IHS patients and staff, as well as 
Tribal community members.
    However, it is clear that COVID-19 has disproportionally impacted 
American Indian and Alaska Natives. Deficiencies in public health 
infrastructure exacerbated the impact of COVID-19 on American Indians 
and Alaska Natives. Based on data from 14 states, age-adjusted COVID-19 
associated mortality among American Indians and Alaska Natives was 1.8 
times that of non- Hispanic Whites. In 23 states with adequate race and 
ethnicity data, the cumulative incidence of laboratory-confirmed COVID-
19 among American Indians and Alaska Natives was 3.5 times that of non-
Hispanic Whites. In the state of Montana, COVID-19 incidence and 
mortality rates among American Indian and Alaska Natives were 2.2 and 
3.8 times those among White persons, respectively. The CDC has also 
reported that 1 in every 168 American Indian and Alaska Native Children 
experienced the death of a parent or primary caregiver due to COVID-19, 
4.5 times more likely than non-Hispanic White children.
    The budget's proposed investments proposed in direct services and 
infrastructure will make substantial progress toward ensuring these 
stark disparities are not repeated in future pandemics. Additionally, 
to ensure that the IHS is prepared for future emergencies, the budget 
requests +$10 million for emergency preparedness activities at IHS 
Headquarters and Area offices to establish a dedicated emergency 
preparedness workforce at IHS and support relevant training and 
capacity building efforts. These additional resources will ensure IHS 
has adequate emergency preparedness capacity to serve American Indian 
and Alaska Native communities during future public health emergencies.
                                closing
    The fiscal year 2023 budget makes bold strides toward the goal of 
ensuring stable and predictable funding to improve the overall health 
status of for American Indian and Alaska Natives. The budget is a 
historic first step and the start of an ongoing conversation with 
tribes to ensure the IHS system is meeting the healthcare needs in 
Indian Country. HHS looks forward to working in consultation with 
tribes, urban Indian organizations, and Congress to refine this 
historic proposal through the legislative process to achieve sustained 
improvements in health status and strengthen the Nation-to-Nation 
relationship.

    Senator Merkley. Thank you very much, and with your 
agreement, we'll put your entire written testimony into the 
record. No objections on the committee, so ordered.
    And let's start with this question of the mandatory 
funding. So it certainly does relate to having stable and 
predictable budget, but as I mentioned in my initial testimony, 
there's always some reservation on Capitol Hill to forego the 
oversight function, and this is set up as a structure for a 10-
year period, and it's quite different from the advanced 
appropriation request that I championed last year at the 
request of IHS and that we supported in our Senate bill.

                         ADVANCE APPROPRIATIONS

    We ultimately did not get agreement on the final 
negotiations between the four corners, the final decision-
makers, but I thought that that had a lot of merit to make sure 
Indian Health Services did not shut down during an government 
shutdown which was a previous significant problem.
    Is it the case that the Administration is dropping its 
request for advanced appropriations in favor of the 
reclassification of mandatory spending?
    Ms. Fowler. So the mandatory proposal for the Indian Health 
Service, if enacted, would eliminate the need for advanced 
appropriations for the agency.

                        CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT

    Senator Merkley. Okay. So the answer is yes, and how would 
you envision that there would be any congressional oversight 
under that structure?
    Ms. Fowler. We understand that if the mandatory proposal 
were to be enacted, that we would fall under the jurisdiction 
of our authorizing committees which we would work with in an 
oversight role, but we also understand the need to continue to 
be responsive to the Appropriations Committees, as well, and we 
would be happy to work with the Appropriations Committees on 
any questions or inquiries or any interests that they have in 
continuing to review our budget and request information from 
us.
    Senator Merkley. So in partnership with our colleagues from 
Indian Affairs, we've been trying to schedule a meeting with 
OMB and IHS to explore the technical details and there's not 
been a responsive communication from the Administration.
    So can we get your assurances that this meeting will happen 
shortly?
    Ms. Fowler. Yes, as I understand, OMB will be leading a 
briefing that we anticipate will occur next week.
    Senator Merkley. Okay. Great. Because if the Administration 
is not responsive, then it's clear it's not a serious proposal 
and so we're ready to dive into the details and explore it, but 
we need the partnership from the Executive Branch in that 
regard.

                            COVID PREVALENCE

    So let's turn to COVID. So the positive test rate remains 
high, and we are seeing across the country stagnating vaccine 
rates.
    Are we seeing the same trends across Indian Country?
    Ms. Fowler. We are. We are seeing higher positivity rates, 
but we believe that is from more patients coming in who are 
symptomatic for testing but a lower volume of testing and so as 
an example, in January there were 12,000 COVID tests performed 
and in April there were 2,000 tests performed. So the positive 
test results combined with the lower denominator is resulting 
in a higher positivity rate.
    Senator Merkley. That makes sense. Thank you for explaining 
that.

                    COVID VACCINES AND THERAPEUTICS

    And the Administration has requested $22.5 billion for 
COVID response and there was no specific request for IHS, but 
it's my understanding that the funding requested by HHS, Health 
and Human Services, that a certain share would be transferred 
to IHS. Is that your understanding, as well?
    Ms. Fowler. Yes, IHS is a jurisdiction that receives 
vaccines and therapeutics from the HHS.
    Senator Merkley. Okay. Do you know how much would be 
transferred under the Administration's vision?
    Ms. Fowler. It's not a funding amount that gets 
transferred. We receive the vaccines directly and we receive 
the therapeutics and some supplies directly.
    Senator Merkley. So let's talk about the therapeutics. 
We've got a couple companies that have produced pills, Merck 
and Pfizer that seem to be significant.
    Are these pills being currently distributed to IHS 
facilities? Do people who need those therapeutics, can they 
readily access them?
    Ms. Fowler. Yes, currently we are able to meet 100 percent 
of the demand from the IHS, Tribal, and Urban Facilities that 
are requesting those therapeutics.
    Senator Merkley. You are requesting therapeutics?
    Ms. Fowler. I said we're able to meet 100 percent of the 
demand from those facilities that are requesting therapeutics.
    Senator Merkley. Okay. Great. We've seen interesting 
reports across the nation from health care clinics that 
essentially have had the therapeutics, but they don't even 
prescribe them when people come in. It's been a strange 
arrangement where we've got a tool that can be very helpful and 
when a person is early in the phase of the infection and not 
necessarily being fully utilized.
    I'm not talking about Indian Health Service specifically, 
more health services more broadly.

                   WARM SPRINGS WATER INFRASTRUCTURE

    Let me turn to Warm Springs water infrastructure, and as 
we've discussed in the past, they've got an ancient system of 
pipes. The pressure gauges are always breaking or pressure 
control valves. The pipes are splitting. It's just the 
contamination results in a lot of the times the water simply is 
unsafe to drink. They've been under the continuous boil 
notices, meaning they have to boil their water to drink it.
    So we are really pleased that the infrastructure bill had 
$3.5 billion to clear the backlog on the sanitation 
deficiencies list at the time of passage and we're looking 
forward to seeing the projects actually get done.
    Do you have a timeline for the Warm Springs project?
    Ms. Fowler. So the last time we talked, there was a 
preliminary engineering assessment that was going to be 
completed, which has been completed. We now know that the 
project will cost roughly $24 million to complete. It is a Tier 
1 project. So we do anticipate that it will be funded with 
fiscal year 2022 funding, whether from the Infrastructure 
Investment and Jobs Act funding or the annual appropriation.
    As I understand it, it will take 30 to 36 months to 
complete once we have the funding available for the project, 
which we anticipate will be very soon.
    Senator Merkley. Great. Is very soon like within the next 
couple weeks?
    Ms. Fowler. I would think so, yes.
    Senator Merkley. Can you personally keep me briefed on 
this? It's so important to the Warm Springs Tribe in my state.
    Ms. Fowler. Yes.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you very much.
    I'll turn to Senator Murkowski.
    Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

                     CHANGE IN IHS BUDGET PROPOSALS

    Ms. Fowler, I'd like to go back to the discussion that the 
Chairman has raised about mandatory versus the discretionary. 
You confirmed to him that in fact the Administration has now 
decided to take an approach on mandatory as opposed to the 
advanced appropriation, and you indicated that, well, if we 
move to mandatory, that means that we don't have to look to 
advanced appropriations.
    But I guess I'm trying to understand why, why the 
Administration chose to move in this direction instead of 
proposing advanced appropriations again.
    Ms. Fowler. Thank you, Senator Murkowski.
    I'm just going to be frank here. The Indian Health System 
needs substantial funding to meet the needs that are out there 
in Indian Country, and we're not able to accomplish that within 
the discretionary spending caps on the mandatory side of the 
budget as has been proposed for fiscal year 2023 and the 10-
year timeframe.
    We're proposing that the budget will grow by almost 300 
percent over that 10-year period, and so we believe that it is 
an approach that is more suitable for funding Indian health 
care.

                 MANDATORY FUNDING LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL

    Senator Murkowski. Well, as I mentioned in my statement and 
as I have said over the years, I believe that IHS has been 
chronically underfunded and we need to make improvements.
    You and I both noted in our comments that those 
improvements over the years have been dramatic in terms of the 
funding, but with funding also comes the role of oversight and 
that's where the committees come in.
    I am in that enviable position, maybe it's not so enviable, 
maybe it's just more responsibility, but I am not only the 
appropriator for IHS as the Ranking Member on this subcommittee 
but I'm also the authorizer as the Ranking Member on Indian 
Affairs Committee, and so I appreciate what you've shared that 
there's going to be a meeting with OMB coming up.
    This is the first that I have heard of it. I'm asking my 
staff to confirm whether they have been notified of any such 
meeting because so far as I know, there is no legislative 
proposal out there in terms of new authorizing language to 
account for this shift and what we're trying to figure out here 
is whether or not you have identified how you're going to be 
paying for the shift to mandatory appropriations.
    At what point do you expect that you will send to the 
Indian Affairs Committee a legislative proposal to mark up a 
mandatory funding bill for fiscal year 2023?
    Ms. Fowler. I know that there's a supporting document that 
is under development. I will have to get back to you on that 
timeframe of when we'll be able to submit it.
    Senator Murkowski. So I guess I have to admit a little bit 
of confusion here because what we've got is technically there's 
no discretionary appropriations language or money proposed for 
fiscal year 2023. The discretionary funding levels for the IHS 
in fiscal year 2022 was $6.6 billion.
    So in theory, if there's not a discretionary proposal for 
the Interior bill this year, there's $6.6 billion that is 
currently unaccounted for.
    So, Mr. Chairman, we're looking here at $6.6 billion in 
base Indian Health Service funding that can't be used by an 
authorizing committee to pay for mandatory funding on an annual 
basis. It certainly wouldn't cover the scoring for a 10-year 
window that you've just noted, but it's also been 2 months now 
since the budget was released.
    The end of the fiscal year is a little over four and a half 
months away. So the clock is ticking here. So if you're 
planning on sending this plan up, I don't see how you're giving 
us the time as whether we are authorizing or whether we are 
appropriating to consider this in a way that is viewed as a 
serious proposal, and so I share the Chairman's concern here 
that if this is serious coming from the Administration, if we 
recognize that we've got to be doing this together, you've got 
to be working with us a little bit more instead of coming to a 
hearing and saying, well, we're going to sit down and talk with 
you about what the plan is.
    We are in the midst now of these budget and appropriations 
discussions. So I don't know. Is it your proposal that there be 
no IHS title in the fiscal year 2023 Interior appropriations 
bill this year?
    Ms. Fowler. That is the proposal, yes.
    Senator Murkowski. So there would be nothing in the IHS 
title?
    Ms. Fowler. Correct.

                   APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT

    Senator Murkowski. So oversight again absolutely key to 
everything that we do around here. In fairness, I don't think 
we do enough of it, but I think that this is one of the areas 
within the Appropriations Committee where we are able to do 
active oversight.
    Will you commit to answering questions from this 
Appropriations Subcommittee even though you would propose to 
delete the discretionary account from the Interior bill?
    Ms. Fowler. Yes, we will commit to that.

                      CONTRACT SUPPORT COSTS (CSC)

    Senator Murkowski. Let me ask about contract support costs. 
I've raised the issue of the decision in Cook Inlet Tribal and 
the Fort Defiance letter. There's a lot of questions and 
concerns. Again, we received your response last week, but 
there's still some things that I need some clarification on.
    For the record, in your letter you state that ``the agency 
interprets the Cook Inlet decision and the Fort Defiance letter 
as a restatement of current law and practice.'' You also say 
that ``the IHS will maintain current methods for calculating 
CSC and that there's no plan to change any of the 
calculations.''
    So the question that I would have for you this morning is 
are both of those statements correct and would you support 
codifying current practice in legislative text if you would 
agree that those statements are correct?
    Ms. Fowler. I agree that the statements are correct. We're 
not changing any method of calculating contract support costs 
as a result of the Cook Inlet decision. We believe the Cook 
Inlet decision affirms current statute, and current 
interpretation of the statute, and therefore we believe that 
there's not a reason to codify the current practice of 
calculating contract support costs.
    Senator Murkowski. So there's some buzz out there that this 
may be a situation where Cook Inlet was just one example. In 
the case of the Fort Defiance letter, it stated that the 
``Federal Government errantly overpaid CSC in prior years and 
were seeking to correct it.''
    So the discussion that is out there is whether or not the 
Fort Defiance issue is the only example where the Federal 
Government errantly overpaid. So the question that I would have 
of you is whether you know if this is the only instance in 
which IHS has made overpayments and whether or not you 
conducted any type of an analysis that would lead you to that 
conclusion.
    Ms. Fowler. So there's a process for reconciling contract 
support costs owed to tribes. We're required to fully pay the 
amount of contract support costs required for a tribal 
contract.
    During that process of reconciliation, sometimes there are 
overpayments that are identified. Sometimes there are 
underpayments that are identified. The tribe can bring a 
Contract Disputes Act claim for an underpayment, and IHS can do 
the same for an overpayment, and there are other instances 
where the Indian Health Service has identified overpayments of 
contract support costs and has sought repayment or has sought 
to reconcile the overpayment through the means that are 
available to us.
    Senator Murkowski. So, Mr. Chairman, my time is well over. 
I may come back to this because I'm trying to determine whether 
or not there's been any type of a comprehensive analysis of 
whether or not overpayments are at issue and the extent of 
that.
    I'll defer now to my colleague.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you.

                   SANITATION AND FACILITIES PROJECTS

    Senator Heinrich.
    Senator Heinrich. Thank you, Chairman.
    Ms. Fowler, there are literally hundreds of projects 
representing over $3.3 billion on the IHS fiscal year 2021 
Annual Report of Sanitation Deficiency Levels. Projects in my 
state alone represent nearly $200 million in water and 
sanitation projects.
    As you know, Congress included a total of $3.5 billion for 
the IHS Sanitation and Facilities Account to be spent over the 
next 5 years in the infrastructure law.
    Walk us through what the current status of actually getting 
that funding on the ground and how IHS is preparing agency 
personnel and resources to get those projects on that list 
built.
    Ms. Fowler. Thank you, Senator.
    When the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was passed, 
Indian Health Service quickly planned and implemented a 
consultation process on an allocation method for that funding. 
We held some sessions in December and a session in January. So 
we held several consultation sessions on the funding.
    Once those sessions were completed, we compiled the 
comments. We reviewed the comments and considered every piece 
of input that we had received from the tribes. We then began 
working on a spend plan.
    We also worked on a spend plan for the administrative 
portion of the funding and working to identify what staffing 
resources were going to be needed in order to implement the 
funding and worked to identify how we were going to hire that 
many staff. It's a considerable number that are going to be 
needed. And so we had a couple of different tracks that were 
moving, proceeding.
    We're at the point now where our spend plan for the 
projects is in the last stage of review, and we anticipate that 
we'll be able to announce the decision that we made for which 
projects are going to be funded with the fiscal year 2022 
portion of the $3.5 billion very soon.
    We are also putting----
    Senator Heinrich. How much will that represent in actual 
projects? Do you have a dollar figure yet?
    Ms. Fowler. Let's see. It's $700 million per year and then 
there's three percent--sorry. I'm going to ask my Chief 
Financial Officer. She probably has the numbers at her 
fingertips.
    MS. CURTIS: Certainly. We do expect that the bulk majority 
of the resources will be used specifically for project 
construction. There is the $21 million for admin, of course, 
and then the small portion of funding that goes to the OIG who 
we have already started engaging with on oversight issues, but 
we expect----
    Senator Heinrich. So you're planning to largely just split 
it up equally over the 5 years?
    MS. CURTIS: Since we received the same $700 million each 
year, we will take a similar approach each year.

                   TIMELINE FOR PROJECT CONSTRUCTION

    Senator Heinrich. Okay. How soon do you think we can see 
actual work on the ground within the projects that you've 
selected? Not trying to micromanage which projects make it into 
that first tranche, but when are we going to see the actual 
work begin?
    Ms. Fowler. I would say actual construction is actually 
going to take some time. It's going to take several months 
because even the Tier 1 projects, which are ready to fund, 
still require some additional documentation to be completed and 
so that will take some months to complete.
    So before actual construction and on the groundwork begins, 
I would say it's going to be into next year before that even 
begins on any project.

                         ALBUQUERQUE IHS SYSTEM

    Senator Heinrich. Okay. Let me shift gears to over the 
course of the last year, the Albuquerque area IHS System closed 
two hospital intensive care units, one at Acoma-Canoncito-
Laguna, another at Mescalero. They did that citing lack of 
resources as a contributing factor to the closures, and IHS has 
now decreased service in both locations to only business hour 
urgent care centers.
    As you know, Congress has passed historic funding for the 
IHS through CARES, through the American Rescue Plan, and this 
budget also increases overall funding for the IHS.
    So I'm trying to reconcile the disconnect between the 
historic funding that we've passed in the last 2 years, the 
increase in the current budget, the increase that we heard of 
about over the course of the last 5 years, and the disconnect 
between that and the lack of service at Acoma-Canoncito-Laguna 
and at the Mescalero site.
    Why are we seeing those reductions in services at the same 
time we're increasing overall funding?
    Ms. Fowler. Let me start with the Acoma-Canoncito-Laguna 
facility. The lack of resources there was the result of two of 
the three tribes withdrawing and seeking to manage their own 
health care programs under the Indian Self-Determination and 
Education Assistance Act.
    Senator Heinrich. The 638 Program?
    Ms. Fowler. Yes, the 638. So the resources that were left 
that were the Pueblo Acoma share of that funding of that 
hospital was not enough to sustain an inpatient facility and so 
we did use CARES Act funding. We did use some supplemental 
funding to maintain operation, ER and inpatient services, at 
that facility for a year beyond the intended closure of the 
facility, but at that point there were no other resources that 
were available to us to continue those services.
    The Mescalero facility, the issue there is the inpatient 
census had been decreasing to the point that we could not 
accomplish accreditation as an inpatient facility.
    The Joint Commission would not survey the facility as an 
inpatient facility because there were not enough inpatients 
that it would consider it to be a hospital at that point.
    I don't think that that is unusual in very rural areas of 
the country, and so we started to consider what is the best way 
to continue to ensure access to primary health care for the 
tribal members who reside in that location and taking the 
resources, running an inpatient facility is very expensive 
because you have the 24-hour support that's needed, and so we 
began to consider what is the best approach for some of our 
hospitals that were unable to achieve that accreditation that's 
necessary and also to assure the quality and safety of the care 
that's being provided.
    And so we chose to shift to the urgent care model and the 
primary health care availability during the normal business 
hours of the clinic.
    Senator Heinrich. Thank you, Chairman.
    Senator Merkley. Senator Van Hollen.

                    AMERICAN INDIANS IN URBAN AREAS

    Senator Van Hollen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Ms. Fowler, it's great to have you here and it's great to 
have a University of Maryland alum.
    Let me turn to the issue of American Indians in urban areas 
because in the state of Maryland, we have 40,000 individuals 
who identify themselves as American Indian or part American 
Indian and nearly half of that population resides in Baltimore, 
and as you know nationally seven out of 10 American Indian or 
Alaska Native people reside in urban areas.
    In my view, this is a population that has not received the 
attention or services that are deserved. That's why earlier 
this year Senator Padilla and I and a few others wrote to the 
President and the Vice President asking the Administration to 
form an Urban Indian Interagency Workgroup. We've not gotten a 
response yet. So my opportunity is to ask you about this.
    Would you support the creation of such a workgroup and work 
with us to focus more closely on the needs of American Indians 
in urban areas?
    Ms. Fowler. The Indian Health Service considers urban 
Indian organizations to be a vital component of the Indian 
Health System, and we would gladly participate and support any 
interagency efforts to address health care for urban Indians.
    Senator Van Hollen. Well, if you could do me a favor, we 
can give you a copy of this letter that was sent by a number of 
Senators, we would like a formal response from the 
Administration as to whether they support our request to 
establish this kind of workgroup which we think would be 
important. Can you do that for us?
    Ms. Fowler. Yes, we will.

                 SUPREME COURT DECISION ON ROE V. WADE

    Senator Van Hollen. All right. As you know, there's lots of 
concern and uncertainty with the real prospect the Supreme 
Court could overturn Roe v. Wade. We don't know what the final 
decision is but that's certainly what the draft decision 
indicates.
    As you know, the Indian Health Services are the sole 
providers in many cases of reproductive health services to 
American Indian populations.
    We also know that the Hyde Amendment has restricted the 
ability of many of these women to obtain reproductive services. 
We also know that in the cases of rape where the Hyde Amendment 
does permit the use of these funds that has to be reported to 
the police within 60 days, and we also know and Senator 
Murkowski and others have highlighted the fact that American 
Indian women have been especially vulnerable and targeted for 
violent crime, including rape.
    So I guess my question to you is if the Supreme Court 
decision does knock out the right to an abortion pursuant to 
Roe v. Wade, what planning do you have in effect to ensure that 
women, including victims of rape, have access to reproductive 
health services?
    Ms. Fowler. Great question. We've actually begun some 
discussions around this topic. I don't have anything specific I 
can share with you today, but we are considering there is some 
regulations specific to the Indian Health Service that we're 
looking at that pertain to this area and our chief medical 
officer will be working with our reproductive health experts on 
reviewing and examining the current Indian Health Service 
policy and considering any updates that will be necessary.
    Senator Van Hollen. Well, I appreciate that. We've been 
looking over the current policy in light of what could come 
from the Supreme Court, and I do think it requires updating to 
ensure that these women have the reproductive health services 
they need.
    I have no further questions. Thank you.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you very much, Senator. It's so rare 
to leave a little bit of time on your clock. Thank you.
    Senator Tester.

                              IHS STAFFING

    Senator Tester. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I'll use it. 
So thank you, Senator Van Hollen.
    It's good to have you here. Thank you very much for being 
here in front of the committee.
    What would you say the biggest challenge is for IHS right 
now?
    Ms. Fowler. Staffing.
    Senator Tester. Right answer. Thank you. You didn't have to 
go down this line like I did a few years ago.
    This budget puts significant money, $21 million, 
additional, I believe, is that correct, into staffing? You can 
correct me if I'm wrong. I'm just looking at some notes I've 
made here very quickly.
    Ms. Fowler. Well, when you're referring to staffing, is 
that to hire staff or is that for recruitment and retention?
    Senator Tester. Hopefully that's for both. Is it more than 
that?
    Ms. Fowler. It's more than that.
    Senator Tester. Okay. Good. So the question then that I 
would ask is, is that, I think your priorities are correct in 
this budget. Staffing is a problem. Doctors, nurses. Do you 
have a plan on how to utilize those dollars to get the biggest 
bang for the buck and get the people onboard that you need 
because I think there's a GAO report from a few years back that 
said you were about 25 percent short?
    Ms. Fowler. So the funding that we've requested in the 
President's budget is there are a number of items that are 
included that will be really helpful to us in addressing our 
staff shortages from incentives, additional compensation.
    There's a legislative proposal to exempt our loan repayment 
and scholarship programs from taxes. There is not a provider, 
but we are proposing $18 million to establish a scholarship 
program with payback obligations for engineers.
    Senator Tester. And these are new programs, correct? These 
are programs that you haven't had in the past?
    Ms. Fowler. They're expansion. They're either enhancing our 
current programs. There are some new ones, as well.
    Senator Tester. Okay. So in Montana, for example, it 
doesn't matter if it's Indian Country or if it's in urban 
clinics, we need more people. So how are you going to get out 
to recruit those folks? How are you going to tell them that you 
have these new programs out there available to them and that 
IHS is a good place to work?
    Ms. Fowler. Well, I think that part of the funding that 
we're asking for, if it's enacted, will help us to beef up our 
recruiters so that we can do more work, direct hands-on work 
with students. We're working to increase our residency 
programs.
    We want to get students into the Indian Health Service 
before they graduate, so they'll be interested and come work 
for us. There's actually several strategies that we're already 
employing, we hope to deploy, as well, using the new funding.
    Senator Tester. That's good. My advice is to be as 
aggressive as you possibly can. Otherwise, it's going to be 
hard to make this happen because the doctor shortage is 
everywhere and IHS, because of trust responsibilities we have 
and because it provides health care to people who really need 
health care, we need to make sure we're staffed up.

                             IHS FACILITIES

    Can you talk about the facilities line items in your budget 
a little bit? Are they plussed up because if you don't have 
good facilities, you're not going to be able to recruit doctors 
and nurses? So are the facilities line items plussed up to a 
point where it's adequate and, if so, tell me why?
    Ms. Fowler. Yes, as a matter of fact, the budget proposes 
to complete the Health Care Facilities Construction Priority 
List that was established in 1993 within the first 5 years of 
this 10-year proposal. It will provide an additional $72 
million for our equipment needs so that we can--when we get 
providers who are just coming out of medical school and coming 
to work for us, they're used to some bells and whistles, and 
they don't currently see that within the Indian Health Service.
    So being able to upgrade and keep our equipment updated is 
going to be helpful in that regard.
    Senator Tester. Okay. So you're a hundred percent correct 
and with the increases in budget also comes accountability and 
so I would expect that you guys will be very transparent in how 
you're doing business so that we know that the dollars that are 
appropriated at whatever level gets to the ground because 
there's a lot of need out there, both in staffing and 
facilities, as you already know.

                         ADVANCE APPROPRIATIONS

    Can I ask, IHS did not include advanced appropriations in 
the 2023 budget, is there a reason for that?
    Ms. Fowler. If the mandatory budget proposal is enacted, 
then advanced appropriations will not be necessary because the 
mandatory proposal will automatically appropriate the funding 
each year for the next 10 years.
    Senator Tester. Okay. So are you advocating, just to help 
educate me on this, that this entire budget be mandatory 
funding?
    Ms. Fowler. Yes.
    Senator Tester. What percentage is mandatory funding now?
    Ms. Fowler. Only $147 million for the Special Diabetes 
Program for Indians.
    Senator Tester. How much is the rest of the----
    Ms. Fowler. The total $6 billion budget.
    Senator Tester. And a $147 is mandatory?
    Ms. Fowler. $147.
    Senator Tester. So in the case of a potential government 
shutdown, you guys have to shut down, and if there was 
mandatory funding you would not?
    Ms. Fowler. So let me clarify. Because we provide health 
care, we don't shut down. We're considered excepted. We just 
can't pay our staff if we don't have any other source of 
funding.
    Senator Tester. But that's a problem.
    Ms. Fowler. Yes, it is.
    Senator Tester. Okay. All right. Have you had consultations 
with Indian tribes on the issue of mandatory versus 
discretionary funding?
    Ms. Fowler. Yes, we have.
    Senator Tester. And on advanced appropriations, also?
    Ms. Fowler. We've not consulted on advanced appropriations, 
but we've been hearing for years from tribal leaders that they 
desire advanced appropriations.
    Senator Tester. Okay. All right. Well, I want to thank you 
for being here. Thank you for your knowledge on this budget, 
and I appreciate the opportunity.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Murkowski.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you very much, Senator Tester.

                     BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE BILL

    I want to turn to the bipartisan infrastructure bill and 
one of the things that is in it is a limit of 3 percent for 
``administrative costs,'' but administrative costs apparently 
includes project critical activities, like the engineering, in 
which case 3 percent doesn't make sense because the engineering 
is often more than that and so like designing a new water 
system is a significant undertaking.
    I don't think of that as administrative costs at all. I 
think of it as a core part of the construction from beginning 
to end to get it designed right.
    So I have pushed for a higher limit of 10 percent on this, 
but from your experience, is this 3 percent limit a problem?
    Ms. Fowler. It is a problem. We do not believe that it will 
fully fund all of the administrative costs that are necessary 
to implement the IIJA funding in a timely way.
    Senator Merkley. Okay. Well, thank you. We want to keep 
working with you to explore that question.
    Maybe the key is that engineering shouldn't be identified 
as an administrative cost. I mean, administrative costs, you 
think of payroll and communications and so forth, but 
engineering is not what I think of in that category.

                       URBAN INDIAN ORGANIZATIONS

    We'll continue that conversation with your team and with 
our colleagues here, and let me turn to the Urban Indian 
Organizations and Senator Van Hollen mentioned the importance 
of that, certainly important in my state of Oregon, and we did 
have the increased funding of--well, it was 17 percent 
increase.
    Did more grants go out to Urban Indian Health Organizations 
as a result?
    Ms. Fowler. We did not fund any more, any additional Urban 
Indian Organizations with that funding, but what it will do is 
allow some of the programs that are currently referral-only 
programs to initiate services, actual clinical services to 
provide the patients.
    Senator Merkley. Okay. I will submit questions for the 
record to better understand how we're spending the additional 
money in that account and understanding how urban Indian 
population is being better served, like what specific changes 
have occurred. Thank you.

                     STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM

    And Senator Tester raised the issue over staffing, 
significant issue, and one of the things that you testified 
last year was the Student Loan Repayment Program was the most 
effective tool you have in recruiting.
    Have you done specific changes to that program as a result 
of the additional funding for staffing?
    Ms. Fowler. We haven't made changes to the program, but 
what it does is allow us to fund more providers with loan 
repayment. The five million that's provided in fiscal year 2022 
will fund a hundred additional providers.
    Senator Merkley. Okay. So the program remains the same, but 
it remains available at more locations in Indian Country?
    Ms. Fowler. Yes.
    Senator Merkley. Okay. Great. Thank you. Thank you.

                             PROVIDER ABUSE

    I want to turn to the Weber Report and the Weber Report, 
it's a terrible story about how there was a doctor, Dr. Weber, 
who abused children within the Indian Health System and we had 
an independent report that was commissioned by IHS that found 
that officials at the Federal Agency on--I'm quoting now from a 
New York Times article in October ``silenced and punished 
whistleblowers in an effort to protect the doctor who sexually 
abused boys.'' This is like the story we never want to hear.
    Have those individuals who silenced and punished 
whistleblowers been fired?
    Ms. Fowler. So a number of those individuals that were 
involved in the Weber case are no longer with the Indian Health 
Service and any individuals who were found by the Office of 
Inspector General who needed to be disciplined or should be 
disciplined were disciplined.
    Senator Merkley. Can we get details on that?
    Ms. Fowler. To the extent that we're able to provide that 
type of information.
    Senator Merkley. Okay. The report has a number of 
recommendations and other ideas have also been mentioned. So 
I'll just quickly run through them.
    One recommendation of the report was you put in place 
whistleblower protection coordinators at 12 regional offices. 
Have you done this?
    Ms. Fowler. We've not done that yet.
    Senator Merkley. Why not?
    Ms. Fowler. Funding and it's a resource issue.
    Senator Merkley. Hmm. Okay. I am kind of stunned by that 
answer because if we're talking about 12 individuals in a 
system as large as the Indian Health Service to make sure that 
whistleblowers are protected, it seems like it should be a very 
high priority, should it not?
    Ms. Fowler. Well, the approach that we've taken to the 
recommendations, not only to that report but to recommendations 
from the OIG, from the past Administrations, White House Task 
Force on Protecting Children, we've consolidated those 
recommendations.
    There was some overlap, but there are some differences 
amongst those recommendations, as well. We currently have a 
chartered committee that has reviewed each and every one of the 
recommendations, determined that their status of implementation 
within the agency. They're reviewing those recommendations that 
have not been implemented yet, which would include the 
whistleblower coordinators, and they are going to make 
recommendations on the priority for implementing those 
recommendations and whether or not additional resources will be 
required to implement them.
    Senator Merkley. All right. I'll tell you what I think why 
it feels to me like this is such an important question because 
in the medical community, there is a huge reluctance to report 
on the conduct of any other members of the medical community 
and so those who do so, it's very difficult for them to do so, 
and if they are not protected, if they are essentially fired, 
it sends a message that no one else will report and if no one 
else will report, if no one reports, abuse occurs, and so I see 
whistleblower protection as essential.
    Now I will in follow up to this hearing ask about this long 
list of suggestions, and I think one of them you have 
implemented. There is a Hotline in place. There's a number in 
place to call, is there not?
    Ms. Fowler. There is a dedicated Hotline for reporting.
    Senator Merkley. Great. And is that well publicized 
throughout the system now?
    Ms. Fowler. It has been publicized, but we are currently 
planning to increase the visibility of the Hotline and make 
sure that it is well publicized.
    Senator Merkley. Okay. And I'll want to get details on it, 
find out how many--when it went live, how many calls have come 
in, are they being responded to.
    Again, people will be reluctant to call if their careers 
are at risk because they share information, and, you know, we 
have seen this issue that arises in every institution. Yeah. I 
mean, it does so much damage to every single child who is 
abused, for a lifetime, that there has to be a huge priority.
    Another is on training and so I'll want to get details 
about what you've done to implement training for IHS employees 
and contractors. Stronger patient safety protocols that are 
recommended, I'll want to get details on that.
    The preservation of records, which apparently were very 
poorly done in the past, I'll want to get details on that, and 
the Blackfeet Nation in Montana, which was very directly 
affected by Mr. Weber's abuse, is asking for an apology from 
IHS, and I'll want to get details on whether IHS has responded 
to that request or if perhaps you know now, you can tell me.
    Ms. Fowler. I don't know the status of that request.
    Senator Merkley. Okay. Thank you. This should be a huge 
priority. Not one more child should be at risk. I mean, we keep 
seeing these horrific things that occur in organization after 
organization, like, for example, the Olympic Gymnast 
Association, like who would imagine, and so if people who are 
sexual predators know that they will be reported on and that 
those who report will be protected, it dramatically changes the 
situation.

                             IHS MANAGEMENT

    One of the things I was very struck about in this article 
was that it said, ``IHS management ignored or suppressed 
efforts to address this danger.'' Well, when that happens, that 
means more children are abused, like a thousand percent 
unacceptable.
    Ms. Fowler. Senator, I agree with you 100 percent. I 
believe we have taken many steps that are addressing the root 
causes of the failures that occurred in the Weber case. I 
believe we made many improvements and I believe the culture is 
changing within the Indian Health Service, and we're happy to 
provide those additional details.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you.
    Senator Murkowski.
    Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and know that I 
absolutely agree with your concern about this.
    Ms. Fowler, you mentioned that it is a matter of 
resourcing. Yes, it's always about our resourcing, but it's 
also a matter of prioritization, and if this was something that 
had just hit the news and we were responding to it, it's one 
thing, but it's not. It's been out there for awhile and again I 
think this is where I still remain a little bit concerned about 
the approach the Administration is taking with regards to 
moving over to mandatory.
    You have been on the GAO's High Risk List since 2017. I 
mentioned that we are just now at a point where we're going to 
be able to take up the confirmation of the Administrator for 
IHS, and, you know, the fact that maybe it's just a hard 
position to fill. I think it really is. I think it's very, very 
hard, but still it makes me think that the Administration 
doesn't place a high enough priority on it to really try to 
move that, and when you're going to be implementing such a 
really systemic change, when you move an entire, an entire 
Indian Health System to a new approach and you don't have an 
IHS Administrator in place, it makes me question whether or not 
you have the talent that you need, the senior executive team 
that you need to make some really important decisions that will 
need to be implemented and implemented in such a way that it 
gives members who have been around these issues a long time.
    Senator Tester, as you know, was formerly Chairman of the 
Indian Affairs Committee. I've been on the Indian Affairs 
Committee for 20 years now and have served as the Ranking 
Member now several different times.
    These are issues that we all care very deeply about, but 
this is leadership and when leadership is saying a 
whistleblowing protection is not going to be prioritized as it 
needs to be doesn't give me the degree of confidence where I 
can say all right, as the appropriators, we're not going to be 
in there on an annual basis and having the input that the 
appropriators do.
    I appreciate what you said, but you'll come back to the 
committee, but I know for a fact that we oftentimes have to use 
the hammer, if you will, of we're going to bring in front of 
the committee to answer to you about where these funding 
priorities have been.

               FOLLOW-UP IHS MANDATORY PROPOSAL BRIEFING

    I just want to add that I did check with my folks on Indian 
Affairs and have been made aware that OMB is having a tribal 
consultation on the fiscal year 2023 budget with tribes, but 
we're not aware of any other meeting out there and recognize 
that OMB tribal consultation and a meeting to discuss this 
shift to mandatory in my view would be very, very different. So 
again I just raise this to underscore my concern.

                         CONTRACT SUPPORT COSTS

    I was talking about contract support costs before I 
deferred to my colleague here, and I wanted to just ask a 
further question in this vein.
    The issues of contract support costs and the situation with 
Cook Inlet Tribal and Fort Defiance arose during a 
renegotiation. So what guidance have you given tribes or tribal 
organizations who are expected to renegotiate agreements with 
IHS and do you anticipate that those agreements are going to 
have to go through an added level of scrutiny now, now that 
this has all transpired?
    What's the situation with these renegotiations in light of 
Fort Defiance?
    Ms. Fowler. The process for negotiating contract support 
costs is outlined in our Contract Support Cost policy, which 
was developed with a tribal workgroup, tribal Federal 
workgroup, and then we did full consultation on that policy.
    So we do have a policy that has been agreed upon with 
tribes for addressing when a contract is coming to an end, how 
we look at the terms of the contract, including contract 
support costs.
    Senator Murkowski. Including whether or not overpayments 
have been made?
    Ms. Fowler. And it includes a process for reconciling the 
contract support costs because the way the process works, we 
pay contract support costs at the beginning of the period of 
performance, at the beginning of the fiscal year, if that's the 
period of performance, based on the budgeted amounts, and then 
it's reconciled against what the actual contract support costs 
need was once that need is known which is after the end of the 
fiscal year.
    So there's a process in place that where it's routine and 
it's normal to identify whether there's an underpayment or 
overpayment that exists for that contract, for contract support 
costs.
    Senator Murkowski. So you don't see that there would be any 
additional scrutiny or anything that would slow or hinder these 
renegotiations then?
    Ms. Fowler. No additional scrutiny than the current process 
that we currently use.

                          105(L) TRIBAL LEASES

    Senator Murkowski. Okay. Let me ask about 105 tribal lease 
payments. This is something that I raise every year before the 
committee, that and village-built clinics.
    In the fiscal year 2021 Omni, we all agreed to separate out 
the 105(l) costs. We created a separate appropriations account 
similar to what we did with contract support.
    Additionally, there was a general provision that was 
included that directed both IHS and Interior to begin this 
process to establish guidelines regarding the parameters for 
which lease agreements could be structured and paid for.
    But since the 105(l)s have started being paid, we've seen 
estimates really kind of all over the board, I think wildly 
unpredictable, and they have certainly injected some budget 
uncertainty into the process.
    Do you consider that the 105(l) leases are stable and are 
predictable?
    Ms. Fowler. I would say no and that makes it very difficult 
for us to identify the amount that's needed to fund them.
    Senator Murkowski. Which has been a frustration of mine 
because again we've got to figure it out here and we're all 
trying to look into that crystal ball to understand where we're 
going, what is it going to look like, and we've asked for a 
more reliable schedule.
    So then going to the Administration's fiscal year 2023 
mandatory appropriations proposal, you have a $150 million 
proposed there. So is that the current up-to-date estimate for 
the tribal leases because again you and I have both recognized 
we haven't seen a level of stability and it's hard to predict.
    We've seen estimates that are shifting anywhere from $10 
million to $50 million in a matter of months. So what are you 
basing the $150 million on, and do you think that that is a 
figure that you can actually rely on then by the time that IHS 
would submit mandatory funding text?
    Ms. Fowler. So the $150 million was based on the best 
information available at the time. So we don't know what the 
final amount is going to be. We don't know if there are going 
to be any additional tribal leases that are proposed. So it is 
going to be very difficult to provide a firm number for the 
amount that's needed.
    However, we do expect that the amount for both contract 
support costs and the 105(l) lease agreements would remain an 
indefinite appropriation because of the very nature of those 
two funding accounts.
    Senator Murkowski. So, I mean, this has been the challenge, 
is the ability to understand and predict what we can anticipate 
year over year. So if you've got a new account structure, 
105(l) has been separated from the village-built clinics but 
both provide funding for lease agreements.
    So the question for you is whether or not the village-built 
clinics should be funded from the same account as 105(l)s, 
recognizing that they both provide for funding for lease 
agreements, because in last year's Omni we included report 
language for the IHS to include an analysis or a study on the 
funding levels for village-built clinics. We're trying to get a 
handle on that one, as well.
    So your thoughts on whether you separate them out and can 
you tell me where you may be on this report for village-built 
clinics (VBCs)?
    Ms. Fowler. We're currently gathering the information for 
the report, and we do anticipate meeting the deadline that was 
in the bill which I believe was 270 days we were provided.
    Regarding the two programs, village-built clinics, as you 
stated, is separate from the 105(l) lease agreements account. 
It's funded within the services appropriation. It operates in a 
different way. It's under a different authority and so there 
are some village-built clinic leases that are not eligible to 
be funded through a 105(l) lease.
    In addition, there are some tribal programs who prefer to 
continue to have the VBC versus a 105(l) because the VBC leases 
are part of their self-determination agreement on a recurring 
basis, they get paid on a recurring basis, versus the 105(1) 
process which requires a proposal and some negotiation 
regarding what's in the proposal.
    So I think there's going to continue to be a need for both 
the village-built clinics program and the 105(l) lease account.

                       IHS BUDGET PROPOSAL CHANGE

    Senator Murkowski. Well, I don't know. I'm listening to 
this, Mr. Chairman, and the more we have discussions on some of 
these very granular details that are very, very budget-
specific, again it brings me back to what the committee had 
thought was a pretty workable proposal in terms of advanced 
appropriations and so I'm still trying to reconcile with the 
fact that we've seen a pretty dramatic shift in the 
Administration's views on how they want to address the IHS 
budget and moving it completely to mandatory, completely 
eliminating the discretionary aspect of it, and also given that 
there's some very technical things, like we're talking about 
the distinction between the 105Ls and the VBCs, I'm concerned 
about the proposal that we have out there and don't believe 
that it is fleshed out enough.
    Certainly we will look forward to having conversations with 
folks in the Administration.

                    ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS (EHR)

    The last point that I will raise is we've been talking 
about electronic medical records for forever, it seems. Last 
year finally IHS did a data call with tribes and I think that 
that was good, but again we now have to make sure that our 
systems are talking with one another, whether it's IHS through 
VA, which is a big deal for us in Alaska.
    We need to understand who's going to pay for any necessary 
upgrades to the system, whether tribes are responsible for the 
cost or whether IHS is planning to do this. So there's a lot 
more to do with implementation, but again I think that that 
will help with some of the efficiency that we need within IHS.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you, Senator Murkowski, and I so 
much appreciate your attention to detail on these programs 
because how they get implemented makes a big difference on the 
ground to so many people in Indian Country.

                       PURCHASE AND REFERRED CARE

    I want to note a last issue before we adjourn. I had 
requested information about purchase and referred care, the PRC 
Program, and was supplied with a chart that I'll ask consent to 
put into the record.
    So ordered.
    [The information follows:]
    [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    

    Senator Merkley. I looked at it and I just went my 
goodness, this is a nightmare for how a person, a member of a 
tribe in a place like Washington, D.C., accesses medical care, 
and if they have a medical emergency and they have to go to the 
emergency room, they have to give notice within 72 hours after. 
They might still be very, very sick or still be in the hospital 
at that point to have a chance to apply and this chart says, 
you know, the PRC fundings are not sufficient to pay for all 
needed services and so it's basically saying we're not sure 
even if you get a setup, that notice in 72 hours that you're 
going to get helped and this is what's wrong with health care 
in America.
    When accessing medical services requires a complicated 
chart like this going through like, I don't know, what is it, 
about 12 different bubbles of checks and while you're trying to 
recover from an illness or an injury.
    So I will have questions to follow on with about this. One 
of the fellows on my team is a tribal member who has brought to 
my attention this real-life example of here in Washington, 
D.C., that he would have to go to New York or North Carolina to 
receive care or to get a referral to another facility.
    So I will be exploring with you how we can make this system 
work better, and one of the questions I will ask about is 
whether tribal members are given equivalent insurance card to 
be able to submit when they need to get medical services or 
emergency services in a location where there is not an IHS 
facility.

                     ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS

    So with that, thank you, Senator Murkowski and Members of 
the Committee, and if there are no other statements, the 
hearing record will be open until close of business on May 
18th, 2022.
    Thank you. Thank you, Director Fowler, and thank you, Ms. 
Curtis, for your expertise and hard work to make this system 
work well all across Indian Country.

                          SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS

    [Whereupon, at 11:27 a.m., Wednesday, May 11, the 
subcommittee was recessed to reconvene subject to the call of 
the Chair.]



     DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES 
                  APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023

                              ----------                              


                        WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2022

                                       U.S. Senate,
           Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The subcommittee met at 10:00 a.m. in Room SD-124, Dirksen 
Senate Office Building, Hon. Jeff Merkley (chairman) presiding.
    Present: Senators Merkley, Reed, Tester, Murkowski, Capito, 
Hyde-Smith, and Hagerty.

                    ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

STATEMENT OF HON. MICHAEL REGAN, ADMINISTRATOR
ACCOMPANIED BY MR. DAVID BLOOM, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

               OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JEFF MERKLEY

    Senator Merkley. Ranking Member Murkowski, Administrator 
Regan, Mr. Bloom, welcome. We are delighted to have this 
hearing today.
    Welcome to this Appropriations Hearing on the fiscal year 
2023 President's Budget Request for the Environmental 
Protection Agency.
    Administrator Regan, we are in a climate emergency, and 
everyday life, we are feeling the impacts. And out in Oregon we 
feel it through the wildfire season, we are seeing it through 
heat waves, and through drought, through dropping groundwater 
levels, through decreased average snow packs, through warmer, 
smaller streams for our trout and our salmon, and we certainly 
see it offshore where our kelp forests are being decimated by 
an ecosystem driven out of balance by the warmer, more acidic 
ocean waters.
    As we come together today a massive wildfire is threatening 
communities in New Mexico, been doing so for more than a month, 
uprooting lives and communities, as tens of thousands of people 
have been forced to evacuate. And it is shocking how normalized 
deadly months-long fire seasons have become over just a decade.
    As you know, the Environmental Protection Agency has a 
critical role in tackling climate chaos, the Clean Air Act 
charges EPA to protect our communities from greenhouse gas 
pollution, and those same communities are counting on EPA to 
act swiftly and boldly. The impacts are here now, and we don't 
have any time to waste.
    We need to act with urgency to address our country's long 
history of environmental injustice. Everyone in this country 
deserves clean air, clean water, and a stable climate. But we 
know that the burdens of environmental pollution 
disproportionately fall on the shoulders of low-income 
communities, and communities of color.
    And I am very pleased that our fiscal year 2022 
Appropriations Bill took an important step to address this 
injustice, providing historic level of $100 million for EPA's 
Environmental Justice Program.
    This significant increase will support community-driven 
projects to improve local environments and public health, will 
embed environmental justice voices throughout the Agency, 
helping ensure the EPA programs and decisionmaking are 
responsive to on-the-ground stakeholders. Of course, much more 
work remains to make the progress we need to remedy 
environmental justice challenges.
    Administrator Regan, I applaud your continued focus on 
expanding EPA's efforts, as reflected in the fiscal year, 
fiscal year 2023 Budget Request. And I look forward to hearing 
how the Agency has moved to spend last year's fiscal year 2022 
money effectively, efficiently, and for this proposed increase 
that you have in this budget.
    And I want to emphasize the importance of continuing the 
work to ban asbestos from our shelves, more than 60 nations, 
virtually every developed nation, has already recognized 
asbestos as a deadly substance, and has acted to protect 
citizens by banning it. It is time for us to join the rest of 
the developed world, and I appreciate EPA's recent commitment 
to ban the most common form of asbestos, one of the six 
asbestos fibers. It is a welcome progress, but we need to 
absolutely end this dangerous public health threat once and for 
all.
    Today is also an opportunity to hear about how EPA is 
administering the more than $55 billion for water 
infrastructure, Superfund cleanups, and other programs funded 
in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill; these resources will 
help communities finally make progress on long-standing 
challenges.
    All across Oregon, I hear from small, underserved 
communities with crumbling water infrastructure that struggle 
to provide reliable, clean drinking water, or maintain 
wastewater systems. We need to prioritize programs that can 
reach these communities who can't come up with financing or 
matching funds equal to the huge price tags that these water 
projects require.
    I look forward to discussing with you how EPA is working to 
ensure the funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, and 
EPA's existing water programs is reaching these underserved 
communities, and how this subcommittee can be a partner in that 
effort.
    These one-time investments can make a real difference 
across the country. But we shouldn't have reached this crisis 
point in our infrastructure in the first place. We need 
enduring, consistent progress in addressing our environmental 
challenges, and for that we need major changes to our annual 
budget. We need to rebuild our environmental protection 
framework which was battered by the decade of budget caps, and 
by short-sighted efforts to deliberately dismantle or damage 
this framework.
    As Congress has charged EPA with additional 
responsibilities to address toxic chemicals, eliminate climate 
warming hydrofluorocarbons, support water infrastructure, and 
the Agency's resources have not kept pace with these expanded 
duties. They have not even remained level. The Agency's 
workforce is down nearly 3,000 staff below its 2010 total, down 
to numbers not seen since the 1980s. And we certainly know that 
the challenges are increasing, not decreasing.
    And as states, tribes, and local partners have faced new 
responsibilities their grant funding has also deteriorated in 
real terms.
    I was disappointed that the fiscal year 2022 budget deal 
did not allow us to accommodate the full scale of need for 
rebuilding the EPA and its grant programs supporting state, 
tribal, and local programs. And I am relieved we were able to 
avoid more of a backslide, but I look forward to the 
conversation today on the fiscal year 2023 request on where we 
can actually make additional progress.
    On far too many of the challenges our communities face 
there is a common theme, we are behind, we are overdue, we are 
late. We need urgency, we need boldness, the impacts are here 
now, there is not a second to waste.
    I want to impress upon you today the urgent need for EPA to 
take bold action on its vital mission of protecting human 
health and the environment.
    And with that, I will turn the microphone over to Ranking 
Member Murkowski.

                  STATEMENT OF SENATOR LISA MURKOWSKI

    Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good 
morning.
    Administrator, welcome back to the committee; I am glad to 
be talking about EPA's fiscal year 2023 Budget Request. I think 
it is fair to say that it has been a big year for the Agency 
since you testified before us last June. In that time Congress 
passed both the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, as well as the 
fiscal year 2022 Omnibus.
    As one of the negotiators for that Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Bill, I am very proud of what we were able to 
include with over $60 billion in needed investments to our 
aging infrastructure through EPA programs.
    The Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act included almost 50 
billion for water infrastructure improvements, 5 billion to 
help clean up contaminated sites, and also 275 million for a 
new grant program under the Save Our Seas Act, to help our 
communities better handle waste and recycling management.
    I have always prioritized funding for EPA programs that 
really do focus on getting tangible results in providing 
cleaner air, cleaner water, and support for our lands across 
the country.
    As you know, because we have had many conversations about 
this, Alaska has some unique needs and challenges on 
infrastructure, and therefore it is just an imperative that we 
continue to work together to ensure that Alaska receives the 
intended benefits from these investments that we have just 
talked about.
    I do appreciate, I am very grateful that representatives 
from the Agency attended a grant symposium that we held in 
Anchorage just last month. It was not only well attended, it 
was extraordinarily well attended by people from across the 
state; about 1,300 people flew into Anchorage, to come, to 
listen to representatives from the agencies.
    And what I got back in terms of feedback was, it was not 
only that I got a glossy brochure on the benefits of certain 
programs, they actually got answers to status on different 
projects. And so very appreciative for that level of 
engagement, but I do hope that a high level of engagement will 
continue as the Agency rolls out this infrastructure funding, 
but also with the congressionally directed spending projects 
that are contained in the fiscal year22 Omnibus.
    I know that many in my state are particularly anxious right 
now as they are awaiting the guidance on CDSs from the Agency 
on how and when they might receive their funding.
    While we have done a lot of great work together on 
infrastructure and other issues I, unfortunately, must note 
that I do have some serious concerns on some of the regulatory 
actions under this administration, and particularly as it has 
to do with waters of the United States.
    I believe that the new WOTUS Rule proposed last year is too 
broad, and it fails to recognize the special characteristics on 
the ground in Alaska, and this continued ambiguity on a 
definition, along with the overreach of the current proposal is 
going to have impact. And it will be a negative impact on 
economic development within Alaska.
    I was happy to be able to host a WOTUS roundtable in 
Alaska. Thank you for making sure that Assistant Administrator 
Fox was there. I think that that was a very good opportunity 
for that kind of back and forth. It is my hope that many of the 
concerns that were voiced by state officials and other Alaskans 
that she heard at that roundtable will be reflected in the 
Final Rule.
    So unsurprisingly, we can't agree on every issue out there, 
but know that I do appreciate your willingness, your continued 
willingness to hear me out on some of these issues. Some of 
them are more controversial than others, but also your 
commitment to work with me on so many of these important 
matters to Alaska.
    One long-standing issue to my state has been the 
contaminated lands that the Federal government conveyed to 
Alaska and to Alaska native communities, decades ago. A large 
percentage of these contaminated lands, as you know, have not 
yet been cleaned up, and the Federal government, for too long, 
has not shown any real willingness or interest to accept the 
responsibility that is theirs, for the remediation of these 
lands.
    And we know, we know because we see it played out all the 
time. If these were--if this was a private entity, some 
business or corporation and they failed to comply with cleanup 
and remediation, they would be out of there, they would be 
sued. Instead, it is the Federal government. And even adding 
further insult to the injury, is knowing that in so many cases 
contaminated lands were conveyed to Alaska Native peoples as a 
settlement for their native claims in--as part of the Native 
Claims Settlement Act.
    So Administrator, I appreciate the openness that you and 
your team have shown so far in engaging on this issue, and for 
agreeing to explore some creative solutions. I think you know, 
I think Assistant Administrator Fox clearly felt, this is a 
matter of environmental justice to our Alaska Native, and to 
our rural communities. And I know that that is important to 
you. I know that is important to this administration.
    So as the Agency looks to expand its role in helping on 
contaminated lands, I am going to be asking for your support in 
having us work together to make some real progress on this 
issue.
    So as we look to the Fiscal 2023 Budget Request, the Agency 
proposes significant new increases across accounts. There are 
some proposed increases in the request that I can support, a 
number that I can't. And I commend the request, though, for 
maintaining strong support for state, and tribal grant, and 
loan programs, along with the other infrastructure investments 
already mentioned. I think that these programs achieve real on-
the-ground improvements for communities nationwide.
    I am also pleased to note that the request prioritizes 
funding for efforts to better understand and tackle PFAS, so 
many communities in my state, and I know in others as well, 
face PFAS contamination and the problems--that poses for 
providing clean water and other services to residents.
    So we need to both prevent new PFAS contamination, as well 
as remediate contaminated areas as soon as possible. So I am 
hoping to hear more on how the budget request will achieve just 
that, and build upon the funding that we provided in the 
infrastructure law to help with PFAS remediation.
    So again, I want to express my appreciation for your 
personal commitment to work with me on many of these issues 
that may be very discreet, very unique to Alaska. I do hope 
that, along with our conversations, our staffs can once again 
set up the All Things Alaska call, so we can kind of go down 
our list as we work through some of these measures.
    So I will have an opportunity to present some questions to 
you throughout, but again, my thanks for being here this 
morning, and for the level of engagement that we have had 
today. Thank you so much.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Merkley. Administrator Regan, we look forward to 
your testimony.

                SUMMARY STATEMENT OF HON. MICHAEL REGAN

    Mr. Regan. Well, thank you, Chairman Merkley, and Ranking 
Member Murkowski, and members of this committee, I truly 
appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to 
discuss the bold vision laid out in the United States EPA's 
Proposed fiscal year 2023 Budget Request.
    In this budget request we lay out an ambitious and 
transformative plan for the EPA, with the goal of a healthier 
more prosperous Nation, where all people have equal access to 
clean air, clean water, and healthier communities,
    President Biden's proposed fiscal year 2023 Budget Request 
for EPA provides 11.9 billion to advance key priorities, 
including tackling the climate crisis, delivering environmental 
justice and equity for all, protecting air quality, upgrading 
the Nation's aging water infrastructure, and rebuilding core 
functions at the Agency to support and keep pace with the 
growing economy.
    Over the last year, we have made important progress towards 
many of these goals. And I am proud of the foundation that we 
have laid together throughout our partnerships that have 
underpinned our success.
    But there is still much more work to be done to ensure that 
all children have safe, healthy places to live, learn, and 
play, build a stronger, more sustainable economy, and to 
advance American innovation and ingenuity.
    Put simply, investing in EPA is an investment in the health 
and well-being of all the communities we serve, and in the 
economic vitality of this great nation.
    I have had the privilege to visit many of your communities 
in your states, and see first-hand the environmental and public 
health challenges many of your constituents continue to 
experience. From unprecedented flooding events, to crumbling 
wastewater infrastructure I have even spoken to mothers whose 
children have been lead poisoned. I have met with people who 
are living with toxic waste in their backyards. I have seen 
conditions that are simply unacceptable in the United States of 
America. From investing in our nation's climate resilience, to 
cleaning up contaminated lands, there is no shortage of 
critical work to be done.
    But members of this committee; let me assure you, EPA is up 
to the task. We are eager to work with all of you to deliver 
for our fellow Americans, and to secure our Nation's global 
competitiveness. But we need your support.
    Both the urgency and economic opportunity presented by 
climate change require that we leave no stone unturned. The 
2023 budget invests 773 million towards tackling the climate 
crisis, and reaping the benefits that come with it. Healthier 
communities, good-paying jobs, and increased energy security. 
The communities hit the hardest by pollution and climate change 
are most often communities of color, indigenous communities, 
our rural communities, and economically disadvantaged 
communities.
    For generations many of these communities have been 
overburdened with higher instances of polluted air, water, and 
land. This inequity of environmental protection is not just an 
environmental issue, a justice issue, but it is a civil rights 
issue as well.
    In fiscal year 2023 EPA will expand upon its historic 
investments made in Environmental Justice and Civil Rights, to 
reduce the historically disproportionate health impacts of 
pollution in communities with environmental justice concerns.
    Across the budget, EPA is investing more than 1.4 billion 
to advance environmental justice, clean up legacy pollution, 
and create good-paying jobs in the process. Across the country, 
poor air quality affects millions of people, perpetuating 
harmful health and economic impacts. In fiscal year 2023, the 
Agency will protect our air quality by cutting emissions of 
ozone forming pollutants, particulate matter, and air toxics.
    The President's budget includes 1.1 billion to improve air 
quality and set standards that reduce pollution from both 
mobile and stationary sources.
    A thriving economy also requires clean and safe water for 
all. Although progress has been made, many still lack access to 
healthy water, face inadequate wastewater infrastructure, and 
suffer the effects of lead pipes.
    America's water systems are also facing new challenges, 
including cybersecurity threats, climate change, and emerging 
contaminants such as PFAS. This budget proposes more than four 
billion to upgrade drinking water and wastewater infrastructure 
nationwide, with a focus on underserved communities. These 
investments build on historic resources allocated in the 
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
    The fiscal year 2023 President's Budget positions EPA to 
create durable environmental policy that sets our nation on a 
path to win the 21st century. It increases the Agency's 
capacity to allow us to meet the pressing need faced by 
millions of Americans, and fundamentally improve people's lives 
for the better.
    Thank you all for the opportunity to be here today, and 
offer this testimony. And I look forward to our continued 
partnership to achieve these ambitious yet necessary goals.
    And I welcome all of your questions. Thank you all.
    [The statement follows:]
                 Prepared Statement of Michael S. Regan
    Thank you, Chairman Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski, and members 
of the Subcommittee. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you 
today to discuss the bold vision laid out in the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency's proposed fiscal year 2023 Budget request. In this 
Budget request, we lay out an ambitious and transformative plan for the 
Agency with the goal of a cleaner, healthier, and more equitable Nation 
where all people have equal access to safe and clean water, air, and 
communities.
            the fiscal year 2023 president's budget request
    President Biden's proposed fiscal year 2023 Budget request for EPA 
provides $11.9 billion to advance the key priorities outlined in our 
new fiscal year 2022-fiscal year 2026 EPA Strategic Plan, including 
tackling the climate crisis, delivering environmental justice, 
protecting air quality, upgrading the Nation's aging water 
infrastructure, and rebuilding core functions at the Agency. Almost 
half of EPA's Budget request, $5.7 billion, is directed to support 
Tribal, state, and local partners through grants and to directly reach 
communities. Additionally, the Budget includes an increase of more than 
$900 million to fully fund the water programs authorized in the 
Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act (DWWIA). The Budget 
complements the resources provided in the bipartisan Infrastructure 
Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and will expand the Agency's capacity to 
protect human health and the environment across the Nation.
                      tackling the climate crisis
    Under the continued leadership of the Biden-Harris Administration, 
EPA is prioritizing addressing climate change with the focus and 
resources the crisis demands. President Biden has directed a whole of 
government effort to confront this urgent threat, and EPA will be at 
the center of delivering on this agenda. The fiscal year 2023 Budget 
invests $773 million towards the strategic goal of tackling the climate 
crisis while also uplifting underserved and overburdened communities, 
creating good-paying jobs, and building a cleaner energy economy.
    At EPA, we know both climate mitigation and adaptation are 
essential components of the strategy to reduce the threats and impact 
of climate change. We will invest in programs to reduce greenhouse gas 
emissions, including an additional $100 million for air quality grants 
to states and tribes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on a local and 
regional scale. We will direct an additional $60 million to improve 
knowledge of the impacts of climate change on human health and the 
environment through our research programs--an increase that more than 
doubles EPA's climate change research. We will leverage an additional 
$35 million to implement the American Innovation in Manufacturing Act 
to continue phasing out hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and we will invest 
an additional $13 million in wildfire prevention and readiness.
    Tackling the climate crisis depends not only on the Agency's 
ability to mitigate the effects of climate change, but also our 
capacity to adapt and deliver targeted assistance to ensure our 
partners across the Nation are also prepared to meet these challenges. 
As part of a whole-of-government approach, EPA will directly support 
Federal partners, Tribal governments, states, territories, local 
governments, environmental justice organizations, community groups, and 
businesses as they deal with the impacts of climate change. As part of 
this effort, the Budget provides $150 million to expand the 
availability of Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) grants and 
rebates, focusing on school buses, ports, and where conditions 
disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, including our 
children. EPA will provide $20 million for climate adaptation efforts 
to strengthen the adaptive capacity of our partners. In addition, the 
Agency will lead through example and prioritize climate resiliency 
investments across EPA-owned facilities. We will invest $35 million to 
pursue aggressive energy, water, and building infrastructure 
improvements to advance the Agency's use of carbon-pollution free 
electricity.
                    elevating environmental justice
    The communities hardest hit by pollution and climate change are 
most often communities of color, indigenous communities, rural 
communities, and economically disadvantaged communities. For 
generations, many of these vulnerable communities have been 
overburdened with higher instances of polluted air, water, and land. 
This inequity of environmental protection is not just an environmental 
justice issue, but also a civil rights concern. Neither an individual's 
skin color nor the wealth of their zip code should determine whether 
they have clean air to breathe, safe water to drink, or healthy 
environments in which their children can play. And yet, the 
development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, 
regulations, and policies has not always ensured the fair treatment and 
meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, 
national origin, or income.
    To address these inequities, EPA recognizes that effective 
environmental policy must clean up the legacy pollution that many 
historically overburdened and underserved communities have lived with 
for far too long and ensure equitable practices for the future. A 
foundational component of the Agency's work to address environmental 
justice is the President's Justice40 Initiative, with the goal of 
delivering at least 40 percent of the overall benefits of relevant 
Federal investments to underserved and overburdened communities.
    In fiscal year 2023, EPA will expand upon the historic investments 
made in fiscal year 2022 towards advancing environmental justice and 
civil rights, aimed at reducing the historically disproportionate 
health impacts of pollution in communities with environmental justice 
concerns. Across the Budget, EPA is investing more than $1.45 billion 
to advance environmental justice by cleaning up legacy pollution in 
overburdened and underserved communities and creating good-paying jobs. 
To ensure the success of these investments, we propose creating a new 
Environmental Justice National Program to be led by a Senate-confirmed 
Assistant Administrator to elevate and maximize the benefits of 
environmental justice efforts across EPA. Under this new Program area, 
more than $300 million is included for the Environmental Justice 
program to expand support for community-based organizations, indigenous 
organizations, Tribes, states, local governments, and territorial 
governments in pursuit of identifying and addressing environmental 
justice issues through multi- partner collaborations. This includes 
$150 million in six environmental justice grant programs to support 
states, tribes, and local communities in addressing the impacts of 
environmental harms. Importantly, the Budget includes $25.9 million to 
increase civil rights capacity across the Agency and ensure recipients 
of EPA's financial assistance comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights 
Act. The budget would also invest $100 million will support a new 
community air quality monitoring and notification program. The Budget 
proposed additional funds and FTE to increase fenceline inspections in 
communities with disproportionately high pollution exposure.
                      enforcing environmental laws
    Enforcing and ensuring compliance of our Nation's environmental 
laws is central to achieving EPA's mission. The Agency holds, and will 
continue to hold, bad actors accountable for their violations, with a 
particular focus on communities with multiple pollution sources. This 
Budget invests $213 million for civil enforcement efforts, such as 
increasing enforcement efforts in communities with high pollution 
exposure and preventing the illegal importation and use of 
hydrofluorocarbons in the United States. The request also includes $148 
million for compliance monitoring and $7 million to implement a coal 
combustion residuals compliance program.
    We know that overburdened and underserved communities are often 
victims of environmental crime. Accordingly, the Budget sets aside $69 
million for criminal enforcement efforts, including funding for a 
specialized Criminal Enforcement Initiative focused on addressing 
environmental justice issues in partnership with the Department of 
Justice (DOJ).
           ensuring clean and healthy air for all communities
    Poor air quality still affects millions of people across the 
country, perpetuating harmful short- and long-term health and quality 
of life impacts. In fiscal year 2023, the Agency will improve air 
quality for communities by reducing emissions of ozone-forming 
pollutants, particulate matter, and air toxics. The President's Budget 
includes $1.1 billion for the strategic goal of improving air quality 
and reducing localized pollution, reducing exposure to radiation, and 
improving indoor air for communities across the country. The Budget 
dedicates $152 million to the development and implementation of 
national emission standards to reduce air pollution from vehicles, 
engines, and fuels. EPA's work to set these standards provides 
certainty to industry, builds on advances in technology, and reinforces 
market movement towards a cleaner energy system that provides reliable 
and affordable energy.
    The Budget includes $289 million to assist Tribal, state, and local 
air pollution control agencies in the development, implementation, and 
evaluation of programs for the National Ambient Air Quality Standards 
(NAAQS) and to establish standards for reducing air toxics. EPA will 
continue to build on its historic progress in protecting human health 
and the environment from the harmful effects of air pollution and work 
to assure clean air for all Americans, with a particular focus on those 
in underserved and overburdened communities.
           achieving clean and safe water for all communities
    Clean and safe water is a foundation for healthy communities and a 
thriving economy, and the Agency is committed to ensuring clean and 
safe water for all, especially for overburdened and underserved 
communities where adequate drinking water and wastewater infrastructure 
has not been a priority. Although immense progress has been made across 
our Nation, many still lack access to safe and clean water and suffer 
the effects of aging infrastructure and legacy lead pipes. America's 
water systems also are facing new challenges, including cybersecurity 
threats, climate change, and emerging contaminants of concern, such as 
PFAS.
    In fiscal year 2023, EPA will continue our work with Federal, 
Tribal, state, and nongovernmental partners to advance water quality 
science, provide clean and safe water for all communities, and protect 
our Nation's waterbodies from degredation. The Budget proposes more 
than $4.1 billion to upgrade drinking water and wastewater 
infrastructure nationwide, with a focus on underserved communities. 
This includes a total of $2.8 billion for the Clean Water and Drinking 
Water State Revolving Funds and $80 million for the Water 
Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program. Also 
included is $1.2 billion for grant programs authorized in the Water 
Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act of 2016 (WIIN), the 
America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA), and the Drinking 
Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021 (DWWIA) and $25 million 
for a new water sector cybersecurity grant program dedicated to help 
utilities and operators protect their systems. EPA requests to fully 
fund all the water programs authorized by DWWIA, including $565 million 
to create 20 new water grant programs, a $240- million increase to the 
Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse grant program, and other critical 
water infrastructure investments. To further the President's goal of 
replacing all lead pipes within the next decade, the Budget proposes a 
$160-million increase for grants to reduce lead in drinking water. This 
Budget request will complement the supplemental funds provided by the 
bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), totaling $8.4 
billion in EPA's State Revolving Funds for fiscal year 2023.
    In fiscal year 2023, EPA will continue to work across environmental 
programs to advance Agency efforts to tackle Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl 
Substances (PFAS) pollution. As part of the President's commitment to 
tackling PFAS pollution and EPA's PFAS Strategic Roadmap, the fiscal 
year 2023 Budget proposes approximately $126 million for EPA to 
increase its understanding of PFAS and their human health and 
ecological effects; restrict PFAS use to prevent new PFAS pollution 
from entering the air, land, water; and remediate PFAS that have been 
released into the environment.
    From the Chesapeake Bay to Lake Pontchartrain to the Puget Sound, 
the United States is home to water bodies of ecological, cultural, and 
economic significance. The Budget invests $578.6 million to continue 
strong support for EPA's Geographic Water Programs to protect and 
restore these water bodies of special ecological and economic 
importance to the Nation. EPA's Geographic Programs deliver technical 
and financial assistance to solve problems and support healthy 
resilient ecosystems and to maintain, restore, and improve water 
quality, which yields environmental, economic, and recreational 
benefits to their communities.
               safeguarding and revitalizing communities
    Preventing and cleaning up environmental pollution that harms 
communities and poses a risk to public health and safety continue to be 
a top priority for the Administration. The fiscal year 2023 Budget 
enables the Agency to clean up hazardous waste sites in communities 
across the Nation, including those where vulnerable populations, such 
as children, the elderly, and economically-disadvantaged individuals, 
reside. EPA collaborates with Tribal, state, and local partners to 
improve the livelihood of all residents of the United States by 
addressing contaminated sites, including Superfund, brownfields, 
leaking underground storage tanks, and other waste sites and restoring 
them to productive use. Reuse and restoration of these sites directly 
support President Biden's Justice40 initiative.
    The Budget provides $1.15 billion for EPA's Superfund programs to 
continue cleaning up some of the Nation's most contaminated land and to 
respond to environmental emergencies. In fiscal year 2023, EPA will 
begin to use the Superfund chemical tax revenue collected in fiscal 
year 2022, along with the $3.5 billion provided to EPA under IIJA and 
other appropriated resources, to implement the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). The 
Budget also includes $215 million for EPA's Brownfields programs to 
provide grants and technical assistance to communities along with 60 
additional Brownfields community specialists. Taken together, these 
investments will ensure EPA is cleaning up sites and fully engaging the 
communities we serve in the process.
    ensuring the safety of chemicals for people and the environment
    Chemicals and toxic substances are ubiquitous in our everyday lives 
and are often released into the environment from their manufacture, 
processing use, or disposal. EPA has significant responsibilities under 
amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to ensure the 
safety of chemicals in or entering commerce and addressing unreasonable 
risks to human health or the environment. The Budget provides $124 
million and 449 FTE to implement TSCA and deliver on the promises made 
to the American people by the bipartisan Lautenberg Act, an increase of 
more than $60 million. These resources will support EPA-initiated 
chemical risk evaluations, issue protective regulations in accordance 
with statutory timelines, and establish a pipeline of priority 
chemicals for risk evaluation.
    The Agency also has significant responsibility under the Federal 
Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to screen new 
pesticides before they reach the market and ensure pesticides already 
in commerce are safe. In addition, EPA is responsible for complying 
with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and ensuring that federally 
endangered and threatened species are not harmed when the Agency 
registers pesticides. The fiscal year 2023 Budget includes an 
additional $4.9 million to enable the Pesticide program to integrate 
ESA requirements in conducting risk assessments and making risk 
management decisions that protect federally threatened and endangered 
species from exposure to new active ingredients.
        restoring epa's core capacity and following the science
    The Budget strategically increases the capacity of the Agency 
across both mission and mission support functions to position the EPA 
to address both current challenges and prepare for the future. EPA has 
lost nearly 1,000 staff in recent years, hindering the Agency's ability 
to carry out its mission to protect human health and the environment. 
The Budget looks to restore EPA's programmatic capabilities that focus 
on achieving clean air, land, and water and tackling climate change. 
Restoring capacity across the Agency and building a diverse and 
equitable workforce will strengthen our ability to tackle multiple 
priorities, from clean air and water, to cutting edge research at the 
Agency. Underpinning all our work is a commitment to follow the 
science, which is why this budget includes $864 million for the Science 
and Technology account, an increase of more than $100 million above 
current levels that will ensure programs have the best available data 
to inform decisions.
    The Budget increases the Agency workforce by more than 1,900 new 
FTE relative to current levels, for a total of more than 16,200 FTE. 
The Budget will also dedicate resources to continue strengthening the 
Agency's ability to recruit, hire, develop, promote, and retain top 
talent and remove barriers to equal opportunity at management and staff 
levels to strengthen and advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and 
accessibility.
                               conclusion
    The fiscal year 2023 President's Budget positions the EPA to 
advance our important goals of protecting human health and the 
environment, championing environmental justice, and tackling the 
climate crisis. With these investments we can advance a better future 
for all our citizens and ensure the benefits of a cleaner environment 
for future generations.
    Thank you for the opportunity to be here today to submit this 
testimony for the record. I look forward to our continued partnership 
to achieve these ambitious yet necessary goals and welcome any 
questions you may have.

    Senator Merkley. Thank you very much for your testimony. 
And we have your lengthier, more detailed written testimony, 
which I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record; so 
ordered.
    So you mentioned climate and the funding for climate; what 
are the most important funding increases for making progress in 
tackling climate chaos, in staff, in research, in grants, what 
is the vision?
    Mr. Regan. You know, thank you for that question. We have a 
very strong vision, and the 2023 budget request covers a range 
of those. On standards we want to focus on the implementation 
of the bipartisan AIM Act which will phase down the consumption 
and production of HFCs, we want to hit that mark of 85 percent 
reduction over the next 15 years, so the Agency requests an 
additional $35 million, and 28 FTE to be sure that we can do 
that.
    We also want to continue to focus on keeping pace with the 
growing economy, and the demands of the market, and the 
employment of our strong unions, by continuing to push on the 
light-duty vehicles, and the heavy-duty vehicles transition to 
a lower carbon transportation economy.
    We want to continue to focus on very innovative and 
transformative technology standards, like the one to reduce 
methane from the oil and gas sector, technology standards that 
allow for artificial intelligence, remote sensing, and just 
fascinating innovation and entrepreneurship that can help 
capture that lost product, while also protecting the planet.
    And then also, we are having some very engaging 
conversations around the power plant sector. The budget 
requests $100 million for air quality grants for states and 
tribes. We believe that states, and tribes, and localities know 
their communities better than the Federal government ever 
could; and on the research side $60 million to improve the 
knowledge of the impacts of climate change on human health.
    So we have got some really, what I would call, pragmatic 
but focused request as it relates to climate change and public 
health.
    Senator Merkley. You can largely sum up the challenge ahead 
as electrifying everything with renewable energy to decrease 
both the massive methane and carbon dioxide releases, and one 
piece of that is electric vehicles; and you have laid out in 
the, or we have laid out in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, 
5 billion to replace diesel school buses. So it is one piece of 
that initiative.
    And we have in the Omnibus, fiscal year 2022 Omnibus, $92 
million to replace diesel engines through, DERA, the Diesel 
Emission Reduction Act. And so we are starting to see the 
impacts of this, 11 school districts in Oregon are preparing to 
use electric school buses as part of their fleet, but it is 
just the very beginning of this effort. How will this new 
funding speed up the transition to electric vehicles?
    Mr. Regan. It is critical. We are definitely building on 
the success of the DERA program, and we are grateful for those 
resources to do that. DERA for a long time has demonstrated how 
funding support for cutting-edge clean technologies reduce 
exposure to diesel emissions for all people. I am really 
excited, and get really excited to talk about the $5 billion 
for clean school buses.
    There is nothing more important than cleaning up the yellow 
school buses that carry our most precious cargo to and from 
school every day. And so there are approximately 500,000 school 
buses on the road right now, the $5 billion for clean school 
buses is going to be transformational in terms of better 
protection for our children, and our school bus drivers, but it 
sends a very strong signal to the manufacturers as well, that 
there is a market demand for these cleaner vehicles.
    Senator Merkley. Okay. So brass tacks, when will you start 
awarding the School Bus Replacement Grants?
    Mr. Regan. We are going to make an announcement very soon 
about the first tranche of grants, it will be $500 million. 
That is very soon, and we are excited about that. And then the 
second tranche will come a few months after.
    And by the way, we are going to make it as easy as 
possible, we want these resources to be able to go directly to 
these school districts, so we are going to have online access, 
and we are going to have easy forms, and we are also going to 
have built-in technical assistance to these school districts to 
be sure that those districts that need them the most actually 
get the resources.
    Senator Merkley. Is very soon, like June?
    Mr. Regan. Very soon is next couple of weeks we are going 
to make a very important announcement.
    Senator Merkley. Good. Okay, great, great. And then I want 
to turn to the issue of wildfire smoke. We didn't use to talk 
about smoke, but so many of our fires burn so long, and in such 
a fashion that smoke is having a huge impact. It is affecting 
our agriculture. It has affected the grapes, our wine grapes. 
It has affected all kinds of community efforts.
    You know, including like, for example, the furniture 
salesman who says, how do I sell this furniture that, you know, 
everything smells with wildfire smoke? Not to mention what 
people are breathing, and their need for places they can go, of 
the aggravation of asthma, it is just having a significant 
impact. Impact on our children, impact on our adults, the 
problem is getting worse.
    So I am very pleased that in the Omnibus I secured $4 
million to start a new EPA grant program that helps communities 
prepare for, and protect against wildfire smoke.
    So can you tell me? Have grants gone out the door? And is 
this going to help communities better protect themselves and 
their community members?
    Mr. Regan. It absolutely will help us communicate more 
effectively, to moms who want to go out for jobs, or children 
who want to go out and play, and are not really understanding 
what the implications of wildfire smoke may be from thousands 
of miles away.
    So this is going to give EPA a competitive advantage to 
communicate these health disparities to those who need it the 
most. We are currently planning stakeholder engagements this 
summer to inform how we can best assist states, tribes, and 
public preschools, local educational agencies, and we are going 
to issue a competitive grant solicitation targeted for this 
fall, late this fall, that meets the needs of the impacted 
community.
    So we want to do a little bit more homework up front, make 
sure that the impacted community has what it needs in terms of 
communication, and then put that grant process out there.
    Senator Merkley. Great. And I hope you will also replicate 
your emphasis on simplicity. So many of the small communities, 
you know, do not have grant writers, they find that the process 
is so complicated that they give up, and don't apply in the 
first place.
    Mr. Regan. Yeah.
    Senator Merkley. And my team tries to assist them, and 
guide them, how they can effectively apply, but we want to make 
sure that small communities, and small counties, with limited 
staff are able to apply effectively.
    Mr. Regan. Absolutely. And one of the things that we have 
really focused on with our core budget, and flexibility with 
the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA providing technical 
assistance, and that is where you see us asking for additional 
resources in our regional offices.
    We know these communities don't have the technical 
capacity, and there are many aspects of that that I have quite 
frankly wanted to replicate, and spending time with Tom Vilsack 
and USDA, having people on the ground to provide that technical 
assistance is invaluable.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you. Senator Murkowski.
    Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Administrator, I might commend to you and your team to do a 
check-in with the school district in Tok, Alaska. They have 
been engaged in a pilot of an EV school bus up there, how these 
buses--or how this bus operates in extreme cold weather 
environments. I am not going to comment on the success, or lack 
of success, but just to recognize that there are some 
considerations, and I think we can learn something from what 
they are doing up there.
    I want to direct my first questions to you regarding waters 
of the United States. And as I mentioned in my opening, there 
is perhaps different impact to a state like Alaska where a 
significant portion of our state is considered to be wetlands. 
So it kind of puts us in a different place than most other 
states, and it impacts economic development, particularly in 
our rural communities that are trying to do very small, perhaps 
very routine projects, and get stopped after this.
    So this was, again, a good roundtable that Assistant 
Administrator Fox was able to engage in. And so I would like 
you to share with me this morning, how you plan to integrate 
the feedback that was heard at that roundtable from Alaska 
constituencies, and more specifically, to the issue of 
compensatory mitigation.
    One of the challenges that we have with compensatory 
mitigation in the state is that we don't have areas that are in 
need of mitigation. For us, we may need some more creative 
solutions allowing the Agency to explore whether its projects, 
like water infrastructure projects, that are desperately needed 
in rural Alaska and Alaska Native villages that will improve 
water quality, just improve life there.
    So what are you planning to do with the feedback that you 
have received? And are you considering these beneficial 
proposals in lieu of what could--what would be determined more 
typical compensatory mitigation?
    Mr. Regan. Well, thank you for that question. I can tell 
you that we were very thoughtful in these regional roundtables, 
and we chose 10 regions that we believe would be more 
reflective of the diversity across the country. And Assistant 
Administrator Fox came back from Alaska with a lot of great 
intelligence.
    We are definitely not just checking boxes or going through 
the motions, these round tables are very instructive for us, 
and will inform how we approach waters of the U.S. As a former 
state regulator, I know the difficulties of ambiguity. I also 
understand the frustrations of an overly complex and 
administratively burdensome rule, that doesn't necessarily 
reflect the needs of North Carolina, or Alaska, but maybe 
advantages a state like Florida.
    And so what we are trying to do is to strike a balance, 
where we meet our legal obligations under the Clean Water Act, 
as a Federal agency and a Federal government, but also provide 
the flexibility and autonomy that we know states need to handle 
some of the conditions that are on the ground.
    And so that is the goal we are trying to achieve. I believe 
that when you look at the current proposed rule, it goes back 
to 2015 which was a--in my opinion--a simpler rule prior to 
some of the changes that were enacted. It will codify some of 
the decisions that the Supreme Court has made. But it will 
retain the permitting exemptions, which are identified in the 
Clean Water Act itself, and a lot of the exclusions that we 
know our farmers and ranchers in states like Alaska will need.
    So we are trying to strike a balance where we get a legally 
sound, durable rule that gives states the flexibility to do 
some of the more innovative things that I think Assistant 
Administrator Fox heard during the Alaska roundtable.
    Senator Murkowski. I am glad to hear you use the word 
``flexibility''. Again, this is not an effort to get around a 
rule, this is just a reality that we don't have a system that 
accommodates what compensatory mitigation might look like in 
other parts of the country. And yet you have extreme need, 
extreme need, when it comes to certain aspects of water, water 
quality, water safety; and so just your commitment to keep 
working on this to ensure that the state's input is considered 
is appreciated.
    Mr. Regan. Okay.
    Senator Murkowski. Let me switch to the contaminated lands, 
and again you have heard me express my concerns and how 
critical an issue this is, and how unacceptable it really is 
that so little progress has been made to date by the Federal 
government.
    We have to do better on this, we must do better on this, 
and again I want to make sure. I am not blaming your Agency, I 
am not blaming the EPA, but I do think that EPA is uniquely 
positioned to help us find a real--and to use your word--a 
durable solution to this problem that has plagued these 
communities in Alaska for so long.
    So thank you for your willingness to engage on this. I 
appreciate what you have done so far, but we are here in the 
committee now, we are talking about providing resources and to 
help drive new initiatives within the Agency. So I would ask 
for your commitment today, to have our two staff sit down 
together by the end of this month, and begin to explore some 
creative solutions to this problem.
    Mr. Regan. You absolutely have my commitment there, and I 
think your staff will find that the Acting Assistant 
Administrator Carlton Waterhouse, who grew up and spent some 
time in Alaska, who was leading our Superfund and Brownfield 
efforts, has some really innovative ideas about how we can 
approach this problem. And he has been doing a great job 
conversing with DOI, DOD, DOE, NOAA.
    So we have got some ideas. We need the resources, we need 
to start putting shoulder to this wheel. And you have my 
commitment, you also have Carlton's commitment, to focus on the 
unique issues that are facing the Alaska natives.
    Senator Murkowski. Well, I appreciate that. And you are 
right, we need to resource it, we just can't talk about it, we 
have been talking about it for too long, and the result has 
been the same, which is, nothing. So I appreciate this 
willingness to work together, and I look forward to what we are 
going to do to change this dynamic.
    Mr. Regan. Absolutely.
    Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you. Senator Tester.
    Senator Tester. Yes. Thank you, Chairman, Ranking Member. 
Administrator Regan, thanks for being here.
    I want to start out parochial. Last week I talked to you 
about getting people on the ground at Columbia Falls, to talk 
about the issue that they have. My staff tells me that they 
were there yesterday; is that accurate?
    Mr. Regan. It is, yes.
    Senator Tester. Okay. So the Superfund process tends to be 
a little bit--well, we will call it clunky; there is probably a 
better word for it than that, but it is pretty complicated. Are 
there plans to ensure that the public has an opportunity to 
give input on any potential solution, and are there plans for 
the people to be able to give input after the remediation plan 
goes public; both ``pre'' and ``post''?
    Mr. Regan. Absolutely. This is an area where we, number 
one, we believe in community engagement.
    Senator Tester. Okay.
    Mr. Regan. To your point, this is especially important. So 
we did have a meeting just yesterday, and I think the report 
back to me was it was a great meeting. We are also planning 
monthly activities with the community leading up to any release 
of any proposed plan.
    Senator Tester. Good.
    Mr. Regan. We want to be sure the community has active 
opportunities to contribute to the process.
    Senator Tester. I appreciate that, and look forward to 
making sure that that does happen because it is critically 
important.
    Now I want to talk about waste in place. We have got a 
number of places in Montana. You know this, Butte, Smurfit-
Stone, potentially, Columbia Falls, where Waste in Place is 
used.
    Let us stick with Columbia Falls, we could go to either one 
of them, and Smurfit-Stone is the same kind of thing. We have 
got an area of land that has been contaminated, that is next to 
the Flathead River that flows into Flathead Lake; that is at 
the headwaters, of water that impacts the entire west. Okay?
    If it is Waste in Place, the question becomes why do we 
even do that, number one? And number two, is there adequate 
testing that can be done to make sure that this stuff isn't 
leaching? Because the reason it was brought to the attention of 
the EPA to begin with, is because common sense would tell you 
this stuff is going to leach into a river that runs right 
through it.
    And so the question is, is that when it comes to Waste in 
Place, do you have accurate or adequate testing regime to be 
able to make the determination, or whether it is actually the 
right thing to do?
    Mr. Regan. We do under the Superfund Program and the 
Circular Program we have in place the abilities to do a 
thorough scientific evaluation, and we also have the 
methodologies in place to do the appropriate monitoring if 
Waste in Place is the proposed option.
    Senator Tester. So if Waste in Place is a proposed option 
it doesn't, like I said, it doesn't matter where it is, we have 
got the same kind of situation on Smurfit that is going to be 
dealt with. Can that area ever be developed?
    Mr. Regan. You know, I would have to circle back with the 
experts to determine, number one, what the cleanup levels would 
be around there. And two, what the developmental opportunities 
would be at the point of the closure, and the securing of it, 
and any kind of future economic development opportunities.
    Senator Tester. Because the reason I say that is because 
when I was in Columbia Falls, in particular, but it is the same 
thing with any of these, these places are pretty landlocked. I 
mean, they are in the middle of mountains, and they have got 
water running, and this area had been industrial.
    And I think the hope the hope that I had, the community 
could have a different hope, and I would absolutely yield to 
them on their opinion, but the hope that I had is it would be 
cleaned up to a point where it could be developed. And it would 
be cleaned up to the point where we didn't have to worry about 
a river that is--the headwaters would pollute one of the 
largest lakes in the west, and everything downstream from it.
    Mr. Regan. Yes. Well, I can assure you that any remedy 
chosen is to protect public health, first and foremost, as well 
as the environment. I will circle back with you on the answer 
of future economic development opportunities.
    Senator Tester. Yes.
    Mr. Regan. But I can tell you, we thoroughly look at what 
is most protected, disturbing, trying to move, and excavate, 
and transport radioactive materials, or looking at a way we can 
contain it to be most protective of public health and the 
environment. So I will circle back with you on the future 
development pieces, but I can assure you, it is designed to 
protect public health.
    Senator Tester. Okay. That is good, because last time I 
checked, as my Native American friends would say, ``Water 
literally is life'', you can live without a lot of things, you 
can't live without clean water.
    Mr. Regan. I agree.
    Senator Tester. I want to thank you and your staff for your 
work on the Kootenai. As you well know, this is an impaired 
watershed with selenium flowing into the United States from 
Canada. I have been trying to get attention to this issue for 
some time, and your regional staff have been very helpful in 
organizing a multi-agency response.
    I am frustrated that negotiations with Canada seem to have 
stalled again, but I want to make sure you have the resources 
and staff that you need to support the State Department in 
those conversations, and from the International Joint 
Commission. In depth, if we ever get to a reference, is there 
anything we can do to help you with the fight?
    Mr. Regan. I think the support that you have given. I 
greatly appreciate it. And we are positioned very well to 
support the State Department, this has been a priority for me. 
As you know, I have also sent the word directly to my 
counterpart in Canada through our international bilaterals as 
well. And so we hope to get it unstuck and continue to make 
progress.
    Senator Tester. And this isn't in your bailiwick, but it 
certainly is in the State Department's. I mean, Canada is a 
huge friend of ours, a great trading partner, and the fact is 
that there is water that flows from United States North, we 
shouldn't be polluting them, and they shouldn't be polluting 
us. And that is really the bottom line.
    I want to talk very, very briefly, in the next 40 seconds, 
and about what we are doing in the area of climate change. Now, 
we have got gasoline, diesel price is 5.50 a gallon. Last week 
I had one of these hearings, it was 5.44, it is 5.50 this week. 
God knows what it is going to be next week. And I think this is 
a real opportunity to get more energy into the marketplace.
    And I would encourage you, as we talk about batteries, and 
buses, which is important, but let us get it so we can have 
batteries and cars that go more than 350 miles. Let us get it 
in over-the-road semis that emit a lot, let us get it in my 
field tractor.
    Mr. Regan. Yes.
    Senator Tester. Let us get that battery technology. I think 
the motor technology is there, the battery technology is not. 
So I would encourage you to do what we can do to get that, and 
get it affordable. If it is affordable, and if it is in the 
marketplace, people will change overnight, and we don't have to 
give subsidies for it. And so I would just encourage you to try 
to push that envelope as much as possible.
    I like tax incentives, they are great, but they don't fix 
the problem. If we have affordable battery technology, that 
fixes the problem.
    Mr. Regan. I agree. And I can tell you I have spent time 
with the executives, and the CEOs, and the presidents of Mack 
Truck, Volvo, and others, the technology is there, it is on the 
horizon, we are looking at the cost effectiveness of it. But 
when we look at our heavy-duty vehicles rules, stages one and 
two, we are just as focused on our longer range vehicles and 
our trucks, as we are on our light-duty vehicles as well. So I 
agree with you.
    Senator Tester. I appreciate that. Thank you.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Ranking Member.
    Senator Merkley. Senator Hyde-Smith.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    And thank you, Mr. Regan, for being here today; and you 
know exactly what I am going to talk about, because it is one 
of my very top concerns, as being the Senator for Mississippi, 
and always has been since the day I got here.
    The Yazoo Backwater Area Pump Project, and it is a concern 
to me, but it is definitely a concern to the Mississippi Delta.
    The November 17th, 2021, letter from the EPA Office of 
Water, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, brought this long 
overdue, congressionally authorized flood control project to a 
screeching halt, leaving thousands of Mississippians without 
hope of decent flood control, and more than $10 million in 
taxpayer money totally just flushed down the drain.
    Mr. Administrator, I cannot begin to express my frustration 
and disappointment by your Agency's decisions, which was, by 
all accounts, an abuse of the EPA's authority under the Clean 
Water Act.
    And to my colleagues on this committee, this may be a 
Mississippi issue today, but make no mistake, the same abuse of 
authority may end up in your backyard tomorrow.
    Mr. Administrator, you and other administration officials, 
including the White House Council on Environmental Quality, 
profess that the Yazoo Backwater pumps are a priority, and that 
you are actively looking for a solution. And talk about an 
environmental injustice, this is a true minority community who 
live in true poverty. They cannot afford homeowners' insurance.
    And you heard a testimony, I think, of Mr. Anderson Jones 
that talked about an elderly man that talked about his Senior 
Class Party that he went to with mud on his pants because he 
had to wade through the water. And he said, ``My grandchildren 
are wading through those same waters.'' I will never forget 
that man's testimony.
    What is the status of that process? And are you involving 
local stakeholders? Are the congressionally authorized pumps an 
option under this administration, and if not, why not?
    Mr. Regan. Well, thank you for that question. And I also 
thank you and the delegation for the invitation to host me in 
Mississippi and Vicksburg, and actually see it firsthand. That 
was really helpful.
    You know, I am going to stay with my commitment to you, 
which is this process is a priority. I think what I agree to, 
and we are meeting that obligation, is I pull the White House 
in. I think there is been a--number one, this issue has been 
there for decades. We can agree that it is not political 
because I think it was the Bush administration that put the 
veto in place, and the Trump administration that had a process 
that was deemed political interference to change the Bush 
administration's decision on this project.
    But that aside, I have asked the White House, the Council 
For Environmental Quality, to convene all of the Federal 
agencies that are involved: U.S. Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Army, 
USDA, and FEMA, to focus on this project. And we have done just 
that. We have got technical experts from all of those agencies 
reviewing all of the available data. There are no options off 
the table, to your question.
    Green and gray, hard and natural infrastructure solutions 
are on the table. What I can say is our teams have started 
meetings, and there are weekly two-hour meetings occurring over 
the next month to put solutions in front of both leadership at 
EPA, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
    So we are tracking on that timeline that I committed to you 
on. We have got all of the agencies; we have an interagency 
council actually focused on this problem. I committed to you 
and Senator Wicker that, instead of continuing to kick the 
football down the road, like we have seen for the past 20, 30 
years, we are going to get a solution to this problem.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. During all these meetings, and all 
these hearings that you are having, and all the agencies that 
you say you are bringing in, it should be very clear that the 
letter that was sent, that the pump project is subject to EPA's 
2008 veto of a different Corps plan. You should easily find 
that.
    According to the EPA Assistant Administrator of the Office 
of Water, the 2020 proposed plan is the same plan proposed by 
the Corps in 2007. The 2020 proposed plan would discharge fill 
material into the same disposal site prohibited under EPA's 
2008 veto.
    This is just not true. The facts are, the proposed location 
of the pump station in the new 2020 plan is in a completely 
different county than the 2007 plan's project site. That is a 
big difference. And when I got that, and I saw that you were 
looking at the things in 2007 in a completely different county, 
I was just totally amazed.
    Another fact, the 2020 plan included in the new mitigation 
features to help sustain aquatic habitat, fisheries, and 
mussels during low flow season, the 2007 plan called for 
nothing of that sort. That is a big difference.
    Another fact, the 2020 plan included an adaptive management 
plan in light of the uncertainty related to the effects of 
pumping out surface water within that area, and to allow the 
flexible decisions making when operational adjustments are 
needed. The 2007 plan did not include any of that. So this is a 
big difference. And the list goes on.
    The bottom line is, the 2020 plan is not the 2007 plan, 
given the long list of differences detailed in the Corps' Final 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, how can your 
Agency determine that these two plans are basically one and the 
same?
    Mr. Regan. I think that, you know, the experts--I think you 
we can agree that this issue has been going on since 1940 or 
50s, and EPA, and Army Corps, and Fish and Wildlife, these 
agencies have been having this discussion for 50 years, and 
placing the blame in different categories.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. But it is time to straighten it out
    Mr. Regan. It is. Which is why I am proud to say that for 
the first time in 50 or 60 years, I got the White House to 
convene an interagency council to pull all these agencies 
together so that staff can't hide, people can't hide, we are 
going to take a look, we are going to do the analysis, and we 
are kind of--we are going to come out with a solution.
    And I feel very good about the process that we have 
underway, because it has never been done before. And what you 
are going to find, with the proposed solutions, is for the 
first time in decades you are going to see a U.S. EPA, a USDA, 
you are going to see an Army Corps, and a U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife in the same administration stop bickering, and agree 
on what we believe to be a legally sound, and engineering 
durable solution to the Yazoo pump issue.
    The other thing that we are going to also do, because you 
raised Environmental Justice, is Army Corps' evaluation of the 
Yazoo Pumps Project has never done an evaluation on EJ, never 
provided any data to support that. We are going to do that this 
time around.
    So we want to button this thing up. I want to button this 
thing up, probably not as much as you do, but I want to button 
this thing up, because it is the right thing to do. And I 
believe we can get it done.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Well, if you look at the facts and the 
science, you can get it done. And I am just asking that all of 
this is cleared up, because this is information coming from 
your office that needs to be cleared up, and I truly appreciate 
you trying to find the solution.
    And it has been a long time coming, and I just hope that 
this is a quick resolution to this, and that it is not two or 
three more years down the road, because these people in the 
Mississippi Delta need your help. And it did come to a 
screeching halt after it was congressionally approved.
    So I think you have got a lot of explaining to do. I think 
you have got a lot of corrections to make. And I truly 
appreciate your efforts in this.
    Mr. Regan. Well thank you. And I agree with you, 50, 60, 40 
years, however many years, is way too long. And this is a 
priority for me, and we want to find the solution.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Thank you very much.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you. Senator Capito.
    Senator Moore Capito. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Thank you, Mr. Administrator. Good to see you again. And I 
look forward to our visit together, to West Virginia in June. 
And thank you for agreeing to do that. I appreciate that.
    I am going to follow up on a topic we have talked about, I 
think it is about 13 months now, and that is the EPA's 
involvement in developing the U.S. nationally determined 
contribution target. Since you testified in April we did 
receive some documents. And thank you for that. So your staff 
had also agreed to schedule a briefing.
    So that has not been scheduled yet. So I am asking you to 
please have that briefing scheduled as soon as we can with my 
staff.
    Mr. Regan. Okay.
    Senator Moore Capito. Good.
    Mr. Regan. And it is that briefing on?
    Senator Moore Capito. On the materials that were submitted.
    Mr. Regan. Okay.
    Senator Moore Capito. The other question on those 
materials, there was information that--I think there was a 
feeling that maybe not all of the information was brought 
forward. You had previously said that EPA provided qualitative 
information about our regulatory and voluntary programs, and 
discussed approaches to quantitative analysis.
    So in the materials we didn't see any of that quantitative 
analysis. And I am wondering, did we get all the materials? I 
mean, are you satisfied that you have presented all the 
materials to our staff that we have been requesting?
    Mr. Regan. I am. I posed this question just yesterday, and 
my staff knows how serious I am about being responsive to your 
requests.
    Senator Moore Capito. You knew you would see me, right?
    Mr. Regan. And so to the best of my knowledge, you all have 
all of the materials that we have.
    Senator Moore Capito. Okay. And I look forward to the 
briefing. I think that will help us understand more some of the 
data. I think there were some questions as to how the data was 
presented.
    Mr. Regan. Okay.
    Senator Moore Capito. I did ask you, and this is a 
question, and there have been a couple articles about, you are 
asking for a thousand more employees in this budget. How many 
people are presently full-time at EPA?
    Mr. Regan. We have--let me get you an accurate number 
here--we have right now 14,000--about 14,824 employees.
    Senator Moore Capito. Okay. So the thousand would take you 
up to 16,200, so you are not even at your full capacity right 
now?
    Mr. Regan. Yes, our fiscal year 2023 budget request would 
support right around 16,000.
    Senator Moore Capito. Right, so you are still, you are 
still shy. You are still not hiring into the max that you have 
from last year quite yet? You must not be, because a thousand 
would be 15,200, so you are 600 people shy of your max.
    Mr. Regan. We are still hiring.
    Senator Moore Capito. Are all of those people back in the 
office and working post-pandemic?
    Mr. Regan. Yes. Our return to work strategy was, it began 
February 28th, our political appointees, and senior Agency 
leadership returned. Beginning March 28, our managers, and our 
non-bargaining staff returned. So we are still--we worked 
extensively with our unions, still working with our unions. But 
you know, we are, in the coming weeks, all of our EPA employees 
will be fully phased into, what we are calling our new 
schedules.
    Senator Moore Capito. Yeah. And your new schedule for some 
people includes fully remote work, right?
    Mr. Regan. Well, yes.
    Senator Moore Capito. According to an article, yeah, that I 
read.
    Mr. Regan. Yes.
    Senator Moore Capito. And then also, coming in one day 
every two weeks, another----
    Mr. Regan. Yes we have a range of flexibilities----
    Senator Moore Capito. So this is not actually everybody 
coming in, it can be a blended system, correct?
    Mr. Regan. Correct.
    Senator Moore Capito. Okay. You know, I had a meeting 
yesterday with some energy folks, and you have been, in your 
confirmation, and I think every time you have been in front of 
all of our committees, and I think you have exhibited this. In 
certain instances you have pledged to have all stakeholder 
involvement to listen to everybody before making a decision, 
knowing that you are not going to please everybody in the room.
    And there was a general feeling within this as related to 
pipelines, and natural gas development, that they had made 
numerous requests to EPA to be a stakeholder, to have their 
positions heard.
    And I think we all see what is happening in Europe, we know 
that the reliance on our own natural--our own energy resources, 
in an all-of-the-above energy plan, and we are feeling--I think 
most of us in energy states feeling as though that is not 
really moving forward through the administration with some of 
the pipelines that have been canceled. I have an MVP pipeline 
in West Virginia that has had some huge difficulties, even 
though it is 95 percent complete.
    I just want to ask for your pledge again, that folks in the 
energy industry have an ability to come, knock on your door, 
and actually have their side of the story heard. I think they 
are doing a lot to reduce their emissions in half on the 
methane side, and other side, I know you are getting ready to 
do a Methane Rule.
    I sense some frustration with them. Do you publish who you 
meet with? And have you had meetings with folks in that 
industry around the Methane Rule?
    Mr. Regan. Yes, we are fully transparent with who I meet 
with, and who staff meets with. And yes, I have met with 
leadership from the power sector, the oil and gas sector. I was 
down in Houston at a CERA Conference meeting with executives 
around all of the potential for methane capture, and the like.
    And so if there is a frustration, I would love to get that 
from you and your staff. But it is my understanding, and 
personal experience, that we are meeting with all of our 
stakeholders.
    Senator Moore Capito. Well, I will circle back with them 
and make sure that that your door is open and that you are 
willing to meet with them.
    Mr. Regan. Yes.
    Senator Moore Capito. Maybe it is just not this 
particular--these were a whole variety of different people, and 
I was sort of frustrated by that.
    On the Justice40 issue, I have tried to, like, dig deep 
into that to see--it is pledged that 40 percent of the funding 
that is going, is going to go to justice communities. Are you 
quantifying that? I mean, is there a website that we can go to 
that is going to show me where and how this pledge of 40 
percent is actually being translated into different 
communities, in Alaska, or West Virginia, or Mississippi?
    Mr. Regan. Yeah I think that--so the Justice40 Initiative, 
obviously, is being quarterbacked out of the White House and 
so----
    Senator Moore Capito. So who would we go to at the White 
House?
    Mr. Regan. The Center for Environmental Quality, Brenda 
Mallory's job.
    Senator Moore Capito. Right. Okay.
    Mr. Regan. And as agencies, we all participating in pilot 
projects to demonstrate how to do this. So let me give you a 
couple examples. With the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the $5 
billion for Superfund and Brownfield, as we put that money out, 
you know, we have got more than 50 or 60 percent--I will get 
you the right number--that goes to disadvantaged communities. 
When we look at our----
    Senator Moore Capito. Are you using the screening tool that 
the CEQ put together?
    Mr. Regan. No we have our own screening tool.
    Senator Moore Capito. Is it different than CEQ?
    Mr. Regan. I think there are some differences, and EPA has 
had an Environmental Justice screening tool for decades. We 
also are very well versed in environmental justice, we are one 
of the agencies that has been doing this for a number of years, 
and some of this is actually built into our programs.
    Like with the State Revolving Loan Funds, 49 percent of our 
dollars have to go to disadvantaged communities. So EPA has 
some built-in infrastructure that really does a good evaluation 
of where our resources actually go. So we are using ourselves 
as pilot projects for the Justice40 Initiative, as some of that 
has been built out.
    Senator Moore Capito. And then you feed that up to CEQ?
    Mr. Regan. That is right.
    Senator Moore Capito. Are you satisfied you are reaching 
the 40 percent?
    Mr. Regan. I am very satisfied with the focus that my 
Agency has given to environmental justice, and equity issues, 
and when I look across my programs, numbers matter to me, data 
matters, fairness, and equity, and transparency matters. With 
our State Revolving Loan Fund Program, with our Brownfields and 
Superfund, we are doing an excellent job making sure that the 
people that need these resources the most, are actually getting 
the resources.
    Senator Moore Capito. Thank you.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you very much, Senator Capito.
    Senator Reed.
    Senator Reed. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
    And welcome, Mr. Administrator. Good to see you. I am 
looking forward to hosting Deputy Administrator McCabe, in our 
Region 1, Administrator David Cash from Rhode Island to 
celebrate the success of the Southern New England Program, or 
the SNEP program as we call it.
    I once had the privilege to work as chairman of the 
subcommittee, along with my ranking member, Senator Murkowski, 
to create the SNEP program.
    Thank you, Lisa.
    And it is doing a lot of great work in Southern New 
England, the estuaries, and the Narragansett Bay, and all 
throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Can 
you speak to the importance of these geographic programs in 
terms of your overall mission?
    Mr. Regan. Oh. Well I listen there. They are national 
treasures, they are invaluable, and we are thankful to Congress 
for the resources that we received in the 2022 budget to help 
accentuate the value there, not just from an ecosystems' 
protection standpoint, but that many of these geographic 
programs provide drinking water for so many millions of 
Americans.
    The $15 million in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, 
specifically for the Southern New England Program, will 
definitely surge the efforts to protect water quality and 
ecological health for diverse habitats.
    But you know, I think that the program, this specific 
program ensures that the strategies that we are putting in 
place are comprehensive, durable, and sustainable. So the short 
answer is invaluable, we have it as a high priority, the budget 
reflects that priority, and we are doing the most with the 
resources that we are applying.
    Senator Reed. Well, thank you, Mr. Administrator. One of 
the aspects why this program is so important is that the 
Narragansett watershed, actually most of it is in 
Massachusetts. So Narragansett Bay is in Rhode Island, so if we 
get funding for Narragansett Bay, that is nice, but if we are 
not dealing with the source of pollution in Massachusetts and 
elsewhere, and this program's flexibility, given the Regional 
Director the ability to fund projects in Connecticut, 
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, that ultimately enhance the 
quality of the Narragansett Bay, it is just first rate. So 
thank you for your support.
    Mr. Regan. Okay.
    Senator Reed. Environmental justice is a critical issue. In 
this pandemic we saw the impacts, dramatically, of disparities 
between racial and ethnic groups, in terms of so many different 
programs, and Environmental Quality is one of those programs.
    I was pleased to see the President included it in the '23 
budget EPA's State Environmental Justice Cooperative Agreement 
Program. In my Department Of Environmental Management, excuse 
me, is working to set up its own justice program. Can you talk 
about how you are going to help develop these local 
Environmental Justice programs?
    Mr. Regan. Absolutely. And I believe it is critical that 
they are developed at the local levels, and I believe it is 
critical that the communities are involved. And I thank you for 
your leadership in this space.
    Senator Reed. Sure.
    Mr. Regan. And what Rhode Island is doing. We are excited 
about what Rhode Island is doing. I know my team has recently 
connected with your staff to think through how to stand this 
up. And we want to be sure that that the state is aware of the 
Environmental Justice Cooperative Agreement Grant Program, 
because we believe it will be instrumental in not only setting 
up the program in Rhode Island, but pulling some of the best 
management practices from programs that we have seen all across 
the country.
    And so we are excited, we are engaged, and if there is 
anything that we can do to help with that success, we stand 
ready.
    Senator Reed. Well, thank you. I am going to sort of put on 
my hat, in my service as committee member, and ask you about 
cybersecurity challenges in your department. Unfortunately, no 
area of life today is immune from cybersecurity, and that is 
something that has sensitivity in national security agencies, 
but I don't know of the same sensitivity in quote-unquote, 
``domestic agencies''.
    But can you just comment, from your perspective, as to your 
cybersecurity issues?
    Mr. Regan. There are. We are laser focused on this, this 
has been a high priority for me since becoming administrator, 
because as a state regulator I recognize the vulnerabilities 
when I was director in North Carolina, 180,000, I believe, 
independent water systems in this country, most states don't 
really have a good understanding of the cyber-protective 
measures that are in place, and how vulnerable they are.
    Senator Reed. Yes.
    Mr. Regan. And so, yes, in this budget we are requesting 
15.5 million for EPA's activities to help enhance the states' 
cybersecurity: 25 million to create a new grant program that 
helps water systems establish and build necessary capabilities, 
35 million for technical assistance, and then 50 million to 
support a new grant program for the resilience and 
sustainability of public water systems serving more than 10,000 
people. This is a priority for us, and we are laser-focused on 
it.
    Senator Reed. Well, I appreciate it, because there are--we 
have in Rhode Island a major water system, the Providence Water 
System, which through the foresight of my ancestors many, many 
years ago, they bought a large part of Scituate, which is a 
community to the west, and they are supplying most of the 
state.
    But we have small systems that are being operated by three 
or four people, and they do not have the sophistication to deal 
with, you know, any type of cyber attack. So I think you this 
is a good start, but we have to be able to reach down to the 
lowest----
    Mr. Regan. Yes.
    Senator Reed [continuing]. you know, the smallest areas, 
and also don't assume that that the big water systems know what 
they are doing either. This is rather novel for these types of 
organizations. But thank you very much for your great work, and 
I look forward to working with you.
    Mr. Regan. Thank you.
    Senator Reed. Yes. Thank you.
    Senator Merkley. Senator Hagerty.
    Senator Hagerty. Thank you, Chairman Merkley, and Ranking 
Member Murkowski. It is good to be with you today.
    Administrator Regan, good to see you as well. First, I want 
to talk a bit about the proposed Environmental Management 
Disposal Facility, we call the EMDF at Oak Ridge, in my Home 
State of Tennessee. DOE is cleaning up legacy waste and 
buildings from the Manhattan Project era of the Cold War.
    The cleanup has been a success story so far. For the first 
time in history the United States has cleaned up a former 
uranium enrichment complex, it has done so 4 years early, and 
under budget. I am sure my colleagues here are pleased to hear 
that. It has made more land available for economic development, 
and like you, I served in my Home State Cabinet.
    We are excited about the potential this creates from an 
economic development perspective, and it gives us an 
opportunity to reuse some previously contaminated land for 
other DOE purposes as well. One of the concerns about this 
though, is that the current on-site disposal facility will be 
full by 2028, and that threatens to delay clean up, leave 
contaminated buildings on site, it could cost hundreds of jobs 
and waste, again, millions of taxpayer dollars.
    For over a decade the State of Tennessee, the Department of 
Energy and the EPA, have been discussing approval of a second 
disposal site. And the process has been transparent, it has 
been rigorously reviewed, I must say, it has been open to 
public comment.
    And I was very pleased to hear that on May 4th the DOE, the 
EPA, and the State of Tennessee reached an agreement on site 
groundwater study, waste acceptance criteria, and protection of 
water quality in Bear Creek, in this area.
    DOE is currently hosting a 30-day public engagement period, 
and just last night DOD hosted a public meeting in Oak Ridge, 
Tennessee, to discuss this facility.
    I want to particularly call out and commend one of your--
one member your team, Jeff Prieto, your General Counsel, who 
has done an excellent job. He and I talked about this before 
his confirmation. He stayed in touch with me. I appreciate him 
working with me on this issue to get us to this point.
    So Administrator Regan, on June the 7th, next month, when 
the 30-day comment period closes, what will the next steps be 
for your Agency to get through the process and sign a Record of 
Decision?
    Mr. Regan. Well, and Senator, thank you for that. I think 
our staffs are very proud that we are on time, under budget, 
and making some headway here. What I will do is I will circle 
back with you and your team on what those exact next steps are, 
because I don't have that right here at my fingertips.
    Senator Hagerty. Understood, my main goal is to see that 
there will just be no further delays in the process. That we 
get it done, get it approved, get the Record of Decision in 
place. There are substantial costs--risk of cost overruns 
associated with this, if we don't get the agreement in place 
now, the timeline is going to get pushed, and we are going to 
have a real problem in terms of running out of storage space 
there.
    Mr. Regan. I hear you loud and clear.
    Senator Hagerty. I appreciate your personal attention to 
that.
    Mr. Regan. Absolutely.
    Senator Hagerty. Thank you, Administrator. I would like to 
turn now to another topic that impacts our Nation's gas prices, 
and capacity, and that is the topic of small refinery 
exemptions. I am sure you are well familiar with this.
    You know, prices at the pump are at record highs, Americans 
are feeling a lot of pain right now, and there doesn't seem to 
be major relief in sight. However, your Agency continues to 
move forward with attacking small refineries by denying all 
petitions for small refinery exemptions from the renewable fuel 
standard. My understanding is that the EPA has already issued 
31 retroactive denials for petitions that were awarded in 2019, 
that covered the 2018 compliance years.
    And industry anticipates that you will deny all 60-plus SRE 
petitions that are pending for 2019, 2020, and the 2021 
compliance years. I just want to ask, Administrator Regan, is 
that accurate?
    Mr. Regan. We have made the first tranche of decisions 
because of a court order deadline. And the second tranche of 
decisions have not been made yet. What I will say is I think 
that the 10th Circuit's decision really informed how the Agency 
should approach these SREs.
    And what we have tried to do also, in addition to the SRE 
issue, is not necessarily have it in isolation, but in the 
context of thinking about how we look at refineries, and 
biofuels, and RVOs, and just getting that program on a much 
stronger footing.
    So what I can commit to you is that we are looking for a 
way to provide certainty to both the AG industry, and refining 
industry in terms of those obligations under the RVO Program, 
and how that plays into these exemptions--that these exemption 
decisions that the Agency is having to make.
    Senator Hagerty. One thing I want to point out is that how 
these decisions unfold will have a real impact on compliance 
cost. And compliance costs, particularly with respect to these 
exemptions that we are talking about, have grown, my 
understanding, is 69 percent since the EPA published the 67 
percent of--the proposal to eliminate small refinery 
exemptions.
    That moves, what was a 0.13 cent per gallon compliance 
cost, up to 0.22 cents per gallon. And if all of these further 
exemptions are denied that will take that compliance cost even 
further.
    Mr. Regan. Yeah, I would like to--and I think we would have 
to sort of look at those sort of site-by-site, because when you 
take a look at the exemptions that were not recently granted, 
there is also compliance flexibility built into that. So it 
ranges from, you know, some decisions have been made in the 
past so far back that some of that compliance was forgiven.
    There is also some that were made more recent that have 
payment plans, or compliance plans, put in place in a phased 
way. So it wasn't a blanket denial, you are on your own. I 
think that that was carefully thought through, and there were 
very serious considerations given to those who we felt did not 
deserve the compliance, even though decisions were made years 
past, and we are making this decision today we thought we 
would--we did it with thought and care.
    Senator Hagerty. So you have got an easy payment plan, so 
to speak, when you have come back and denied retroactively?
    Mr. Regan. Yes. There is a payment plan that has been built 
into those decisions that were made most recently. I can't 
speak to the decisions that haven't been made yet.
    Senator Hagerty. Sure.
    Mr. Regan. But when you look back at the ones that were 
denied you can look back at different flexibilities built in 
for repayment.
    Senator Hagerty. I understand the concept here. I would 
just encourage you strongly, given the fact that we are hitting 
record high gas prices at the pump every day, families are 
having to make decisions between groceries that they buy, or 
filling up their tank. And anything that would increase 
compliance cost, I think we should look at very carefully right 
now.
    And having blanket exceptions, you know, retroactive 
withdrawals of exemptions, I think you know, obviously, puts 
upward pressure on prices, when you have an opportunity right 
before you to put downward pressure by granting the exemptions.
    So I am going to encourage you, please to consider 
reversing course here, in this blanket exemption denial, and 
please take into account the impact on, you know, hard-working 
families that are trying to make things work at home, at the 
pump.
    Not doing it, I think it implicates, not only the economics 
of an American family, making it harder for them to get by, it 
has upward pressure on inflation, it also impacts our national 
security. And all of this I think is something that is 
extremely challenging, in my mind, to understand why we would 
be pursuing a policy like this at this point in time, when we 
see the type of inflation and energy costs that we have got.
    I am also concerned about the way the policy is being done 
in terms of being implemented through guidance, rather than 
going through a more formal rule-making process that would 
actually subject it to congressional review, because I can tell 
you that we would like to have the opportunity to review this.
    It feels like a policy change to me, and particularly given 
the economic implications on the American consumer, it is 
significant. So again, I would encourage you to take a very 
strong look at that and reconsider.
    Mr. Regan. And I appreciate that, and we are--listen I 
understand that people are hurting, the price at the pump is 
really putting pressure on all of our fellow citizens, because 
of this unprovoked war. And I will say that we are very 
thoughtful about that----
    Senator Hagerty. Just to clarify, this started well before 
the unprovoked war.
    Mr. Regan. Well, on the SRE.
    Senator Hagerty. The war may be exacerbating it, but these 
decisions don't have anything to do with the war in Ukraine.
    Mr. Regan. I think that the prices that we are looking at 
now, and then some of the pressure that the refineries are 
facing, this war doesn't help. And these SRE decisions that, 
quite frankly, I don't enjoy making, but have been forced to 
make because, during the previous administration the previous 
administration gave these exemptions out in a way that the 10th 
Circuit Court disagreed with. And so they were remanding it 
back.
    The decisions that we are making in terms of these SREs, we 
are trying to do it in a way where we follow the law. And I am 
trying to stay on the right side of the law, while also doing 
exactly what you just laid out, which is being sensitive to the 
prices that we are facing now, and how we can do that to 
alleviate the burdens of just average, everyday----
    Senator Hagerty. I appreciate your sensitivity to that, 
Administrator. And I would encourage you then to put it through 
a formal rulemaking, so we can have proper notice and comment, 
and proper review by this body. Thank you.
    Mr. Regan. Thank you.
    Senator Hagerty. Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you very much, Senator.
    I am going to try to get through a bunch of questions 
quickly. And first in terms of water infrastructure for tribes, 
and I am particularly concerned about the situation faced by 
the Warm Springs in Oregon who have a myriad of problems with 
their water system. And the Indian Health Service is using the 
Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill to tackle that to a degree.
    But some of the issues are ineligible for funding through 
that mechanism, including the water system that supplies 
hospital, and schools to the drinking water system. Do you have 
a sense of how the funding that comes through your side of the 
world might be able to help in that situation?
    Mr. Regan. You know, we are very in tune with this issue, 
and will absolutely continue to work with the Indian Health 
Services, and we will keep you and your staff in the loop. I 
would say that, you know, EPA's experts have met with the 
Indian Health Service to explore some flexibilities and 
innovation here. We don't have the funding or the authority to 
directly support operation maintenance and repair, but that 
hasn't prevented us from continuing with the conversation to 
think about where and how EPA can weigh in on this very 
important issue.
    Senator Merkley. Well I like the terms ``innovation'' and 
``flexibility'', so let us brainstorm on how to get this--how 
to get this done.
    Mr. Regan. Okay.
    Senator Merkley. So that we have a complete water system in 
that situation. And in fiscal year 2022, we had a number of 
water infrastructure challenges that were addressed through, 
what I would call community-initiated projects, here in D.C. 
they are called congressionally-directed, which makes no sense 
to me.
    Mr. Regan. Okay.
    Senator Merkley. Because it is all about the communities 
initiating ideas, and then we fight for our communities to get 
those things funded. And they are very happy when we fight for 
them, and are able to assist them with the priorities that they 
see on the ground. But when are those grants going to start 
actually going out the door?
    Mr. Regan. I believe the--let us see--we have about 483 
congressionally-directed projects totaling about 841 million. 
We are committed to a timely and transparent process, but to be 
perfectly honest it is the implementation of what we consider 
to be a new program. The magnitude is great, and while the 2022 
appropriations gave resources for the projects, it did not 
provide dedicated administrative funding to support the 
implementation.
    So we are trying to stand that up as quickly as possible, 
and we are working on that that final process. I believe, if my 
information is correct, fall of 2022 I believe is our targeted 
timeframe there.
    Senator Merkley. Well, let me explain something that you 
probably have realized. There is a hundred Senators who have 
communities that have received grants, and they are very 
excited about the grants in there, but they are very concerned 
about costs going up while they are waiting.
    They are like: Okay, we submitted a proposal. We were 
awarded a grant. Why can't we get the check? I would like you 
to brainstorm with your inner circle on, like, realizing that 
these communities will be really well served by finding a way 
to expedite that process, because I am sure you don't a hundred 
senators calling you up and saying: My community just found out 
their costs doubled because the grants haven't come yet.
    Mr. Regan. I agree with that 100 percent.
    Senator Merkley. I am sure you don't want those phone 
calls. All right, so I want to turn to the issue of plastics. 
You can't hardly pick up any kind of newspaper that doesn't 
talk about the expanding problems with microplastics, the 
problems with the plastics being swept out to sea. You know, in 
the past all the mantra was the three R's, reduce, reuse, and 
recycle.
    And when I look at those little triangles, and we sit there 
and we go, hmm, can this piece of plastic that was on top of my 
coffee cup be recycled when it has coffee on it? And there is a 
whole lot of wish cycling, where you put things into a 
recycling bin, but they are not actually getting recycled. And 
a lot of those plastics that have those triangles with those 
numbers on them, there is not even a market, there is not 
even--nothing is happening with them. We are just deceiving the 
American public about it.
    In fact recycling has dropped from 8 percent to 6 percent 
over this last year. So it is not working. What really happens 
with plastics, is not the three R's, but it is the three B's, 
they are burned, they are buried, or they are borne out to sea. 
And now, because of the microplastics, every American is 
consuming, it is estimated, about a credit card worth of 
plastic a week.
    And, you know, there is a lot of chemicals in those 
plastics, hormone disruptors, so on, and so forth. This can't 
be good for our children, it can't be good for anybody, and we 
need to radically improve plastics. How are you going to make 
that happen?
    Mr. Regan. Well, I can tell you this was a surprise to me, 
but in my conversations, especially with young people in this 
country, the very number one issue is climate change, but a 
close second is plastics. And this is something that in 
recycling, something that EPA is really focused on.
    We are in the process of developing a national strategy to 
reduce plastics and other waste in waterways and oceans--which 
identifies key actions that are needed to reduce and collect 
plastic waste material. And these are strategies that are part 
of a series of strategies on building a circular economy for 
all, that we believe will fulfill the mandate for strategy 
under our Save Our Seas Act 2.0.
    And so that is where we are focusing most of our time, 
efforts, and resources, and we believe that will contribute to 
the solution that you are looking for.
    Senator Merkley. Yeah. Well, here is my impression. There 
is a whole lot of nice sounding language regarding reducing 
waste, and improving recycling in a circular economy, but a 
whole lot of inaction and actually delivering changes. When we 
grab our coffee, and we get a plastic cap on it. Why is that 
necessary? Why can't it be done in some other fashion?
    I mean, you have got research teams, you have got experts, 
we need a dramatically improved plan, not just simply a new 
version of a recycling strategy that fails for a whole host of 
very understandable reasons. And so I am going to really push 
the Agency to say, this is a huge, huge issue. And failure on 
this is a massive failure for the American people. So I will 
keep pressing for a really dramatic, significant set of 
solutions to be proposed and implemented by the Agency.
    Mr. Regan. Yes, absolutely.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you. Senator Murkowski.
    Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Just to follow up on the Chairman's comments about 
plastics. As you well know, we have challenges in Alaska with 
recycling efforts, just limited capacity. Most of our recycled 
product is shipped outside, probably down to Senator Merkley's 
state in Oregon.
    Senator Merkley. We are happy for you to keep that up 
there.
    Senator Murkowski. Well, we are trying to get it out, and 
get it to a place where it can be recycled, but the marine 
debris that we deal with, that just comes to our shoreline as a 
result of the currents, it is just--we may be doing a good job 
of keeping our state clean, but it gets delivered on our 
beaches, it gets delivered on our coastline.
    And so it is costly to remove it, and of course the longer 
that it stays there in the title zone, the more the debris 
deteriorates into microplastics, the more challenging it is on 
a host of different levels. So the Agency, I think, is rightly 
looking at what more we need to be doing. I was pleased to see 
that a Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research Grant was 
provided to an Alaska constituent who has a pretty innovative 
way of recycling plastic ocean waste. So we are encouraged by 
levels of innovation like that.
    But as you are looking to expand grants for recycling 
efforts, I am hoping that you are also going to be considering 
in seeking funding for marine debris and plastic ocean waste 
collection and recycling efforts, as well as that, as well as 
what you have just discussed with the Chairman.
    Mr. Regan. Okay.
    Senator Murkowski. So I mentioned PFAS, again this is a big 
issue for us in Alaska, but I know that it is a priority for 
others on the committee, and here in Congress, and in my state 
the list of communities that is facing the challenges of PFAS 
and PFAS contamination is only growing.
    As you know, we had 10 billion in the Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Law that is going to be helpful, but we have got 
to start making meaningful impact on PFAS contamination while 
we wait for Federal standards. And I think the Infrastructure 
Bill is a good first step on that.
    So can you walk the committee through how you envision this 
10 billion from that law making a difference on PFAS? And how 
the Agency is working with states, working with our local 
communities to perhaps provide some best practices on how to 
spend these funds on remediation of PFAS?
    Mr. Regan. Absolutely. You know, this is a top priority for 
the administration, and so we have got a couple of tracks 
going, but we do have this PFAS strategy for the $10 billion. 
You know, most of these funds are being pushed through to the 
states being provided, as fully forgivable loans or grants 
without a state match required. So that is going to help us get 
the resources to the communities that need them the most, in 
terms of putting some protective measures in place.
    We are also working on guidance for the proper destruction 
and disposal of PFAS, so we want to be able to not only give 
these communities resources to handle the products, but we want 
to be able to give the right guidance as well.
    Senator Murkowski. So are you working with the Department 
of Defense on that in terms of the proper destruction of PFAS?
    Mr. Regan. We are on track to update our guidance on that. 
And yes, we are working with the Department of Defense, we are 
working with HHS, we are working in an inner agency capacity to 
be sure that we are all focused on solving the same problem.
    Senator Murkowski. Okay. All right. Well, sooner is better 
than later, but I think you agree with that. And I appreciate 
that the administration is placing a priority on it.
    PM2.5, we can't have a hearing on EPA's budget without 
talking about fine particulate matter. This is an ongoing issue 
of course, in primarily the Fairbanks North Star Borough. I 
just wanted to check in with you on the current status of the 
PM2.5 standards. In June of last year you announced that you 
were going to re-examine the previous administration's decision 
in 2020 to retain the existing particulate matter on national 
ambient air quality standards.
    So can you give me an update on the Agency's review, and if 
you have made a decision to revise the 2020 Rule? And if so, 
what the timeline is for a proposed and then a final rule on 
that?
    Mr. Regan. Yes. We are working on. We are continuing to 
work closely with the Alaska Department of Environmental 
Conservation, and the Fairbanks North Star Borough to continue 
to provide technical assistance there. I think we have met, or 
our team has met with the mayor a number of times this year, 
just to talk about PM2.5, more specifically the challenges of 
wood stoves.
    And we are continuing to coordinate and meet regularly with 
Nescon to better understand some of the concerns. And then we 
are--we have, you know, since 2016 awarded over $31 million in 
grants. So we are continuing to have that conversation, to look 
at some of the unique aspects of the Fairbanks community, and 
we are just going to continue to push that ball.
    Senator Murkowski. Well, if there is a new proposed rule, 
we want to make sure that there is going to be plenty of 
opportunity for public review and comment on that, and just 
making sure that these very unique concerns related to the 
issues there, again primarily in Fairbanks North Star Borough 
are considered.
    Mr. Regan. Absolutely.
    Senator Murkowski. So you mentioned wood stove testing, and 
again, this is an issue where you have a real genuine, 
committed effort by those in the community to address a 
problem, and we have got a situation where we don't have the 
technology, or the standards to--that are in place to 
appropriately address this issue.
    So what we have is a situation where people in the 
Fairbanks area, in a non-attainment area want to try to address 
their own level of emissions. They are being told that if you 
buy a new wood stove, then you are going to be able to make 
some impact there.
    And yet the Agency is letting wood stoves come to market 
that don't meet the existing standards. And so we have got a 
great program through the Targeted Airshed Grant, but this wood 
stove change-out, we are using good Federal money, important 
taxpayer dollars, but because of the standards issue it is not 
making a difference. And that is not fair to the constituents, 
it is not fair to the Agency, it is really not fair to anyone. 
So this is something that we have got to do better on.
    I had the mayor and his assistant fly out to Washington, 
D.C., specifically to have a meeting with folks in the Agency, 
and when they got here they were told: Okay fine, your meeting 
is on Zoom, and we will meet you--you know, come online at X 
o'clock.
    They came to my office instead. And I said no, you have 
flown all away from Fairbanks, Alaska, to be here, we are going 
to get the individuals that you have been talking to, in. This 
goes to the point that Senator Capito raised about, you know, 
whether or not EPA folks are actually back in office. And they 
told me that that was the very first week that they had been 
called back in, and weren't quite sure what their protocols 
are.
    I just share that with you, because it was a real live 
instance where you have got a serious issue with constituents, 
they have managed to make the effort to come back here, and 
their government isn't there. So their Senator has to call the 
Agency and demand a meeting.
    They came over, it worked out fine, they got good 
information back and forth, I think both sides would agree it 
was a meeting worth taking. But I just need to know that we are 
going to--we are going to see some better efforts in how EPA is 
reviewing the current wood stove standards, and how, in the 
meantime, you are you are engaging the industry to fix the 
current flaws here. So it is it is something that shouldn't be 
so hard, and I am hoping that we are making better progress 
than we have seen.
    I have gone on far longer than I have. But thank you, Mr. 
Chairman, for letting me raise that issue before the 
Administrator this morning.
    Mr. Regan. Thank you for sharing that.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you. Senator Hyde-Smith.,
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    You know, I keep up with the Mississippi River on my phone, 
because of the unnecessary flooding that we just stay under a 
threat of. And a few days ago the Corps closed the Steele Bayou 
floodgates, because the Mississippi River is on the rise. And 
that means the rivers and streams that are inside the levee 
system, they have no exit because we have no pumps.
    So with any measurable rainfall right now, today, as we sit 
here in the next several hours, in the next few days, we could 
be looking at another flood. And I just want to invite you that 
if that does occur, I would love for you to come down and join 
me in a helicopter ride over the river, to see the 
significance. And that is all I have.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you very much, Senator.
    I imagine, Administrator, you are familiar with the term, 
``Insect Armageddon''?
    Mr. Regan. Yes.
    Senator Merkley. We have seen a massive drop in insects in 
this country. I am really struck by how being a kid when we 
drive north and south in the state; we would always be stopping 
to clean all the insects off our windshield, and now that is a 
very, very rare moment.
    And we see it in things, for example, like the collapse of 
the monarch. And California has taken efforts to do things, 
such as plant significant amounts of milkweed, but one of the 
things, that I took a trip down to California to go to over one 
of the overwintering spots along the coast.
    And they are noting now some of the challenges include 
things like, with climate change, the milkweed rhythm is 
changing, and sometimes the milkweed isn't out at the time that 
the monarchs need to start leaving the coast to the first kind 
of evolution of--because they go through several life--several 
life cycles of subsequent groups in a single year.
    And also that milkweed that people might plant to help out 
monarchs in their home gardens and so forth, they may be 
contaminated with neonicotinoids, or other pesticides that will 
actually hurt pollinators rather than help them.
    Anyway this issue of pollinators is a big deal for the 
broader ecosystem, and how is the EPA really tackling this 
problem?
    Mr. Regan. Well, thank you for that question. And you know, 
we recognize, as you do, that pollinators are important to the 
environment and the economy. And I think the Endangered Species 
Act is one of EPA's best tools to protect endangered 
pollinators when we register pesticides.
    And so we have invested heavily in strengthening our work 
in this area. In the 2023 budget it proposes to include, for 
the first time ever, a targeted increase for our ESA pesticide 
work. So we have asked for $4.9 million and 10 FTE to focus 
specifically on this issue.
    We are also working to finish our review of some of the 
pesticides that pollinators are vulnerable to, although some of 
this work has slipped a little bit behind where we want to be, 
we are continuing to forge ahead on this very important issue. 
So it is a priority, and it is reflected in our budget.
    Senator Merkley. I will give you just one example of the 
types of things that might be real facts on the ground changes, 
and that is to have a system in which we can make sure that as 
we replant pollinators, or the flowers, and appropriate plants 
for pollinators, we are making sure that that they are raised 
in a fashion, that is that the plants are prepared in the 
nurseries in a fashion that doesn't make them damaging to 
insects rather than helpful.
    And so it is just one of the pieces to look at. And I hope 
that there will be a moment 10 years from now when we can say 
that that 98 percent collapse in the monarch has been reversed 
before we lose the western monarch. But it is just as--it is a 
beautiful symbol, but it is representative of the broader 
challenge of a whole classes of pollinators, including, 
obviously, our bee populations.
    I want to turn to your broad effort to rebuild the EPA, and 
we have seen a proposal for a really significant expansion, and 
you have got a lot going on with toxic chemicals, and water 
supplies, and hydrofluorocarbons, you have got a massive set of 
responsibilities.
    So as you look at your plan to go forward, and your work--
restore your workforce, you are also facing a retirement wave. 
And I understand that 43 percent of your workforce have enough 
service that they could be retirement eligible within 5 years. 
And so not only rebuilding the vacancies you have now, but 
preparing for probably a significant wave of retirements.
    How will your budget proposal rebuild and modernize EPA's 
enforcement and compliance efforts in the context of this 
personnel challenge?
    Mr. Regan. You know, I think that the enforcement piece is 
something that I have indicated we are wanting to build up and 
build capacity up very quickly, because we have a lot of laws 
and rules on the books that just aren't being enforced, that 
protect our most vulnerable.
    So our enforcement budget is mostly comprised of many of 
those employees--any of the employees that are in our regional 
offices. Our 2023 budget request is about $104 million, we are 
asking for 122 FTE that will ensure EPA can follow through with 
compliance and enforce our Nation's environmental laws.
    I would say that, you know, unfortunately, our enforcement 
budget has remained flat over time as payroll costs have 
increased, in addition to cost of living adjustments. And so as 
a result, during the past decade, we have seen about a 22 
percent of our enforcement capacity, or resources drop.
    We need more boots on the ground. We need to be able to 
follow through and do our job to protect our fellow citizens. 
And so this fiscal year 2023 budget has that pragmatic, and 
practical request in there to get us to that workforce level 
that we need to be at.
    Senator Merkley. So I did specifically mention enforcement. 
But let me turn more broadly to your overall number of staff 
that you need to add. And I was glancing back, looking at the 
fiscal year 2023 request proposes to fund 16,200 FTE, an 
increase of 2,000 above fiscal year 2021 staffing level. So now 
let me just kind of zoom out to this broader challenge of 
those--how essential are those 2,000 staff members? And I think 
you are going--is that in addition to the thousand that you are 
you are hoping to hire through the Bipartisan Infrastructure 
Bill?
    Mr. Regan. We are looking at an addition, yes. We know that 
the resources that we are asking for, for the Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Law, those are resources that look at a five-
year window. We are trying to really rebuild the core EPA 
workforce here.
    To the point you just made about 25 percent of all EPA 
employees are eligible to retire with 19 percent eligible in 
the next 5 years. And so we can look at just really basic 
examples. If we want to implement the TSCA laws the way 
Congress has asked that we do, we need the bodies there to do 
that. We have about 200 less staff to focus on processing, and 
getting new chemicals to the market, than we did in 1988.
    So we need to rebuild capacity at the core, but we also 
really need to rebuild capacity in strategic programs that, 
quite frankly, are trying to keep pace with the growing 
economy.
    Senator Merkley. Yeah. Thank you, and thank you for 
highlighting the toxic chemicals bill, the TCSA Bill, with the 
Lautenberg rewrite of it, the Lautenberg amendments. And 
consumers in America, are just kind of really believe that we 
are monitoring the chemicals that go into products in a way we 
are not. But TCSA makes that possible as rewritten, but you 
need the personnel, the 200 FTE that you noted, the additional 
200 FTE to make it work. I think that is incredibly important.
    On that note, I will turn back to my colleague from Alaska.
    Senator Murkowski. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the 
Administrator for being here this morning, for the engagement 
that you have had with each of us on issues, some very 
parochial, some more national in scope, and just would ask that 
you continue with a very direct engagement as you have 
committed to.
    I share the Chairman's desire, and concern, and knowing 
what we can anticipate with regards to the guidance, and the 
guidelines with the congressionally directed spending. This is 
something where I think we know full well, certainly on the 
water and wastewater projects that we have in Alaska, a very, 
very keen interest in starting to move out on this quickly.
    And in many parts of my state we have got issues where 
timing is pretty important, as the season is not unlimited as 
we work to build out these projects. I wanted to just ask a 
question, and based on--based on your response to the Chairman, 
you probably have not yet determined, but the staffing set 
asides from the infrastructure bill funding, curious to know 
whether they could be used to help offset the costs of 
administering the congressionally directed spending projects.
    That is something that has been raised. So as you are 
considering that, perhaps you should just include that as part 
of the discussion as you are moving forward in laying down this 
particular guidance.
    And with that, Mr. Chairman, I thank the Administrator. And 
thank you for having a good hearing today.
    Mr. Regan. Thank you very much.

                     ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS

    Senator Merkley. Thank you, Senator. And if there are no 
other statements, the hearing record will be open until the 
close of business on May 25th.
            Questions Submitted by Senator Dianne Feinstein
                    california coast dumping cleanup
    Question. I continue to be deeply concerned about industrial waste 
dumped off the California coast between the 1930s and 1960s that still 
remains in our ocean. This toxic waste includes DDT--a chemical so 
harmful it was banned in 1972.
    We now know that oil and gas-related chemicals are also likely to 
have been dumped there as well. Scientific studies point to decades of 
detrimental impacts to the marine life, including cancer in dolphins, 
sea lions and California Condors.
    The survey conducted by NOAA and partners in March 2021 mapped 
approximately 36,000 acres at 3000 feet depth of the sea floor. This 
area, known as dumpsite #2, revealed around 26,000 dumped barrels of 
industrial waste, and over 100,000 other debris objects. We also know 
based on historical record, there are a total of 14 known offshore 
dumpsites off the California coast. This is alarming.
    Both EPA and NOAA have informed my office a number of times that 
they have more questions than answers on this problem and a follow-up 
survey mission is the best next step to understand the state of the 
barrels, as well as the chemicals in them and around them in the water 
and on the sea floor. Yet, more than a year later, neither agency has 
provided a funding estimate or including funding in the fiscal year 
2023 budget proposal despite repeated requests by my staff, nor a plan 
of action for next steps. Lastly, EPA has yet to fulfill its commitment 
to a public website for the public to learn more and understand the 
scope of the issue.
    Administrator Regan, I ask, once again, that EPA and its partners 
act with urgency and prioritize this issue. Can you describe the next 
steps EPA will take to help us better understand the impacts of this 
historic ocean dumping?
    Answer. This historic toxic dumping is a major problem off the 
California coast.
    Although the United States outlawed this practice decades ago, 
major problems and risks from these lingering chemicals still exist. 
Based upon scientific studies, EPA agrees that these deep- water sites 
need to be further examined. EPA is collaborating with state and 
Federal agencies and key institutions, including the Scripps Institute 
of Oceanography and the University of California Santa Barbara, to 
identify a strategy to investigate this area and the potential risk to 
human health and the marine environment.
    Question. Does EPA have the statutory authority it needs to monitor 
or conduct testing on the impacts of the DDT and other toxic waste that 
was dumped decades ago but remains active in our environment?
    Answer. CERCLA provides discretionary authority under Sections 
104(a) and 104(b) to undertake monitoring and testing of releases or 
threatened releases of hazardous substances, such as DDT and to respond 
to releases or threats of release, including releases into United 
States territorial waters or ocean waters with natural resources under 
the exclusive management authority of the United States. The US Coast 
Guard is delegated lead response authority for releases in the coastal 
zone, with EPA serving in a support capacity, subject to further 
agreement between the Agencies.
                          bay delta watershed
    Question. I appreciate the President's budget proposal investing in 
geographic ecosystem restoration programs nationwide including San 
Francisco Bay Delta, however, I am disappointed that San Francisco Bay 
appears to be the only program--when compared to at least seven 
others--not to have received a funding increase despite demonstrated 
need of the region and success of the program.
    The San Francisco Bay Delta watershed system is one of the largest 
in the nation. It covers 75,000 square miles and includes the largest 
estuary on the west coasts of North and South America. It also contains 
the only inland delta in the world. In addition, the watershed provides 
a primary source of drinking water for 25 million Californians, 
irrigation for 7000 square miles of agriculture, and includes important 
economic resources such as California's water supply infrastructure, 
ports, deepwater shipping channels, major highway and railroad 
corridors, and energy lines. In the Delta specifically, declining water 
quality and increasing demand for limited water resources are the 
subject of intense review and planning to protect this valuable 
resource for the future.
    The watershed includes a diversity of fresh water, brackish water, 
and salt water aquatic habitats. Several endangered and threatened 
aquatic species are found here including delta smelt, steelhead, spring 
run Chinook salmon, winter run Chinook salmon, and others. Two-thirds 
of California's salmon pass through these waters, and at least half of 
the state's Pacific Flyway migratory water birds rely on the region's 
wetlands.
    Administrator Regan, can you provide an explanation as to why San 
Francisco Bay did not receive an increase from fiscal year 2022 funding 
levels in your budget proposal for fiscal year 2023 while at least 
seven other programs received double or more, including similar 
programs such as Puget Sound and South Florida?
    Answer. EPA is committed to continue working with Congress, as well 
as our Federal and state partners, to protect human health, support 
economic growth, and improve environmental conditions for Americans 
that live and work in the San Francisco Bay Delta.
    The fiscal year 2023 President's Budget was formulated before 
enacted levels were fully available for the San Francisco Bay Program 
and, therefore, reflected a $3 million increase when compared to the 
fiscal year 2022 Annualized Continuing Resolution Levels as contained 
in the request.
                    south coast air quality district
    Question. For over 20 years, the South Coast Air Quality District 
has been working to meet Federal Clean Air Act standards. Since these 
standards were set in 1997, California has led the nation in taking 
action against pollution and climate change.
    While I am appreciative of the EPA's action to reinstate 
California's waiver so it can set its own fuel emissions standards, as 
well as actions to increase standards for heavy-duty trucks and 
regulate hydrofluorocarbons, I think we can both agree that the Federal 
government must do more to limit emissions, including from ocean-faring 
cargo ships, trains, and out-of-state trucks and airplanes--all of 
which affect the South Coast's air quality. Until it does so, it is 
unreasonable to expect that the state will meet their Federal air 
quality goals, and still more unreasonable to penalize air quality 
districts for non-attainment. Further, the withholding of highway funds 
in pursuit of this penalty will only make it more difficult for the 
district to complete projects which would help them reach their 
attainment goals.
    What is the EPA doing to fast-track emissions standards for 
interstate and international travel and commerce, including ships, 
trains, trucks, and airplanes?
    Answer. EPA recognizes the significance of the public health 
challenges that California faces and is acting on a range of fronts to 
reduce emissions from the transportation sector. That includes: a March 
2022 proposal to reduce oxides of nitrogen from Heavy Duty Vehicles, 
for which EPA intends to finalize standards by December 2022; 
evaluating whether emissions from piston-engine aircraft operating on 
leaded fuel contribute to air pollution that endangers public health 
and welfare, then issuing a proposal this year for public review and 
comment, and taking final action in 2023; and leveraging the 
significant investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law's Clean 
School Bus program to achieve air quality improvements in communities 
and help drive the market for electric heavy duty vehicles. In 
addition, EPA is engaged as an active member of the U.S. Government 
delegation at the International Maritime Organization working on 
programs to reduce air pollution from ocean-going vessels and at the 
International Civil Aviation Organization working on programs to reduce 
air pollution from aircraft. Refer to the proposed rule https://
www.epa.gov/regulations-emissions-vehicles-and-engines/proposed-rule- 
control-air-pollution-aircraft-engines.
    Question. What plans does the EPA have to help the South Coast Air 
Quality District meet their attainment goals, given large sources of 
federally preempted sources of pollution in the area?
    Answer. EPA appreciates these air quality challenges and shares 
your concern about reducing pollution from sources needed to reach 
attainment. A coordinated, collaborative Federal- state partnership is 
critical to address these long-standing air pollution problems. EPA's 
Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) and Region 9 leadership are working 
closely with the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) 
and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to address these time-
sensitive issues regarding Clean Air Act obligations and sanctions. OAR 
and Region 9 have established a team that began meeting with SCAQMD and 
CARB to develop a common understanding of the area's ozone attainment 
challenges, potential Federal and state solutions, required timelines 
for achieving compliance with ozone air quality standards, and 
potential triggers of Federal sanctions. EPA is committed to 
determining how EPA, our colleague agencies, and our state and local 
counterparts can move forward to ensure attainment and maintenance of 
the ozone NAAQS.
    Question. What is EPA's long-term enforcement posture to ensure air 
quality districts are able to meet their goals and avoid inappropriate 
penalties in future situations?
    Answer. EPA's desire is always to help air quality planners meet 
the requirements and the goals of the Clean Air Act collaboratively, 
and we will continue to provide support to state and local compliance 
monitoring and enforcement programs with the goal of achieving the 
reductions envisioned by the regulatory framework designed to improve 
air quality.
                            renewable fuels
    Question. Currently, the EPA allows biomass cleared from areas that 
are ``at risk from wildfire'' to be classified as a renewable fuel. 
However, that definition relies on outdated information that may not 
include many locations in California that are actually areas of high 
wildfire risk according to the U.S. Forest Service, as I mentioned in 
my December 2021 letter to you. If vegetation cleared from wildfire 
hazard areas could be classified as renewable biomass under EPA rules, 
it would help reduce wildfire risk in these areas, improve forest 
health, and make use of cleared vegetation.
    Will you update this guidance with a more recent U.S. Forest 
Service Wildfire Hazard Potential map to more accurately reflect 
California's wildfire risk?
    Answer. It is clear that climate change and extreme weather are 
exacerbating wildlands fires across the country. As requested in your 
December 2021 letter, EPA has been working with the U.S. Forest Service 
and interested stakeholders to evaluate if such a change is permissible 
under the Clean Air Act. Any changes to EPA's current approach will 
need to go through notice and comment rulemaking to amend the existing 
regulations.
    As the EPA processes additional pathways for biofuels under the 
Renewable Fuel Standard, including from canola and rapeseed oil, I urge 
the agency to be as aggressive as possible with other pathways. The 
agency's expertise is critical to evaluate new transportation fuels 
lifecycle greenhouse gas benefits.
    Question. What is the current status for additional pathways that 
is EPA considering, such as biomass and biogas for electric or fuel 
cell vehicles or those technologies that pair direct air capture and/or 
carbon capture and sequestration?
    Answer. EPA intends as part of an upcoming rulemaking to propose 
new regulations that would allow renewable electricity to participate 
in the RFS program, consistent with Congressional intent to expand 
renewable fuel use. EPA has met with multiple stakeholders over several 
months to gather input on the upcoming proposal, which will provide 
details regarding how program implementation would work.
                               wildfires
    Question. Wildfires in California have become increasingly 
prevalent and intense in recent years. While the science exploring the 
environmental impacts of these fires is ongoing, comparatively little 
attention has been paid to the health impacts for Californians 
resulting from the resulting poor air quality. Researchers in my state 
have attempted to quantify these impacts and found that wildfire smoke 
was linked to 11,500 deaths in California between 2008--2018. Another 
recent study estimated that the 2020 California wildfires resulted in 
an additional 20,000 COVID-19 cases as people were more likely to stay 
indoors. As smoke from California wildfires can potentially impacts 
states as far away as New York, more funding is needed to study the 
impacts of these wildfires across the nation.
    Administrator Regan, what is the EPA doing to fund research on the 
environmental and health impacts of wildfire smoke? Have you explored 
using the EPA STAR program to prioritize this research?
    Answer. EPA works to mitigate the public health impacts of both 
wildfire and prescribed fire smoke events. EPA provides trusted 
information about air quality conditions and health impacts before, 
during and after fire and smoke events. EPA also conducts research and 
builds the tools needed to understand the impacts of fire on air 
quality, water quality, and health.
    EPA researchers are working to increase understanding of who is 
most at risk for adverse health effects of smoke; what strategies and 
approaches are effective in communicating impacts of wildfires on air 
quality and health to reduce smoke exposures and protect public health; 
how best to measure and model wildfire emissions and related air 
quality; and the impacts of wildland fire on surface waters and 
drinking water quality. This work will help citizens and local 
governments to understand and minimize the impact of wildfire smoke on 
public health.
    EPA is also working with tribes, states, and other Federal agencies 
to address wildfires. EPA is expanding the Wildfire Smoke Air 
Monitoring Response Technology (WSMART) program to increase the 
capacity of air agencies and air resource advisors affiliated with the 
Interagency Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program to expand air 
quality monitoring during wildfire smoke events.
    EPA Wildfires Research is expected to be funded at approximately 
$3.0M in fiscal year 2022. A $4.8 million increase to address wildfires 
research is being requested in fiscal year 2023 for a total investment 
of $7.8M.
    In 2021, as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, 
EPA awarded $9 million in grant funding for researchers to address 
behavioral, technical, and practical aspects of interventions and 
communication strategies to reduce exposures and health risks of 
wildland fire smoke. To improve public health, the institutions 
receiving these grants are conducting research to understand what 
actions might be effective for reducing exposures to wildland fire 
smoke and how best to communicate these actions to various groups.

                                 ______
                                 

            Questions Submitted by Senator Patrick J. Leahy
                             lake champlain
    Question. I want to thank you and the administration for once again 
including $20 million in funding in the President's budget to support 
the EPA's Geographic Program for Lake Champlain. The Lake--Vermont's 
``Great'' Lake--is critical not only to our state's economy, but to the 
entire Champlain Valley. New and ongoing threats, however, from climate 
change, invasive species, water contamination, and more, demand 
continued investment in restoration and preservation.
    You and I have spoken about the success of the EPA's Lake Champlain 
Program. It is a model for other geographic area programs across the 
country. What future investments do you believe are necessary to ensure 
that Lake Champlain remains protected, and with it, the economies that 
rely on the Lake?
    Answer. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, or Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Law (BIL) invests $40 million in Lake Champlain which 
will allow us to extend additional support throughout the basin to 
support underserved and disadvantaged communities and increase 
resiliency in the face of climate change through programs to conserve 
important lands and access to them, improve aquatic organism passage, 
reduce flooding, and restore the function of floodplains in the basin. 
This investment in Lake Champlain and other geographic programs across 
the country will help clean up waters and accelerate our work in 
special places like Lake Champlain. Support for activities to address 
aquatic invasive species through the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act 
(VIDA) will also serve to protect the important ecosystem of the Lake 
Champlain basin. Potentially detrimental species, such as the round 
goby that is currently threatening to enter the basin, could have far-
reaching impacts on the fishery and water quality that the economy of 
the basin depends on. On top of their base appropriations, these 
expanded and multi-year resources will accelerate the programs' long-
standing work to improve water quality, enhance ecosystem and community 
resilience, conduct environmental education and outreach, and more. EPA 
is committed to being a strong partner to support their growth and to 
working with Congress and key local stakeholders to ensure effective, 
efficient, and equitable implementation.
                  burlington high school contamination
    Question. When you last appeared before this Committee, I spoke 
with you about the high levels of PCBs found in Burlington High School 
shortly before the 2021-2022 school yhttps://www.yahoo.com/
entertainment/scheana-shay-reveals-million-dollar-130827403.htmlear was 
set to begin, forcing the school to relocate in order to remediate 
these toxic chemicals--and construct a new high school, free of toxins 
on the site. The cost of the project is staggering.
    Burlington is Vermont's largest and most diverse city, with the 
greatest number of disadvantaged students in the State. Congress has 
provided billions of dollars through the bipartisan infrastructure to 
support projects like this one. What support can the EPA provide, 
beyond technical assistance, for dire situations such as the need for 
environmental remediation at Burlington High School, which is attended 
by over 1,000 Vermont students?
    Answer. EPA is committed to improving children's environmental 
health in schools and has provided information on and implemented 
programs to address PCBs. EPA continues to engage across state, tribal, 
and local government partners, and their stakeholders, to reduce or 
eliminate PCB contamination, particularly in schools and environments 
with children or susceptible sub-populations as well as disadvantaged 
and environmental justice communities, so that all Americans are safe 
from environmental and health hazards, including exposures to PCB- 
containing materials.
    The fiscal year 2023 President's Budget includes an increase of 
$1.7 million to provide some additional capacity for the Agency to help 
assess the risk of PCB exposure at local schools and buildings. EPA 
support for capacity building and improved ventilation in schools 
serving communities with environmental justice concerns are options for 
funding under the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act. In fiscal year 2021, 
EPA launched the Healthy Learning Environments in Low- Income and/or 
Minority Communities grants program to address children's environmental 
health in schools and childcare settings using ARP funds. EPA would 
welcome the opportunity to work with you on ways to address 
environmental and health hazards in schools. Our staff from Region 1 
have been supporting Burlington and will continue to do so.
                      lake champlain basin program
    Question. The Lake Champlain Basin Program was created by the Lake 
Champlain Special Designation Act of 1990. It brings together partners 
in Vermont, New York, and Quebec to coordinate and fund solutions to 
the challenges faced by the Lake Champlain Basin. For over 30 years, 
the program has addressed phosphorus pollution, toxic substances, 
biodiversity, and aquatic invasive species. Today, these interconnected 
issues are exacerbated by the effects of the climate crisis. 
Considering the growth of the Lake Champlain Basin Program since its 
establishment in 1990, its reauthorization in 2002, in addition to the 
increasing complexity of challenges in the Lake Champlain watershed, 
would you agree that it is timely to consider reauthorizing the program 
expediently?
    Answer. Thank you for your leadership on efforts to protect and 
restore this resource of national significance. EPA is one of several 
agencies that jointly administer the Lake Champlain Basin Program. Lake 
Champlain is a precious resource, and as such EPA stands ready to 
provide technical assistance to Congress on any effort to reauthorize 
the program to account for changes in the 20 years since the last 
reauthorization. EPA Region 1 and OGC have provided technical support 
to Chairman Leahy's staff on the proposed reauthorization and are 
available and willing to respond to any additional requests for 
assistance.
    Question. I am currently working on legislation to again 
reauthorize the Lake Champlain Basin Program. What resources, both 
fiscal and technical, is the EPA prepared to bring to the table to 
ensure the future protection and preservation of Lake Champlain?
    Answer. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) provides $40 
million to address climate change mitigation and adaptation, phosphorus 
loadings, invasive species, and toxic substances that threaten Lake 
Champlain's water quality and ecosystem health. EPA has historically 
provided technical support to the Lake Champlain Steering Committee and 
its partners through requests for assistance, funding of the New 
England Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC), the Lake 
Champlain Basin Program (LCBP), and the states of New York and Vermont, 
and provides technical insight and guidance as members of various LCBP 
subcommittees, the Executive Committee, the Steering Committee, and the 
Lake Champlain Federal partnership. As the program has grown, EPA is 
committed to increasing its support of the program through the addition 
of technical and support staff in EPA Regions 1 and 2. EPA also 
coordinates on aquatic invasive species with the Great Lakes National 
Program Office through the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA) and 
provides technical support as necessary. EPA is committed to continuing 
to support the Lake Champlain program and would welcome the opportunity 
to work with you on future protection and preservation.

                                 ______
                                 

            Questions Submitted by Senator Chris Van Hollen
                             chesapeake bay
    Question. One of the most important roles for the EPA Administrator 
and EPA in the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay is to demonstrate 
leadership and a commitment to a restored Bay. We are only a short 3 
years away from our 2025 commitments under the Chesapeake Bay Agreement 
to meet our mutual goal of clean water. The Chesapeake Bay agreement 
identifies the pollution reductions necessary to meet water quality 
standards in the Bay and EPA's role in achieving those reductions. 
Given that 86 percent of the remaining pollutant load reductions must 
come from agriculture, it is imperative that the EPA work with USDA to 
ensure sufficient financial and technical assistance are provided to 
Bay region farmers so that we can get the job done.
    Ensuring that we are on the right pathway to meet our rapidly 
approaching 2025 clean-up deadline is critical; I appreciate that the 
EPA has used a ``most effective basins'' approach to get the most bang 
for the buck in critical areas of the watershed. How does the EPA plan 
to continue that approach, and how can EPA work with USDA to direct 
agricultural conservation funds to where they will be most helpful in 
the Bay in order to get the maximum load reduction possible?
    Answer. Nutrient pollution is a serious challenge affecting water 
quality across the country. Making progress on reducing excess 
nutrients and improving water quality will require all the tools 
available, including regulatory, non-regulatory and market-based 
programs to promote collaboration among urban and agricultural sectors. 
EPA uses a host of tools to support our partners, including states, 
tribes, and farmers, to reduce excess nutrients in watersheds using 
regulatory, non-regulatory, market-based, and other collaborative 
approaches. EPA is committed to working with USDA among others.
    EPA will continue to focus funding in the ``most effective basins'' 
(MEB) of the watershed to reach the goals of a restored Bay. At the 
same time, EPA will work with our partner agencies to accelerate the 
implementation of the most cost-effective best management practices in 
reducing nutrient and sediment pollution within the ``most effective 
basins.'' This year over $22 million is being targeted through MEB 
funding, $15 million of which comes from additional funding provided 
through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
    EPA, USGS, and the University of Maryland developed the ``Priority 
Agricultural Watersheds'' mapping tool to inform where to target 
Federal funding to agricultural conservation practices to reduce the 
greatest nitrogen and phosphorus loads to the tidal Chesapeake Bay. 
Since 2010, this regional screening tool has been used by EPA and USDA 
in their funding ranking criteria to target EPA Chesapeake Bay grants 
and USDA Farm Bill program funding for the greatest agricultural load 
reductions to the tidal Chesapeake Bay. In July 2021, EPA and USGS 
updated and enhanced this mapping tool with the most recent USGS 
SPARROW model and State agriculture-impaired streams data. More 
recently, EPA has updated its Most Effective Basins map, which will 
provide complementary information for the Priority Agricultural 
Watersheds. EPA and USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service 
continue to coordinate Federal funding to support implementation of 
priority agricultural practices in priority watersheds to achieve the 
greatest nutrient reductions to the Chesapeake Bay. Additionally, EPA, 
NRCS, and USGS developed recommendations to enhance monitoring to 
document water-quality improvements to conservation practices. In 2021, 
EPA, NRCS, and USGS published reports summarizing their coordination 
efforts and recommendations:

  --Report NRCS EPA Ag Conservation Funding Team (https://
        www.chesapeakebay.net/channel_files/41834/
        report_nrcs_epa_ag_conservation_fundingteam.pdf) and

  --Report NRCS EPA USGS Federal WQ Monitoring Team (https://
        www.chesapeakebay.net/channel_files/41834/
        report_nrcs_epa_usgs_Federal_wq_monito ring_team_122220.pdf).

    An example of how EPA and NRCS are working together to make it 
easier for Chesapeake Bay agricultural partners to access Federal 
funding for their conservation work is the Decision Memo they signed on 
June 21, 2021. This memo allows agricultural partners to use Chesapeake 
Bay grants as ``match'' (partner contribution) for the NRCS Regional 
Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) projects. RCPP projects can be 
as high as $10 million and require an equal amount of match from 
applicants. Allowing applicants to use EPA's Chesapeake Bay grants as 
match has been a game-changer for applicants and made them more 
competitive for these national funds.
    Question. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided $238 million 
for the Chesapeake Bay Program through 2026 on top of annual 
appropriations, this will supercharge our efforts to clean up the Bay. 
Earlier this month, EPA announced the allocation of $40 million in 
first-year funds with $25 million administered through the NFWF 
Chesapeake Stewardship Fund, and $15 million for distributed to the 
watershed states and D.C. for Most Effective Basins. Is it the Agency 
intent allocate funding at the same ratio in fiscal year 23?
    Answer. EPA is grateful to Congress for including the Chesapeake 
Bay Program in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) . The Agency is 
committed to timely investment of all infrastructure funds, knowing 
this will allow the program to accelerate actions to restore and 
protect the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. The Chesapeake Bay 
Program will continue to support the Most Effective Basins grants to 
jurisdictions and is gathering input this summer to ensure future 
allocations are aligned with the highest priority needs. The Bay 
Program will continue supporting the competitively awarded Small 
Watershed Grants (SWG) and Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction 
Grants (INSR) which are up for competition again this year. A request 
for proposals is planned for later in 2022.
                               clean air
    Question. For decades, the State of Maryland has worked diligently 
to address pollution to meet air quality standards and to protect the 
health of our constituents. In Baltimore, the rate of asthma- related 
hospitalizations is among the highest in the country--three times 
higher than the U.S. average. These pollutants lead to increased 
pulmonary and cardiovascular-related illnesses and disproportionately 
impact communities of color. Ensuring these communities receive the 
resources they need is critical and I thank you for the work the EPA 
has done to expand the efforts of air pollution control agencies to 
reduce greenhouse gases, yet more is needed to be done. On August 11, 
2021, the Center for Biological Diversity filed suit against EPA 
Administrator Michael Regan in the District Court for the Northern 
District of California Oakland Division. Plaintiffs allege that EPA has 
failed to undertake certain non-discretionary duties under the Clean 
Air Act in Detroit, Anne Arundel County, and Baltimore County and fails 
to meet National Ambient Air Quality Standards for sulfur dioxide 
levels.
    What efforts has the EPA made to address these urgent issues and 
support states like Maryland in meeting our clean air standards? How 
will EPA support the Office of Air and Radiation ability to regulate 
and reduce pollution from the power generation and transportation 
sectors?
    Answer. Under the Clean Air Act's ``good neighbor'' provision, EPA 
provides a backstop to state actions by promulgating Federal 
Implementation Plans (FIPs) when a state fails to submit, or EPA 
disapproves, a good neighbor SIP. EPA has promulgated several national-
scale rulemakings to fulfill its FIP obligations to address interstate 
pollution for ozone and fine particulate matter NAAQS, including the 
Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR); the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule 
(CSAPR); the CSAPR Update; and most recently, the Revised CSAPR Update. 
Emissions reductions from electric generating units (EGUs) were 
achieved through these rules via regional allowance trading programs. 
Before these actions, EPA had regulated certain non- power plant 
sources (along with power plants) in the 1998 ``NOx SIP Call.'' EPA's 
recently proposed transport rule builds upon these prior rulemakings 
and extends the proposed emissions reductions to industrial sources 
beyond the power sector and to several states not included in prior 
national-scale actions.
    Regarding areas failing to meet the National Ambient Air Quality 
Standards for sulfur dioxide (SO2), EPA, on January 28, 2022, issued a 
finding that the Detroit, MI, nonattainment area failed to attain the 
SO2 standard by the attainment date. EPA is working to finalize a 
Federal implementation plan for this area by the consent decree 
deadline of September 30, 2022. Regarding the Anne Arundel/Baltimore 
County nonattainment area, EPA has a consent decree deadline of October 
31, 2022, to take final action on the state's SO2 attainment plan for 
this area and is working with the state to meet this deadline.
    EPA is also moving expeditiously to reconsider the 2020 decisions 
to retain both the ozone and the particulate matter (PM) National 
Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). This approach adheres to 
rigorous standards of scientific integrity and provides ample 
opportunities for public input and engagement. These reconsideration 
decisions reflect EPA's commitment to a rigorous NAAQS review process, 
with a focus on protecting scientific integrity. An important part of 
that is to ensure the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) 
is fully equipped to provide me the advice needed to make the best 
decision possible. EPA moved to reinstate pollutant specific CASAC 
panels to assist the CASAC in ongoing reviews, including in these two 
reconsiderations.
    Power plants remain the largest stationary sources of harmful 
pollutants like nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide and are the nation's 
second largest source of greenhouse gas pollution. EPA is committed to 
using the full scope of its authorities, including its Clean Air Act 
authority, to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, to 
protect communities, and to reduce the pollution that is driving 
climate change. In March, EPA outlined its approach to working with the 
power sector to continue to deliver affordable, reliable power while 
reducing pollution to protect public health. EPA is working to develop 
a set of clean air, clean water, and waste disposal standards. The 
approach includes engaging industry and working in a transparent 
manner, protecting public health and overburdened communities, and 
pursuing an integrated approach that provides a framework for 
investment decisions.
    EPA is moving forward on critical actions to address pollution from 
the power sector. Building on a robust foundation of public engagement, 
we plan to finalize the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards Appropriate 
and Necessary Finding this year and propose a review of the MATS Risk 
and Technology Review in early 2023. We will continue to conduct 
outreach in 2022 on greenhouse gas rules for new and existing power 
plants and propose Clean Air Act section 111 rules in early 2023. These 
steps are an important part of the Administration's commitment to 
advance standards to ensure that all Americans are protected from the 
power plant pollution that harms public health and our economy. They 
also demonstrate our commitment to achieving a cleaner power sector, 
and to doing so in a way that provides regulatory certainty and a long-
term planning horizon for companies, state regulators and investors; 
that maintains reliable and affordable electricity for families and 
businesses; and that creates jobs and economic opportunities. It is 
critical to the success of these efforts that EPA receive the fiscal 
year 2023 President's Budget request. For example, the President's 
Budget requests an increase to support the regulation of stationary 
sources of air pollution through developing and implementing emissions 
standards, regulations, and guidelines. The fiscal year 2023 
President's Budget also includes a request for additional resources for 
NAAQS review work and related implementation activities, such as 
development of guidance, review of SIPs and permits, and air monitoring 
and analyses.
                                  pfas
    Question. PFAS contamination in our nation's waterways pose 
enormous health risks to communities across the country, and many 
private drinking water wells currently don't have any standards. How 
does EPA plan to ensure that communities on private wells aren't being 
harmed by PFAS? Will there be support for well remediation?
    Answer. In October 2021, EPA Administrator Michael Regan released 
the PFAS Strategic Roadmap--EPA's whole-of-agency approach to tackling 
PFAS. The Roadmap sets timelines by which EPA plans to take specific 
actions and commits to bolder new policies to safeguard public health, 
protect the environment, and hold polluters accountable. The actions 
described in the PFAS Roadmap each represent important and meaningful 
steps to safeguard communities from PFAS contamination. Cumulatively, 
these actions will build upon one another and lead to more enduring and 
protective solutions.
    EPA recognizes that PFAS contamination has impacted communities 
across the country, including communities and households that rely on 
home drinking water wells. The Agency is taking action to use the best-
available science to tackle PFAS pollution, protect public health, and 
provide critical information quickly and transparently, while also 
providing infrastructure funding to help communities--especially 
disadvantaged communities--deliver safe water. In addition to direct 
actions to protect drinking water under the Safe Drinking Water Act 
(SDWA), EPA is bringing deeper focus to preventing PFAS from entering 
the environment in the first place (through actions under the Toxic 
Substances Control Act and the Clean Water Act) and to broadening and 
accelerate the cleanup of PFAS contamination to protect human health 
and ecological systems.
    The SDWA's regulatory and financing programs are generally designed 
to assist public water systems, which the law defines as a water system 
that has at least 15 service connections or that regularly serves at 
least 25 individuals. The SDWA does provide authority to use funds from 
key financing programs (including the SRFs and the new BIL Emerging 
Contaminants grant program) to connect households on private wells to 
public water systems. Funds from these programs may be used to connect 
households currently on private wells to create a new public water 
system as defined in the SDWA, and to install appropriate treatment 
solutions to reduce PFAS in the new public water system. The SDWA 
authorities for the SRFs and for the new BIL Emerging Contaminant 
Program do not allow for states to fund projects for private well 
remediation.
    EPA includes information about steps that people who get their 
water from a home drinking water well can take to reduce exposure to 
PFAS in drinking water on the agency's website at Meaningful and 
Achievable Steps You Can Take to Reduce Your Risk (https://www.epa.gov/
pfas/meaningful-and-achievable-steps-you-can-take-reduce-your-risk). 
EPA also maintains a website at Private Drinking Water Wells (https://
www.epa.gov/privatewells) that educates well owners more broadly on 
topics such as the importance of testing home drinking water wells and 
shares information on protecting health, including links to other 
Federal and non-profit websites that host additional educational 
materials and resources to help these well owners. EPA highlighted 
these resources for the public when releasing health advisories for 
four PFAS on June 15, 2022.
    EPA's Office of Water has committed to setting enforceable limits 
in drinking water for PFOA and PFOS, with a proposed rule coming this 
fall and a final rule by the end of 2023. It has also committed to 
setting binding discharge standards (effluent guidelines) for different 
categories of industry that discharge PFAS. EPA issued a final PFBS 
assessment in April 2021, after addressing scientific integrity 
concerns with a version of the assessment released on January 19, 2021. 
EPA finalized a similar assessment for GenX in 2021 and is also moving 
ahead to assess the toxicity of additional PFAS. Finally, EPA is taking 
action to improve Clean Water Act permitting and to deepen our 
understanding of PFAS in fish tissue and working closely with USDA, the 
risks of PFAS in biosolids.

                                 ______
                                 

          Questions Submitted by Senator Shelley Moore Capito
                          stakeholder meetings
    Question. What is your procedure for handling stakeholder meeting 
requests when you are unable to take the meeting? Are the meetings that 
you cannot attend delegated to be handled by other US Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) staff?
    Answer. Engagement and transparency are important values to me. 
That said, when scheduling conflicts or other limits prevent my ability 
to accept meeting requests, EPA usually offers a surrogate who has 
relevant expertise.
                     full-time equivalents staffing
    Question. How many full-time equivalents (FTEs) are currently 
employed by EPA?
    What is the average number of EPA FTEs that reported for work in 
person in the EPA headquarters buildings daily from April 1, 2022 to 
May 31, 2022? What is the average number of EPA FTEs that reported for 
work in person in each EPA regional office daily from April 1, 2022 to 
May 31, 2022? Please break down by regional office. What is the average 
number of EPA FTEs that reported for work in person at any other EPA 
facility daily from April 1, 2022 to May 31, 2022? Please break down by 
facility.
    Answer. As of June 1, 2022, EPA has 14,450 onboard employees. EPA 
currently projects utilizing 14,313.8 full time equivalents (FTE) 
through the end of fiscal year 2022 across annual appropriations, user 
fee, and supplemental appropriation accounts, including the Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Law.
    EPA recently expanded existing workplace flexibilities, such as 
telework and flexible schedules, so the EPA workforce will operate in a 
hybrid manner. EPA also provides an option for full-time remote work 
only if all duties are portable. These flexibilities are implemented 
according to policy and adherence to established eligibility criteria 
and provide for better work- life balance and prioritize the well-being 
of our workforce.
    EPA completed its phased re-entry to the workplace in late April, 
with all personnel who report to an EPA location returning per their 
work schedule. EPA anticipates that a hybrid workforce may lead to 
reduced facility lease and utility costs in outyears as EPA works to 
right- size our footprint. The fiscal year 2023 President's Budget 
request resources to support this rightsizing and enable EPA to expand 
the use of collaboration technology to support a hybrid work 
environment.

                          SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS

    Senator Merkley. Thank you very much, Administrator Regan, 
I think about the huge set of issues that you are responsible 
for I know you are diligently trying to make a difference 
through your leadership, and your rebuilding of the Agency. We 
support you in that. This matters a great deal for all of us. 
So thank you.
    No further comments. This hearing is adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 11:45 a.m., Wednesday, May 18, the hearing 
was adjourned, and the subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene 
at a time subject to the call of the Chair.]


     DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES 
                  APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023

                              ----------                              


                        WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2022

                                       U.S. Senate,
           Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:32 a.m. in 
room SD-124, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Jeff Merkley 
(chairman) presiding.
    Present: Senators Merkley, Feinstein, Reed, Tester, Van 
Hollen, Heinrich, Murkowski, Blunt, Hyde-Smith, and Hagerty.

                       DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

STATEMENT OF HON. DEB HAALAND, SECRETARY
ACCOMPANIED BY DENISE FLANAGAN, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF BUDGET

               OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JEFF MERKLEY

    Senator Merkley. The hearing on the Interior and the 
Subcommittee will come to order.
    And welcome, Secretary Haaland, and welcome to Denise 
Flanagan, so good to have you with us; and to our colleagues, 
and to our constituents.
    Today's hearing will review the Department of Interior's 
fiscal year 2023 Budget Request.
    And before I get started, I just wanted to highlight that 
during this session of Congress the subcommittee, after a 
conversation that I have had with Senator Murkowski, we have 
forgone the plastic water bottles that you see at hearings all 
across Capitol Hill. And I mention that simply because plastic 
is becoming an issue that the Department is dealing with, that 
America is dealing with, that the world is dealing with, 
because it is impacting our lands, our oceans, our wildlife, 
even our own bodies.
    And because, Secretary Haaland, under your leadership, the 
Interior Department is taking steps to address the issue of 
plastic pollution, and last month you signed a Secretarial 
Order to phase out single-use plastics on public lands. And 
really want to thank you for that effort; lays out a ten-year 
plan.
    I encourage you to consider whether there is a way for it 
to be a plan that takes less than a decade given the 
significance of plastics on public lands. But the fact is that 
you have taken very significant action, and I applaud that.
    Turning to the American landscape, I want to start with 
wildfires, wildfires that are absolutely devastating to many of 
our western states. Compared to this time last year, four times 
as many acres have burned in this year, 2022. And it is not 
just the fires and their impact on the forest, but it is also 
the enormous risk to our communities, and to our citizens, the 
massive amount of smoke and air pollution that they produce.
    I will never forget the 2020 Labor Day Fires in Oregon 
where I traveled some 600 miles back and forth across the 
state, never getting out of the smoke, and seeing six 
communities absolutely burned to the ground. And then meeting 
with what were--became thousands of citizens that had lost 
their homes, lost everything. And communities that were just 
absolutely obliterated, and it is so challenging to restore the 
lives, restore the communities.
    So fire is a big deal for America. It is a big deal for the 
Department of Interior. And I am very pleased that as Chair of 
this subcommittee, I was able to work with colleagues on the 
Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill that provided $20 billion of 
appropriated funds for the Department of Interior programs, for 
programs within this subcommittee's jurisdiction.
    And specifically, 2.5 billion over 10 years to invest in 
wildfire risk reduction and ecosystem restoration, including 
funds for fuel breaks, for hazardous fuels projects, reduce the 
amount of fuels in the forest, prescribed fires, and burned 
area restoration.
    Another effort that we have undertaken is to provide 
funding for the training of National Guard members to be able 
to assist and become fire crews when we are in desperate need 
of additional fire crew members. This has been an important 
undertaking, those crews have been very valuable, and it is 
something that we are working to continue.
    At this point more than a thousand personnel have been 
trained, and I know that as we continue to fund this program, 
train many more.
    I was struck a couple weeks ago in conversations, meetings 
about this fire season that there is great difficulty in 
filling out the crews that are needed, and that effort to have 
the National Guard members provide additional support makes a 
lot of sense.
    The final fiscal year 2022 Interior Bill funded five forest 
collaboratives across Oregon increased the ability to do these 
landscape restoration projects that provide trees to the mill, 
and jobs in the forest, and healthier forests, and forests that 
are more fire resilient.
    And for the first time, we created a program to 
specifically address public health impacts of wildfire smoke. 
It is critical the Department use all its resources and tools 
at its disposal, including tribal co-management, interagency 
agreements, like the Western Oregon Operating Plan, and Forest 
and Rangeland collaboratives to get this funding on the ground, 
and put it to work protecting our communities.
    While I am pleased with these accomplishments, I recognize 
that the fiscal year 2022 Budget deal did not address all the 
urgent challenges that your Department faces, urgent challenges 
and climate chaos, and loss of biodiversity, significant 
staffing shortages, to mention a few.
    And I am disappointed that the final deal continued to 
include some legacy policy writers that harm the environment, 
like the sage grouse writer that prevents U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service from employing the best possible science in 
terms of the survival of that species.
    But the final fiscal year 2022 Bill included a lot to be 
proud of. In addition to wildfire risk reduction, we increased 
funding for national monuments planning. We secured 10 million 
to construct a voting rights center, the Selma Interpretive 
Center, to honor the legacy of civil rights leaders, including 
the late Representative John Lewis.
    We funded $7 million for the Indian Boarding School 
Initiative that I will be asking more about, and really 
applauding today. And we stopped the bleeding by halting the 
backslide of staffing levels for programs that promote clean 
water, protect our public lands, and conduct critical 
environmental research.
    And I want to thank you, Secretary Haaland, for the 
Department's efforts to push completion of a resource 
management plan for the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, a 
plan that is really needed for the expanded monument. I know 
you are making very significant process on that, and I am just 
encouraging you to keep that process going forward with all due 
momentum. It will be a day to celebrate when we have that final 
resource management plan.
    And I want to thank you and the Department for the 
wonderful success of the Monarch Summit that we held together 
last month. I have got my Monarch pin on, and I will be getting 
you one as well. And bringing experts together for two days to 
really address this enormous collapse of the Monarch population 
and all its implications was really--generated so much energy 
that you could just sense the excitement in the room that that 
effort was highlighting some very significant issues that need 
to be highlighted.
    We are going to have a set of proposals that come out of 
that, but I just wanted to put up this chart for the Decline of 
the western monarch, we see that in the year 2020 we had less 
than 2,000 monarchs, that is less than five-thousandths of a 
percent of the numbers that we had back in the 1990s. This is 
catastrophic.
    We have had a slight rebound, a very good year, last year, 
a slight rebound to where--but we are still less than 1 percent 
of the western monarchs. And I have been to Pismo Beach, I have 
seen the overwintering grounds in California, that actually it 
is a whole several hundred sites along the coast where they 
gather to avoid freezing over the winter.
    We discovered some very important things in the summit, for 
example, that climate change is affecting survival because it 
is upsetting the timing of when the overwintering monarchs 
leave the coast, and the time that the milkweed comes out of 
the ground on which they lay their eggs. And we found out that 
the challenge with the milkweed that we might acquire in our 
nurseries; is that it is contaminated with pesticides that can 
actually kill monarchs, and so we have to have a pesticide-free 
milkweed production.
    There is a tremendous amount that came out of that. We have 
to address this, and this actually isn't just about the 
monarchs, it is about pollinators in general, that play such an 
essential role in our ecosystem.
    So thank you so much for collaborating on that, and I will 
look forward to maintaining the momentum on the ideas that come 
out of that meeting.
    So let me switch to a broader question of climate change. I 
know that President Biden has publicly advocated for a paradigm 
shift on how we manage our public lands and waters for energy 
development, but in practice what we have been seeing is an 
all-of-the-above approach; an approach that will not boldly 
address our climate challenge, and that involves both 
addressing the demand and the supply of fossil fuels.
    And we are definitely at a point where business as usual 
doesn't work. Now, we have just talked about the fires, but 
there is so much more going on in my home state: The loss of 
the snowpack, the acidification of the oceans, just everywhere 
we look we are being impacted by these changes in a very, very 
harmful way. It is affecting our fishing, it is affecting our 
farming, it is affecting our forests.
    And so I want to encourage the Department to do all in its 
power to boldly address climate. And so just to express some of 
my concerns, the Department's long-awaited analysis of Federal 
oil and gas leasing did not incorporate or address climate 
change. The Department has defended environmental impact 
statements that do not contemplate climate change, statements 
that have been rejected by the courts, subsequently, as 
inadequate.
    The administration put forward the largest lease of 
drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico in U.S. history, a sale 
that was also halted by a court challenge, challenging the 
environmental impact statement.
    The Department may have been legally required to offer a 
sale but it wasn't legally required to offer a massive sale. 
And I know you and I have spoken about other aspects of where I 
think the Department can really, really work to try to boldly 
address climate as we look at energy resources. And earlier 
this month the Department released a five-year plan for 
offshore drilling, it highlights a range of leasing options, 
including the no-leasing option. There is nothing in the Outer 
Continental Shelf Lands Act that requires offering these 
leases, and I urge you to choose the no-lease option in your 
final plan.
    In Oregon, we are terrified of the impact on our ocean 
resources. Our salmon, our crabbing, our shrimp, just a whole 
range of critical ocean resources, and we are very, very 
concerned about the potential impacts of a disaster on our 
shoreline, our coastal communities. Just oil washing up on the 
shores would be absolutely devastating, and we simply must 
adopt more of a keep-it-in-the-ground perspective since we are 
at this tipping point of the devastating impacts of climate 
change on our states.
    The Intergovernmental Panel on climate change in its 2021 
Report used the term--or issued it, they called it A Code Red 
for Humanity, and amassing evidence of the catastrophic changes 
that we are experiencing. In American lingo we would call this 
``a five-alarm fire''.
    Record-setting global temperatures year after year, 
catastrophic wildfires, increasing frequency and severity of 
storms causing devastating impacts on lands and people, large-
scale flooding that heavily damaged Yellowstone National Park 
is an example, cost millions to repair, oceans' 30 percent more 
acidic impacting our sea life, the fishing industry, and our 
fishing communities; droughts devastating the livelihoods of 
our farmers and our ranchers.
    And we have, in addition to carbon dioxide that is all 
talked about, we have the challenge of fossil gas, methane, we 
refer to it in public as natural gas. It is methane gas, it is 
fossil gas.
    And this chart shows what the eye sees when it looks at a 
facility which you can't see any visible emissions, and then 
when you have I think it is infrared photography you see there 
is a massive plume of methane being admitted.
    And I will put into the record, if there is no objection a 
chart that shows satellite data, massive number of examples 
like this from across the country that are being observed.
    Senator Merkley. And as we get better satellite data we are 
getting a far better understanding of the massive leaks. The 
estimate right now in the Permian Basin is 10 percent of the 
fossil gases leaked in the atmosphere, making it worse than 
coal in terms of the impact on climate.
    So thank you for hearing me out on my concerns about the 
bold pivot we need to make. The administration can do a lot, 
and I encourage bold action.
    Now, we may hear something today about the high gas prices 
and the need for more drilling. So I just wanted to share a few 
comments about that. It is like a heroin addict saying that the 
solution to heroin addiction is more heroin.
    Let us recognize several basic facts: The prices we 
experience are extremely painful to Americans, they are 
devastating, they are primarily the result of disruption from 
Putin's war on Ukraine, and the resulting embargo on Russian 
energy, in combination with the rising demand as the economy 
rebounds from COVID. And these prices are also the result of 
gouging by the oil companies which have tripled their profit 
margins from refining.
    Let us also recognized the oil companies' own leases that 
would allow them to drill on 20 million additional acres of 
Federal land and water that they are not using, if oil 
companies want to drill more they already can.
    Next, that the timeline for building out new infrastructure 
will not have any impact on the current cost of gas because of 
that long timeline that it takes, and that the answer in the 
long term to the high cost of petroleum at the pump is an end 
to our addiction to that petroleum by building, rapidly 
building a renewable energy economy.
    We want to stop enriching Russia and Iran, if we want to 
reduce the price we suffer at the pump then we need to end our 
addiction to fossil fuels.
    Madam Secretary, you have enormous responsibilities that 
are so important to our lands and the future of this country. I 
know you are absolutely dedicated to that effort, we will 
explore many of that through the questions today. And I really 
appreciate your service.
    With that, let me turn this over to Senator Murkowski.

                    STATEMENT OF HON. LISA MURKOWSKI

    Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning 
Madam Secretary, welcome back to the committee. I look forward 
to the opportunity to discuss the President's budget request 
this morning, and a number of specific activities that the 
budget proposes to support.
    I appreciate my colleague and the chairman leading off with 
a discussion about fire. It is pretty tough in Alaska right 
now. We are up to about 2.8 million acres burned already. We 
had 13 new fires just in the past 24 hours. The smoke issues, 
particularly in the Interior, have been a real challenge this 
summer that we have seen now in other parts of the state as 
well. It is dry. And the good news for us right now is that the 
rains are coming, and that is a positive, but we need to make 
sure that we are not just praying for rain as the policy here. 
To make sure that the fire threat doesn't bring about further 
damage.
    Obviously, some differing views on the committee here in 
terms of our energy resources, and how we utilize them to the 
benefit of our country, certainly to the benefit of places like 
Alaska which is, of course, a producing state. So I would like 
to talk about a few of the issues, and I will be a little 
parochial here just to start off.
    But on Friday the Bureau of Land Management released a 
draft supplemental EIS for the Willow Project within the NPRA, 
and I think you saw the press release on that. I welcomed that 
step. I can't stress enough the need for the Department to move 
forward with final approval for the Willow Project. It is my 
very sincere hope that the Department will soon be able to 
issue permits so work can begin on this project during the 
upcoming winter season '22/'23.
    We have had the conversation, Madam Secretary, I have had 
the conversation with the President, I have had the 
conversation with just about everybody in the administration 
that will listen to me on Willow, because I firmly believe that 
we need to have a realistic plan for the future of our energy 
supply, and I think that Alaska definitely fits within that 
plan.
    The chairman mentioned the near-record high gas prices that 
families are seeing. It is bad all over the country. But if you 
are in a community like Yakutat, I follow the weekly gas prices 
in various communities around the state Yakutat is paying about 
$7.25 a gallon for fuel. It is just tough.
    And so they are asking me: What are the tools that are 
available? What can the administration be doing? What can 
Congress be doing to help dampen these price increases that we 
are seeing? And for me it comes down to the basics of 
economics, supply and demand.
    And I am one who believes very strongly that the 
administration, and here in this country, we need to use those 
tools at our disposal to increase domestic production, to 
improve our energy security, particularly as we are seeing the 
global disruptions, and the unrest.
    And I have I have said it before, and I will say it again, 
Alaska stands ready, willing, and certainly able to be a big 
part of that solution, all while we insist on meeting the 
highest environmental standards in the world.
    The chairman has mentioned the five-year plan for the 
offshore oil and gas that the Department recently proposed. And 
again, given what we are seeing here at home, over in Europe, I 
truly, truly believe that our national security interests 
require that we increase our domestic supply of these 
resources, including from our offshore areas.
    You know, I have heard the reference before that oil is an 
addiction. I recognize that we have a reliance on it, but when 
I think of an addiction like a heroin addiction, I think about 
it as something that there is no--there is no upside to heroin 
addiction. Our reality as a country is that we have a resource 
that not only we need right now, but the world needs right now, 
and it is not just to fuel our vehicles.
    I think we are moving to different transportation fuels, 
but that is a transition. But everything that we use, 
practically, has some aspect of petroleum in it. And so until 
we can figure out what that substitute is, this petroleum base 
that really powers, and moves, and allows us to function as a 
modern society is something--is something that is in demand. 
And again, we can choose to look to others to meet that demand 
and make ourselves more vulnerable, more reliant on others, and 
particularly others that don't even like us, or whose 
environmental track record is awful, or whose human rights 
track record is awful.
    So I have said, as we transition from a fossil-based 
society, a transition requires that there be a path forward 
that is sensible for your economy, and sensible, really, 
technologically. And so we got a lot of work to do there.
    I feel strongly when it comes to the five-year plan that 
the administration has to move, and move quickly to finalize a 
plan that keeps at least the current acreage available for 
offshore leasing, including in my state, that your proposed 
plan included the option of holding no-lease sale at all, which 
I think that that is unacceptable, for the Department to even 
consider a five-year plan that would include no-lease sales. I 
just don't think makes sense. And I think it is actually 
harmful to our economy and our national security.
    The national interest demands the administration avoid a 
costly gap in leasing, and that it conducts offshore sales. So 
I want to see annual sales in Cook Inlet, not one sale every 5 
years. Failure to have meaningful oil and gas programs, 
including in the 1002 area where the administration is 
illegally disregarding the law, will reduce domestic investment 
at the worst possible time for our country, and for our global 
allies.
    I think the President needs to focus on places like Alaska, 
not Saudi Arabia, not Venezuela, not Iran, and then work with 
us to achieve just that.
    So I have said before, Madam Secretary, Alaska is willing, 
and able, and ready to increase our Nation's and our allies 
energy security. All we really need is permission from the 
Federal Government to get moving, get those permits, and we are 
there.
    Another area where I am hoping to see progress with the 
administration is in its commitment to mineral development. I 
do appreciate the President's invocation of the Defense 
Production Act, and the Department's budget request to support 
critical mineral efforts.
    I think, again, making sure that we are focusing on supply, 
where we have the supply, and we certainly have that in this 
country, matters. Domestic supply matters to our energy 
security, it also matters to our mineral security. And like oil 
and gas one of the keys here to meeting this challenge is for 
the Department to actually make mine permit determinations in a 
timely manner.
    We have heard, not only in this committee, but we have 
certainly heard in the Energy Committee, that if we want to be 
competitive globally, if we want to be a producer and not just 
an importer, we cannot afford for it to take 10 years to permit 
a mine on public land.
    So I want to work with the Department to ensure that our 
vast potential is realized in Alaska, whether it is gold, or 
silver, or copper, all of our critical minerals, but it seems 
that for every step forward we take on policy, we are taking 
two steps backwards on projects. Perfect example of that is the 
Ambler Access Road, just kind of stunning that the 
administration has openly conflicted its commitment to supply 
chain security, and deliberately set back one of its best 
options to improve it.
    Ambler has a guaranteed right-of-way under a 1980 law, 
under ANILCA, that the Federal Government has to abide by. I do 
understand, of course, the need for tribal consultation, I 
strongly support it, but that can occur even as Access Project 
continues.
    So telling Ambler to stop all work and lose the field 
season I think is a ridiculous approach that undermines any 
credibility the administration may be seeking on mineral 
security. What we need here is a strategic focus to reduce our 
dependence on China and Russia, other adversarial nations, but 
not an incoherent approach on minerals.
    So Madam Secretary, to an area that I think we have much 
more agreement on, and that is working together to provide 
resources to our tribal communities, whether we are talking 
about public safety, and justice, natural resources, 
construction programs, working with our tribes throughout 
Alaska, and in Indian Country, I think that this has been one 
of those areas where we do have bipartisan support. We do have 
bicameral priority.
    We know that the appropriations process is never quick, it 
is never easy, but as we work through the process I do think it 
is important for us to continue this bipartisan approach to 
these issues to ensure high priority program areas like PL280 
programs are funded.
    And then I want to wrap my remarks by thanking you for 
coming to Alaska to hear from so many Alaskans. The trip that 
you took to not only visit with people who came to Anchorage to 
meet with you, the meetings that you had, but also your travels 
to see first-hand some of the unique challenges and 
opportunities.
    I think this is particularly illustrated by our visit to 
King Cove, and your opportunity to hear from residents about 
the critical need for a life-saving road. So I do appreciate 
that, and value the time that you gave us for that.
    So as you consider this and other Alaska-specific issues, I 
hope you will build upon the experience that you had on the 
ground, and consider the views of those most directly impacted 
by departmental decisions.
    I know that there are many areas where you and I just--we 
don't see eye-to-eye on some of these matters related to 
Alaska, but I appreciate your willingness to work with me on 
areas that we do have agreement. And I am ever hopeful that as 
you are continuing to hear from Alaskans, you will come to 
understand our state and the potential that it has really as an 
economic center, and what we can provide and contribute for 
energy and mineral security, while at the same time an equal 
priority is to protect and care for our lands and our people.
    We need a lot from the Department, more than we are getting 
right now, but thank you. Thank you for being here.
    Mr. Chairman, I appreciate a little indulgence with the 
length of time in the opening, but much to be said this 
morning.
    Thank you, Madam Secretary. Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
    Senator Merkley. Thank you very much to our Ranking Member 
Senator Murkowski.
    And Madam Secretary, the responsibilities that your 
Department has create many challenging decision points, and the 
Senate at its best, is a chance for senators to articulate 
their visions that come from their personal experience in their 
home states. You have heard a little bit of the diversity of 
opinion this morning, and I think that is a very--a healthy 
thing for a hearing to be able to express those opinions and 
thoughts. And the administration now gets to wrestle with them.
    With that, we are looking forward to your opening 
statement. Thank you.

                   SUMMARY STATEMENT HON. DEB HAALAND

    Secretary Haaland. Thank you, Chairman, and Ranking Member 
Murkowski, and members of the subcommittee. It is an honor and 
a privilege for me to be here on the ancestral homelands of the 
Anacostan and Piscataway people, to speak with you today on 
behalf of the President's 2023 Budget for the Department of the 
Interior.
    Before I begin, I want to acknowledge that you and your 
staffs are busy with your markup of the Interior Bill. I 
sincerely appreciate all of the work that all of you are doing 
to support the critical missions of our Department, and I and 
my staff appreciate the opportunity to assist you in any way 
that we can throughout this process.
    I also want to thank you for your support of Interior's 
programs in the 2022 Omnibus Appropriation. I appreciate your 
efforts to build capacity within the Department, and to fully 
fund our fixed costs which are our must-pay bills. I have had 
the honor of being Secretary of the Interior for over a year 
now and I recognize the importance of this moment for the 
future of the Department and for our country.
    Through my travels, and while working in Washington, D.C., 
I have seen firsthand how every single day in every corner of 
our country our employees go to work with a focus on results. 
They work with their local communities, with states, with 
tribal nations, and other partners, to conserve and steward our 
Nation's natural resources and cultural heritage for the 
benefit of everyone.
    Interior's programs are helping generate jobs, grow the 
economy, and build resilience to the challenges of our changing 
climate. Just last week Assistant Secretary Estenoz and I 
viewed the devastating flood damage in Yellowstone National 
Park, and we met with Senator Tester, Senator Daines, and 
Governor Gianforte, and other local leaders, to discuss ways 
Interior can repair the damage and restore access to the park.
    I am grateful, over the past year, to have visited many of 
you in your states and meet the great people that you 
represent. The work we do would not be possible without your 
leadership and support. And I look forward to our continued 
partnership. Working together, we can make tangible differences 
in the lives of families across the country.
    With your support we have already made great progress. In 
the last year, we took steps to accelerate the development of 
renewable energy on public lands and waters, we launched the 
Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative to address the 
intergenerational impacts of Indian Boarding School policy. We 
deployed resources to build resilience to address the drought 
crisis, we pursued justice for missing and murdered indigenous 
people, and worked to keep tribal communities safe, and help 
communities prepare against the threat of wildfire by 
strengthening our Federal firefighting workforce and the 
resilience of our lands.
    We also began implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure 
Law, a once-in-a-generation investment that will help 
communities to tackle the climate crisis while creating jobs, 
advancing environmental justice, and boosting local economies.
    This funding is already at work at Interior kick-starting 
ongoing efforts to address intensifying drought, wildfires, 
flooding, and legacy pollution.
    The President's 2023 Budget complements this with a request 
of $18.1 billion for the Interior Department. Of this, $16.6 
billion is within the jurisdiction of this subcommittee. Our 
total request is a 12 percent increase from the 2022 enacted 
appropriation.
    Specifically, the President's budget invests in our country 
with an unprecedented total of $4.5 billion for Indian Affairs 
programs, focused on tribal sovereignty, and stronger tribal 
communities. Up to $1.5 billion for wildland fire management to 
increase firefighting capacity, continue the transformation to 
a more permanent and professional wildland fire workforce, and 
ensure Federal firefighters are paid at least $15 an hour.
    A total of $4.9 billion across Interior to strengthen 
natural resource management, and improve the resilience of 
tribal and Interior managed lands, $125 million to advance the 
President's ambitious clean energy goals, by increasing 
offshore wind energy power generation, and permitting of 
onshore renewable energy technologies.
    More than $1.4 billion for research and development 
programs across the Department to ensure science continues to 
underpin Interior's core mission activities, and implementation 
of our Department-wide Diversity, Equity Inclusion, And 
Accessibility Initiative to proactively advance equity, civil 
rights, racial justice, and equal opportunity.
    I have great ambitions for the Department of the Interior 
and what we can accomplish on behalf of the American people. 
Working together we can do more to create good-paying union 
jobs, increase the resilience of our lands, expand our ability 
to fight wildland fires, and mitigate drought, strengthen 
tribal nations, and improve the lives of Americans everywhere. 
I look forward to continuing our strong partnership.
    In conclusion, we are doing our part to advance priorities 
that build a better America. Thank you, again, for having me, 
and our budget director, Denise Flanagan. We are happy to 
answer any questions that you may have.
    [The statement follows:]
                   Prepared Statement of Deb Haaland
    Chair Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski and Members of the 
Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of 
the Interior Department's fiscal year 2023 Budget Request.
    It is an honor and privilege for me to be here with you today. When 
I testified before this Committee last year I had only been confirmed 
for a few months. Now that I have had the opportunity to spend a year 
at Interior it is even more of an honor to represent the Department and 
our over seventy thousand dedicated professionals. Every day, in every 
corner of the country, our workforce shows up with a singular focus on 
achieving results. They work with
    States, Tribal Nations, and other partners to conserve and steward 
the Nation's natural resources and cultural heritage for the benefit, 
use, and enjoyment of the American people. Interior's programs are 
helping to generate jobs, grow the economy, and build resilience to the 
challenges of our changing climate.
    I have also enjoyed working with the Members of this Subcommittee 
this year. I have had the honor to visit many of you in your States and 
to meet the great people you represent. I look forward to continuing 
Interior's long tradition of working together with the Interior 
Appropriations Subcommittee to accomplish great things for the American 
people. This Subcommittee plays a vital role in the success of the 
Department of the Interior (DOI) and I look forward to our continued 
collaboration.
                     overview of interior's budget
    Interior's budget request totals $18.1 billion in current 
authority, of which $16.6 billion is within the jurisdiction of this 
Subcommittee. The total budget request is an increase of $1.9 billion, 
or 12 percent, from the 2022 enacted appropriation. This request 
includes an increase of $269.0 million to cover fixed-cost increases, 
such as rent and Federal salary adjustments, needed to maintain 
staffing and core operations for the bureaus and offices funded through 
the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriation. An 
additional $340.0 million is accessible through the budget cap 
adjustment for wildfire suppression to ensure funds are available in 
the event the annual appropriation is inadequate to meet suppression 
needs.
    The 2023 President's Budget request complements the landmark 2021 
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) investments we are now 
implementing. This once in a lifetime investment provides the 
significant down payment needed to address longstanding health and 
safety risks from abandoned coal mines and oil and gas infrastructure 
across the country. These investments are increasing the resilience of 
critical ecosystems, Tribal Nations, and communities to meet the 
challenges of critical drought and threats of wildland fires, which 
pose unprecedented risks across the country.
    The 2023 President's Budget for Interior complements this 
investment and maintains the Administration's commitments to deliver 
jobs and economic growth, build up America's resilience to climate 
change, advance a transition to clean energy, strengthen the Nation-to- 
Nation relationship with Tribal Nations, and expand work with partners 
to conserve lands and increase access to outdoor recreation. 
Overarching these, the 2023 budget continues to reflect the importance 
of science, diversity and inclusion, and the goal to leverage the power 
of collaboration to support Interior's important missions.
    The 2023 President's Budget proposes allocations for important 
mandatory funding investments available through the Great American 
Outdoors Act (GAOA), including $1.6 billion for deferred maintenance 
projects through the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration 
Fund (LRF) in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service (FWS), National Park Service (NPS), and the Bureau of 
Indian Education (BIE). The 2023 budget allocates $681.9 million in 
mandatory funding for Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) programs, 
which includes $294.8 million for voluntary land acquisition projects.
    The 2023 budget proposes important legislative and technical 
adjustments to secure mandatory funding for important funding for 
Tribal Nations. In addition, the Administration supports funding the 
renewal of our Compacts of Free Association (COFA) relationships with 
the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Republic of the Marshall 
Islands (RMI), and the Republic of Palau. Financial assistance under 
the COFA is scheduled to end after 2023 for the FSM and the RMI and in 
2024 for Palau. The Administration will request necessary mandatory 
funding to be appropriated to the Department of State, with language 
calling for continued implementation by the Department of the Interior. 
The United States remains committed to its longstanding partnerships 
with the governments and the people of the Freely Associated States as 
we work together to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific.
                      strengthening tribal nations
    It is deeply meaningful for me to speak on behalf of the 
Administration's 2023 budget for the Department of the Interior which 
includes an unprecedented total of $4.5 billion for Indian Affairs 
programs. This is an increase of $880 million from the recently enacted 
2022 appropriation and the request prioritizes Tribal sovereignty, 
strong Tribal communities, and advances equity and opportunity for all 
American Indians and Alaska Natives.
    The 2023 request reflects the input of Tribal Nations through the 
Tribal Interior Budget Council as well as the government-wide Tribal 
consultation on the President's fiscal year 2023 Budget held by the 
Administration last September. The budget expands many core programs 
and goes further to address outstanding gaps to improve environmental 
quality and ensure Tribal communities are part of the national 
priorities to address climate change and move toward clean energy. The 
2023 President's Budget also expands the inclusion of Tribes in 
proposed investments across other Federal agencies and across Interior.
    The 2023 budget request for Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) programs 
totals $2.8 billion, an increase of $583.4 million from the 2022 
enacted appropriation. The BIA budget features investments to address 
the most critical needs in Indian Country, foremost among these is 
upholding the Federal trust relationship with Tribal Nations and 
strengthening the government- to-government relationship. Within this 
request is $464.5 million to cover the estimated 2023 requirements for 
Contract Support Costs and 105(l) Tribal lease requirements which the 
Administration proposes to reclassify as mandatory funding in 2023. 
This proposal honors the Administration's commitment to ensure 
continued full funding to support Tribal operating costs associated 
with the self-determination and self-governance of Federal programs. I 
look forward to working with Congress to secure this mandatory funding 
for Tribal Nations.
    The budget also proposes legislation to complement the $2.5 billion 
investment in the BIL which will accelerate completion of enacted 
Indian Water Rights Settlements. This mandatory investment is reflected 
in the 2023 request for BIA Indian Land and Water Rights Claims.
    Additionally, the 2023 budget proposes $340.0 million in mandatory 
funding over 10 years to support the operations, maintenance, and 
repairs associated with enacted Bureau of Reclamation Indian Water 
Rights Settlements. The Administration is also interested in working 
with Congress on an approach to provide a mandatory funding source for 
future settlements.
                    investing in tribal communities
    The 2023 budget for BIA features an investment of $44.7 million to 
strengthen Tribal communities by expanding the Tiwahe Initiative to 
provide more opportunity for Tribes to manage and integrate programs 
which impact their communities. Under Tiwahe, a portion of the funding 
assists Tribes at selected sites to implement a Tribal driven approach 
to deliver services more effective and efficiently. Tiwahe facilitates 
collaboration within Tribal communities-- which can help to leverage 
resources, share expertise, reduce duplication, and exchange 
information about families' needs--to formulate the most responsive 
approaches to provide services. Since 2015, the Tiwahe Initiative has 
focused primarily on promoting family stability through several Human 
Services programs. The Department's 2023 budget expands Tiwahe in 
Social Services, the Indian Child Welfare Act, and establishes new 
programs in Tribal Justice Support, and Economic Development programs.
    The new Tiwahe program in Tribal Justice Support will assist Tribes 
as they work to strengthen Tribal justice practices and protocols to 
meet the child, youth, or adult needs within their communities. The new 
program features support for Tribal Healing and Wellness Courts as 
alternatives to incarceration. The Tiwahe program in Economic 
Development will support Tribal development of unique solutions 
tailored to their communities to create economic opportunity. Including 
an economic development component of Tiwahe was a priority request from 
the Tribal Interior Budget Council for the 2023 budget.
    The 2023 budget includes $562.1 million for Public Safety and 
Justice programs and $70.3 million for Public Safety Construction, for 
a total of $632.4 million to address these needs. The combined increase 
is $38.3 million above the 2022 enacted appropriation. The 2023 request 
includes $282.4 million for boots-on-the-ground police services, $127.0 
million for the operation of Detention and Corrections programs, and 
$52.7 million to support Tribal Courts. This funding includes $32.0 
million to address increased requirements of Tribes impacted by the 
McGirt Decision, and $10.0 million to equip BIA funded law enforcement 
officers with body- worn cameras as part of a DOI-wide effort. The 2023 
budget includes $16.5 million to address the crisis of Missing and 
Murdered Indigenous People.
    BIA's budget includes additional investments in Tribal communities 
in areas such as Tribal climate resilience, clean energy, road 
maintenance, environmental quality projects, Tribal broadband grants, 
and funding to raise the minimum Small Tribe Supplement payment for 
existing eligible Tribes in this program. The budget also proposes key 
investments to strengthen Tribal sovereignty of their homelands with 
$14.8 million for the acquisition of new Tribal lands and $80 million 
for Indian land consolidation to address the ongoing fractionation on 
Indian lands. These investments are paired with proposed language to 
clarify Federal recognition requirements for land into Trust cases in 
light of the Carcieri v. Salazar.
    The 2023 budget request includes $7.0 million to continue the 
progress made with the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative 
launched in June 2021. Interior is uniquely positioned to assist in the 
effort to recover this history. Interior has focused initial efforts of 
the initiative on Tribal outreach, collection and review of Department 
documents and records, and compilation of existing data in the 
Department's jurisdiction. Funding in 2023 will support additional 
outreach, research, and documentation to locate potential gravesites at 
former school locations and to help ensure the remains of those who are 
found are identified and protected. Additional resources are included 
in the budget to increase funding for Native language grants, which are 
essential to revitalizing this critical component of Native culture.
                       advancing indian education
    The 2023 budget includes $1.6 billion for Indian Education 
programs, an increase of $294 million above the 2022 enacted level. 
Native students face stark inequities in access to education, many of 
which were highlighted and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. To 
help address this gap, the budget invests a total of $891.5 million, an 
increase of $98.3 million above the 2022 enacted level for BIE-funded 
elementary and secondary school programs. This includes $500.6 million 
for the Indian Student Equalization Program formula funds, which 
provide the primary support for academic activities in the classroom, 
instructional services, and teacher training, recruitment, and 
retention. The budget includes $146.4 million to operate and maintain 
BIE-funded schools and fully funds the estimated requirement for Tribal 
Grant Support costs to cover administrative costs for Tribes that 
choose to operate BIE-funded schools. The 2023 budget also features 
specific investments, including $23.0 million to maintain support for 
distance learning and enhanced technology at BIE schools and $4.0 
million for Native language immersion programs.
    The budget includes $185.2 million for postsecondary schools and 
programs, an increase of $20.7 million above 2022 enacted. This 
includes $131.7 million for Haskell Indian Nations University and 
Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, Tribal Colleges, 
Universities, and Technical Colleges and $53.5 million for expanded 
Tribal scholarships and adult education programs.
    Addressing BIE-funded school facilities that are in poor condition 
and deferred maintenance backlogs at more than 180 schools in the BIE 
school system continues to be a top priority for the Department. The 
2023 budget includes $420.1 million in annual funding for Education 
Construction, an increase of $155.8 million above the 2022 enacted 
appropriation. An additional $95.0 million in mandatory funding through 
the GAOA will also be available in 2023. The continued emphasis on BIE 
school infrastructure conditions has produced tangible results, with 
four new campuses opened to students in 2021 and another three schools 
to be completed in 2022. The 2023 requested increase will support 
planning, design, and construction for six BIE replacement school 
projects.
         addressing climate challenges and building resilience
    Interior has unique responsibilities on behalf of our country to 
steward many of our lands, waters, and natural resources; provide 
essential scientific information about those resources; and uphold the 
Nation's commitments to American Indians and Alaska Natives. As such, 
Interior's programs inherently include a focus on the climate crisis. 
Similar to farmers, ranchers, community planners, and disaster 
preparedness professionals across the country, Interior land and 
resource managers are seeing climate-related changes on the ground and 
are working to address them. Worsening drought, increased weather 
risks, more extreme wildfires, profound threats to wildlife habitats, 
warming water temperatures, and new threats from invasive species are 
among the tangible challenges land and resource managers face right 
now.
    The 2023 budget recognizes that Interior plays a crucial role in 
the whole-of-government approach to tackling climate change. The 2023 
budget continues funding for the immediate challenges of the changing 
climate while laying the foundation to build America's resilience and 
promoting economic growth, creating good-paying jobs, and ensuring that 
40 percent of the benefits of certain climate and clean energy 
investments accrue to disadvantaged communities.
                            water challenges
    The effects of the current drought conditions in the West are 
severe and long lasting, and a full recovery will take years. The 
challenges these communities are facing now will likely continue 
through 2023. Drought analyses, combined with projections of future 
hydroclimate conditions, suggest that overall, drought severity and 
duration will increase across the West in the coming century. A growing 
risk to effective water management in the western United States is 
climate change. The BIL provides $8.3 billion for the Bureau of 
Reclamation to invest over 5 years to build up America's ability to 
address pervasive drought conditions in the West. This work is underway 
with States, Tribes, and communities in the most drought-affected 
geographic areas to ensure predictable and sustainable water supplies.
    Complementing this transformative investment, the 2023 budget 
before the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee 
includes $1.4 billion for Reclamation programs and projects. This 
request supports a suite of water conservation, recycling, and planning 
programs to help communities mitigate drought and climate change 
impacts. The 2023 budget includes $62.4 million for Reclamation's 
WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America's Resources for Tomorrow) 
programs, which work cooperatively with States, Tribes, and local 
communities as they plan for and implement actions to increase water 
supply.
    The Reclamation budget includes additional investments to support 
drought-impacted areas of the West. For example, $11.5 million is 
requested for the Lower Colorado River Operations Program to implement 
drought contingency plans and response actions to maintain elevations 
at Lake Mead. Another $2.0 million is requested for water 
infrastructure investments along the Texas border, and $5.0 million of 
the request within the Central Valley Project in California is specific 
to drought planning and resiliency efforts that will be implemented in 
coordination with the California Department of Water Resources.
                        wildland fire management
    In the United States, on average, more than 62,000 wildfires burn 
7.5 million acres every year. In 2021, Interior's wildfire managers saw 
that the intensity of fires increased earlier in the year and required 
elevated levels of fire preparedness for longer periods. The Nation 
remained at Preparedness Level 4 or 5 for a record 99 consecutive days, 
requiring a significant commitment of firefighters and firefighting 
resources over an extended period. Communities and wildland 
firefighters across the West felt the devastating impacts of these 
changing fire patterns.
    The 2023 budget request for the Wildland Fire Management (WFM) 
account is $1.2 billion, an increase of $173.5 million above the 2022 
enacted appropriation. An additional $340.0 million in wildfire 
suppression resources is available in the Wildfire Suppression 
Operations Reserve Fund, as authorized by the Consolidated 
Appropriations Act, 2018 (Public Law 115-141) to ensure the 
availability of sufficient funds above the appropriated amount for 
suppression in the event of a severe fire season.
    The 2023 budget includes $477.2 million for Preparedness, an 
increase of $106.6 million above the 2022 enacted appropriation. This 
request will enable Interior to increase firefighting capacity, 
continue the transformation to a more permanent and professional 
wildland fire workforce, and support pay and compensation reforms, 
including the President's commitment that Federal firefighters are paid 
at least $15 per hour. The budget proposes $304.3 million for Fuels 
Management and $20.5 million for Burned Area Rehabilitation. The budget 
request for Fuels Management will enable Interior to increase the pace 
and scale of fuel treatments by proactively addressing wildfire risk on 
Federal and Tribal lands and reducing carbon emissions. This 
discretionary request complements the $218.6 million investment in 
Fuels Management and Burned Area Rehabilitation available through the 
BIL in 2023 to address the significant need for this work. The budget 
funds Suppression Operations at $383.7 million, in accordance with 
Division O of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (Public Law 
115-141).
                     building resilient communities
    Communities across the country are considering the changing climate 
not only as in the context of disaster preparedness but also as they 
plan long-term infrastructure and program investments. Interior 
programs support these efforts in a variety of ways. USGS manages the 
Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program, which maintains a 
nationwide network of streamflow and water-level information from more 
than 11,000 sites. The budget includes $117.0 million for this program, 
an increase of $6.4 million above the 2022 enacted appropriation. The 
information from the network is available online to help natural 
resource managers, scientists, and emergency managers across the 
country with monitoring for floods and drought and with forecasting 
water availability for natural resources and crops. The budget also 
includes $60.9 million for the USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and 
Resources Program, an increase of $19.1 million above the 2022 enacted 
appropriation, to expand work providing information that informs long- 
and short-term planning and mitigation of the impacts of climate change 
to the Nation's coastlines.
    The budget includes $61.0 million for Interior's Tribal Climate 
Resilience program, an increase of $32.0 million above the 2022 enacted 
level. This funding supports Tribes in climate resilience planning, 
assessment, and adaptation activities and planning and design work for 
Tribal communities evaluating the need for or pursuing climate-related 
relocation. The budget includes $117.3 million for Assistance to 
Territories, which supports the Insular Areas through the provision of 
basic services as well as targeted investments related to climate 
change, including $3.5 million for work related to coral reef 
ecosystems and other natural resource needs and $15.5 million for clean 
energy projects and grid infrastructure improvements, an increase of 
$4.5 million above the 2022 enacted appropriation.
    The 2023 budget for USGS includes $10.0 million to support a 
climate information portal. The portal would integrate climate-relevant 
Federal data, tools, and information to help Tribal, State, and local 
governments; communities; and commercial entities understand potential 
climate- related hazards and guide infrastructure investment decisions 
and other efforts to build resilience to extreme events equitably and 
inclusively. Entities could use this research enterprise portal to 
explore the potential impact of climate hazards among human 
populations, economies, and built and natural environments; assess 
vulnerability and risk and determine which risks require actions; 
evaluate and evolve building standards and designs to help ensure that 
new infrastructure and capital improvement projects are climate 
resilient; and prepare climate impact assessments.
                          resource stewardship
    The 2023 budget includes increases to strengthen natural resource 
management across the Department to improve the resilience of Tribal 
lands and the lands Interior manages. The 2023 budget includes $4.9 
billion across Interior to support the restoration, conservation, and 
improvements needed for healthier lands, waters, and ecosystems and 
their resident species. Healthier lands are more resilient to the 
effects of the changing climate, and investments that are made now will 
help ensure the unique and spectacular lands and resources Interior 
manages endure for future generations.
    The 2023 budget proposes significant increases in the Bureau of 
Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 
and the National Park Service for resource stewardship programs which 
are at the heart of Interior's mission. The budget includes $553.0 
million for resource stewardship programs in the National Park Service, 
an increase of $170.9 million from the 2022 enacted appropriation. This 
additional funding will help to build capacity within the national 
parks to address natural resource challenges, expand youth and job 
program partnerships through the Civilian Climate Corps to restore 
national park resources, and invest in inventorying and monitoring to 
support proper stewardship of park ecosystems and species.
    Across Interior, the 2023 budget includes $174.2 million to address 
invasive species, including targeted early detection and rapid response 
efforts. Invasive plants and animals outcompete native species, disrupt 
ecosystem function and deplete resources, exacerbate hazards such as 
fire and landslides, damage infrastructure, and spread wildlife and 
human disease. In addition, the Administration supports congressional 
efforts to amend Title 18 of the Lacey Act to return the longstanding 
authority of FWS to prohibit interstate transport of injurious species. 
Recent incidences of injurious species, such as invasive mussels 
contaminating commercial products, demonstrate the need to restore this 
authority.
                  the america the beautiful initiative
    Interior plays a critical role in helping the Administration's 
America the Beautiful initiative meet the President's ambitious goal to 
work with States, Tribes, Territories, private landowners, local 
communities, and other partners to conserve 30 percent of U.S. lands 
and waters by 2030 to help address the climate crisis and its impacts 
on nature. This initiative will help strengthen the economy, address 
the interconnected climate and biodiversity crises, and advance 
environmental justice and people's access to nature.
    The America the Beautiful initiative features partnerships like the 
recently launched Task Force on Collaborative Conservation which 
includes Interior, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Western 
Governors Association. The Task Force will work to enhance 
collaboration across Federal, State, and local jurisdictions to support 
cross-boundary coordination on issues such as wildfire mitigation, 
invasive species control, and habitat restoration, and support the 
voluntary stewardship effects of ranchers, farmers, and other private 
landowners to keep working lands working.
    Building on the conservation efforts of the previous 
Administration, Interior is working to further the goals of Secretary's 
Order 3362 to enhance migration corridors and winter range for elk, 
mule deer, and pronghorns in the West; this work includes a grant 
program, administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, for 
projects that improve big game habitat through voluntary efforts on 
private and Tribal lands.
    In 2023, America the Beautiful builds on these efforts and other 
broadly supported actions to advance land and water conservation in a 
manner that is locally led, is guided by science, honors Tribal trust 
and sovereignty, and is respectful of landowners. The implementation of 
this initiative continues to rely on broad engagement, including that 
of hunters, anglers, outdoor enthusiasts, private landowners, Tribal 
Nations, States, territories, and local officials. These important 
partners and stakeholders drive the strategies that reflect the 
priorities of all communities.
    In 2023, through the Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance 
Program, NPS will provide free, on-location help to communities working 
to create and restore parks and conservation areas. Completed projects 
have helped restore rivers, wildlife habitat, and impaired resources 
and have improved outdoor recreation opportunities to meet changing 
demands. Through Tribal Climate Adaptation Grants, BIA supports Tribes 
and Tribal organizations with planning, capacity building, and actions 
to address climate risks. With climate change disproportionately 
affecting the Arctic and northern areas of the United States, the 
program's planning and data development awards alone are estimated to 
benefit more than 440,000 Alaska Native people.
    The 2023 budget invests across the Department to support 
partnerships that encourage conservation. For example, FWS includes 
funding to broaden support for habitat restoration on private lands 
that are located along migration corridors and waterways through 
Candidate Conservation Agreements with partners. The budget includes 
$20.4 million for the Candidate Conservation program and $67.4 million 
for the FWS Partners for Fish and Wildlife program, which assists 
private landowners who are interested in restoring and enhancing 
wildlife habitat on their lands.
       creating jobs to meet environmental and energy challenges
    Interior programs supported an estimated 1.9 million jobs in the 
U.S. economy in 2019, according to the most recent Department of the 
Interior Economic Contributions Report. Those jobs were driven 
primarily by Interior's work in the areas of energy and minerals, 
recreation and tourism, irrigation and other water-related activities, 
and grants and payments. Interior's 2023 budget continues these core 
activities and includes additional investments that complement funding 
made available through the GAOA and the BIL, which are targeted to 
boost economic and job growth. The President's Budget proposes growth 
in areas that position the country to be more competitive in the 
changing economy and environment.
                    clean energy jobs of the future
    Interior is working hard to meet the President's ambitious goal to 
deploy 30 gigawatts (GW; 30,000 megawatts [MW]) of offshore wind energy 
by 2030 to fight climate change and create nearly 80,000 jobs. To 
provide context for the Administration's ambitious wind energy goal, 
earlier this year, I commemorated the groundbreaking of the second 
commercial-scale offshore energy project approved for Federal waters, 
which will have the capacity to generate 130 MW of wind energy--enough 
to power more than 70,000 homes and businesses. The South Fork wind 
energy project will be located offshore Rhode Island and New York. In 
addition, nine additional project reviews were initiated in the first 
year of the Biden-Harris Administration.
    As of July 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) 
oversees 27 active commercial wind energy leases in the Atlantic Outer 
Continental Shelf (OCS), initiated the review of 10 offshore wind 
projects on those leases, and approved the Nation's first two 
commercial projects off of Massachusetts and New York, which will be 
built with union labor. BOEM plans to complete the review of 14 
additional projects by 2025, representing 25 GW of new, renewable 
energy for the Nation. BOEM held the New York Bight offshore wind sale 
on February 23, 2022, offering six lease areas covering more than 
488,000 acres for potential wind energy development. The sale resulted 
in winning bids from six companies totaling $4.37 billion, which was 
the Nation's highest grossing competitive offshore energy lease sale in 
history, including oil and gas lease sales. BOEM also held an offshore 
wind lease sale in the Carolina Long Bay on May 11 for two lease areas, 
which sold for approximately $315 million. To continue progress on the 
leasing path I announced last fall, BOEM plans to hold the first 
offshore wind lease sale in the Pacific for areas off the central and 
northern coast of California before the end of the year.
    The Administration is actively working with States, Tribes, ocean 
users, and key stakeholders to plan sales in the Gulf of Mexico and 
offshore the U.S. Central Atlantic coast in 2023. Additional planning 
is underway for potential lease areas offshore Oregon and Hawaii and in 
the Gulf of Maine. The 2023 budget includes $51.7 million for BOEM's 
Renewable Energy programs and $7.7 million for the Bureau of Safety and 
Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) to establish an offshore renewable 
energy inspection and regulation program. Compared to the 2022 enacted 
appropriation, the 2023 request for these two programs combined is an 
increase of $18.6 million.
    Onshore, the Administration's clean energy goal is to permit 25 GW 
of renewable energy by 2025, as required by the Energy Act of 2020. 
Interior plays a central role in achieving this goal by carrying out 
environmental reviews for clean energy projects on our Nation's public 
lands, conducting meaningful consultations with Tribal Nations, and 
assessing potential impacts to species. To help achieve this goal, the 
2023 budget includes $49.7 million for BLM's Renewable Energy program, 
an increase of $18.7 million above the 2022 enacted appropriation, to 
expand the number of Renewable Energy Coordination Offices which 
specialize in permitting for renewable energy projects on public lands. 
To further improve coordination across the Government, Interior has 
signed a memorandum of understanding with the Departments of 
Agriculture, Defense, and Energy and the Environmental Protection 
Agency to streamline clean energy reviews. The BLM Resource Management 
Planning program also includes $11.0 million to support the siting of 
renewable energy projects on public lands.
    BLM has prioritized and is actively processing dozens of large-
scale renewable energy projects and transmission lines; as of June 
2022, the bureau is working to complete the environmental review and 
permitting for 64 utility-scale onshore clean energy projects proposed 
on public lands. This effort includes 48 solar projects, 3 wind 
projects, 9 geothermal projects, and 4 interconnecting gen-tie lines 
that are vital to the feasibility of clean energy projects proposed on 
non-Federal lands. Combined, the 64 projects have the potential 
capacity to add more than 41,000 MW of renewable energy to the western 
electric grid. BLM also has approximately 60 applications that are 
still under initial or preliminary review, and the bureau has been 
receiving additional wind and solar applications weekly.
    To facilitate the development of geothermal projects, the request 
includes $3.6 million for USGS to characterize and assess domestic 
geothermal energy resources and work with partners to advance 
technologies to utilize those resources. Geothermal resources are a 
significant source of renewable electric power in the western United 
States and, with recent advances in technology, are becoming a 
potential source of a large fraction of baseload electric power.
    To further support the achievement of clean energy goals, the 
Administration is working to accelerate the transition of Federal fleet 
of vehicles to 100 percent zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs). By leveraging 
the buying power of the Federal Government and transforming its fleet 
of more than 600,000 cars and trucks to an all-electric fleet, the 
Administration aims to accelerate America's industrial capacity to 
supply domestically produced ZEVs and electric batteries to create new 
good-paying jobs and address the climate crisis.
    Interior's fleet includes approximately 30,800 vehicles located 
across the country. Interior owns 70 percent of the vehicles, 80 
percent of which are light- to medium-duty trucks, vans, and sport 
utility vehicles. The 2023 budget includes $61.9 million to accelerate 
the transition of Interior's fleet to ZEVs. Funding will support either 
acquiring ZEVs within the owned fleet or transitioning to the General 
Services Administration's leased fleet, investing in the related 
charging infrastructure, and making plans and integrating those plans 
to effectively support the initiative.
                balancing the nation's energy portfolio
    The 2023 budget includes $476.6 million for oil and gas programs in 
BSEE, BOEM, and BLM, an increase of $63.7 million above the 2022 
enacted appropriation. The budget for BSEE includes $246.1 million for 
safety and environmental stewardship programs. The budget for BOEM 
provides $63.6 million for conventional energy programs to support OCS 
planning, leasing, and oversight, including inventorying oil and gas 
reserves, overseeing ongoing activities, ensuring adequate financial 
assurances for decommissioning liability and risk management, 
developing and implementing the National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing 
Program (National OCS Program), reviewing and administering oil and gas 
exploration and development plans as well as geological and geophysical 
permitting, and conducting economic analyses and resource evaluations.
    As required by section 18 of the OCS Lands Act, BOEM prepares the 
National OCS Program, which sets the schedule for proposed offshore oil 
and gas lease sales over a 5-year period. The National OCS Program is 
designed in a manner to best meet the Nation's energy needs while 
carefully considering factors to balance the potential for accessing 
oil and gas resources with the potential for adverse impacts from such 
activities.
    The 2023 budget includes $166.8 million for BLM's Oil and Gas 
Management program, including $51.0 million for inspection activities 
to be offset by an onshore inspection fee. The 2023 budget proposes to 
offset the cost of BLM's Oil and Gas Inspection Activities program from 
appropriations to revenue from a new inspection fee. In addition to 
administering oil and gas leasing and ensuring environmentally 
responsible development, the budget request will allow BLM to remediate 
legacy well sites in the National Petroleum Reserve--Alaska.
                 reclamation jobs in energy communities
    The BIL provides nearly $16.0 billion, mostly for States and 
Tribes, to reclaim abandoned coal mine lands and orphaned oil and gas 
wells across the country. Both important investments will support 
needed jobs, address environmental hazards and risks, and restore lands 
for other uses.
    The 2023 budget includes related--but not duplicative--funding to 
address reclamation needs not addressed through the BIL. The budget 
includes $65.0 million in the Energy Community Revitalization Program 
for abandoned hardrock or non-coal mine reclamation, which was 
authorized but not funded in the BIL. States and the Interstate Mining 
Compact Commission have indicated that abandoned hardrock mines can be 
found across the country, and many States do not have good inventories 
or strong programs to manage those sites. Interior has identified 
thousands of mines and features on its lands that pose safety risks and 
generate environmental contaminants. The 2023 program will include 
$33.0 million for assistance and support to States, $10.0 million for 
reclamation work on Tribal lands, and $17.0 million to address 
reclamation and restoration on Interior lands.
    BLM has estimated that more than 51,000 abandoned hardrock mines 
are on BLM lands, and of that number, 10 percent have environmental 
impacts and 95 percent pose physical safety risks. In recognition of 
the 150th anniversary of the Mining Law of 1872, the Department has 
established an Interagency Working Group to comprehensively review 
hardrock mine permitting and oversight on Federal lands to help ensure 
that mining operations adhere to strong social, environmental, and 
labor standards. As part of this whole-of-government effort, the 
Department will host extensive public input and comment sessions on 
potential hardrock mining reforms.
    To address the volume and complexity of abandoned hardrock mines on 
BLM lands, the 2023 budget includes $62.2 million for Abandoned Mine 
Lands (AMLs) and Hazardous Materials Management. The budget for the 
Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement (OSMRE) includes 
$115.0 million for AML Economic Revitalization grants. This funding 
allows coal communities in States and Tribes with the greatest amount 
of unfunded AML problems to leverage mine land reclamation with local 
economic development.
                             infrastructure
    Interior manages an infrastructure portfolio valued at more than 
$400.0 billion, which captures a variety of structures, including dams, 
storage buildings, and national icons. The Department is responsible 
for roughly 43,000 buildings, 100,000 miles of road, and 83,000 
structures. Interior's funding focuses significantly on the operations, 
maintenance, renewal, and modernization of infrastructure, which 
directly helps create jobs and benefit local economies.
    The 2023 budget includes more than $2.8 billion to address the 
Department's infrastructure operations, maintenance, renewal, and 
modernization needs. Interior's annual request for infrastructure 
funding is in addition to the estimated $1.6 billion in mandatory 
funding that is available to Interior each year through 2025 through 
the Legacy Restoration Fund included in the GAOA. These funds are 
available to address the Department's deferred maintenance backlog in 
NPS, FWS, BLM, and BIE schools. The U.S. Forest Service also receives 
up to $285 million in LRF funding each year.
    At the end of 2022, Interior's LRF program will have initiated 222 
projects touching all 50 States; Washington, DC; Puerto Rico; and the 
U.S. Virgin Islands. When completed, these projects are estimated to 
address $2.2 billion of Interior's deferred maintenance backlog, create 
an average of 18,000 jobs each year, and contribute an average of $1.9 
billion each year to the overall gross domestic product.
    The 2023 budget request reflects a change the National Park Service 
began in 2022 to transform its facilities condition assessment process. 
This transformation will provide a more streamlined, comprehensive, 
consistent, and timely identification of estimated repair needs to 
maintain the NPS asset portfolio, including how it reports deferred 
maintenance and repair (DM&R). The new approach reduces the burden on 
parks and supports a more operationally useful assessment of the 
condition of and estimated deferred maintenance requirements for the 
NPS asset portfolio. This approach will improve the allocation of NPS 
infrastructure investments. NPS will calculate DM&R needs for its 
assets using three components: parametric condition assessments, a 
commonly used tool, for industry-standard assets; Federal Highway 
Administration assessments for transportation assets; and work orders 
for most other assets.
    As NPS implements its process, Interior's other bureaus are 
exploring the lessons learned to improve their infrastructure 
investment processes. Historically, attention has focused on Interior's 
DM&R backlog as a proxy for infrastructure investment requirements, but 
mission fulfillment requirements also include operations, other 
maintenance, renewal, and modernization. This shift is part of an 
ongoing effort to manage Interior's assets to better direct limited 
resources to address more critical maintenance, renewal, or 
modernization needs. This approach aligns with Interior's longstanding 
investment criteria for asset management programs, which consider 
facility condition as merely one factor to ensure that assets can 
capably deliver mission requirements or other benefits.
                 balancing development and conservation
    Interior also plays a critical role in balancing conservation and 
the development needed for vibrant communities with strong economies. 
The 2023 budget includes $152.8 million for the FWS Ecological Services 
Planning and Consultation program to support reviews and permitting of 
clean energy and other infrastructure and development projects. These 
investments will help facilitate consultation and permitting required 
under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), including for ESA consultations 
required to implement the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. FWS works 
collaboratively with industry, agencies, Tribes, and other stakeholders 
to provide technical assistance that informs project development to 
help avoid, minimize, and mitigate impacts on wildlife and habitats. 
The budget also includes $12.3 million for the FWS Migratory Bird 
Management program to conduct activities to support development while 
protecting migratory birds, notably iconic bald and golden eagles. 
These investments in the Migratory Bird Management program will help 
modernize Interior's permitting process to access the latest scientific 
and energy technology information when evaluating development 
proposals.
                         civilian climate corps
    The Civilian Climate Corps (CCC) is an important Administration 
initiative that draws on America's strength to work together to 
revitalize public lands, waters, infrastructure, and communities--and, 
in doing so, create jobs. This initiative expands the Department's 
longstanding partnership, apprenticeship, and youth engagement programs 
to restore Interior's lands and waters, improve access to outdoor 
recreation, increase reforestation, and inventory cultural heritage and 
paleontology sites, among other activities. These programs provide job 
opportunities and experience, teach skills, provide a pathway to 
employment, contribute to the resilience of unique lands and resources, 
and reflect the diversity of America. The 2023 budget includes $60.0 
million to expand these programs, provide program participants with a 
living wage, and put more people to work restoring public lands.
    BIA has also established the Indian Youth Service Corps to conserve 
and protect Indigenous people's natural and cultural resources through 
maintenance, research, resilience, and mitigation. Program activities 
align Indigenous traditional cultural values with projects that provide 
sustainable benefits for program participants and Tribal communities. 
The program expands BIA's Pathways Internship Program, which targets 
American Indian and Alaska Native students for internships across seven 
BIA programs and complements the BIA CCC program.
          advancing and incorporating science across interior
    Science is integral to the accomplishment of Interior's core 
mission activities. The 2023 budget includes more than $1.4 billion for 
research and development programs across the Department, but the 
application of science is also essential in carrying out direct mission 
activities. FWS has integrated scientific information to help improve 
and streamline the environmental review process for Federal projects. 
The Consultation Package Builder leads agencies through development of 
biological assessments, and plans are in place to expand available data 
of species and their locations.
    Interior's natural resource managers rely on science every day as 
they gather, analyze, and apply inventorying and monitoring data to 
inform stewardship decisions. The ability to examine data regarding the 
status of lands, waters, ecosystems, and the resident species plays an 
increasingly important role in understanding and building resilience to 
the effects of climate change. The 2023 budget includes funding to 
support adaptative management and applied science within the operating 
accounts of BLM, FWS, and NPS.
    USGS is Interior's primary science organization, providing science 
and actionable information about natural hazards, natural resources, 
ecosystems and environmental health, mapping and land imaging, and the 
effects of climate change. The 2023 budget includes $147.1 million for 
applied science in species management and land management, directly 
supporting the work of Interior bureaus. USGS also supports a network 
of Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CASCs), which promote scientific 
collaboration to tackle regional climate science challenges. The budget 
includes $124.7 million for this work, which helps provide resource 
managers with the ability to integrate the best available science into 
everyday resource management. The newest CASC, hosted at the University 
of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment, will pay special attention 
to Tribal concerns and build off the unique and robust experience of 
Midwest Tribes with adaptation science and practice.
    USGS science plays an important role in addressing significant 
challenges that have substantial societal and environmental impacts. 
Frequently, USGS science is paired with resource management expertise 
in Interior bureaus as well as with other Federal and non-Federal 
partners. An example of this collaboration is USGS' role in ongoing 
governmentwide work to address the problem of invasive carp. USGS 
research in this area supports early detection, risk assessment, and 
development and assessment of tools to control the number of invasive 
carp. Removal efforts using a USGS-developed method in Barkley Lake, 
KY, removed tens of thousands of pounds of invasive silver and bighead 
carp. Research testing on the effectiveness of an acoustic deterrent 
system at Lock and Dam 19 on the Mississippi River will support efforts 
to stop the upstream expansion of invasive carp. Research on other 
deterrents, such as carbon dioxide, have proven effective against grass 
carp in laboratory tests. The 2023 budget includes $47.9 million to 
continue research on biological threats and invasive species, an 
increase of $7.5 million from the 2022 enacted appropriation.
 promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion of underserved communities
    The Administration is adopting a whole-of-government approach to 
advance equity, civil rights, racial justice, and equal opportunity. 
The Interior 2023 budget request supports the actions needed to 
recognize and redress inequities and to proactively advance diversity, 
equity, inclusion, and accessibility within the Department's workforce.
      strengthening interior's commitment to diversity and equity
    The 2023 budget includes $16.8 million as part of a Departmentwide 
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility initiative. Funding 
will be used to increase capacity in the bureaus and in the 
Department's Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Civil Rights; Office 
of Human Capital; and Office of Collaborative Alternative Dispute 
Resolution to:

  --Improve Interior's Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) adjudication, 
        investigations, and processing of final Department decisions 
        and increase EEO training across the Department;

  --Expand capacity for alternative dispute resolution and EEO 
        complaint mediation;

  --Assess hiring programs to eliminate barriers to effective and 
        inclusive recruitment; and

  --Ensure consistent and equal pay for equal work.

    In February 2022, I established the first-ever Diversity, Equity, 
Inclusion and Accessibility Council to prioritize equity and inclusion 
and to incorporate best practices into the Department's work across its 
many bureaus, programs, and services. The budget includes additional 
specific investments to expand the Office of Diversity within FWS and 
to establish an Office of Equity and Inclusion within BOEM.
    For far too long, environmental policy decisions have failed to 
adequately account for environmental injustice, including the 
disproportionate, disparate, and cumulative impacts pollution and 
climate change have on low-income communities and communities of color. 
To address those inequities, the Administration is working to implement 
the Justice40 initiative to ensure that 40 percent of overall benefits 
of certain Federal investments in climate and clean energy are directed 
to disadvantaged communities. Interior bureaus and offices have been 
working as part of governmentwide efforts to refine the criteria and 
metrics needed to implement this important initiative. The 2023 budget 
includes $4.0 million for dedicated staff and technical support to 
provide programmatic expertise, coordination, and outreach support 
across the Department. These additional resources will enable the 
Department to implement the Justice40 initiative while quantifying the 
benefits and positive impacts of Justice40-covered programs on 
disadvantaged communities across the country.
                    building a more inclusive agency
    Interior is also working to make our mission programs and services 
more inclusive of diverse and underserved communities. The 2023 budget 
includes targeted investments to better connect with and be more 
responsive to new audiences. Examples of this effort in the budget 
include the following:

  --The Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration program 
        includes $8.1 million to better address environmental justice 
        issues.

  --USGS includes $800,000 to enhance scientific capacity partnerships 
        through technical training internships with Tribes, Alaska 
        Native communities, and underserved communities.

  --FWS includes $4.0 million for an expanded Native American Programs 
        Coordination Office.

  --NPS includes $5.7 million to establish an Office of Native American 
        Affairs and support Tribal liaisons at national parks to 
        strengthen partnerships and improve coordination with Tribal 
        Nations and support the Native American Tourism and Improving 
        Visitor Experience (NATIVE) Act.

    The 2023 budget also expands ongoing programs that are working to 
connect new audiences to the outdoors and to Interior's mission 
activities. For example, the FWS budget includes $12.5 million for its 
Urban Wildlife Conservation program. This program leverages the 101 
national wildlife refuges that are within 25 miles of an urban area 
through local partnerships. The program helps to connect the refuges to 
their local communities through outreach and programming, creating 
opportunities for the 80 percent of Americans who are living in urban 
areas to benefit from time spent in nature.
    The NPS mission includes the preservation of America's cultural and 
historical resources. Including the cultural practices and history from 
across America in carrying out this mission is an important 
responsibility. The 2023 budget includes several important investments 
that reflect inclusion and diversity:

  --Support for the African American Civil Rights Network to present a 
        comprehensive narrative of the people, places, and events 
        associated with the African American Civil Rights movement--
        $5.4 million.

  --Historic Preservation Fund support for Historically Black Colleges 
        and Universities--$10.0 million.

  --Grants to Indian Tribes to support Tribal historic preservation 
        offices that preserve the distinct cultural heritage of 
        American Indian Tribes nationwide--$23.0 million.

  --Competitive historic preservation grants to support State and local 
        efforts to preserve sites that document the struggle for equal 
        opportunity for African Americans--$21.8 million.

  --Transfer of $3.3 million to the 400 Years of African American 
        History Commission for research and programs throughout the 
        United States to recognize and highlight the resilience and 
        cultural contributions of Africans and African Americans over 
        400 years.

  --Expanded capacity at more than 30 national park units that preserve 
        and tell the story of historically underrepresented and 
        marginalized groups or conduct programs that reach out to local 
        underserved communities.

  --Assessment and addressing of transportation barriers to National 
        Park System units from underserved communities--$5.0 million.

  --Establishment of the Park Accessibility for Visitors and Employees 
        Network--$5.0 million.
                        building agency capacity
    Interior is working to strengthen the Department moving forward and 
continuously improve the delivery of our mission programs and services 
to the American people. Efforts related to improving Interior's 
workforce and operations and better leveraging technology and 
information are underway across the Department.
                 workforce and operational improvements
    Interior's mission activities rely on a talented and dedicated 
workforce, and many bureau operations are labor intensive and complex. 
At the end of 2020, however, Interior's staffing was at a 10-year low, 
with 60,558 full-time equivalents (FTEs). Despite the pandemic, by the 
end of 2021, staffing had increased to 62,027 FTEs. When fully enacted, 
the Department's 2023 budget would support 68,133 FTEs.
    As the Department rebuilds its workforce, Interior is working to 
recruit, hire, and train the next generation of talented people who 
will reflect the diversity and strength of the United States. 
Complementing our diverse workforce, the Department is committed to 
providing the tools critical for success across Interior. DOI will 
regularly conduct equity assessments and pursue more meaningful 
engagement with underserved communities to make sure they are visible 
and considered during outreach and hiring efforts. The budget includes 
$2.3 million for Human Capital initiatives, which include the use of 
Talent Teams to strengthen recruitment and improve outreach to diverse 
candidates.
    With regard to the Wildland Fire Management workforce, Interior is 
working closely with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest 
Service, and the Office of Personnel Management to ensure that Federal 
wildland firefighters receive pay that is competitive with the pay 
received by other firefighters. The 2023 budget continues to support a 
transition to a more permanent wildland fire workforce, with improved 
training and career development opportunities to encourage the 
retention of experienced and skilled staff members.
    To better support Interior's uniformed law enforcement efforts, the 
2023 budget includes $21.1 million to ensure that Interior law 
enforcement personnel have body-worn cameras and the associated data 
storage capability they need. The 2023 budget proposal would provide 
coverage for all Interior law enforcement officers.The Department 
continues its work to strengthen BLM's workforce, which experienced a 
significant loss of expertise during the 2019 reorganization of the 
bureau, when the BLM headquarters was moved from the Washington, DC, 
area to Grand Junction, CO. At that time, more than 80 percent of the 
employees in positions identified for relocation chose not to relocate, 
and many employees moved to positions outside BLM and Interior. BLM is 
working now with employees to rebuild a headquarters in Washington, DC, 
and to fully leverage the strengths of the western headquarters in 
Grand Junction, CO, and in BLM field offices across the West.
                 leveraging technology and information
    As part of a governmentwide initiative, the Department is working 
to incorporate a stronger analysis process through evidence-based 
program evaluations that rely on data. To improve data-management 
practices, the budget invests $2.3 million to increase transparency by 
establishing a robust data-management program, organizing data through 
an enterprise data registry. The budget also includes $4.3 million for 
an independent evaluation fund to support efforts to conduct 
independent evaluations of programs, initiatives, and processes across 
Interior. DOI will also develop and implement a Departmentwide 
Enterprise Risk Management program to better identify and address 
systemic risks across the agency. The 2023 budget includes an 
additional $700,000 to support evidence-based evaluations and risk-
management work across the Department.
    To better support this data-driven work, the 2023 budget includes 
$54.3 million to continue to modernize and enhance the Department's 
enterprise business management system, the Financial and Business 
Management System (FBMS). FBMS supports the administrative system's 
requirements across the Department for core accounting, budget 
execution, acquisition, aspects of financial assistance, real and 
personal property management, fleet management, travel integration, 
enterprise information management, and reporting.
    In 2023, the Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) will invest 
$17.5 million for the next phase of its ongoing Information Technology 
(IT) Modernization effort, which will focus on the design, development, 
and implementation of the new system and the eventual decommissioning 
of the legacy financial system. ONRR ensures that revenue from Federal 
and Indian mineral leases is effectively, efficiently, and accurately 
collected, accounted for, analyzed, audited, and disbursed to 
recipients in a timely fashion. Revenue distributions, which totaled 
$8.8 billion in 2021, benefit States, Tribes, individual Indian mineral 
royalty owners, and U.S. Treasury accounts. IT Modernization will 
provide the capacity, flexibility, and agility to reduce long-term 
operations and maintenance costs, and it will strengthen the 
cybersecurity of Federal networks and critical infrastructure.
    In the area of law enforcement, the 2023 budget includes $11.0 
million to implement a unified Law Enforcement Records Management 
System (LERMS). With LERMS, Interior will be able to centralize law 
enforcement activities--including criminal investigations, jail 
management, and citation tracking--and securely transmit law 
enforcement records across the Department and other law enforcement 
agencies and courts. At present, data sharing between the two legacy 
law enforcement systems is limited, and systems are inaccessible in 
rural areas, such as at national parks that do not have cell service or 
the Internet and require officers to reenter handwritten paper ticket 
and report information at a computing device when a connection becomes 
available. The current systems do not have the capability to 
electronically transfer ticket information to the U.S. Courts or report 
mandatory data to the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation (FBI). By transitioning to a unified LERMS, the realized 
efficiencies and increased capabilities will allow DOI law enforcement 
officers to spend more time protecting people and resources and will 
promote accountability.
    Interior bureaus and offices use field communications to carry out 
critical operations, including law enforcement, wildland firefighting, 
land and resource management, scientific studies, and emergency 
management. The 2023 request includes $28.6 million to be distributed 
across BIA, NPS, FWS, USGS, and the Office of the Chief Information 
Officer (OCIO) to modernize field communications. This DOI Field 
Communications Modernization investment is part of a strategy to 
address needed upgrades in Interior's field communications systems to 
ensure more efficient and reliable voice communication and remote 
broadband connectivity to provide employees working in the field with 
voice, video, and data capabilities for all missions. In many 
locations, this deployment will enhance or replace voice-only, mid-
20th-century land mobile radio technology with technology that is 
cheaper to operate and maintain. Operations and maintenance costs may 
be significantly reduced, and communications capabilities will likely 
increase by assessing current capabilities and needs, leveraging 
current technological solutions, and seeking to deliver more cost-
effective cellular and satellite services.
    Interior is also investing in cybersecurity to ensure that the 
security and integrity of our systems are not compromised. In January 
2022, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, FBI, and 
National Security Agency encouraged all agencies to increase cyber 
resilience in light of elevated risk. Interior continues to pivot to 
keep pace with a dynamic cybersecurity environment and deploy needed 
mitigation tools and upgraded capabilities. The 2023 budget includes 
$44.3 million to address high-priority cyber defense requirements, 
better detect emerging threats, make needed improvements to Interior's 
IT networks, initiate supply chain risk management analysis, and 
maintain ongoing operations.
                               conclusion
    The 2023 President's Budget for Interior sets ambitious goals, but 
they are achievable. Working together, we have the opportunity to 
invest now to strengthen our Nation for all Americans, protect our 
environment, and ensure our future generations continue to not only 
enjoy, but improve our way of life. I look forward to doing this work 
together. Thank you again for having me, and I am pleased to answer any 
questions you may have.

    Senator Merkley. Thank you very much Madam Secretary. And 
we, without objection, will put your full testimony, written 
testimony into the record.
    I will begin rounds of questioning now, seven minutes, I 
will stop asking questions when my seven minutes are up, and I 
will ask everyone else to do the same so that we can make sure 
everyone gets a chance to make inquiries that are important to 
these issues across the country.
    Let me start with the Klamath Basin. The Klamath Basin in 
Oregon has experienced many, many years of drought, a number of 
worst-ever drought years, and it puts enormous stress on the 
water resources, water resources that have declined both with 
the changing weather patterns, and also with the loss of less 
water coming out of the Cascade snowpack.
    And we have, Congress has provided $162 million in the 
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and more than 16 million through 
the Fish and Wildlife Service for the Klamath Basin, helping to 
address those issues. But these funds will be funds that will 
not last forever, and the question is kind of, what is the plan 
to be able to help the Basin figure out the path for the future 
under these difficult circumstances.
    I really appreciate that a team, led by Liz Klein, just 
recently completed a trip to the Basin, and your Department has 
convened a number of roundtables with stakeholders. So just, 
what is the status of that 162 million, and how will the 
funding be distributed? And what is the timeline?
    Secretary Haaland. Chairman, thank you so much for the 
question. And first of all I think you know how much we all 
care about the Klamath Basin, and we have people in our 
Department, Liz is one of those, Tanya Trujillo another, and of 
course Camille Touton, who work every single day on this issue. 
And there is not enough water, obviously. And that is the 
incredibly challenging piece of all this.
    I thank you for recognizing that we are doing our best to 
work with partners on the ground. I think it is incredibly 
important that we are in contact with the people whose lives 
are affected by this issue. And I want to assure you that every 
single day our team is working with partners in the states to 
evaluate the options for renewing discussions about how to 
foster the long-term issues moving forward.
    I think that we will take our cues from folks on the 
ground, and know that our team is dedicated. I wanted to also 
recognize that the Tribal communities are important in this 
piece as well. You might know that I had a chance to meet with 
all those folks, virtually, and just understand that even 
though people don't agree on everything they agree that they 
care deeply about this place.
    So thank you. And we are happy to keep you informed of the 
progress on this issue as we move forward.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you. I absolutely will follow up, 
because how we spend that $162 million is going to be so 
important to the future and success of all the stakeholders in 
the Basin.
    I want to commend you for your leadership on the Indian 
Boarding School Initiative.
    You have embarked on a mission to document a dark chapter 
in American history. Just fully supportive of these efforts, 
and well, a lot of those schools, a number of them were in 
Oregon, ten of those schools, one of which Chemawa is still 
operating under--but unfortunately under very different 
circumstances, so from that past.
    How will the Department use the fiscal year 2022 funding of 
$7 million to further the efforts for this program?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you very much, Chairman. As you 
know, we finished our first report on the Boarding School 
Initiative. We are working on the second report. We also 
started a nationwide listening tour, if you will a healing 
journey tour. We had the first piece of that this past weekend 
at the Riverside Indian School in Anadarko, Oklahoma. We will 
travel to your state likely, as well as to many states across 
the country.
    The second report in the Boarding School Initiative will 
dive deeper into the issues that we raised, and it is largely 
driven by what the tribes would like us to do as well. So we 
are keeping close contact with all of that. We appreciate your 
support. There is more work to do to bring closure and healing 
to this issue, and so the $7 million is going to go toward the 
healing journey, toward researching and writing the second 
report, and any subsequent reports that would come after that.
    Senator Merkley. I think we are all going to learn a lot 
from this effort. It is an incredibly important effort. Thank 
you.
    Public Law 280 is a nearly 70-year-old law affecting 
criminal jurisdiction in tribal lands in six states, including 
Oregon. I know that criminal jurisdiction on tribal lands is 
complicated, the situation for each affected tribe is unique, 
but essentially there are 32 tribes across the country that 
should qualify for funding assistance with their criminal 
jurisdiction programs that have not been included in the past. 
And this is profoundly unfair.
    And I want to draw it to your attention, and I want to 
advocate that these are 32 tribes be treated fairly. And just 
ask how you might champion appropriate, equal fair treatment of 
these tribes that have been excluded, even though they qualify?
    Secretary Haaland. Chairman, thank you so much for the 
question. Of course justice services and law enforcement in 
Indian Country is a priority for all of us, and I recognize 
that sometimes it can be difficult given where the tribal 
communities are located. But safety all across Indian Country 
is a priority for me.
    We have focused on increasing capacity in areas where we 
have existing law enforcement programs, growing our Missing and 
Murdered Unit, and I know you were supportive of that, so thank 
you, and improving detention and correction centers. We 
recognize the need to turn our attention to the 32 non-PL280 
tribes, like the Cow Creek, who have not had the opportunity to 
receive direct service law enforcement from the BIA. For tribes 
in this situation, we are looking at strategies to provide them 
an opportunity to receive law enforcement funding in a manner 
that doesn't diminish the level of support for tribes who 
receive the law enforcement services for funding.
    So it is a good balancing act. But I assure you that we 
care deeply, and this is an issue that we will continue to work 
on. And of course, we are happy to be in touch with you about 
it.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you, Madam Secretary. I appreciate 
your recognition that those 32 tribes deserve to be included in 
the program, and we will work with you in that regard.
    And let me turn this over to Ranking Member Senator 
Murkowski.
    Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Madam Secretary, you know very well the issues related to 
our legacy wells up north, particularly within the National 
Petroleum Reserve. We provided significant resources to the 
Department to address these, last year $22 million, but what we 
are hearing is the concern, and I know it has been raised with 
you, that these wells are not being plugged to the appropriate 
standards.
    In March, there were releases that came from previously 
plugged legacy wells, you know, once they are plugged they 
shouldn't be a problem. But what we are facing is the standards 
that are used by the state government in Alaska are more 
stringent, and they result in better remediation outcomes.
    I don't know if this is a staffing issue at BLM. If so, we 
can work to address that. But I need you to commit to me to 
have BLM review the remediation and plugging standards that are 
used by the State of Alaska to see what improvements can be 
made to BLM's own standards. And I would hope that after you 
get such a review we can sit down and work through this?
    Secretary Haaland. Absolutely. We are happy to work with 
you on all of that, Senator.
    Senator Murkowski. Okay. Thank you. Then what I would ask 
again is if you can do this review, and if in 3 months we will 
follow up for a meeting to go over that, I would appreciate 
that.
    Secretary Haaland. Yes, of course.
    Senator Murkowski. On the fire as I mentioned what we are 
seeing up in the state right now, 512 fires this year, covering 
2.8 million acres of land. Interior received $1.5 billion in 
the Infrastructure Bill for wildland fire--or wildfire 
mitigation and preparedness. I think it goes without saying, 
but we certainly need funding to conduct the hazardous fuels 
reduction.
    Can you tell me how much of the infrastructure money has 
been distributed, and how soon you expect to see that funding 
get out the door?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you so much. The Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Law provided over $1.4 billion for Interior's 
fire programs over a five-year period, Wildland Fire Management 
Program allocated $407 million in 2022, and the Interior and 
U.S. Forest Service recently announced $120 million will be 
paid out as a supplemental salary payments to wildland 
firefighters. That was so we could ensure firefighters are paid 
at least $15 an hour. Some programs will take longer to 
implement fully because of upfront planning and other 
requirements.
    Senator Murkowski. Can I stop you on that?
    Secretary Haaland. Yes.
    Senator Murkowski. Because when I asked a similar question 
in the Energy Committee recently to Chief Moore, he said, you 
need to have a plan. This is an issue where, again, I think the 
states have plenty of plans that are out there, and so I am not 
sure where the issue is in getting these resources directed out 
to the states. So I am trying to follow this through with 
Forest Service so if there is--if there is still some delay, if 
we are waiting for plans, in the meantime places are on fire.
    Secretary Haaland. Yes.
    Senator Murkowski. So can you help me in understanding what 
more we can be doing to get these funds out the door?
    Secretary Haaland. As you know we work with the Forest 
Service quite a bit with respect to wildland fire. I am happy 
to have someone follow up with your staff on this issue.
    Senator Murkowski. Good.
    Secretary Haaland. And make sure that everything is in 
place. And I am willing to do whatever we can to make sure it 
happens.
    Senator Murkowski. I appreciate that.
    I mentioned the five-year plan, and in Cook Inlet, and I 
think there was a lot of concern in May when the Department 
canceled Lease Sale 258, citing lack of industry interest. And 
I can say with real certainty that was not the case. But in the 
environmental analysis the Department's experts stated that if 
no lease sale occurred the price for gas would increase, as 
would emissions due to use of alternative fuels.
    So I mean, the problem that we are facing here is, in 
Alaska, we are already paying some of the highest gas prices in 
the country, and so it was just kind of stunning to people to 
actually read the Department's own words that canceling this 
sale would actually increase the emissions, increase the cost.
    So can you tell me why this particular sale was canceled? 
What consultations were done with industry that led to this 
claim about lack of industry interest? Because the folks that 
are coming to me are saying: We absolutely are interested, were 
interested, now there is no opportunity because it has been 
taken off the table.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you, It was the fact that actual 
oil companies did not show interest in Cook Inlet, I recognize 
that the Oil and Gas Association did show interest, but for us 
to move that forward we would have had to have interest from 
the actual companies who would be bidding on the leases.
    Senator Murkowski. Yeah, but there has been nothing that 
was laid down they can't indicate what their interest is. It is 
kind of a, you know, chicken and for example, or horse before 
the cart. I mean, but what happened was there was no ability, 
no opportunity to even show an interest because the sale was 
entirely cancelled.
    Secretary Haaland. Well, I appreciate your perspective on 
this, and I am not sure what to say, other than what I have 
already said. In any other lease sales we have actual companies 
showing the interest and putting forward, ideas for those 
opportunities, and we didn't get that with respect to Cook 
Inlet.
    Senator Murkowski. Madam Secretary, my time has expired. I 
will just share that what we face is that 80 percent of the 
natural gas that comes to the most populated portion of the 
state, comes out of that Cook Inlet. And there is a real 
concern that now that this is taken off the table what comes 
next.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you. Senator Heinrich?
    Senator Heinrich. Thank you, Chairman.
    Secretary, welcome. I have been very glad to see the 
funding from the Great American Outdoors Act begin to go to 
work over the last couple of years. But I am deeply concerned 
about agency process bottlenecks that really frustrate our 
ability to get LWCF, Land and Water Conservation Fund projects 
done in a reasonable timeframe.
    And I certainly recognize the importance of accurate and 
professional appraisals, but I don't understand why that 
process should take years as it often now does. That was not 
the case in the past in these agencies, and it is not the case 
in the private real estate market certainly.
    So what can we do to ensure that Land and Water 
Conservation Fund projects can be completed in a timeframe that 
works both for the public, but also for the landowners who 
engage in these transactions?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you so much, Senator. It is nice 
to see you.
    Senator Heinrich. Good to see you.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you for the question. We are 
working with our LWCF bureaus and the Appraisal and Valuation 
Services Office to set up a comprehensive review that looks at 
the root causes of these delays. And that includes internal 
processes and external factors as well. We are happy to follow 
up with you as that moves forward. And I understand the 
frustration.
    Senator Heinrich. So my hope is that we can get this to a 
place where the appraisal's process can be done in a matter of 
months as opposed to years. You are familiar with the L Bar 
Project in New Mexico.
    Secretary Haaland. Yes.
    Senator Heinrich. We specifically avoided working with the 
Federal Government in that transaction, other than the Federal 
funding that came from Pittman-Robertson. But we didn't use 
LWCF dollars in that project because the timeframe just would 
not allow for it. So we have to get to a place where we can do 
marquee projects that really--the kind of projects that the 
public really gets excited about, but on a timeframe that works 
for these landowners.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you.
    Senator Heinrich. I want to ask you a little bit about 
Hardrock Mine Cleanup. As you know, on the Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Bill, Congress finally authorized a program 
dedicated to abandon Hardrock Mine Reclamation. Something that 
has existed for abandoned coal mines for decades. We all know 
that bill didn't include funding for that program, but your 
Department budget request includes 85 million in new funding 
for Hardrock Cleanup, something I very much appreciate.
    But it directs it through other existing programs rather 
than through the specific program authorized specifically for 
this purpose. So I just want to ask: Does the administration 
support funding for the dedicated Hardrock Program authorized 
in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill?
    Secretary Haaland. Yes.
    Senator Heinrich. Great. We look forward to working with 
you on that. I think it is going to break new ground, and we 
are going to be able to do some really good projects that 
should have been addressed decades ago. And I look forward to 
working with you closely on that.
    The number of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, THPOs, 
has grown rapidly over the last couple of decades. Funding from 
the Historic Preservation Fund has not kept pace as you know. 
More than 200 tribes have a Historic Preservation Office, but 
each THPO receives only about $75 thousand right now to support 
all the work that they do, to review projects that impact 
tribal cultural sites, both on and off tribal land. How can we 
get the Tribal Historic Preservation Offices the resources that 
they need to fully protect their communities' sacred spaces?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you for the question, Senator. And 
of course I fully support the Tribal Historic Preservation 
Offices. It may be the only Federal program that helps tribes 
to protect and conserve their cultural history and resources, 
so they are incredibly important. Our 2023 budget proposes an 
$8 million increase for those offices, and of course we are 
always available to help support them in any way that we can.
    Senator Heinrich. Yeah. I hope this committee will look 
closely at this because you know, we are spreading the same 
resources over more and more tribal THPO offices.
    Secretary Haaland. Yes.
    Senator Heinrich. And it is not a sustainable approach 
right now. Secretary, as you are all too aware, American 
Indians and Alaska Natives who are living on reservations face 
violent crime rates, up to 20 times those living off 
reservation. More than 80 percent of Native Americans will 
experience violence in their lifetime, and there are currently 
thousands of missing indigenous people.
    So I want to ask you a little bit about BIA and how they 
set their law enforcement priorities, and specifically 
referencing situation that we have had in New Mexico. 
Basically, why instead of focusing on this crisis that is truly 
a crisis, are limited BIA resources being used to enforce 
Federal cannabis laws on reservations where cannabis has 
already been legalized by the sovereign tribe there?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you for the question, Senator. I 
believe very strongly that we should respect tribal laws and 
work in partnership with tribes on their public safety 
priorities, and they know their communities far better than we 
ever will. This question also involves the authority and policy 
of the Department of Justice, and I respect that we have to 
have an Administration approach to this.
    So it is absolutely noted. We have been approached by 
tribes on this issue as well, and it is something that we are 
not ignoring.
    Senator Heinrich. I appreciate that. And I think this is a 
conversation that I look forward to continuing, because I just 
think it is a horrible misappropriation of focus at a time when 
we have such pressing needs. And obviously, you know, in my 
state, the state has chosen to legalize cannabis, a number of 
tribes have followed suit. Whatever you think about that as a 
policy matter, we have such more important, pressing criminal 
needs in Indian Country right now, that we need to set our 
priorities appropriately.
    So thank you, Secretary. And my time is expired.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you, Senator. And Senator Hyde-Smith 
is next.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chairman; and thank you, 
Secretary Haaland, for being here today.
    Madam Secretary, the draft proposed program issued recently 
by the Interior Department, in my opinion, is filled--it is 
just full of uncertainty for the oil and gas industry, 
ambiguity, and for instance, it indicates the Department will 
consider up to ten Gulf of Mexico lease sales, plus the option 
for one sale in Alaska's Cook Inlet that we have talked about, 
but does not guarantee any.
    What are the odds that the Department could break with the 
past precedent and exercise the option to hold zero lease sales 
as the proposed five-year lease plan is finalized?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you very much for the question, 
Senator. First what I will say is that we do have a 90-day 
public comment period, and those comments that come in will be 
factored into any decisions that we make. I can't prejudge 
anything at this time but I absolutely appreciate your 
perspective, and know that we will work to have a balanced 
approach to this issue; and happy to stay in touch with your 
office as we move forward.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. So you do think we will have some lease 
sales?
    Secretary Haaland. I can't prejudge this issue until we 
come to a decision. That will be after the 90-day public 
comment period.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas, 
has lower greenhouse gas intensities than fossil fuels used to 
substitute for energy not produced in the Gulf. Importing 
foreign energy also increases emissions because other countries 
sending us these resources have lower emission standards than 
we do. Are you aware that a no-sell option could in fact 
increase the price of all energy, oil, gas, coal, and 
electricity?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you for that comment, Senator. I 
appreciate that.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. So are you aware that it could increase 
the price of the energy, oil, natural gas, coal, and 
electricity, is a question?
    Secretary Haaland. Well, I appreciate your perspective on 
this. When we are talking about our five-year plan, we don't 
take cost into consideration in that respect, because we are 
focusing on managing our natural resources.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. But because their standards are lower, 
their emission standards are lower; I mean you don't agree that 
that could increase the price?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, I would be happy to follow up 
with your office on that if you would like. I appreciate the 
question.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. And I appreciate the question. But I 
would also appreciate an answer.
    Secretary Haaland. What I could say is that I know that 
there is a lot that goes into the price of fuel, and I know it 
is expensive right now. As I have said many times before there 
are about 9,000 approved drilling permits across the country 
currently that are not being used, 10.4 million acres of 
offshore Federal waters already under lease, as of July 
approximately three-quarters of active leases on the OCS are 
non-producing.
    I know that there is a lot that goes into considerations 
with the price of fuel, but I want to assure you that at the 
Department of the Interior we are doing our jobs and following 
the law to move any of these issues forward.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Okay. And talking about those leases, 
let us talk about permits. What is your Department doing to 
streamline the approval of right-of-way permits so gathering 
lines can be installed more quickly on public lands, and to 
help make sure companies can use those 9,000 Federal permits 
the White House keeps referring to, and capture methane during 
production?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you for the question. I would love 
to follow up on this question with your staff. I know that is 
an issue. We take our job seriously, Senator. I know that it is 
important for us to move this issue forward. And BOEM, the 
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, continues to advance permits 
for these activities, and 49 have been issued since November of 
2020.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Has there been the permits for those 49 
issued as well?
    Secretary Haaland. Forty-nine permits have been issued 
since November.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Of the leases you have 49 permits?
    Secretary Haaland. Yes, ma'am, as I understand it.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Okay. In your opinion, what is the 
earliest we can see a lease sale?
    Secretary Haaland. I can't pre-judge that.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Your Department has issued a draft plan 
to the public that has yet to file the request for information, 
that I am sure you are familiar with, which is the action that 
triggers the first 45-day comment period that is necessary. As 
you know, pre-leasing activities, such as area identification, 
NEPA review, environmental impact statements, and other 
activities are allowed so work can begin as quickly as possible 
once the lease is finalized.
    Since your Department has already well passed deadline for 
conducting lease sales, what progress has been made inside your 
Department on preparing a request for information on any pre-
leasing documents to ensure the most efficient transaction once 
lease is finalized?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you, Senator. I want to just make 
sure that I mention the fact that the reason why this five-year 
plan has been late to begin with is because it was dropped by 
the last administration. They started it and didn't finish it. 
We picked it up after that. They took no further action after 
releasing the draft proposed plan in 2018.
    So we are moving forward expeditiously on the next steps. 
We have two steps of five completed. We released the proposed 
program on July 1st. On the Environmental Impact Statement, we 
began the 90-day public comment period on July 8th, and then we 
will incorporate input to develop and publish the proposed 
final program which can be approved by the Secretary, and 
adopted 60 days later following Presidential and Congressional 
consideration.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. So it is the last administration's 
fault; who by the way, was energy independent?
    Senator Merkley. Thank you, Senator Hyde-Smith. Your time 
has so expired. But you are welcome to adopt a second round if 
you would like.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Thank you.
    Senator Merkley. Senator Reed.
    Senator Reed. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
    Welcome, Madam Secretary, and Ms. Flanagan. There has been 
throughout the morning, beginning with the chairman, a 
discussion of the Biden administration's policy on gas prices, 
oil and gas leasing. And you have mentioned some facts and I 
would just like to get them right back on the table, if I 
could. And you may answer these questions, as yes or no.
    But Madam Secretary, is it true that in the first year the 
Biden administration would produce more oil from Federal lands 
onshore and offshore than in any year in history?
    Secretary Haaland. Yes, Senator.
    Senator Reed. Is it true that oil companies have nearly 
9,000 approved but unused drilling permits?
    Secretary Haaland. Yes, that is correct.
    Senator Reed. It is true that there are more than 20 
million acres of unused Federal leases, 12 million onshore, and 
8 million offshore?
    Secretary Haaland. Yes.
    Senator Reed. Is it true that the oil companies aren't 
using roughly half of their onshore Federal leases?
    Secretary Haaland. That is correct.
    Senator Reed. And is it true that oil companies aren't 
using roughly 75 percent of their offshore Federal leases?
    Secretary Haaland. Yes, sir.
    Senator Reed. So it seemed one conclusion is that even 
though there is an ample capacity to drill, that the companies 
for reasons related to the business have decided they are not 
going to drill. Or because of the price of oil is so high right 
now that they literally can make more money just extracting for 
existing wells, and not increasing production which would lower 
cost; is that one possible analysis?
    Secretary Haaland. Well, I think there is a lot that goes 
into what the cost of fuel is. And I think there is a lot 
happening around the world that has caused fuel prices to go 
up.
    Senator Reed. No, I think there is. And I think also too, 
we are at a moment where, as the automobile industry announces 
that within 10 years or so they will just sell electric cars, I 
think there is a lot of discussion among the boardrooms at 
hydro carbon companies of: Do we really want to make billion-
dollar investments? But I think these factors are beyond the 
administration's control, they are the decisions of the 
companies that are making them at the moment.
    I want to thank you for joining myself, and all of my 
colleagues, and delegations, and the White House, and 
Congressmen Langevin and Cicillini. Last summer when you signed 
in a ceremony to formally establish the boundaries of the 
Blackstone River Valley National Historic Park, and making it 
an official into the National Park Service, and thanks to the 
tireless work of the Park Service's real state, and local 
officials, and volunteers.
    We have already received a recovery and revival of dozens 
of historic villages and along the river, kayaking, other 
sports, hiking. But the park service still has a long way to 
go, as you well know. They have to acquire the Old Slater Mill 
which is literally the place where the Industrial Revolution 
began in the United States, complete its shale management plan, 
you know, build out administrative offices.
    I am glad to see that the administration put a slight 
increase in the budget this year, but I am convinced they are 
going to need more resources. So I would ask you to commit to 
work with me and my office to increase funding so that we can 
really tackle the establishment of this park.
    Secretary Haaland. Absolutely. And thank you, Senator. I 
was happy to join you for that issue. The 2023 budget includes 
$1.9 million for the park, and that would support fixed-cost 
increases, and staffing capacity, which I know is important 
during these times. We want the park to grow. And so there is a 
budget in there for that.
    Senator Reed. I would mention it runs into Massachusetts, 
so this is a two-state enterprise. And also I must give credit 
to my predecessor, John Chafee, who really started this process 
many years ago. He would be very happy today. We have talked 
about offshore wind. Rhode Island has the only offshore wind 
project in the United States, and it was built, and it was 
built very efficiently. We are generating power now for the 
entire island of Block Island, and actually the excess power is 
going into the state grid.
    And we are also committed to purchasing another 600 
megawatts of offshore wind power. Indeed the New York Bight 
Wind Energy area is talking about a $4.4 billion sale of 
energy, hydro, and energy power, wind energy power. One of the 
players in this whole process is BOEM, and they were very 
responsible and very responsive when we were doing our project, 
but they have to be very cognizant of other stakeholders, 
particularly fishermen. And this is an issue that I would ask 
your attention to. The BOEM released the Draft Fisheries 
Mitigation Guidance last month, but I think much more should be 
done.
    And can you indicate what other steps BOEM might take, or 
will take to expedite the licensing of these projects?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you for the question, Senator. I 
know that BOEM takes this charge incredibly seriously. They do 
include the fishing industry in the leasing process, and all 
the proposed projects have stakeholder engagement consistently. 
Since 2008 BOEM has invested more than $70 million on 
environmental studies that address renewable energy issues, 
including developing fisheries best management practices.
    Under these circumstances I know that moving to clean 
energy, or transitioning to a clean energy economy is not 
without important issues. So I know that BOEM cares deeply. The 
fishing industry is incredibly important, not only to the 
economy, but to the health of our country.
    We are happy to speak with you about this if there are 
other ideas that you have. But I want to assure you that they 
are working very hard to make sure that the industry is fully 
engaged in the process and the projects that we are doing.
    Senator Reed. Thank you very much, Madam Secretary. Thank 
you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you. And now, Senator Hagerty.
    Senator Hagerty. Thank you, Senator Merkley; Senator 
Murkowski, for holding this hearing.
    Secretary Haaland, thank you, for appearing here today. We 
had some very bad news this morning, the Consumer Price Index, 
inflation posted at 9.1 percent. That is a 40-year record high. 
If you look at gas prices at the pump, they are at all-time 
record highs. American families are suffering tremendously 
right now.
    Secretary Haaland you are responsible for granting oil and 
gas leases on Federal land, Federal lands account for about a 
quarter of U.S. oil production. Yet on July 1st, despite the 
fact that American families are facing record high prices, your 
Department announced that it might not issue any new offshore 
oil and gas leases for the next 5 years, and you limited 
yourself to a maximum of 11 leases.
    And in the process your Department said that this quote, 
``Significantly narrowed the 47 leases proposed by the previous 
administration,'' and in support of this effort to reduce U.S. 
oil and gas production you declared, and I would like to read 
the quote, ``From day one President Biden and I have made clear 
our commitment to transition to a clean energy economy.''
    So Secretary Haaland, I want to ask you, at what point, at 
what point is this transition to a green energy economy that 
you and President Biden are trying to force, worth making 
American families pay $6 a gallon at the pump?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, thank you for the question. And 
first of all, I completely understand, I raised my kid as a 
single mom. It is difficult right now, and I have had those 
experiences. So I want you to know that I care deeply about 
American families who are suffering right now.
    Of course we are still coming off of a two-year pandemic 
that really affected our country in so many ways. I do want you 
to know that while the vast majority of U.S. oil and gas 
production occurs on private lands, Federal lands have produced 
more oil than any time in our history.
    Senator Hagerty. So you are telling me that the Biden 
administration is a champion of oil production here in America?
    Secretary Haaland. I am just saying that because of the way 
the leases and permits have gone over the last several years, 
oil production from Federal lands and waters right now is at an 
all-time high.
    Senator Hagerty. Well, I think it is important what you 
signal to the marketplace. Chairman Reed brought this up. 
American oil and gas companies are not investing right now 
because the environment has been terrible for them. You have 
created an environment here. You have sent every message since 
this administration took office that the Biden administration 
will ensure that oil and gas investments do not pay off in 
America, killing the Keystone XL Pipeline.
    If you think about the message that comes to the industry 
when they find out that you are not going to allow new leases 
on oil and gas properties, or you are going to limit yourself 
to only 11 over the next 5 years, at the maximum, this is 
sending a very bad message.
    What I need to understand from you, is at what point, at 
what point does the pain that American families are feeling, 
that you indicate you are appreciative of, is it $6 a barrel 
that you say, I am going to give up this attempt to force this 
green new energy program, and go back to maximizing oil and gas 
production here in America?
    At what point will you commit? And I am asking you to 
commit, to increase oil and gas production to address the pain 
that American families are feeling?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, I would like to also mention to 
you, and I have said this many times. There are 9,000 unused 
permits currently; permits that oil companies can use to drill 
that are not being used. And onshore, more than 12 million 
acres are under lease, offshore 8 million acres are under 
lease.
    Senator Hagerty. So I just want to make this clear, that 
you are saying that the Department of Interior under the Biden 
administration has championed oil and gas production here in 
America?
    Secretary Haaland. Well, I can say that because of how 
things have gone over the last several years, there are 
thousands of permits, and land under lease that could be used 
by these companies to drill.
    Senator Hagerty. What we need to see to address the pain at 
the pump right now is an expansion of supply. You have many 
tools at your disposal, and as the Secretary of Interior I am 
asking you, will you commit to use every tool at your disposal 
to expand oil and gas production at this point given the pain 
that we are suffering right.
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, my job as Interior Secretary is 
to conserve and manage the natural resources and cultural 
heritage for every single American. I said from day one that we 
would do that using a balanced approach, and I feel very 
confident that our team is looking at every issue. And we are 
working to make sure that this is a balanced approach.
    Senator Hagerty. Madam Secretary, you mentioned the word 
``balance'', but balance is precipitating massive pain. If you 
think about where gas prices were the day that your 
administration took office, $2.30-odd a gallon, we are now 
looking at $6 a gallon of oil or gasoline at the pump. American 
families are suffering dramatically.
    And I will come back and ask you again. At what point do 
you back off this attempt to force a transition to green 
energy? At what point will you use the tools at your disposal 
to expand oil and gas production here in America?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator thank you for the question. I 
know that nationally, as of July 11th, the gas prices were at 
$4.68 a gallon that is still incredibly high. And Senator 
Murkowski mentioned that in Alaska they are a lot higher. I 
understand this, and I understand exactly what that means, 
because I have been in positions like that in the past.
    Senator Hagerty. Well, please, I implore you to use that 
understanding to feel that pain, and do something about it. You 
have the power--you control a quarter of the production lands 
here in America, the oil and gas leases that could be 
permitted. Please commit to me that you will do everything in 
your power to use your authority to expand production now?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, there are 9,000 unused drilling 
permits right now today, and millions of acres of land.
    Senator Hagerty. I have heard this, but that is less than 
10 percent of the total that we are talking about. That is a 
distortion. That is a distraction. I am asking you to send the 
message to industry to do everything that you can to expand oil 
and gas production. You will not commit to doing that, 
Secretary?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, again I would just like to say 
that gas and oil production as at an all-time high on Federal 
lands currently, at this time.
    Senator Hagerty. What we need to see is a message to the 
marketplace that expands production not constrains it. How do 
you explain the record high prices that we are experiencing, 
were it not for that? How do you explain the fact that we are 
no longer in a position to be a net energy exporter? How do you 
explain the transition from $2.30 gas to $6 of gasoline that 
has happened in the 18 months this administration has been in 
office?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, thank you for the question. We 
are more than happy to follow up with your office.
    Senator Hagerty. I am very disappointed that you are not 
able to commit to the simple notion that you should use the 
authority that you have, Madam Secretary, to expand production 
now to alleviate the pain for the American public. We are 
suffering dramatically, our economy is in tough shape, 9.1 
percent inflation right now, and record high prices.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you very much, Senator Hagerty. 
Senator Feinstein?
    Senator Feinstein. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I 
would say to the Senator, it may just not be this woman's 
fault. Let me read you something from the Los Angeles Times, 
``Officials recently announced they were unable to fill about 
1,000 temporary firefighter positions, and looking to make 
emergency hires by shortening the onboarding process. As 
California faces what is expected to be a punishing fire season 
only 62 percent of Federal firefighter positions here are 
filled, according to a source within the agency. Before 2020 
nearly all spots, nationwide, typically would be filled at this 
time of year, said the source, who requested anonymity to 
discuss sensitive internal matters.
    ''In addition, roughly a third of all Forest Service fire 
engines in California are on five-day staffing. Meaning there 
aren't enough crew members to operate them seven days a week. 
An additional 13 percent of engines are, quote, ``Down staffed, 
end quote. Essentially parked because of a lack of 
firefighters, the source said.''
    So I don't blame this person. Something is wrong in the 
system, somewhere somebody is putting a hold on things in the 
fact that they are disguised, they take the blame, and fire 
rises throughout my state. I am really concerned about it.
    The Forest Service has acknowledged challenges in reaching 
this year's national target of 11,300 firefighters, especially 
in the Pacific Northwest, and Southwest regions which include, 
Oregon, Washington, and California. The recruitment and 
retention problems are in areas quote, ``Where state and 
private firefighter wages are out-competing Federal firefighter 
wages, housing costs are not affordable, and positions are in 
remote locations.'' The Agency said in a statement. Would you 
support that?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you so much for the question, 
Senator. I want to commiserate with you on the fires in your 
state. New Mexico had the most devastating wildfire in our 
state's history recently, and so I understand how devastating 
that can be, especially when you love your state so dearly.
    We are working every single day to make sure that we are 
supportive of the firefighters on the ground, raising the pay 
so they can have the personal resources they need to raise 
their families. And certainly, yes, filling those positions----
    Senator Feinstein. I don't mean to cut you off. But I have 
limited time. My understanding is, as far as California is 
concerned, there are 1,800 Federal wildland firefighter 
vacancies; is that correct?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, I don't have this specific 
number, but we are happy to get back with your staff on that.
    Senator Feinstein. Yes. I am concerned. We have a lot of 
Federal land in California, and a lot is burning, and I need to 
put a real emphasis on this. This is important. Large amounts 
of land, California has 20 million acres of Federal forest land 
in our state, we have to provide the fire services, 
particularly with lightning and weather changes.
    So I am really concerned. And I am not blaming you. I think 
we have to take a look at what future weather conditions are 
going to bring about for us, and really see that we have the 
people in place to deal with those conditions.
    Right now in my state I do not believe we do. So I would 
like to ask that you participate in an effort to take a look at 
what has happened in fire-prone areas, and see that we have 
enough coverage to take care of our people, and our land.
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, nationally we expect to reach 
our target hiring goals for wildland fire fighters, which is 
5,600. I know that we are working every day to fill those 
vacant positions.
    Senator Feinstein. Well, wait. Are you saying you have 
5,600 vacant positions?
    Secretary Haaland. We want 5,600 total personnel.
    Senator Feinstein. The number I have been given is 1,800 
Federal wildland firefighter vacancies. Is that true or false?
    Secretary Haaland. We are happy to follow up with you on 
the exact number, Senator. We have wildland firefighters both 
in the Department of the Interior, and the Forest Service as 
you mentioned. We are happy to follow up with you on the exact 
number of vacancies. But I want you to know that we are working 
every day to fill those vacancies.
    Senator Feinstein. Well, this is a big problem, Mr. 
Chairman. We have a lot of Federal land in California, and we 
also have a lot of fire, the LA Times runs an article, 
``Hellish fires, low pay, trauma, California's Forest Service 
Firefighters face a morale crisis.'' And that is what is 
happening in the state.
    And goes on, ``California faces what is expected to be a 
punishing fire season, only 62 percent of Federal firefighter 
positions are filled, according to a source within the agency. 
Before 2020 nearly all spots, nationwide, typically, would be 
filled at this time of year, said the source, who requested 
anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters.''
    You are under oath. Are those figures correct?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator I don't have the exact figures, 
but we will absolutely reach out to your staff as soon as I get 
back to my office and let you know.
    Senator Feinstein. Well, Mr. Chairman, this is World War 
III for me. I cannot let the state burn and knowing that 
positions that we passed are not being filled.
    Senator Merkley. Senator, you are you are absolutely right. 
There are a tremendous number of vacancies. The recruitment is 
very difficult. I do note that the Interior Department is 
working towards year-round positions, to try to have wildland 
firefighters be able to do hazardous fuel reductions when they 
are not fighting fires. They have implemented the $15 minimum 
pay, which is helpful, but not competitive with the state 
positions in California.
    And I just appreciate that you continuously really advocate 
for this, because our western states are burning, we need our 
firefighters.
    Senator Feinstein. Let me go on one more.
    In addition, roughly a third of all Forest Service fire 
engines in California are on five-day staffing. Meaning, 
``There aren't enough crew members to operate them seven days a 
week. An additional 13 percent of engines are down-staffed, 
essentially parked because of lack of firefighters,'' the 
source said.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you, Senator. And we can put it into 
the record, and do some follow-up questions, and I really 
appreciate you bringing attention to this issue.
    Senator Feinstein. Yeah. I appreciate it. This is the Los 
Angeles Time, June 14th.
    Senator Merkley. Without objection, I enter it into the 
record.
    [The information follows:]
    
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]	
    
    Senator Feinstein. Thank you very much.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you. Senator Blunt.
    Senator Blunt. Thank you, Chairman. And Secretary, good to 
have you here today.
    Congress, a few years ago, mandated that states would have 
a Wildlife Action Plan. In our state, in Missouri, we have 
great outdoor recreation, we have great hunting, we have great 
fishing. For a long time one of the oldest and most successful 
conservation commissions in the country was funded just by 
hunting and fishing licenses our state added 40 years ago a 
sales tax for conservation and parks. I don't know any state 
that has done a better job trying to fund its own efforts for 
conservation.
    But the Congressionally Mandated State Wildlife Action 
Plans, effort to be sure that we don't have things moved to the 
endangered species list, for that plan to be successful we need 
more than the amount of money that Missourians have been able 
to dedicate to that.
    Senator Heinrich and I introduced the Recovering America's 
Wildlife Act. Under that Act, Secretary, you would be in charge 
of implementing the Act, and the Act is designed to help for 
the states to be able to mandate their own state wildlife 
action plans. How large role do you see for your Department in 
trying to tell the states what they need to do, as opposed to 
implementing the funding that this Act would provide?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you, Senator, for the question. 
And thank you so much for your efforts to conserve our 
country's wildlife. And of course I feel very confident and 
grateful to my team at Interior because we want to be able to 
work with everyone to make sure that we are achieving our 
goals.
    I could say that the Fish and Wildlife Service would help 
prevent the need to list species. We could amplify 
partnerships, support conservation on private lands, leverage 
money, and so forth.
    I feel that one of our strengths at the Department is 
working with those local communities, governments, states, and 
so forth to make sure that we are all achieving the goals that 
we need to achieve.
    Senator Blunt. Well, I appreciate that, and I appreciate 
the fact that the administration has endorsed the Recovering 
America's Wildlife Act, and just want to be sure at this 
hearing we have discussed the topic, that the purpose of the 
act is to help the states fund their own plans. And certainly 
Congress gave the authority to the states to mandate that they 
have a Wildlife Action Plan, and this funding would be used 
there.
    There has been some concern that this legislation would 
empower the Fish and Wildlife Service, and increase the 
authority of the Endangered Species Act. I don't think it does 
either one, but at some point it is very important what you 
think it does.
    Do you view this bill as a method of increasing fish and 
wildlife enforcement activity, or more as an opportunity to 
collaborate with the states to prevent states from being listed 
were the Endangered Species Act ever has to come into effect 
when the states are doing the job they want to do, and they are 
trying to do?
    Secretary Haaland. I would take it as the opportunity to 
assist the states. We feel very strongly that it is the folks 
on the ground who know their communities far better than we do, 
and so it makes sense that we are working to support the work 
that they are already doing on the ground, and give the best 
assistance and help that we can.
    Senator Blunt. Well, I think at least 49, and at least 49 
of the state agencies are in favor of this, the National 
Association is in favor of this. I look forward to seeing this 
bill on the floor sometime between now and the end of this 
year, hopefully even between now and the end of the fiscal 
year.
    But your effort to help with the successful implementation 
of getting the funds to the states, to do what the states have 
proposed to do under the mandate that Congress has giving them, 
would be a very important part of that, and I am glad to hear 
what you had to say today about it.
    Secretary Haaland. Absolutely. Thank you.
    Senator Blunt. Thank you.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you, Senator.
    Senator Blunt. Thank you, Chairman.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you very much. Senator Van Hollen?
    Senator Van Hollen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    And Madam Secretary, great to see you and your team here. 
You won't be surprised I am going to ask you some questions 
about the Chesapeake Bay. And specifically, I want to thank you 
for your leadership, and support, and assistance from the 
National Park Service as we work to establish the Chesapeake 
National Recreation Area, which would highlight the cultural, 
historic, and ecological significance of what is a national and 
natural treasure, the Chesapeake Bay.
    I am excited about the ongoing discussions Congressman 
Sarbanes and I, and other members of the delegation from 
Maryland, and Virginia as well, have been reaching out to 
stakeholders. And we appreciate the technical support that we 
have received from your team, including Wendy O'Sullivan, of 
course the Director of the Chesapeake Bay Office of the 
National Park Service. I would just ask you for your continuing 
commitment to work with us as we plan on introducing this 
legislation.
    Secretary Haaland. Absolutely. We support you on this and 
thank you for recognizing that our and technical assistance has 
been helpful to you.
    Senator Van Hollen. It has been. And as you know, you have 
testified to it today, it is in your written remarks at least, 
that we are all trying to do more with less staffing, so 
anything you can do to fully engage your team in this effort. 
We are trying to get this introduced in the coming weeks and 
months. And again we appreciate all the efforts. I know that 
you have got staffing vacancies. In fact, as I understand it 
the National Park Service has lost roughly 29 percent of its 
staff from 2010 to 2020. We are talking about thousands of 
employees. What are your plans to help fill that gap? Let me 
just give you one other local example.
    Secretary Haaland. Okay.
    Senator Van Hollen. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National 
Historic Park has seen an 85 percent increase in visitation 
over the last 15 years, with a roughly 50 percent decrease in 
staff. So that is one example. What are your plans to try to 
re-staff the National Park Service?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you, Senator. And we have 
absolutely realized that this is an issue. Our budget includes 
$148.3 million across the National Park Service to support more 
than 1,100 additional full-time equivalents that would 
strengthen critical functions. This includes funding to build 
park capacity and address critical operating responsibility at 
park units in Maryland.
    I just came from Yellowstone, and there is always an issue 
with housing, too. Well, you probably saw the video of their 
staff housing floating into the river after the flood. So I 
know that housing is an issue for National Park Service staff 
as well, and so we are taking all these things into 
consideration, and really trying to find solutions to make sure 
that we can have the folks where we need them.
    Senator Van Hollen. Well, we look forward to working with 
you. I know the chairman and I think the ranking member as well 
would like to see the National Park Service, you know, 
adequately staffed, and continue to recruit skilled and 
talented folks.
    Secretary Haaland. Absolutely.
    Senator Van Hollen. Let me ask you about the Chesapeake 
Gateways and Trails Program. This helps provide technical and 
financial assistance to the Bay Watershed, and we work to 
engage communities across the Chesapeake Bay regarding 
conservation, and important recreational opportunities, 
including better access to the Chesapeake Bay.
    The program is part of laying the groundwork toward that 
larger effort that I mentioned, and which is to make the 
Chesapeake Bay a unit of the National Park Service. Right now, 
this program, the Gateways Program, we have been successful at 
getting the annual appropriations, but it is not yet 
authorized. Would you, as the Secretary, support authorizing 
that program on an ongoing basis?
    Secretary Haaland. For the Gateways Trails Program, our 
budget includes $3 million, and of course we support that. We 
love all our outdoor spaces, and we will do whatever we can to 
help.
    Senator Van Hollen. Well, we appreciate that. I will be 
working with the chairman, and others. I mean this is the 
Appropriations Committee, but we are working with the 
authorizers to get that fully authorized. But we appreciate the 
fact that that is in your budget.
    There is one important item regarding the Bay that is not 
included in your budget. It is called the Chesapeake WILD 
Program. It was a piece of legislation that I worked on with 
Senator Capito on a bipartisan basis. It was included in the 
larger piece of legislation a number of years ago.
    And it authorizes the Fish and Wildlife Service's ongoing 
participation. That was not included in your budget 
appropriation request. Can you assure us that you will work 
with this committee to make sure the Fish and Wildlife Service 
continues to remain engaged? We will be pressing for the 
continued appropriation, in fact, an increased appropriation 
for that.
    Secretary Haaland. Absolutely. It is a wonderful program. 
There was $4 million available for these grants that was funded 
through the 2022 appropriation. We know that it funds and 
supports locally driven conservation, which it is very 
important.
    So thank you. Yes. I think the goals of this program are 
consistent with the Administration's move to ensure that we are 
conserving these spaces for Americans.
    Senator Van Hollen. Thank you. While I have you here, I 
also just want to mention the important role that the U.S. 
Geological Service plays within the overall Bay Program. For 
example, the USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center has 
provided us important information regarding migratory birds, 
and other native species as well, at the Patuxent Research 
Refuge in Laurel, Maryland.
    Do you have any thoughts on how we can increase the 
collaborative efforts with respect to the U.S. Geological 
Service as part of the Bay effort?
    Secretary Haaland. I will make sure that they reach out to 
all of you. Thank you for recognizing how important the USGS is 
to the work that we do. We are happy to work with you. If you 
would like me to have someone reach out to your staff, we can 
do that soon.
    Senator Van Hollen. That would be great.
    Secretary Haaland. Yes.
    Senator Van Hollen. Thank you, Madam Secretary. And thank 
you for all your good work.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you as well.
    Senator Van Hollen. And that of your team.
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you, Senator.
    Senator Van Hollen. Thank you.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you very much, Senator Van Hollen.
    So we are going to have a second round, but I also think 
Senator Tester is going to be here in a few moments. And I just 
want to start by noting that the question was raised as to 
whether this administration has created a hostile economic 
environment for oil and gas companies. And the short answer is 
that the oil and gas companies made--just the American 
companies--$205 billion in net profits last year, absolutely 
record-setting.
    The record-setting profits this last quarter, massive stock 
buybacks, and they have tripled their margins on refining, so 
they are truly gouging the American public. And so if we want 
to stop this gouging, the windfall, the big oil windfall 
profits tax is the way to do it, and that I invite any 
colleagues who are as concerned as I am about the price of the 
pump, to join us to stop this gouging, by the oil companies, of 
the American consumer.
    Switching gears, I recently led my colleagues in urging the 
Department to renew its commitment to the Western Oregon 
Operating Plan. This plan ensures a coordinated, interagency 
approach to wildfire response between the state, the tribes, 
the communities, and BLM. This is so important that we put into 
the fiscal year 2022 Omnibus direction requiring the BLM to 
maintain or expand the scope of that agreement, which means no 
shrinking of the agreement. But despite that, we keep hearing 
concerns from the Oregon Governor, local officials, emergency 
managers, Oregon tribes that BLM is seeking to shrink the scope 
of the agreement.
    Now, Southern Oregon communities like Ashland, and Medford 
have been repeatedly declared high-risk areas from wildfire by 
both Federal and state agencies, and a couple of our Southern 
Oregon communities, like Talent and Phoenix were absolutely 
devastated in the 2020 wildfires, that just devastated those 
towns.
    So will the Department honor the requirement in 2022 fiscal 
year to make sure that this Western Oregon Operating Plan is 
maintained in its full scope and functionality?
    Secretary Haaland. Chairman, thank you so much for the 
question. And of course the BLM remains committed to 
maintaining the Mutual Aid Response Agreements for wildland 
fire management. The BLM partnered with the Oregon Department 
of Forestry for 2022 and 2023, and they are discussing 
currently 2024.
    Senator Merkley. Absolutely. And that discussion is being 
directed by what we put into 2022, that it be maintained in its 
scope and functionality. And I want to make sure that I have 
your commitment, that will honor that requirement in the 2022 
bill to maintain the scope and functionality of that plan?
    Secretary Haaland. Yes, Senator.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you. Thank you.
    Secretary Haaland. Yes, absolutely. Fire is a top priority 
for our Department across the board. We understand how 
important this is, and I appreciate your concern as well. We 
are always happy to work with you.
    Senator Merkley. Well, I appreciate the commitment you have 
expressed to make sure it sustains its scope and functionality, 
incredibly important to my state.
    I am going to squeeze in one last question before I turn 
this over to Senator Tester. The Department has noted it is 
going to be considering a listing for the Monarch and the 
Endangered Species Act in the year 2024. That should send a 
signal that we have 2 years to do everything possible to 
restore the monarch, as I pointed out in the beginning. Even 
after a big rebound we have less than 1 percent of the historic 
number of monarchs.
    Our children are growing up--whose parents saw these 
butterflies everywhere have never seen one. And they play an 
important role as pollinators. We know that we have to 
massively increase the habitat, and we can use public lands, we 
can use highways, we can use conservation agreements, but will 
we be able to populate those lands with both flowers producing 
nectar, and also milkweed for caterpillars?
    And those flowers that produce nectar are great for all the 
pollinators, so we have to develop a massive effort to restore 
flowers and milkweed. And I know that the Department was just 
fabulous in partnering on the Monarch Summit. This of course, 
pollinator--nectar-producing flowers are so important to a 
whole range of pollinators, certainly our bees as well.
    And I just want to ask: Will you continue to work over 
these 2 years before the--to do everything we possibly can to 
massively increase habitat for the monarch and other 
pollinators?
    Secretary Haaland. Thank you, Senator. I appreciate so much 
your dedication to this. So with the $4 million increase 
provided in 2022, the Service will inventory and monitor 
pollinators, support on-the-ground projects for monarch habitat 
restoration, and stand up a new Office of Pollinator 
Conservation. Of course that funding also helped with the 
Monarch Summit for National Pollinator Week that we hosted 
along with you. And then our 2023 budget includes an additional 
$5 million increase for this work.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you. I look forward to continuing to 
press forward on this.
    And let us turn to Senator Tester.
    Senator Tester. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    And I want to thank you, Secretary Haaland.
    I apologize for having to get here late. And if you had to 
extend this hearing for me, thank you, Mr. Chairman. But we had 
to chair the Commerce Committee on the TSA Director.
    At any rate, I also want to thank you, Secretary Haaland, 
for being in Montana last week, I think it was a week ago 
tomorrow, as a matter of fact. I appreciate you being there, 
and I appreciate your fast response, and the fast response from 
this administration on the disaster that happened in Southern 
Montana, a 24-hour disaster that caused a billion dollars worth 
of damage.
    We got to see it together, and we got to see what the 
challenges are, and they are many. One of the challenges is, is 
there is a temporary road between Cooke City and Gardiner. Is 
there any hope to get that road in a position where it could 
provide more than just essential services?
    Secretary Haaland. This is the road from Gardiner into the 
park?
    Senator Tester. Yeah, basically into the park, that is 
correct.
    Secretary Haaland. Yes, thanks to the $60 million from the 
relief fund of the Department of Transportation. They are 
working very hard. We drove on that road, in fact, when we were 
there.
    Senator Tester. Right.
    Secretary Haaland. And they are working to expand it now.
    Senator Tester. Okay.
    Secretary Haaland. So that it is two lanes rather than one.
    Senator Tester. So I know that it takes a long time to make 
assessments when the damage is this bad. From the folks you 
have talked to, and you may not be able to respond to this, if 
you can't I understand, is there any hope to getting access to 
the northern part of that park open before the season ends?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, both the North and the South 
Loop are open now, 93 percent of the park is open to visitors. 
We want visitors to visit, we want them to spend time in those 
communities right outside the parks, we want them to enjoy 
their summer.
    Senator Tester. Thank you for clarifying that, but the 
ability to get there through the North End is severely limited. 
Is there going to be any possibility of getting that North End 
open before the season is over?
    Secretary Haaland. Well, I am happy to follow up with your 
staff, as soon as we get the most super recent update on that 
road.
    Senator Tester. Okay.
    Secretary Haaland. But I know they are working on it, and 
as far as I understand, both the North and the South Loops are 
accessible.
    Senator Tester. Okay.
    Secretary Haaland. Encourage folks to go on the website to 
figure out which gates are open.
    Senator Tester. For sure.
    Secretary Haaland. And make sure they don't waste time 
driving somewhere they can't.
    Senator Tester. Sure. So you are the last person I should 
have to talk about this, because you understand the public 
safety crisis in Indian Country probably better than anybody 
else in the administration. For years, through different 
administrations, I have heard from the Northern Cheyenne Tribe 
about the BIA's failure to provide adequate law enforcement on 
that reservation. I don't think they are the lone example. I 
think they have some problems, I think most of it deals with 
manpower, and deals with the prison availability. The question 
is, in this budget is there adequate dollars to deal with the 
law enforcement challenges that occur in Indian Country all 
across this country? I bring up Northern Cheyenne because 
Northern Cheyenne is probably in the greatest need right now.
    But the truth is, I could be talking about any reservation 
in Montana, truthfully, any of them have challenges when it 
comes to law enforcement. So as you look at this budget, as we 
look at this budget, is this budget up to snuff when it comes 
to making sure that we have enough law enforcement to keep 
folks safe?
    I won't even go into Missing and Murdered Indigenous 
people. I will leave--I won't go into human trafficking, I 
won't go into any of that, I will just go into just basic law 
enforcement. Do we have enough folks--money in this budget to 
deal with that?
    Secretary Haaland. Senator, thank you for your dedication 
to this issue, and I really appreciated the opportunity to 
speak with tribes directly when I was there with you in Montana 
not too long ago. And you are right I do understand the 
challenges associated with making sure that we have folks on 
the ground in these areas.
    The 2023 budget request includes a total increase of $41 
million for nationwide detention and corrections programs which 
I know are also foundational as well as public safety and 
justice facility construction. I know that is half the battle. 
I know there are a lot of issues and we are working hard to 
make sure that we can get folks on the ground in those areas.
    Senator Tester. And you will have to--I was listening but I 
didn't hear it, so you will have to repeat it. How much of 
those dollars that you just talked about, there is some for 
public safety construction, but how much of that is dedicated 
toward additional officers?
    Secretary Haaland. Let us see. 282 million for criminal 
investigation and police support, detention centers.
    Senator Tester. Okay.
    Secretary Haaland. I will get you that number. You want to 
know how much for actual people, for boots on the ground?
    Senator Tester. I mean, I think there is a case to be, made 
as you well know, for construction of facilities. You got to 
have it someplace. I mean in Northern Cheyenne's case, if they 
can't get into the facility that holds nine people, they have 
to haul them 1,000 miles. Okay?
    Secretary Haaland.Yes.
    Senator Tester. So there is a case to be made for public 
safety construction. There is also a case to be made for 
manpower. What I am looking for, and I can have my staff dig 
this up, truthfully, because it is not on my written sheet that 
they gave me. These questions I want to know. I want to know 
how much of that budget is for manpower, over what was put in 
the last budget, because I don't think static funding is going 
to get it done in Indian Country.
    And the same thing on the construction end of things. And I 
hate building prisons. I hate it. I just think it is a waste of 
money. We ought to be dealing with this long before we get to 
this point. But nonetheless it is a necessary evil in my 
opinion. And so how much of that money is there for public 
safety construction? And I know there is some, but is it 
enough?
    Secretary Haaland. As I mentioned, for public safety 
construction: $41 million.
    Senator Tester. Okay.
    Secretary Haaland. We will absolutely get you a number for 
the actual boots on the ground for people that we hire.
    Senator Tester. Yeah.
    Secretary Haaland. We will get you that today.
    Senator Tester. Thank you. And I know you will. And I 
appreciate that. I think that as I look at these large land-
based tribes in particular, and those are the ones I am 
familiar with, because those are the ones we have in Montana, 
law enforcement is a continual challenge. By the way, water is 
a challenge, schools are a challenge, housings are a challenge, 
I mean go down the list, and law enforcement is a challenge. So 
thank you very, very much.
    Secretary Haaland. Yes, thank you, Senator.
    Senator Merkley. Thank you very much, Senator Tester. And 
one of the issues I raised earlier here in the hearing was that 
there are 32 tribes that are not receiving any funding for law 
enforcement, though they fall under the same qualifications; 
and advocating that we try to start figuring out how to help 
those that have none, while sustaining and increasing the 
support for the tribes that are receiving some support.
    Madam Secretary, thank you for your testimony.
    And Ms. Flanagan, appreciate you being here to support 
that.

                     ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS

    And the record will remain open for members of the 
committee to submit questions for the record, or statements 
that they would like, until July 20th. And of course we will 
get those questions for the record to you and your team at 
Interior.
    What a breadth of issues that we consider through the 
Department of Interior. Thank you for your hard work, and your 
leadership, and your entire team.
    And if there are no further comments; and seeing that I am 
now alone, there are none.
            Questions Submitted by Senator Dianne Feinstein
    Question. The global helium supply has been dramatically impacted 
by leaks and disasters at several helium production facilities around 
the world as well as Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Several scientific 
and medical facilities throughout California are now facing critical 
shortages of this important resource, and those that can get it are 
seeing price increases of more than 1,400 percent.
    Secretary Haaland, what steps is your Department taking to ensure 
that a stable supply of helium, which is critical for science, 
medicine, and national security, is restored?
    Answer. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), 
the Federal Helium System (FHS) produced approximately 7.8 percent of 
the total helium produced in the United States in 2021. In addition, 
the USGS report shows that the U.S. is a net exporter of helium, 
exporting five times as much helium in 2021 as it imported. While 
foreign supply disruptions impact the global price of helium, these 
disruptions do not pose an immediate threat to U.S. national security 
or economic interests given the current U.S. status as a net exporter 
of helium. Further, the Federal helium supply from the FHS accounts for 
a small percentage of total helium produced in the U.S. As a result. 
the Department does not anticipate a significant fluctuation in the 
supply of helium.
    Additionally, the Department has implemented Section 1109 of Public 
Law No: 116-9, also known as the ``Dingell Act,'' which amended the 
Mineral Leasing Act to allow the extraction of helium from gas produced 
from Federal oil and gas wells to maintain the lease as if the 
extracted helium were oil and gas. This serves to incentivize companies 
to produce helium from Federal wells where natural gas production may 
no longer be sufficient by itself to maintain the lease.
    Finally, the Department remains committed to meeting the 
requirements of the Helium Stewardship Act of 2013 (50 U.S.C. 167a-q; 
HSA) to dispose of the FHS. The act is intended to complete the 
privatization of the Federal helium reserve in a competitive market 
fashion that ensures stability in the helium markets. In preparation 
for the sale and conveyance of the FHS and continued delivery of 
helium, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has required the purchaser 
of the FHS to assume the delivery requirements of the current fiscal 
year 22-27 Helium Storage Contracts.
    Question. The past several fiscal years have seen significant 
increases to the Department's budget for the management of wild horses 
and burros, including an 18 percent increase in fiscal year 2022 and a 
request for another 12 percent increase this year.
    I understand that the humane management of these wild horse herds 
nevertheless remains a problem, with the size of these herds impacting 
the native landscape and the health of the horses themselves.
    Last year, this Committee provided the Department with the 
direction and authority to use up to $11 million for fertility control 
measures needed to keep these herds at a manageable level.
    Secretary Haaland, can you tell me what steps you are taking to 
keep these herds of wild horses at a sustainable level? What progress 
have you made in implementing more fertility control treatments?
    Answer. In response to chronic overpopulation and severe drought 
conditions impacting western public lands, the BLM continues to 
increase its efforts to reduce overpopulation in wild horse and burro 
herds and achieve sustainable population levels. In fiscal year 22 the 
BLM removed 19,011 animals from the range and treated 1,558 animals 
with fertility control, which is the highest level that has been 
achieved. This follows several years of increased removals and 
treatments; removals over the past 5 years (fiscal year 18-22) totaled 
approximately 43,941 animals, and the BLM and its partners completed 
4,815 fertility control treatments in that time period. Thanks in part 
to these efforts, the total population has declined for the second year 
in a row to an estimated current on-range population of 82,284 as of 
March 2022.
    Fertility control works best when herds are close to target 
population sizes. Moreover, fertility control can help slow population 
growth, but it does not immediately address overpopulation. Removing 
animals is the only effective way to humanely reduce on-range 
populations. As populations reach sustainable levels, the BLM plans to 
implement increased fertility control to stabilize herd sizes.
    The BLM continues to invest in the research and development of 
better, longer-lasting fertility control vaccines for wild horses and 
burros. The Bureau published a Wild Horse and Burro Strategic Research 
Plan in 2021 that identifies the development of safe, long-lasting 
fertility control methods as the top research priority. The BLM plans 
to award contracts for three new research projects in the coming 
months, pending NEPA analysis.
    Question. Secretary Haaland, scientists project that with climate 
change, the Colorado River will lose a third of its flow on average 
within a generation. That is more than 5 million acre feet, or enough 
water for 30 million people.
    I have two bills that will help with this problem. The first, the 
STREAM Act, would provide more than 1 million additional acre-feet of 
water per year on average, in combination with the bipartisan 
infrastructure law. That's enough water for more than 6 million people.
    The second bill, the Canal Conveyance Capacity Restoration Act, 
would allow California to capture water and recharge aquifers during 
the few big storms we get.
    Secretary Haaland, my staff has worked with your Department while 
drafting these bills. Will you commit to reviewing them? I hope we can 
count on your support.
    Answer. The Department is committed to use every resource available 
to ensure that irrigators, Tribes, and adjoining communities in 
California and across the West receive adequate support to build 
resilient communities and protect our water supplies for people and the 
natural environment. Regarding the legislation that you reference, the 
Department testified on both of these bills at a hearing before the 
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last spring.
    The Department supports the goal of S. 1179, to repair storage and 
conveyance capacity to critically important components of the Central 
Valley Project (CVP), as well as the goal of restoring salmon 
populations in the San Joaquin River. We have been working to address 
reductions in conveyance capacity due to subsidence and other factors 
which have impacted facilities of the CVP in California, including 
through funding under the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the 
Nation Act. The Bureau of Reclamation is working with the California 
Department of Water Resources to develop planning documents and 
engineering studies to determine the work required to correct the 
subsidence related to the San Luis Joint Use facility.
    Regarding S. 4231, we appreciate the bill's ambitious goal of 
expanding our Nation's capacity to address the drought crisis through 
small-scale storage, water recycling, desalination, and aging 
infrastructure investments, as well as to address the critically 
important issue of ecosystem health. We would like to continue working 
with your office to ensure the authorities within this bill are 
implementable, effective, and can be integrated with existing laws 
recently passed, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
    Question. Secretary Haaland, as you know, the Wildlife Refuge 
System is the only system of Federal lands dedicated to the 
conservation of wildlife and habitat.
    California has 44 wildlife refuges, and many species depend on 
these lands for their survival, including sea otters and Californian 
condors.
    Additionally, millions of Americans visit these lands every year 
and have the opportunity to learn about our state's incredible 
biodiversity.
    I am now working to establish a new wildlife refuge in Riverside 
County that will support local wildlife and provide equitable access to 
nature for all Californians.
    Secretary Haaland, despite having these irreplaceable resources, 
California's wildlife refuges are chronically underfunded and 
understaffed--and sometimes not staffed at all.
    Answer. The fiscal year 2023 President's budget requested an 
increase of $82 million over the fiscal year 2022 enacted budget to 
address capacity issues on the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS). 
This increase will restore needed capacity for the Refuge System's 
basic needs.
    Question. How would increases in funding to the National Wildlife 
Refuge System improve California's public lands?
    Answer. With an increase in appropriated funding, the NWRS will be 
able to strategically add capacity by hiring full-time, skilled 
professional and seasonal staff as well as field technicians; enhance 
Tribal relationships; increase community outreach; increase student 
recruitment through the Pathways program; fully implement Civilian 
Climate Corps hires; and provide additional financial assistance to 
public and private partners.
    Increased funding will further enable the NWRS to deliver 
programmatic goals including adaptively managing lands, combatting the 
spread of invasive species, and providing adequate water management 
programs on national wildlife refuges. Due to persistent and long-term 
drought in much of the West, it is important for the NWRS to assess 
landscape conditions and prioritize areas for conservation and 
restoration interventions. The NWRS will be able to utilize increased 
funding to build ecological resilience to climate change and enable 
landscapes to be more resistant to drought and the effects of fire.
    In a typical year, more than 700,000 teachers and students use the 
Refuge System as their outdoor classroom. Increased funding will 
further enable the Urban Wildlife Conservation Program (UWCP), which 
includes urban national wildlife refuges such as San Diego National 
Wildlife Refuge, to expand opportunities to bring more youth and 
education programs to refuges. This program will help develop the next 
generation of environmental stewards. Increased NWRS funding will also 
enable the UWCP to expand infrastructure opportunities for urban 
populations to better access local national wildlife refuges through 
connected trails, bus routes, and roadways.
    Lastly, the Refuge System maintains a $40 billion infrastructure 
portfolio. The FWS estimates a fully implemented life-cycle management 
approach to maintain its portfolio would require about 1.3 percent of 
the infrastructure portfolio value annually. The 2022 enacted level for 
FWS NWRS programs focused on asset management was $147 million, which 
includes $47 million focused on addressing deferred maintenance backlog 
that is created when resources are not available to address life cycle 
asset management needs at the most appropriate and cost-advantageous 
time.

                                 ______
                                 

               Questions Submitted by Senator Jon Tester
    Question. Prior to fiscal year 1997, the amount of ``New Tribes'' 
funding received by newly recognized tribes varied greatly. New tribes 
would assess their needs, design or propose operational programs to 
meet their needs, and submit proposed budgets to implement the proposed 
programs. In fiscal year 1996 alone, this led to newly recognized 
tribes receiving a low of $127,000 and a high of $1.492 million in 
``New Tribes'' funding. In fiscal year 1997, the ``New Tribes'' funding 
methodology was simplified by providing $160,000 in base funding for 
new tribes with less than 1,500 members and $320,000 to tribes with a 
population of 1,501 to 3,000 members. The funding level for new tribes 
with more than 3,000 members was to be determined on a case- by-case 
basis.
    In fiscal year 2011, the population component of the methodology 
was slightly changed moving from 1,500 to 1,700 members for the 
$160,000 base level funding and 1,701 to 3,000 for the $320,000 funding 
level.
    The Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians, with a Tribal 
membership of approximately 6,100 members, qualifies for the ``case-by-
case'' determination under the BIA's longstanding policy. If the 
funding level for Tribes with 1,701 to 3,000 members is $320,000, that 
equals to a range of $106.66 to $188.12 per Tribal member. According to 
this methodology, the Little Shell Tribe's ``New Tribes'' allocation 
should be in the range of $650,000 to $1.14 million annually. It is 
critically important to provide the Little Shell Tribe with adequate 
``New Tribes'' funding as it is the Tribe's third and final year in the 
program. The Bureau of Indian Affairs Budget Justifications and 
Performance Information for fiscal year 2023 notes that ``Once a Tribe 
has been acknowledged as a federally recognized Tribe, its designated 
funding remains in the New Tribes line item for three fiscal years at 
which time the funding is then base transferred for the Tribe to the 
Aid to Tribal Government line item.''
    Failing to right-size ``New Tribes'' funding in fiscal year 2023 to 
meet the Little Shell Tribe's population needs creates inequity and 
establishes precedent for future funding allocations.
    Would you support a higher New Tribes allocation for the Little 
Shell Tribe in fiscal year 23 in line with Department of the Interior's 
past precedent?
    Answer. The New Tribes enrollment criteria was modified in fiscal 
year 2011 to align with the enrollment criterion used for Small Tribes 
Supplement funding. BIA does not calculate funding at the level of the 
individual members served in determining distributions and instead uses 
a banded approach that provides a flat amount for Tribes with 
enrollment up to 1,700 and double that funding for Tribes with 
enrollment from 1,701 up to 3,000. At the time the Little Shell Tribe 
received recognition, their estimated enrollment number of 5,300 
members was provided to Indian Affairs. BIA determined their enrollment 
number was roughly 3 times the amount of 1,700, so Little Shell was 
provided $480,000 annually as their New Tribe base, which is 3 times 
the level of funding provided to a Tribe with enrollment up to 1,700.

                                 ______
                                 

            Questions Submitted by Senator Chris Van Hollen
                               c&o canal
    Question. I appreciate that the National Park Service worked with 
us in Maryland to move the C&O Canal National Historic Park 
Headquarters in Williamsport last year. This site serves as the 
administrative hub for all 184.5 miles of the park. Can you provide an 
update on the move and the impact that this new headquarters will have 
on the region?
    Answer. After 20 years in downtown Hagerstown, approximately 10 
miles from the park, the park headquarters officially moved in March 
2021, to its new location adjacent to the park in Williamsport, MD. The 
relocation to Williamsport brought park management back to the park 
grounds. Operationally, the move has led to several efficiencies 
including greater integration of operational and administrative staff, 
improved communication with the field, and improved resource/knowledge 
sharing with local stakeholders and partners. The headquarters move has 
become a catalyst for economic development. Visitation to the area has 
increased and many new small businesses have opened. In addition, the 
park headquarters site includes two historic buildings that will be 
rehabilitated and leased to commercial businesses that will provide 
much needed amenities to park visitors and create 10-15 jobs.
    Due to the pandemic, the official ribbon cutting was delayed until 
September 21, 2022. Over 100 attendees from Federal, state, county and 
local government who collaborated and supported the project were in 
attendance.
                               glen echo
    Question. The National Park Service has owned and operated Glen 
Echo Park since 1971, and has entered into multiple cooperative 
management agreements with Montgomery County, which partners with the 
Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture to offer year-round 
cultural and recreational activities. This cooperative partnership 
allow Marylanders and all park visitors to enjoy all the park has to 
offer. However, as Montgomery County works with NPS to pursue vital 
upgrades needed for the park grounds, it is critical that the 
management plan is updated to support the continued partnership between 
the County and NPS. I have heard repeated concerns from constituents 
about delays in simple repairs as well as the long-term plans for 
maintenance of historic properties.
    Will you commit to working with my office and Montgomery County to 
improve the turnaround time on maintenance and repairs? What steps will 
you take to ensure the management plan is updated to support 
recreational access to Glen Echo Park?
    Answer. The NPS remains committed to working with your office and 
park partners to support recreational access to Glen Echo Park. For 
instance, the NPS has moved some park staff to free up space for in-
person partner programming which has returned post-pandemic. More 
generally, the NPS continues to work with Montgomery County and is 
committed to the top priorities agreed to in July 2021. The NPS and the 
County regularly engage in strategic planning related to deferred 
maintenance and capital improvements as well as routine planning to 
ensure operations are in keeping with environmental and historic 
requirements for Federal property.
    The park has undertaken several planning efforts in collaboration 
with the County and Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture 
(GEPPAC). In the past year, the park team participated in the GEPPAC 
sponsored Urban Landscape Institute effort to inform future master 
planning of the site. This three-month effort will aid in amending and 
updating the NPS Developmental Concept Plan, implementation of which is 
subject to future funding. Additionally, the NPS has awarded a contract 
to complete a historic structures report for the Spanish Ballroom; the 
park and partner collaborated to create a scope of work for this 
contract that considers both deferred maintenance and capital 
improvements for the ballroom. Finally, the NPS has engaged throughout 
the year in significant and substantive ways to expand the existing 
agreement to include the Clara Barton National Historical Site. 
Montgomery County has written a letter of interest supporting the 
expansion, and the NPS has included County and partner staff in the 
design team and as consulting parties.
    The County is working to fulfill their obligations to complete 
routine and life-cycle maintenance and repair of all facilities used in 
the operations of the park at its sole expense. To that end, the NPS is 
currently working to provide a permit to the County for repaving the 
upper parking lot.
                                landsat
    Question. Last year, I had the opportunity to visit NASA Goddard 
Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland with Vice President Harris 
to see first-light images from Landsat 9, a partnership between NASA 
and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). We know that users around the 
county rely on the ongoing measurements taken by Landsat satellites to 
monitor and measure the changes in our land, and more locally, its data 
has been used to monitor changes in the Chesapeake Bay.
    Given how the Landsat program is constantly evolving to continue 
its mission of providing remote sensing data for the Earth, what can we 
expect to happen with Landsat Next? What is the Department's plan for 
this new Landsat mission?
    Answer. The Department of the Interior (Interior) is working 
closely with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 
under a Sustainable Land Imaging (SLI) Interagency Agreement to develop 
the next Landsat mission called Landsat Next. The SLI Joint Steering 
Group met in February 2022 and agreed to pursue a multi-element SLI 
architecture, including a new government-managed Landsat Next mission 
and partnerships with the international and commercial remote sensing 
sectors.
    The Landsat Next mission concept will take advantage of new 
technologies like smaller satellites and improved sensors to sustain 
the 50-year Landsat data record while delivering greater capability to 
meet the ever-increasing demands of the user community. This would 
include more frequent, better resolution, and high-quality land imaging 
data. The Landsat Next mission concept leverages commercial sector 
capabilities under government oversight to build and launch the 
satellites; develop the ground segment; operate the on-orbit 
satellites; and disseminate the data via the commercial cloud.
    Landsat data are used for a wide range of regional and global 
applications, including monitoring agriculture crop health and 
production; assessing consumptive water use; tracking urban heat 
islands; conducting wildfire science; disaster response and 
remediation; detecting harmful algal blooms; and documenting forest 
extent and health.
                    land and water conservation fund
    Question. Secretary Haaland, thank you for the efforts that the 
Department of Interior (DOI) has made on strong implementation of the 
Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), specifically the dedicated funding 
provided for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). Conservation 
is a key priority of mine, and environmental protection is critical in 
the Chesapeake Bay watershed, where land protection and water quality 
are inextricably linked and where the health of the Bay directly 
impacts our economy and our entire way of life. The need for LWCF in 
communities and public land areas all across America has outstripped 
the annual LWCF funding available.
    GAOA was an important step in the right direction to try to meet 
the country's needs, but the $900 million provided annually under that 
legislation reflects a figure set more than 40 years ago, which cannot 
keep up with current prices, especially in our rapidly growing area of 
the country.
    How can we best support the diverse and urgent conservation needs 
that are funded through the LWCF, particularly in areas such as the 
Chesapeake that are interconnected and interdependent on the health of 
the watershed?
    Answer. Thank you for your support of the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund (LWCF). The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) 
authorized full and permanent funding of $900 million annually from the 
LWCF, ensuring the Nation's commitment to conservation and recreation 
endures for future generations. The fiscal year 2023 President's 
proposal for the Land and Water Conservation Fund would allocate 
$807.034 million to the Department of the Interior for LWCF programs, 
including $125.175 million from the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act 
(GOMESA). Timely enactment of final annual appropriations enables the 
Department to allocate this funding earlier in the fiscal year and do 
more work to address these diverse and urgent conservation needs.
    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has several active land 
acquisitions at National Wildlife Refuges within the Chesapeake Bay 
watershed. In fiscal year 2021, FWS acquired 88 acres at Blackwater 
National Wildlife Refuge and 264 acres at Great Dismal Swamp National 
Wildlife Refuge. In fiscal year 2022, FWS received a donation of a 
conservation easement on 465 acres at Rappahannock River Valley 
National Wildlife Refuge. FWS continues to advance its conservation 
mission within the watershed and is working with willing sellers on 
potential future acquisitions.
    The LWCF also authorizes funding for land acquisition under the 
Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund, specifically for land 
acquisition related to the recovery of species listed under the 
Endangered Species Act and to complement Habitat Conservation Plans. 
States within the Chesapeake Bay watershed are encouraged to apply for 
these grants as a means of protecting habitat for listed species and 
restoring the watershed.
                          monarch butterflies
    Question. First, I was heartened to hear that there was real 
progress at the recent monarch butterfly summit this summer involving 
Federal agencies, research scientists, habitat managers, and volunteer 
groups. Recognizing the vital pollinator role of native bees, and the 
emerging science and diversity of partnerships developing at the USGS 
Eastern Ecological Science Center Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring 
Lab in Maryland, how will the DOI and USGS leverage this opportunity to 
also advance native bee science and conservation?
    Answer. The USGS is pleased to report that the USGS Bee Lab, part 
of the USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center (EESC), continues to grow 
and provide critically important services to pollinator conservation 
efforts led by local, State, and Federal government agencies and non- 
profit organizations. The lab is currently the only facility within 
Interior whose staff are capable of identifying the 4,000+ native bee 
species in the United States. In response to increased partner demands, 
in 2023, the USGS will double the size of the lab space, with the 
opening of the newly remodeled Annex facility that will provide 
research and office space for additional collaborating partners, 
support education and training efforts, and house entomological 
collections. This year, the Bee Lab will host co-located staff 
positions sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA Office 
of the Secretary, Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, 
and the USGS Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Program, as 
well as over 150 volunteers and interns from local colleges, 
universities, and high schools. The USGS also recently signed a 
Memorandum of Understanding with the Smithsonian Institution that will 
increase opportunities for research and education between the USGS and 
Smithsonian's museums and research centers.
    The USGS Bee Lab is currently engaged in a broad range of research, 
training, and technical assistance activities to help meet increased 
demand from partners at local, state, and Federal government agencies, 
as well as non-profit organizations and citizens groups. Current areas 
of investigation include: the development of planting strategies for 
monarch butterflies and native bees; the identification of plant 
species that benefit both monarch butterflies and native bees; surveys 
of public and private lands for native bees; status assessments for 
individual native bee species; documentation of insect pollinators for 
native plant species; and the development of broader planting 
strategies at larger geographic scales. In addition, lab staff teach a 
weekly online course in bee identification that has over 200 
participants, and also offer bee identification courses through 
Interior's National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West 
Virginia.
    Moving forward, the USGS is working to expand the expertise 
available at the EESC. This would include a Quantitative Methods and 
Decision Science Team to assess population trends and habitat use and 
restoration strategies, as well as decision science to inform 
pollinator conservation decisions. Another area of relevant expertise 
to pollinator health is within the Ecological Patterns and Processes 
and Animal Health Diagnostics and Surveillance Team. This team could 
expand its research capacity to better understand drivers and stressors 
influencing trends in pollinator species and associated ecological and 
socio-economic impacts.
    The USGS welcomes further inquiries regarding its native bee 
research and conservation efforts and invites the Senator and his staff 
to visit the USGS Bee Lab facility in Laurel, Maryland.
                       migratory bird treaty act
    Question. There has been a documented loss of nearly 3 billion 
birds across North America in recent years. This staggering loss of 
biodiversity and the impacts of social and economic consequences are of 
deep concern. How will the DOI support migratory bird science programs 
at USGS such as the North American Bird Banding Laboratory and Breeding 
Bird Survey and migratory bird conservation and management programs at 
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)?
    How will the DOI leverage these efforts with other Federal, state, 
Tribal, non-governmental organizations, and the public to reverse these 
concerning declines?
    Answer. The severe decline in migratory bird populations is a deep 
concern of the Department of the Interior. The data are alarming, as 
they reveal that the losses are widespread among many species of 
grassland birds, seabirds, forest birds, shorebirds, and aerial 
insectivores. Time is of the essence to act now due to myriad threats 
to birds from habitat loss and degradation, human caused mortality, and 
ecosystem impacts due to the changing climate. The Migratory Birds 
program leads the FWS response to this crisis, and it has established 
and begun implementing a visionary approach to tackle this complex 
conservation issue. Working across regional boundaries and programmatic 
areas, FWS has established a core team and a national coordinator to 
focus on the problem. Together, FWS is implementing a ``5-and-1'' 
strategy-- named for its focus on five priority bird groups (grassland 
birds, forest birds, shorebirds, marine birds, and aerial insectivores) 
and one major source of bird mortality (collisions with manmade 
structures). Six sub-teams have been established focused on each of the 
five priority bird groups and the mortality source. This represents a 
holistic path forward for focused conservation.
    Currently, the 5-and-1 teams are having varying degrees of success. 
The collisions team created a buildings initiative to address light and 
glass collisions at FWS facilities and developed a tool to assess 
collision risk with buildings. To date, more than 40 percent of FWS 
buildings have been surveyed and those identified as a high collision 
risk are being modified. FWS now requires all new buildings and major 
renovations to include bird-friendly designs, which both protects 
wildlife and improves energy efficiency. Additionally, FWS, in its 
capacity of serving as Chair of the Council for the Conservation of 
Migratory Birds, has shared their success stories on light and glass 
collisions with other Federal agencies and is encouraging them to take 
similar actions.
    Other teams, like the marine bird team, have identified high 
priority areas and partnerships where resources should be directed to 
slow population declines. Seabirds face many challenges: declining and 
shifting prey distributions; warming and rapidly changing ocean 
conditions; loss of nesting and roosting habitats due to human 
development, disturbance, and sea level rise; bycatch mortality; 
plastic ingestion and debris entanglement; offshore energy development; 
and pollution. Because of their mostly pelagic existence and wide-
ranging movements, there are many gaps in the knowledge about seabirds 
and how to best address the challenges they face.
    The fiscal year 2023 President's budget includes nearly $5 million 
for the Migratory Birds program that would provide the conservation 
capacity needed to allow FWS' 5-and-1 teams to scale up activities and 
engage with partners. This investment could be transformational, 
permitting targeted investments in partner engagement, monitoring, 
technical assistance, conservation planning, and promoting bird-
friendly practices that would greatly leverage the resources of other 
FWS programs and other Federal, state, Tribal, and private conservation 
partners to dramatically increase the pace and scale bird conservation.

                                 ______
                                 

              Questions Submitted by Senator Bill Hagerty
    Question. Tennessee is home to the Great Smoky Mountains National 
Park, the most visited national park in the country. In 2021 alone, 
over 14 million people visited the Smokies. The Park serves has an 
important economic driver for Tennessee and the surrounding region, the 
impact was even further felt during the COVID pandemic when many small 
businesses in the area were forced to stay closed.
    Secretary Haaland, how will you prioritize our national parks 
operations budget and the park's access to resources now that more 
Americans are going outdoors and the number of visitors to our national 
parks this summer is expected to continue to increase. Is there a 
contingency plan for this expected increase?
    Answer. The fiscal year 2023 President's Budget Request makes bold 
investments essential for the NPS' continued mission success while 
remaining committed to the daily mission of ensuring that the American 
public continues to have an enriching experience at every NPS site. In 
particular, the budget funds fixed costs to support baseline operating 
levels and provides funding to build park capacity throughout the 
National Park System in visitor services, park protection, facility 
operations and maintenance, and park support.
    Question. Secretary Haaland, can you detail the formula the 
National Park Service utilizes to determine how much funding each 
National Park receives? Additionally, are the numbers of visitors and 
utilization of the park services considered as part of this formula?
    Answer. The NPS is responsible for safeguarding irreplaceable 
magnificent natural wonders and significant historical and cultural 
resources. Each unit of the NPS is unique. There are parkways with 
hundreds of miles of road; canyons that are miles deep; battlefields, 
caves, lakes, and rivers. Due in part to these differences, each park 
has its own set of priorities and manages its park operational budget 
according to the unique needs of the park, its visitors, partners, 
community, and resources. While visitation is often a key driver of 
need for additional operating capacity, it must be considered alongside 
many other factors during the budget formulation process.

                                 ______
                                 

             Questions Submitted by Senator Lisa Murkowski
    Question. I appreciate the efforts of the Department and Bureau of 
Land Management so far in implementing the Alaska Native Vietnam 
Veterans Allotment program as I authorized in the Dingell Act. We have 
an obligation to these Alaska Native Veterans to ensure their allotment 
applications are completed in a timely and efficient manner. I am 
concerned though that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) does not have 
the current capacity to meet this task before the program expires in 
December 29, 2025. I want to make sure BLM has the resources needed to 
contact all eligible veterans and be able to process the 2,900 plus 
applications it may potentially receive.
    What is BLM's plan to ensure that all applicants will have their 
applications processed within the deadline established in the Dingell 
Act?
    Answer. The BLM developed a streamlined process to review incoming 
applications, complete the associated cadastral surveys, and issue the 
Allotment Certificates. If complete applications are received without 
conflicts, the BLM's streamlined process will support issuing the 
Certificate of Allotment within 1 year after receipt of the 
application. The last day a veteran or heir of a veteran can file an 
application is December 29, 2025. All complete applications should 
therefore be processed by December 2026 if the corresponding budgetary 
resources are available.
    Question. Can you please provide this committee, either now or 
after this hearing, an estimate on the total costs required to complete 
all potential veteran applications by the deadline established in the 
Dingell Act?
    Answer. The largest cost associated with completing the application 
process is a cadastral survey. Due to the remoteness of selected 
allotment locations, helicopter support is typically needed to access 
the allotment. The cost for surveying one allotment can range between 
$25,000 to $35,000. In fiscal year 23, approximately 65 surveys will be 
completed for a total estimated cost of $2.2 million. It is estimated 
that up to 2,000 eligible individuals or their heirs may apply during 
the open selection period. The BLM estimates it will cost approximately 
$50 million to $70 million to complete all 2,000 potential surveys, 
however this estimate will fluctuate based on the actual number of 
applications received.
    You recently had the opportunity to visit Alaska and hear directly 
from Alaska Native Vietnam veterans how important it is to them for 
their allotments to be near where they live have ties to, as well as to 
be accessible. The BLM lands that have thus far been offered up do not 
meet that criteria.
    Question. Do you support making additional lands available for 
selection, including opening up Fish and Wildlife Service lands?
    Answer. Current law (the Dingell Act) provides that the BLM can 
provide eligible individuals the opportunity to select an allotment of 
up to 160 acres from vacant, unappropriated, and unreserved Federal 
lands in Alaska. The BLM has made more than 28 million acres of lands 
available for selection.
    In November 2020, the FWS delivered a report to Congress titled, 
Report to Congress: Identification of National Wildlife Refuge System 
Lands in Alaska That Should Be Made Available for Allotment Selection 
by Eligible Alaska Native Vietnam Era Veterans (Report to Congress 
(fws.gov)). FWS developed this report with input from over 160 Alaska 
Native Tribes and 100 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) 
Corporations. In the report, FWS identified 3.6 million acres of refuge 
lands that could be made available for selection by eligible veterans 
with Congressional authorization if the BLM eligible lands are not 
adequate.
    Question. What is the fiscal year 2023 proposed funding level for 
the Public Law 280 states in the President's Budget Request?
    Answer. The President's Budget proposes $15.0 million for Tribal 
Justice Support funding directed to Public Law 280 Tribes in fiscal 
year 2023.
    Question. To help address the crisis of Missing and Murdered 
Indigenous Persons across the United States, the Secretary announced 
the formation of a new Missing & Murdered Unit (MMU) within the BIA in 
2021 to better coordinate law enforcement resources and seeks an 
additional $5 million for this effort for investigative personnel. It's 
my understanding previous funding has been to open new offices so can 
you tell us here today what is the base amount of funding being used 
for this new law enforcement unit and exactly where are these units 
located?
    Answer. The additional $5.0 million provided in the fiscal year 
2022 appropriation brought total funding for the Missing and Murdered 
Indigenous People (MMIP) initiative up to $16.5 million to support the 
BIA Missing and Murdered Unit. Of this funding, $2.5 million is used 
for advanced training on forensics and other specialized training for 
the MMU investigators. The table below identifies existing MMU agent 
locations as well as new locations planned for additional agents.

 
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Current Agent Locations            Additional Agent Locations
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Albuquerque, NM                             Bemidji, MN
Anchorage, AK                               Farmington, NM
Billings, MT                                Gallup, NM
Bismarck, ND                                Muskogee, OK
Bloomington, MN                             Riverton, WY
Carson City, NV                             Sacramento, CA
Fort Apache, AZ                             Salt Lake City, UT
Nashville, TN                               Seattle, WA
Oklahoma City, OK                           Sioux Falls, SD
Phoenix, AZ
Rapid City, SD
Shelby, MT
Vancouver, WA
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Question. An issue that I have worked on for several years now is 
the Small and Needy Tribe program. This program is vitally important to 
the many small tribes in Alaska and for the last several years we have 
tried to work with Administration officials to determine the proper 
funding levels so that all eligible tribes receive the maximum amount 
allowed. Over the years we have struggled to get good information about 
what the program level should be in order to fund all currently 
eligible tribes at the maximum level, and, not only has the program 
level consistently changed there have been challenges in tracking and 
obligating funds. As result, the annual appropriations bills has been 
carrying report language for the last few years that continues to go 
unanswered. Given the historical challenges in determining eligibility, 
funding levels, and meeting Committee directives, it's a bit surprising 
to see such a dramatic increase of $18 million being proposed in the 
fiscal year 2023 budget.
    In fiscal year 2018, the Committee was informed that $5 million was 
the amount of funding necessary to fund all known, eligible small 
tribes up to the established maximum funding level. Yet, the fiscal 
year 2023 budget proposal is asking for an additional $18 million. Can 
you explain what has changed in the last 3 fiscal years regarding this 
program to warrant the increase?
    Answer. In fiscal year 2019, Indian Affairs (IA) began to improve 
the allocation process for the Small and Needy Tribe programs focusing 
on the means by which the tribal base information (location and base 
TPA funding) and enrollment tracking were managed and reported. This 
improved process allowed IA to automate a base funding report from the 
Primary Tribal Priority Allocation (TPA) Base tables used for the Small 
and Needy Tribe funding distributions and to integrate the new 
enrollment data collected in fiscal year 2021, which has continued to 
improve our efforts to ensure we are including all eligible Tribes. 
This has resulted in a larger count of eligible Tribes for the funding 
under this program. Additionally, at the request of Tribes and the 
Tribal/Interior Budget Council (TIBC) our request for additional 
funding in fiscal year 2023 includes raising the minimum level of 
funding for all Tribes to $300,000.
    Question. What tribes are currently eligible to receive this 
funding and what is the methodology and data the DOI uses to determine 
eligibility?
    Answer. Currently, IA determines Tribes to be eligible for the 
Small Tribes Supplement program based on location and base TPA funding. 
Alaska Tribes are eligible if they receive $200,000 or less in TPA base 
funding and Tribes in the lower 48 States are eligible if they receive 
$160,000 or less in base TPA funding. In fiscal year 2021, under the 
existing criteria, 87 Tribes were deemed eligible and received funding.
    IA conducted consultation with Tribes concerning the methodology 
and criteria for issuing Small Tribes funding as instructed in the 2022 
appropriations report language. The program is undergoing a review of 
all feedback from that consultation and based on that, is developing 
revised criteria that will enable us to bring all known, eligible small 
Tribes up to a newly established, increased minimum base funding level 
which may differ from the $300,000 minimum proposed in the fiscal year 
2023 Budget. The increase is in line with inflation to ensure a 
reasonable level of funding for a Tribal government to operate. The 
current base levels were established in 1994 and are no longer 
sufficient for small Tribes to run viable Tribal governmental 
operations. Raising the threshold for minimum base will result in 
additional Tribes qualifying.
    Once BIA fully works through the Tribal consultation comments and 
updates the parameters of the program, we will be able to determine a 
final count on the number of eligible Tribes and what level of funding 
would be needed to bring all eligible Tribes up to the minimum 
threshold. The amount requested in 2023 was based on an estimate using 
the original criteria.
    Question. What is the status of the congressional directives 
contained in recent appropriations bills?
    Answer. The congressional directives are currently being addressed 
and will include the results of the above-mentioned Tribal 
consultation.
    Question. Resource management planning is an expensive and time 
consuming exercise. In calendar year 2021, the BLM finalized updates of 
the Bering Sea Western Interior and Central Yukon Resource Management 
Plans. This was a culmination of effort that began in 2013 and spanned 
multiple administrations. In addition to the incredible time invested, 
these efforts were expensive and my understanding is that the cost to 
finalize these two plans exceeded $20 million.
    Unfortunately, the BLM has undertaken a rewrite of these RMPS, 
which will result in Alaska's lands being kept in a further state of 
limbo and will prevent the State and Alaska Natives from gaining title 
to lands that were promised to them over 50 years ago.
    Why is the Department rewriting these RMPs that were developed by 
career staff across multiple administrations?
    Answer. The Central Yukon Resource Management Plan (CYRMP) was 
released as draft for public comment in December 2020. The BLM is 
focused on identifying the next steps in the ongoing planning process 
and will soon be announcing the path forward.
    The Bering Sea Western Interior (BSWI) RMP has been finalized, and 
the Record of Decision was published in January 2021. That plan remains 
fully in effect and is being implemented by the BLM.
    Question. How long will the rewrites take and how much do you 
anticipate it will cost?
    Answer. The BSWI RMP remains in effect and is being implemented, 
and the CYRMP is in the planning process between the draft and final 
stages. Additional costs are not anticipated.
    Question. How much funding is included in the President's Budget 
Request for fiscal year 2023 for proposals and related planning efforts 
for the lease sale required in the 1002 area by the Tax Cuts and Jobs 
Act?
    Answer. The President's Budget Request for fiscal year 2023 did not 
request any additional funding for the lease sale required in the 1002 
area by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The BLM estimates the fiscal year 
2023 lease sale preparation costs to be approximately $300,000, which 
would be executed with appropriated base funding.
    Question. The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed a in 
early June that coincided with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's 
publication of its Proposed ``Hunt-Fish'' Rule which would preclude the 
use of traditional ammunition and tackle going forward on several 
National Wildlife Refuges. The Department entered into closed door 
settlement negotiations with CBD even before a court could provide any 
merit to their claims. I'm concerned that rather than going through the 
land management planning process, the Department is entering into 
closed-door settlement negotiations with an advocacy organization where 
Tribal consultation and input from the public will be absent.
    Has a settlement been reached with the Centers for Biological 
Diversity in their lawsuit against the Fish and Wildlife Service?
    Answer. FWS develops the annual Hunt-Fish Rule over a 14-month 
cycle. This process begins each June and concludes in August of the 
following year, with the goal of publishing the final rule in time for 
the fall hunting seasons. FWS began developing the packages for the 
2022- 2023 Hunt-Fish Rule, which included proposals at several refuges 
to require non-lead ammunition or tackle, in June 2021. The final rule 
was published in September 2022. This process began prior to receiving 
the Center for Biological Diversity's (CBD) lawsuit in December 2021 
and their June 2022 petition, and therefore is unrelated to their 
actions.
    The Department of Justice (DOJ) was authorized by FWS to draft a 
tentative settlement agreement with CBD that will be approved by FWS 
prior to finalization. The current stay from the Court ends on November 
2, 2022. FWS and the Department of the Interior's Office of the 
Solicitor expect settlement to be reached in this case.
    Question. If so, please provide a copy of the settlement to the 
subcommittee. If not, will you commit to providing a copy of the 
settlement to the subcommittee within 10 days of the settlement being 
reached? If you will not commit to providing the subcommittee with a 
copy of the settlement, please explain why.
    Answer. As the litigation is ongoing, FWS is not able to share the 
draft settlement agreement at this time. FWS commits to sharing a copy 
of the settlement agreement within 10 business days after the 
conclusion of the case.
    Question. Is the Department negotiating with CBD on banning lead 
ammunition and tackle as part of the settlement of the CBD petition?
    Answer. FWS cannot commit to reaching a particular result in any 
future notice-and- comment rulemaking process, which would be 
considered pre-decisional. As such, FWS cannot commit to requiring non-
lead ammunition or tackle on the National Wildlife Refuge System as 
part of any settlement agreement with CBD or rulemaking petition 
submitted by CBD. It is not uncommon for FWS to require non-lead 
ammunition or tackle on FWS lands and waters when it determines through 
scientific analyses, as part of National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA) analyses, refuge plans, and compatibility determinations, that 
lead ammunition and tackle have negative impacts on species. FWS will 
respond to CBD's petition for rulemaking as required by the 
Administrative Procedure Act. FWS considers all petitions from the 
public, non- governmental organizations, States, and other partners, in 
order to best serve the American public.
    Question. The aforementioned ``Hunt-Fish'' Rule proposes to ban 
lead ammunition and tackle on certain public lands by 2026 and I am 
concerned that this is a precursor to further regulatory actions. Given 
that approximately 95 percent of all ammunition contains lead 
components, banning traditional ammunition is certain to price a 
significant number of hunters and target shooters who hunt and shoot on 
public land out of the market. It would also have a significant impact 
on conservation. I my home State of Alaska alone, we would stand to 
lose over $12 million in Pittman Robertson funding in the event of a 
traditional ammunition ban.
    Please share what science was discovered since you became Secretary 
that supports the ban that you propose. Is the science sound enough to 
warrant decreasing access and opportunity for millions of taxpayers as 
well as hurting wildlife conservation efforts?
    Answer. The best available science demonstrates that lead 
ammunition and tackle have negative impacts on both wildlife and human 
health. FWS included many of these studies in National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) documents and Cumulative Impacts Report, and 
incorporated these sources in the 2022-2023 Hunt-Fish Rule. In total, 
there are over 90 scientific sources cited, which are available through 
the final Cumulative Impacts Report available at the following site: 
https://www.regulations.gov/document/FWS-HQ-NWRS-2022-0055-16123. A key 
example of the available scientific evidence is the recent study by the 
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) which found significant population-level 
impacts on eagles nationwide from the use of lead ammunition for 
hunting. The study, published in the journal Science (Volume 375, Issue 
6582, February 18, 2022), is available at the following site: https://
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abj3068.
    FWS has received an increasing number of comments from the public, 
including a significant number of hunters and anglers themselves, over 
the past few years on the annual Hunt-Fish Rules, asking FWS to further 
consider requiring non-lead ammunition and tackle on national wildlife 
refuges based on the increasing body of scientific literature 
illustrating the negative impacts of lead on wildlife.
    Some public comments FWS received from those who would prefer it 
not regulate lead ammunition and tackle alleged that the scientific 
analysis lacked evidence of ``population-level'' impacts to species. 
However, from studies like the USGS eagle study, there is significant 
evidence of population-level impacts for some species. For other 
species that are not impacted at the population-level, the science 
illustrates that many individuals are at risk of death or lead 
poisoning from ingestion of lead through gut piles, picking up spent 
pellets on the ground or lake bottoms, or even in bodies of water 
depending on the acidity of the water.
    FWS is required by statute to make decisions that support its 
conservation mission and to find uses on national wildlife refuges 
compatible with the mission and refuge purposes before allowing them. 
FWS will regulate when the science illustrates that the use of lead 
ammunition and lead tackle presents a risk for any species that are 
especially susceptible to lead. FWS prioritizes access for hunters and 
anglers when compatible and only pursues restrictions on how the use is 
allowed when necessary to support its mission.
    Question. Will the Department consider the impact of potential lost 
conservation funding when making decisions about whether to finalize a 
ban on traditional ammunition?
    Answer. FWS considers the socioeconomic impacts of how it manages 
hunting and fishing programs before making changes. This includes 
considering the impacts of any requirements to use non-lead ammunition 
or tackle on hunters and anglers. The viability of alternatives to lead 
ammunition and tackle have increased over time, both in terms of price 
and availability. In light of recent ammunition shortages and increases 
in price of all ammunition, the gap has been closed even further. As 
noted in the 2022-2023 Final Hunt-Fish Rule, FWS does not anticipate 
significant decreases in hunter participation caused by regulation of 
lead use on refuges, and it has not seen significant hunter decreases 
at refuges where non-lead requirements have been implemented in past 
rules.
    FWS also does not anticipate an impact to Pittman-Robertson (PR) 
excise tax funds used for conservation funding from any action on FWS 
lands and waters. Hunting and fishing on FWS lands and waters is a 
small fraction of the overall hunting and fishing that occur in the 
United States. FWS' experience is that non-lead requirements have not 
resulted in a decrease in hunting on national wildlife refuges. 
Therefore, FWS anticipates the impact to conservation funding from non-
lead requirements on national wildlife refuges to be very small.
    Question. I was disappointed in your June 17th Secretarial Order 
3408 which revoked the previous Secretarial Order 3368 that created a 
publicly available repository on the Solicitor's website where 
everyone, members of congress and the general public can see settlement 
negotiations that the Department has entered into. This is in addition 
to the Equal Access to Justice information that is provided in the 
annual budget request. Your press release indicated that the 
Secretarial Order you rescinded was a waste of taxpayer funds.
    Can you elaborate on how much the department spent on the 
implementation of SO 3368 and what portions of the disclosures on the 
Department's website were responsible for the supposed waste? How did 
you determine whether the previous transparency order provided a 
``tangible benefit'' to the public?
    Answer. The Department's additional expenses included annual 
developer costs to create and maintain the website; costs for employee 
time in compiling and uploading information; and costs for preparation 
of and fees for Federal register notices. The total cost of compliance 
with SO 3368 during its effective period is estimated at $94,582. After 
review of the limited benefits achieved from these additional expenses, 
the Department found that SO 3368's requirements either duplicated 
existing rules or policies governing settlements or added requirements 
that are not found in law or policy and raised concerns about 
consistency with court orders and/or the confidentiality expectations 
of parties in litigation. The Department concluded that spending 
Departmental resources in this way did not advance the Department's 
goals of enhancing transparency or safeguarding the public interest. 
Further, information about settlements and attorneys' fees is publicly 
available in alternate sources, including the annual reports to 
Congress and a Department of Treasury on-line database.
    Question. Can you please provide an example of how the previous 
order prevented the Department from entering into ``rational and fair'' 
settlement agreements?
    Answer. The Department's approach to settlements is governed by our 
internal policies and those of the Department of Justice, which prevent 
the Department from entering into settlements that make excessive 
commitments of time or resources or compromise the Department's legal 
authority. After review of SO 3368, we determined that it reiterated 
those substantive constraints but added new and vague procedural 
requirements that did not support the substantive criteria.
    For example, SO 3368 included a requirement to provide notice to 
non-party States or Tribes with ``substantial direct'' interest in all 
complaints or petitions filed against the Department, its bureaus or 
officers. The Order also established a new notice-and-comment process 
for certain settlements. These new bureaucratic requirements are not 
found in laws, regulations, or court rules and therefore interfered 
with the normal litigation and settlement process. The Department 
cannot share specific examples without violating promises of 
confidentiality regarding settlement negotiations, which are governed 
by Federal Rule of Evidence 408 and ensure frank and open discussions 
to reach agreements.
    Question. On the same day that President Biden called for a 
reliable supply chain of critical minerals during his Securing Critical 
Minerals virtual event, the Department of the Interior announced 
creation of the Interagency Working Group on Mining Regulations, Laws 
and Permitting. The specter of major changes to the regulatory 
framework for mining projects is certain to cause investors to rethink 
the U.S. a prime jurisdiction for mining investment at a time when the 
U.S. is exceedingly over reliant for mineral imports from geopolitical 
adversaries. Why would the department seek to initiate these actions, 
potentially freeze investor confidence, at a time when mineral demand 
is expected to skyrocket?

    1. What are the next steps for the Interagency Working Group?

    2. What opportunities will there be for continued engagement with 
stakeholders moving forward?

    3. What engagement has occurred with States?

    4. When does the Interagency Working Group expect to complete its 
work and provide recommendations?

    5. I understand there are roundtable discussions planned with 
various stakeholders. Please provide the dates and locations for any 
proposed roundtables.

    Answer. The Interagency Working Group on Mining Regulations, Laws, 
and Permitting (IWG) has conducted extensive outreach throughout the 
year and is reviewing tens of thousands of comments received in 
response to a Request for Information published in March 2022, 
including hundreds of letters with specific recommendations from Tribal 
Nations, State governments, the mining industry, environmental and 
conservation organizations, academics, and others. The IWG held 
meetings with the leadership and members of the Interstate Mining 
Compact Commission, Environmental Council of the States, Association of 
American State Geologists, and National Association of State Trust 
Lands, in addition to discussions with individual state officials upon 
request.
    The IWG is currently working to complete a report to Congress of 
its findings. The report will provide recommendations about any 
substantive changes needed to meet the Country's need for mineral 
resources, including critical minerals, while respecting our 
obligations to Tribal Nations, protecting the environment, supporting 
communities, and addressing legacy mining issues.
    Question. The Department recently touted its efforts to 
reinvigorate renewable energy projects on Federal lands. To accomplish 
this, the Department developed organizational enhancements and improved 
process efficiencies for optimizing Federal permit coordination for 
renewable energy projects.
    Why are the same type of efficiencies used to permit renewable 
energy projects not used to permit domestic energy and mineral 
projects, particularly those that are the front end of the supply chain 
for renewable energy technologies?
    Answer. Critical minerals are key inputs to manufacturing advanced 
technologies including renewable energy generation and storage. In 
response to recommendations from the 100-Day reviews directed by E.O. 
14017, America's Supply Chains, and Section 40206 of the Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Law (BIL), the Department has established an Interagency 
Working Group to comprehensively review hardrock mineral laws, 
regulations, and permitting requirements. As part of this whole-of-
government effort, the Department has hosted extensive public input and 
comment sessions on potential hardrock mining reforms and intends to 
publish a report with legislative, regulatory, and policy 
recommendations in fiscal year 2023. Regarding domestic energy, the BLM 
continues to approve oil and gas applications for permits to drill 
(APD) and industry currently has in excess of 8,000 approved APDs 
available to them for domestic production.
    Question. Have there been any new coal leases or lease 
modifications approved, either for thermal or met coal, under your 
leadership at the Department of the Interior?
    Answer. Since 2021, the Department has approved one 630-acre 
Emergency Bypass lease issued in North Dakota for lignite thermal coal.
    Question. Are there any outstanding coal lease or lease 
modification applications currently pending before the Department of 
the Interior? If so, how long have those applications been pending?
    Answer. Currently there are 16 Lease By Applications (LBAs) and 3 
Lease Modification Applications (LMAs) before the BLM. However, eight 
of the LBAs are on hold by the applicant's request or the Federal 
acreage is part of the land exchange in Section 1255 of the Dingell Act 
and will be turned over to the State. In the case of lease applications 
for Federal minerals that are part of the Dingell Act, the LBAs are put 
on hold until the surface and mineral estate are transferred to the 
State (see John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management and Recreation 
Act, Public Law 116-9, Section 1255, Exchange of BLM and School 
Institutional Trust Lands Administration land), at which time the State 
assumes all responsibility for the leasing decision and associated 
environmental analysis. The others are in various stages of NEPA 
evaluation, cost recovery MOUs, in bankruptcy court, part of legal 
action, or the BLM has requested more information from the applicant 
and is waiting for a response. BLM is evaluating the impact of the 
recent court order reinstating Secretary Jewell's coal leasing 
moratorium on the pending applications. All these factors make the 
timeline for LBAs and LMAs highly variable and in many cases outside 
the control of the Department of the Interior. The table below 
summarizes pending coal actions and provides the case number for ease 
of reference.

                             Pending Coal Lease and Lease Modification Applications
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                  Application
                  LBA                            LMA                      Status                   Received
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COC-71978                                                    Hold-Applicant Request.........          10/12/2007
COC-78449                                                    Hold-Applicant Request.........            4/6/2017
KYES-55296                                                   On Hold-Mine is on standby.....            7/3/2007
ALES-55797                                                   Met Coal-HQ BLM NEPA Review....           8/13/2009
ALES-56519                                                   Hold-Applicant Request.........           9/22/2010
ARES-57757                                                   NEPA Ongoing...................          12/21/2012
WVES-59357                                                   Consent-USACE Surface                     7/30/2018
                                                              Management.
MTM 105485                                                   Cost Recovery..................           2/13/2013
NDM 111186                                                   NEPA Ongoing...................           5/17/2019
NDM 111489                                                   HQ BLM NEPA Review.............          10/30/2019
                                                 MTM 110693  Cost Recovery-RMP Litigation...           6/17/2021
OKNM- 127509                                                 Hold-Applicant Request.........          10/27/2011
                                                OKNM- 91569  Cost Recovery..................           12/3/2012
UTU-080043                                                   Hold-Dingell Act...............            3/1/2002
UTU-093214                                                   Hold-Dingell Act...............           3/28/2018
UTU-092226                                                   NEPA-Part of Settlement                   7/10/2019
                                                              Agreement.
                                                 UTU-077114  NEPA-Part of Settlement                    6/7/2019
                                                              Agreement.
WYW164812                                                    Request Status Update from                10/7/2005
                                                              Applicant.
WYW184599                                                    Hold-Applicant Request.........           8/24/2015
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Question. What the current status is of the ongoing Federal coal 
review and what are the anticipated next steps in the review, including 
timing of those steps? How is the Department taking into account the 
comments and economic needs of Federal coal states and tribes who would 
like to develop their natural resources?
    Answer. On August 12, 2022, the District Court for the District of 
Montana Great Falls Division (Case 4:17-cv-00030-BMM Document 23) ruled 
the NEPA analysis used for lifting the coal leasing moratorium enacted 
by Secretary Jewell (Secretary Order 3338) was insufficient and the 
Court reinstated the coal leasing moratorium until the NEPA 
deficiencies are addressed. The BLM is currently working to develop a 
path forward for the Federal coal program.
    Question. It has been over a year since Executive Order 14008 
launched an effort to conserve at least 30 percent of our lands and 
waters by 2030. Unfortunately, there is widespread confusion regarding 
what Federal agencies will actually count as conservation, what will 
account for local and state conservation programs, and how land use 
designations that overlap with management plans for various activities 
will be factored. Compounding these uncertainties is the issue of 
multiple use and how industries that rely upon Federal lands will be 
treated, many of which have been fully engaged in conservation 
partnerships and effective voluntary conservation activities for 
decades, demonstrating that development and conservation are not 
mutually exclusive.
    When will the Department of the Interior be able to provide the 
Committee with a definition for what is considered ``conservation'' 
under the initiative?
    Answer. The principles of the initiative and initial general steps, 
including development of the American Conservation and Stewardship 
Atlas, were outlined in our report, issued last May, titled Conserving 
and Restoring America the Beautiful. That report also outlined our 
recommendations for early focus of the initiative. We are coordinating 
with the Departments of Agriculture and Commerce, and the Council on 
Environmental Quality, on development of the Atlas. We have undertaken 
broad public engagement as we move through the process, including a 
public comment period that closed in early March. We expect to be able 
to release a ``beta'' version of that Atlas by the end of the year and 
will continue to update the Committee from there.
    Question. How will the Department quantify how much existing U.S. 
lands and waters under Federal stewardship count as currently being 
``conserved''?
    Answer. Under the initiative we expect a flexible, inclusive 
definition given the many uses of land and waters that can be 
consistent with the long-term health of ecosystems and many types of 
conservation that exist on Federal, Tribal, State, and private land and 
waters. It will also help to address to the impacts of climate change 
and environmental injustices. We have undertaken broad public 
engagement, including a public comment period that closed in early 
March and are coordinating with the Departments of Agriculture and 
Commerce, and the Council on Environmental Quality, on development of 
the Atlas.
    Question. Will lands currently subject to multiple use be 
considered ``conserved''?
    Answer. As noted in the previous response, the Atlas will reflect 
the many uses of land and waters that can be consistent with the long-
term health of ecosystems and help address the impacts of climate 
change and environmental injustices.
    Question. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced a notice of 
intent on the Federal Register in November 2021 to solicit comments to 
inform the BLM's preparation of Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) 
to address the management of Greater Sage-grouse and sagebrush habitat 
on BLM-managed land in the States of California, Colorado, Idaho, 
Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming 
through a land use planning initiative. Comments closed in February 
2022.
    What other opportunities will BLM provide the public to maintain 
involvement with the NEPA and land use planning processes?
    Answer. After the BLM and its cooperating agencies prepare the 
Draft EIS, the BLM will seek public input on the document during a 90-
day comment period. After the comment period, the BLM will review all 
the public input and adjust the EIS, as necessary. The resulting Final 
EIS will then be provided for public review during a 30-day protest 
period.
    Question. Will there be a Governor's consistency review on any 
proposed land use plan amendment/final EIS?
    Answer. Yes, the BLM will provide the Proposed RMP Amendment/Final 
EIS to all the affected Governor's offices for a 60-day consistency 
review.
    Question. What is the timeline of activities related to the 
finalizing activities under the November 2021 solicitation?
    Answer. The current schedule has the BLM working with its 
cooperating agency partners to prepare the Draft RMP Amendment/Draft 
EIS and anticipates providing the document for public review and input 
in July 2023. Following the 90-day comment period and time for 
reviewing received comments, preparing responses, and updating the EIS, 
we expect to publish the Proposed RMP Amendment/Final EIS in February 
2024, making it available for a 30-day protest period and 60-day 
governor's consistency review. Pending resolution of any potential 
protests or issues raised by governors, we expect to publish the 
decisions in June 2024. As with similar planning efforts, these dates 
are our best current estimates, but could be subject to change to adapt 
to changing conditions.
    Question. The BLM announced in August 2021 and published a notice 
of intent stating it will begin re-initiation of consideration of 
whether a proposed 10-million-acre mineral withdrawal of Federal land 
from location and entry under the Mining Law to conserve priority 
greater sage- grouse habitat is necessary.
    What is the current status is of the consideration of a mineral 
withdrawal?
    Answer. In 2021, the U.S. District Court in Idaho vacated the BLM's 
2017 cancellation of its NEPA efforts to consider a mineral withdrawal 
providing additional conservation in some priority greater sage-grouse 
habitats. To comply with the court order, the BLM has reinitiated the
    NEPA process, beginning by reviewing the 2016 Draft EIS and 
updating the information and analysis to reflect new science and 
results from monitoring.
    To ensure the BLM is considering the most current information, we 
have contracted with the USGS to update the 2016 Mineral Potential 
Report, in particular to consider the potential for critical minerals 
within the proposed withdrawal areas. A draft report has been 
completed, which the BLM is currently reviewing to provide comments 
back to the USGS. Once those comments have been addressed, the USGS 
will issue the updated report as final.
    The BLM is concurrently reviewing new science on greater sage-
grouse that has been published since 2015 to assess whether the 
proposed areas for withdrawal are providing the conservation benefit 
anticipated in 2015.
    Question. What are the anticipated next steps in the review?
    Answer. When the mineral potential report is final, that 
information will be combined with the biological analyses to update the 
alternatives from the 2016 Draft EIS. The BLM will then conduct an 
analysis of the refined range of alternatives to consider the impacts 
of a proposed withdrawal of some, none, or all of the sagebrush focal 
areas that were initially recommended for withdrawal. In coordination 
with cooperating agencies, including State, local, and Tribal 
governments, the BLM will prepare a Draft EIS that includes the updated 
alternatives and associated impact analyses. The Draft EIS will be 
provided for public review and comment in 2023.
    Question. How are you taking into account the comments and economic 
needs of states and tribes who would like to develop their natural 
resources?
    Answer. The BLM has renewed cooperating agency agreements with 
State, local, and Tribal governments to assist in preparing the 
Sagebrush Focal Area Potential Mineral Withdrawal EIS. Those 
cooperating agencies will be able to provide valuable input on local, 
social, and economic conditions and the associated effects of the 
alternatives on local economies. The BLM will use their input to 
analyze the impact of the various alternatives on social and economic 
conditions. This will be informed by the mineral potential report, 
which will form the basis for preparing a reasonably foreseeable 
development scenario based on mineral availability, mining sector 
trends, and economic conditions and will include the economic potential 
for development of any recoverable material. The data will be presented 
in the NEPA documents and will be considered before any final decisions 
are made by the agency.
    Question. The Federal government relies on private parties to 
explore Federal lands to locate and develop minerals that are essential 
to our quality of life, national security, and economic 
competitiveness. Access to exploration activities for these minerals is 
essential to the development and production of minerals. Put simply, we 
need more mines on public lands to demand for domestic critical mineral 
production.
    How will the Department promote access to mineralized lands for 
development?
    Answer. Under the Mining Law of 1872, hundreds of millions of acres 
of public lands may be accessed freely and without prior authorization 
for the purpose of entry and location, allowing exploration and the 
staking of claims for valuable mineral deposits. The Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM) processes new claim filings and annual claim 
maintenance fees, ensuring that those claims are available for 
exploration and development under applicable laws. The BLM also reviews 
mining notices for exploration work and reviews and approves plans of 
operation for larger-scale exploration and commercial mineral 
development. The BLM continues to expeditiously review and approve new 
mineral exploration and development work to provide access to mineral 
deposits and allow for development in a way that prevents unnecessary 
and undue degradation of public lands.
    Question. Does the Department consider the anticipated mineral 
demand for clean energy technologies as a determining factor before 
taking administrative action that would preemptively block or 
negatively impact development of a mine project?
    Answer. The BLM processes all mine plan applications in accordance 
with applicable laws and ensures that any exploration or mining 
operations do not cause unnecessary and undue degradation of the public 
lands. The Mining Law of 1872 does not require operators to report the 
quantity or type of minerals that are produced by their operations to 
the BLM.
    Question. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) 
provided over $11 billion for coal abandoned mine land funding and the 
Department released draft guidance in May of 2022 for select states and 
Tribes on how to apply for 2022 grants pursuant to this funding. Given 
that the guidance expands the scope of eligibility to non-coal AML 
projects, how will DOI ensure adequate oversight of states and Tribes 
with these new funds while increasing the efficient use of taxpayer 
dollars? Also, please provide an update on the timing of the rulemaking 
that would establish requirements and obligations for states and Tribes 
to receive this funding.
    Answer. The Draft Guidance published in May 2022, by the Department 
of Interior's (DOI) Office of Surface Mining and Enforcement (OSMRE) 
did not expand nor propose to expand the scope of eligibility for use 
of the IIJA funds to non-coal AML projects. Title VII, Section 40701 of 
the IIJA states the following:

        This section appropriates $11,293,000,000 billion in funds for 
        deposit in the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund . . . Grants 
        under this section must only be used for activities described 
        in subsections (a) and (b) of section 403 and section 410 of 
        SMCRA.

    Thus, this new funding source may only be spent on eligible 
abandoned coal mine projects as set forth under the referenced 
provisions of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). 
The Final Guidance published on July 21, 2022, provides, consistent 
with the requirement of Section 40701, for the use of IIJA grant funds 
on priorities resulting from legacy coal mining that pose a threat to 
public health, safety, and the environment (including acid mine 
drainage projects), water supply restoration projects and coal AML 
emergency projects.
    DOI-OSMRE has put a series of measures in place to ensure adequate 
oversight of State and Tribal implementation of the IIJA with this new 
funding. Actions taken and anticipated include, recruiting and hiring 
additional staff with the relevant skill sets across OSMRE's 
headquarters and regional offices to ensure effective execution of the 
program. OSMRE, among other things, is developing a training program 
for State and OSMRE employees engaged in IIJA implementation, reviewing 
state and Tribal Reclamation Plans to ensure consistency with the IIJA 
provisions, developing performance metrics to ensure the objectives of 
the IIJA are met, and requiring information in grant applications on 
specific projects, beginning in fiscal year 2023. The Final Guidance 
document is available to assist States and Tribes in meeting the IIJA 
objectives with detailed requirements and expectations for successful 
implementation of the IIJA AML program.
    Further, DOI-OSMRE has built in efficiencies to ensure the proper 
use of these taxpayer funds by basing the design of the IIJA program on 
the existing AML-fee based program in several respects. Examples 
include, directing IIJA funds only to eligible States and Tribes with 
approved Reclamation Plans, requiring separate grant applications for 
the IIJA grants and the traditional AML-fee based grants, ensuring 
enhanced reporting transparency to enable the tracking of IIJA fund 
expenditures, and leveraging existing internal control measures such as 
periodic drawdown reviews and Single Audit Compliance reviews to 
minimize the potential for waste, fraud and abuse.
    OSMRE continues to evaluate the need and the timing for IIJA 
rulemaking.
    Question. In February 2022, the Department submitted a request to 
the Court to remand the ROD/EIS for the Ambler Access Project. In that 
request, the Department expressed a commitment to completing the 
necessary consultation, analysis, and supplemental work in a timely 
manner. It is now August 2022 and it appears that no significant 
progress has been made in this process.

    1. When does the department intend to initiate the necessary work?

    2. And will there be a schedule for work to be completed?

    3. Does BLM Alaska intend to select a third-party contractor to 
conduct the necessary work on the Ambler Access Road Project 
supplemental EIS? If so, when will that contractor be selected?

    4. BLM Alaska has delayed approvals for scientific, cultural 
surveys, and non-ground disturbing field activities this summer. With a 
very short window during the summer months in Alaska to conduct this 
work, the project could be set back an entire year. Additionally, the 
delays have already caused significant financial damage to the project. 
Does the BLM intend to provide approval for any of this important work? 
If so, when will these approvals or denials be conveyed to the project 
proponents?

    Answer. The Ambler Access project was remanded to the BLM by the 
U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska, based on the Department 
of the Interior's request for a voluntary remand to address certain 
procedural and legal defects. Following a period of intensive review 
and planning among the BLM, the project proponent, stakeholders, and 
Tribes, the Bureau began the supplemental environmental impact 
statement (SEIS) process by publishing a notice of intent in the 
Federal Register on September 20, 2022. The notice kicked off a 45-day 
scoping period, ending November 4, 2022. In parallel with the scoping 
period, BLM is pursuing the necessary procurement steps to engage the 
services of a third-party contractor to prepare the SEIS. We expect to 
release the solicitation early in fiscal year 2023.
    Since the court required that the BLM maintain the ``environmental 
status quo'' until the obligations outlined in the voluntary remand 
were met, the BLM was unable to approve ground- disturbing field work 
for this project in 2022. However, limited ground disturbing activities 
were approved contingent upon completion of a 28-day notice to the 
Plaintiffs; this requirement was met on September 19, 2022. We will 
continue to work closely with the proponent, Tribes, cooperators, and 
all other interested parties as the 2023 field season approaches.

                          SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS

    Senator Merkley. This hearing is adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 11:29 a.m., Wednesday, July 31, the hearing 
was adjourned, and the subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene 
at a time subject to the call of the Chair.]


     DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES 
                  APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023

                              ----------                              

                                       U.S. Senate,
           Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
                                                    Washington, DC.

                       NONDEPARTMENTAL WITNESSES

    [Clerk's note.--The subcommittee was unable to hold 
hearings on nondepartmental witnesses. The statements and 
letters of those submitting written testimony are as follows:]
         Prepared Statement of the Alliance for the Great Lakes
    The Alliance for the Great Lakes is a nonpartisan nonprofit working 
across the Great Lakes region to protect and restore the Great Lakes. 
Founded in 1970, we have worked for 50 years on programs to ensure 
public access to clean, safe and affordable drinking water; protect 
water quality; stop the establishment and spread of harmful invasive 
aquatic species, including invasive carp; reduce plastic pollution; and 
advocate for increased drinking and wastewater infrastructure funding 
and programs to ensure that water remains affordable for all Americans. 
Our membership and supporters are located throughout the eight States 
in the Great Lakes region and each year we mobilize more than 15,000 
volunteers to take action to ensure that our shorelines and beaches are 
healthy, safe and clean.
    The Great Lakes are not only a national treasure but are a globally 
significant resource containing 20 percent of the world's available 
freshwater supply. The Lakes provide some 30 million Americans with 
drinking water and are vital to communities in Illinois, Indiana, 
Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The 
Great Lakes not only provide water, but they also support jobs, 
commerce, agriculture, transportation, and tourism for millions of 
Americans. Protecting the health of the Great Lakes is integral to the 
environmental and economic health of the region.
    But the Great Lakes face continued threats from the harmful legacy 
of decades of pollution that threaten our communities with cancer-
causing contaminants, drinking water restrictions, and fish consumption 
advisories. Action is needed at all levels of government to address 
these threats, as well as emerging issues associated with climate 
change. The fiscal Year 2023 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies 
Appropriations bill under this subcommittee's jurisdiction funds an 
array of programs and projects in the Environmental Protection Agency 
that are critical to the restoration and protection of the Great Lakes. 
This written testimony highlights just three of the programs under your 
consideration: the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and water 
infrastructure funding for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State 
Revolving Funds. Although all of these programs received significant 
investment in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, 
continued funding at increased and authorized levels is necessary to 
deal with the significant challenges each program faces and additional 
detail is provided below.
                   great lakes restoration initiative
    The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) is an Environmental 
Protection Agency funded grant program that supports State, Federal, 
Tribal and local efforts to protect and restore the Great Lakes. GLRI 
funding is allocated by a 16-member Federal interagency task force and 
regional working group to address water quality issues associated with 
pollution and legacy contaminants; habitat loss/degradation and 
invasive species consistent with a 5-year action plan containing 
measurable goals and objectives. Since its inception in 2010, nearly $3 
billion has been provided to fund more approximately 6,000 projects 
throughout the Great Lakes region.
    For every $1 the GLRI invested, it is estimated that the investment 
will produce more than $3 in additional economic activity regionwide 
through 2036. Accordingly, the GLRI is revitalizing our waterfronts and 
leading a resurgence in water-based outdoor recreation and increasing 
tourism across the region. For fiscal Year 2023, we recommend that the 
Committee fund this program at $400 million. This funding level is 
consistent with the congressional project reauthorization in the Great 
Lakes Restoration Initiative Act (Public Law 116-294, Jan. 5, 2021) 
which authorizes $400 million in funding for fiscal Year 2023. In 
addition to supporting States, Tribes and local communities, GLRI 
funding also supports US Treaty obligations under the Boundary Waters 
Treaty of 1909 between the US and Canada and its Great Lakes Water 
Quality Agreement.
                   investing in water infrastructure
    Another important area under the subcommittee's jurisdiction is 
funding for water infrastructure. We greatly appreciate the $48 billion 
in funding provided for water infrastructure in the Infrastructure 
Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA). In addition, IIJA increased the 
authorized levels of funding for key water infrastructure programs, 
including the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds. 
Despite the significant investment in water infrastructure funding last 
year, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that nationwide 
approximately $743 billion is needed over the next 20 years to repair, 
replace and upgrade water infrastructure. In the Great Lakes alone it 
is estimated that the eight States need $188 billion to upgrade aging 
water infrastructure. Furthermore, the Congressional Budget Office 
estimates that Federal funding for water and wastewater utilities has 
decreased fourfold since 1980, leaving State and local governments to 
pick up the tab.
    Although the need for water infrastructure funding far outstrips 
available annual funding levels, we are encouraged and pleased that the 
IIJA authorized higher levels of funding for key water infrastructure 
programs which is a necessary step toward addressing the myriad of 
issues plaguing water infrastructure utilities and local communities. 
Accordingly, we encourage you to appropriate funds for these programs 
at the authorized level for fiscal Year 2023 which means $3.87 billion 
for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and $4.38 billion for the 
Clean Water State Revolving Fund. These funding levels are a 
significant increase over funds appropriated in fiscal Year 2022 and 
are necessary to allow for continued progress to address water 
infrastructure funding needs and to ensure that families nationwide 
have access to safe drinking water and healthy waste water services.
    We appreciate the subcommittee's consideration of our views and its 
work and funding support over many years for programs that protect and 
restore the Great Lakes. As the source of drinking water for 30 million 
Americans and as a significant driver in the regional economy of eight 
States, investments in programs that protect and restore the Great 
Lakes are critical to ensure the economic and environmental health of 
this important resource.

    [This statement was submitted by Don Jodrey, Director of Federal 
Relations, The Alliance for the Great Lakes.]

                                 ______
                                 
     Prepared Statement of the Alliance to Save Energy and Partners
    We the undersigned coalition of businesses, trade associations, and 
environmental, and energy efficiency advocates, write in support of 
increasing the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Energy Star 
budget for fiscal Year 2023 to $80 million. Energy Star is a highly 
successful public-private partnership program that delivers tremendous 
impact in addressing climate change and generating consumer energy 
savings on what can only be described as a less than minimal budget of 
$33.9 million. Despite its bipartisan reputation as a cost-effective 
and high-impact program, Energy Star has nonetheless been subject to 
declining funding in recent years.
    Our request to effectively double Energy Star's budget to $80 
million reflects the urgency to address climate change to avoid far 
larger public costs and to help mitigate the exorbitant prices 
consumers and businesses pay for energy today. According to the EPA's 
fiscal Year 2023 budget justification, in 2019 alone, Energy Star 
helped American families and businesses save nearly 500 billion 
kilowatt-hours of electricity and avoid $39 billion in energy costs.\1\ 
This resulted in emission reductions of nearly 390 million metric tons 
of GHGs- equivalent to roughly 5 percent of U.S. GHG emissions. This 
reduction is additionally estimated to result in $7 billion to $17 
billion in public health benefits.\2\ Since the program began in 1992, 
it has accounted for more than 4 billion metric tons of GHG reductions 
and avoided over $500 billion in energy costs.\3\ Additionally, the 
production of Energy Star products supports 700,000 jobs in our 
economy- roughly 35 percent of an estimated 2.1 million U.S. energy 
efficiency jobs in 2020, aligning with President Biden's American Jobs 
Plan.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ fy-2023-congressional-justification-all-tabs.pdf (epa.gov) (see 
Energy Star impact report 2020 for updated numbers: 520 billion 
kilowatt-hours of electricity and avoid $42 billion in energy costs).
    \2\ Id.
    \3\ https://www.energystar.gov/about.
    \4\ https://www.energystar.gov/about/origins_mission/impacts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Despite the program's success, Energy Star has seen its funding 
steadily decline from a high of nearly $54 million over a decade ago to 
$33.9 million today. If we were to simply adjust for inflation, Energy 
Star would have a budget of approximately $68 million in today's 
dollars versus a decade ago. Moreover, as the program's budget has 
decreased, the expenses necessary to effectively carryout Energy Star's 
function have increased, including but not limited to personnel costs; 
IT and data to meet program growth in addition to needed cybersecurity 
requirements; program integrity and certifications; maintaining and 
upgrading the Energy Star Portfolio Manager which plays an increasingly 
important role for benchmarking and building performance standards; and 
product expansion in response to the climate urgency. The steady 
decrease in funding priority has greatly restricted Energy Star's 
ability to keep up with fast-changing markets and to expand the 
program's reach in sectors where large untapped energy savings are 
achievable, including low-to-moderate income, disadvantaged, and Tribal 
communities.
    According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), getting to 
``net zero by 2050 hinges on a global push to increase energy 
efficiency.'' \5\ Together with broad bipartisan support and nationwide 
brand recognition above 90 percent, Energy Star is an important and 
impactful tool to address climate change.\6\ If we are to meet the 
current challenges before us and increase our efforts to mitigate 
climate change, increasing the Energy Star budget is necessary.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ https://www.iea.org/articles/net-zero-by-2050-hinges-on-a-
global-push-to-increase-energy-efficiency.
    \6\ https://www.energystar.gov/about/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Thank you for your leadership on these important issues, and we 
look forward to working together to strengthen the Energy Star program. 
If you have any questions or need additional information, please 
contact Vincent Barnes ([email protected]) or Olivia Leos ([email protected]) 
with the Alliance to Save Energy.

A. O. Smith Corporation
Acuity Brands
Alliance to Save Energy
American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy
American Institute of Architects
Association of Energy Engineers
Building Performance Coalition
Business Council for Sustainable Energy
California Energy Commission
Carrier Global Corporation
DuPont
E4TheFuture
Federal Performance Contracting Coalition
Google
Illuminating Engineering Society
Institute for Market Transformation
International Copper Association
Knauf Insulation
Large Public Power Council
Lutron Electronics
Metrus Energy
Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance
National Association of Energy Service Companies
Natural Resource Defense Council
Polyisocyanurate Insulation Manufacturers Association
Sacramento Municipal Utility District
Seattle City Light
Signify North America Corporation
Snohomish PUD
Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance
U.S. Green Building Council
Uplight
Watsco, Inc

    [This statement was submitted by Alliance to Save Energy and 
Partners.]
                                 ______
                                 
         Prepared Statement of the American Alliance of Museums
    Chairman Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski, and members of the 
subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to submit this testimony. 
My name is Laura L. Lott and I am the President and CEO of the American 
Alliance of Museums (AAM). We urge your support for Fiscal Year 2023 
funding of at least $203.55 million for each the National Endowment for 
the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). We 
also urge robust funding for the Smithsonian Institution. In addition, 
we request your support for the Historic Preservation Fund, including 
at least $65 million for State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs) 
and $34 million for Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (THPOs). We 
support $24 million for African American Civil Rights Grants, $12 
million for Historically Black Colleges/Universities, $5 million for 
Equal Rights Grants, and $3 million for Underrepresented Community 
Grants. We request funding of $35 million for the Save America's 
Treasures program and $12 million for Paul Bruhn Historic 
Revitalization grants. We support at least $10 million in funding for 
U.S. Semiquincentennial celebration grants for the country's 250th 
commemoration.
    Before detailing these funding priorities for the museum field, I 
want to express my appreciation for the increases enacted in fiscal 
Year 2022. The additional funds for the NEH, NEA, and historic 
preservation activities will enhance museums' work to enrich their 
communities and preserve our many heritages. The subcommittee's choice 
to make these investments in fiscal Year 2022 speaks volumes about its 
commitment to our Nation's cultural institutions. We also are grateful 
for last year's supplemental grant funding of $135 million (American 
Rescue Plan) for each endowment to help cultural organizations, 
including museums, cope with and respond to the devastating impact of 
the COVID-19 pandemic. Early in the pandemic, essentially all museums 
were closed to the public. 33 percent of museums were at some risk of 
permanent closure without immediate support-a threatened loss of 12,000 
museums and 124,000 jobs. While Federal relief funding has provided 
critical lifelines, a survey shows attendance remains down 38 percent 
on average from pre-pandemic levels, and 17 percent of directors still 
feel there is some risk of closing permanently without additional 
relief. The need, like the pandemic, is still with us.
    Representing more than 35,000 museum professionals and volunteers, 
institutions-including aquariums, art museums, botanic gardens, 
children's museums, cultural museums, historic sites, history museums, 
maritime museums, military museums, natural history museums, 
planetariums, presidential libraries, railway museums, science and 
technology centers, and zoos-and corporate partners serving the field, 
AAM stands for the broad range of the museum community.

    Museums are essential community infrastructure for many reasons:

  --Museums are economic engines and job creators. According to Museums 
        as Economic Engines: A National Report, U.S. museums (pre-
        pandemic) support more than 726,000 jobs and contribute $50 
        billion to the U.S. economy per year. The economic activity of 
        museums generates more than $12 billion in tax revenue, one-
        third of it going to State and local governments. For example, 
        the total financial impact that museums have on the economy in 
        the State of Maine is $195 million, including supporting 3,405 
        jobs. For Ohio it is a $1.54 billion impact supporting 25,973 
        jobs. This impact is not limited to cities: more than 25 
        percent of museums are in rural areas. The import of these data 
        is not the numbers alone-but the larger point that museums give 
        back tremendously to their communities in numerous ways, 
        including economically. The Federal funding for NEA, NEH, and 
        the other programs does not stay in Washington, DC-it goes back 
        to communities across the Nation. And it is leveraged many 
        times over by private philanthropy, and State and local 
        investments.

  --Museums are key education providers. Museums spend more than $2 
        billion yearly on education activities; the typical museum 
        devotes 75 percent of its education budget to K-12 students, 
        and museums receive approximately 55 million visits each year 
        from students in school groups. Museums also answered the call 
        and significantly ramped up online educational programs and 
        resources for students and families throughout the pandemic. 
        Museums help teach the State and local curriculum in subjects 
        ranging from art and science to history, civics, and 
        government. Museums have long served as a vital resource to 
        homeschool learners. It is not surprising that in a public 
        opinion survey, 97 percent of respondents agreed that museums 
        were educational assets in their communities. The results were 
        statistically identical regardless of political persuasion or 
        community size.

  --Museums will be essential to rebuilding communities as we emerge 
        from the pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, museums across 
        the country have continued contributing to the ongoing 
        education of our country's children by providing lesson plans, 
        online learning opportunities, and drop-off learning kits to 
        teachers and families. They are using their outdoor spaces to 
        grow and donate produce to area food banks, as well as 
        maintaining these spaces for individuals to safely relax, enjoy 
        nature, and recover from the mental health impacts of social 
        isolation. They provided access to childcare and meals to 
        families of health care workers and first responders, have 
        donated their PPE and scientific equipment to fight COVID-19, 
        and are serving as vaccination centers. Despite the financial 
        and psychological stress caused by the pandemic, museum 
        professionals are filling the gaps to meet the needs of their 
        communities and will be vital to their recovery. Museums are 
        demonstrating the critical role they play in our country's 
        infrastructure and deepening their social impact in their 
        communities, addressing learning loss, and fostering intra-
        community trust and dialogue.

    The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent 
Federal agency created by Congress in 1965. Grants are awarded to 
nonprofit educational institutions, including museums, for educational 
programming, infrastructure and the care of collections. NEH supports 
museums as institutions of lifelong learning and exploration, and as 
keepers of our cultural, historical, and scientific heritages that can 
foster critical dialogues on challenging issues.
    In October 2021, NEH awarded $87.8 million in American Rescue Plan 
(ARP) funding to nearly 300 cultural and educational institutions, 
including museums, to help them recover from the economic impact of the 
pandemic, retain and rehire workers, and reopen sites, facilities, and 
programs. Grant awards were made in all 50 U.S. States.
    In fiscal Year 2021, in addition to the money distributed through 
ARP grants, the NEH awarded 677 grants totaling more than $85.4 million 
to institutions across the U.S., including museums. All of NEH's 
divisions and offices support museums, including the Office of 
Challenge Grants which offers matching grants to support much needed 
capacity building and infrastructure projects at museums. Humanities 
councils in every State and U.S. territory sponsor family literacy 
programs, speakers' bureaus, cultural heritage tourism, exhibitions, 
and live performances. Many councils also offer grants to local 
cultural organizations, including museums.
    In preparation for the U.S. Semiquincentennial in 2026, NEH's new 
``A More Perfect Union'' initiative provides funding opportunities 
across the agency's seven grantmaking divisions for humanities projects 
that promote a deeper understanding of American history and culture and 
that advance civic education and knowledge of our core principles of 
government.

    Here are just two examples of how NEH funding was used to support 
museums' work in your communities:

  --The Portland Art Museum, OR, received a $750,000 Challenge grant 
        (2020-2024) for construction of a pavilion to connect the 
        museum's primary buildings, providing expanded and enhanced art 
        and public spaces, increasing accessibility, and furthering 
        physical and intellectual connections between the collections 
        and programs. A community commons will become one of Oregon's 
        grand free public spaces. The grant will leverage $3 million 
        over the 4-year grant period, with funds coming from individual 
        donors and foundations.

  --The Baranov Museum in Kodiak, AK, received a $49,740 ARP grant to 
        support sustaining and enhancing the museum's temporary 
        exhibits program. The museum co-curates two exhibits per year 
        with members of the Kodiak community and develops a series of 
        programs/events that pair with each temporary exhibit to create 
        community-centered, mission-driven programming to advance 
        cultural and educational opportunities directly connecting with 
        its mission and values.

    The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) makes art accessible to 
all and provides leadership in arts education. Established in 1965, NEA 
supports great art in every congressional district. Its grants to 
museums help them exhibit, preserve, and interpret visual material 
through exhibitions, residencies, publications, commissions, public art 
works, conservation, documentation, services to the field, and public 
programs.
    In January 2022, the NEA announced it had recommended ARP awards 
totaling $57.7 million to 567 arts organizations, including museums, to 
help the arts and cultural sector recover from the pandemic. 
Organizations are using this funding to save jobs and to fund 
operations and facilities, health and safety supplies, and marketing 
and promotional efforts to encourage attendance and participation. 
Grants were recommended to organizations in both rural and urban 
communities in all 50 States. Among the recommended organizations, 27 
percent were first-time NEA grantees and 78 percent were small- or 
medium-sized organizations with budgets of less than $2 million.
    Since 2010, the NEA has collaborated with Blue Star Families and 
the U.S. Department of Defense on Blue Star Museums, which provides 
free museum admission to active duty military and their families all 
summer long. In 2019, more than 2,000 museums in all 50 States 
participated, reaching on average more than 900,000 military members 
and their families.
    The Federal role of the NEA is uniquely valuable; receiving a grant 
from the NEA confers prestige on supported projects, strengthening 
museums' ability to attract matching funds from other public and 
private funders. On average, each dollar awarded by the NEA leverages 
up to nine dollars from other sources. No other funder-public or 
private-funds the arts in every State and the U.S. territories. Forty 
percent of NEA's grant funds are distributed to state arts agencies for 
re-granting.

    Here are two examples of how NEA funding was used to support 
museums' work in your communities:

  --The High Desert Museum in Bend, OR, received a $35,000 grant to 
        support an exhibition of commissioned artwork by Plateau Indian 
        artists that demonstrate the resiliency of Indigenous cultures. 
        The exhibition will feature artwork alongside narratives and 
        images from their respective communities, which will be 
        exhibited alongside stories and videos of Tribal youth learning 
        about cultural traditions.

  --The Anchorage Museum, AK, received a $70,000 grant to commission 
        artists to create work that focuses on sound, the environment, 
        and wellness. Artwork from emerging and professional artists 
        will be presented, with a focus on artists from the Circumpolar 
        North and Indigenous artists who work on issues connected to 
        climate change and climate justice, as well as musicians whose 
        work is derived from sound ecology.

    In addition to these direct grants, NEA's Arts and Artifacts 
Indemnity program also allows museums to apply for Federal indemnity on 
major exhibitions, saving them as much as $30 million in insurance 
costs every year and making many more exhibitions available to the 
public-all at virtually no cost to the American taxpayer.
    The Smithsonian Institution comprises some of the most visited 
museums in the world. The National Museum of African American History 
and Culture has captivated audiences from around the globe, 
underscoring the power of our National museums to educate and inspire. 
We support funding increases that would allow these world-class museums 
to undertake critical collections care, make needed technology 
upgrades, conduct cutting-edge research of every type, and increase 
access for all. And we applaud the establishment of the Smithsonian 
American Women's History Museum and the National Museum of the American 
Latino.
    The Historic Preservation Fund is the funding source of 
preservation awards to States, Tribes, local governments, and 
nonprofits. State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices carry out 
the historic preservation work of the Federal Government on State and 
Tribal lands. Historic preservation programs are not only essential to 
protecting our many heritages; they also serve as economic development 
engines and job creators, and provide vital funding to help museums 
serve their communities.
    I hope that my testimony helped make it clear why these priorities 
are of critical importance to the Nation and how they provide a 
worthwhile return on investment to the American taxpayer.

    [This statement was submitted by Laura L. Lott, President, CEO of 
the American Alliance of Museums.]

                                 ______
                                 
            Prepared Statement of American Bird Conservancy
    To help bolster programs needed to reverse bird declines and the 
loss of three billion birds since 1970, American Bird Conservancy 
respectfully requests continued funding increases for bird conservation 
programs in the fiscal Year 2023 Interior Appropriations bill. These 
include the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act (NMBCA), 
Migratory Bird Joint Ventures, State of the Birds Activities, ESA 
recovery, and mosquito control in Hawai'i.
    Congress and the Biden Administration must take bolder action to 
fight climate change by protecting carbon-dense old growth forests, re-
establishing Obama administration mitigation policies, and emphasizing 
development of low-impact distributed solar energy. Funds are needed to 
research solar energy producing glass products that reduce bird 
collisions, and to mitigate wildlife impacts from renewable energy 
development. Thank you for considering these requests.

                                Fiscal Year 23 Bird Conservation Recommendations
                                            (all figures in millions)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 FY 21      FY 22      FY 22      FY 22      FY 22      FY 23     FY 23 to Bring
           Program               Final      Budget     House      Senate     Final      Budget      Birds Back
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neotropical                         $4.9       $7.9       $6.5       $6.0       $5.0       $7.9  $20
Migratory Bird
Conservation Act
                              ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Migratory Bird                     $15.1      $17.6      $18.8  .........     $15.56     $18.09  $20
Joint Ventures
                              ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State of the Birds                  $3.5       $3.5         $4      $4.25      $3.75  .........  $12 FWS +$6 NPS
 + Mosquito                                                                                       +$2 USGS +
 Control Project
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Migratory Birds--NMBCA: Please increase funding for migratory bird 
conservation including wintering grounds in Latin America and the 
Caribbean by providing $20 million for the Neotropical Migratory Bird 
Conservation Act. This program is essential to the conservation of 
wintering habitats, building capacity of our Latin American and 
Caribbean partners, and providing greater access to conservation 
resources in a region where it is urgently needed. Senators Ben Cardin 
and Rob Portman have introduced S. 4187 to update and reauthorize the 
program at $20 million for fiscal Year 2023 and ramping up to $25 
million by 2027.
    Migratory Bird Joint Ventures (JVs) are essential to address the 
conservation needs of migratory birds, and they leverage significant 
matching contributions from partner organizations and foundations. We 
recommend that to help reverse bird declines the Joint Ventures be 
allocated $20 million.
    Hawai'i and Mosquito Control: We greatly appreciate the $3.75 
million in funding provided in the fiscal Year 2022 spending agreement 
for State of the Birds Activities dedicated to arresting the bird 
extinction crisis in Hawai'i. For fiscal Year 23, please allocate $12 
million for State of the Birds activities and the mosquito control 
project in Hawaii needed to save endangered forest birds and prevent 
multiple imminent climate-induced extinctions. An additional $6 million 
for the National Park Service and $2 million for the US Geological 
Survey is requested to support the mosquito control project.
    Reducing Window Collisions: Provide $10 million to continue work by 
the National Park Service and other agencies to retrofit Department of 
the Interior buildings and visitor centers to make them bird-safe. To 
build on the significant progress underway to retrofit National Park 
Service structures to reduce bird collisions, we recommend $10 million 
in funding, and we greatly appreciate the following commendable fiscal 
Year 22 House Interior bill report language:
    Bird-Safe Solar Glass--A Win-Win for Climate and Wildlife: Provide 
$10 million in annual funding to research and develop bird-safe solar-
collecting windows. Research on both bird-safe and solar collecting 
glass products can be combined to create a valuable and desirable 
product for both commercial buildings and homes that can generate 
renewable energy while also greatly reducing bird deaths from window 
collisions.
    Endangered Species Recovery: Increase funding for avian recovery 
programs, particularly in Hawaii as mentioned above, and for critically 
endangered birds such as the California Condor, Spectacled Eider, and 
Florida Grasshopper Sparrow. An additional $5 million for recovery 
activities is needed for these and other listed birds with declining 
populations such as the Marbled Murrelet which was recently listed as 
endangered by the State of Oregon. Funding is needed to enable FWS to 
conduct at-sea surveys in all Marbled Murrelet conservation zones in 
the same year providing decision makers with a complete and accurate 
population status assessment.
             fair and equitable migratory bird conservation
We ask the Committee to please:

    Continue expressing support for a Biden administration rulemaking 
to clarify protections for birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, 
and to further conserve birds by establishing an incidental take 
permitting system and general sector permits to reduce preventable 
mortality as outlined in the Migratory Bird Protection Act.
    Support an expansion of the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation 
Act. The administration is proposing $7.9 million for fiscal Year 23, 
and legislation is soon to be introduced authorizing a $20 million 
appropriation ramping up to $25 million by fiscal Year 2027. This 
program is essential for making bird conservation accessible to Latin 
American partners working to conserve wintering grounds for the 
migratory birds that flock to and breed in the U.S.
                    greater sage-grouse conservation
    We remain deeply concerned by the Greater Sage-Grouse ESA listing 
rider given a recent US Geological Survey report indicating the species 
is in severe decline, and that that trend is anticipated to continue. 
Therefore, we urge that bill language be added directing Federal 
agencies to manage for the grouse as though it were an endangered 
species under the Endangered Species Act.
    The remaining grouse strongholds need immediate protection. To 
protect both grouse and climate, we request a spending limitation 
precluding oil and gas drilling and leasing in priority sagebrush 
habitat. In addition, we recommend the Committee add bill language 
directing the Bureau to protect identified priority sagebrush habitat 
as Areas of Critical Environmental Concern to be managed for 
conservation and restoration purposes.
                 climate change and energy development
    We appreciate the report language included in the fiscal Year 22 
Senate bill encouraging reduction of wind energy development impacts 
and application of available best practices, and urge that this 
thoughtful guidance be continued as the pace of renewable development 
increases. Please include language emphasizing environmentally 
appropriate siting and minimizing wildlife impacts of renewable energy 
facility development by encouraging Federal agencies to avoid 
ecologically important areas on public lands and in Federal waters.
    We urge you to encourage Federal agencies to aggressively 
incentivize and subsidize energy efficiency measures, and deployment of 
solar in the already-developed landscape (i.e., distributed solar). A 
recent study by The Nature Conservancy and Defenders of Wildlife found 
that distributed solar energy could power all of Long Island, New York, 
with capacity to spare. Distributed solar has a much greater role to 
play in combating climate changes, and is a powerful job creator with 
no substantial impacts to wildlife.
               public lands protection and forest carbon
    We are encouraged by the Executive Order to map and conserve Old 
Growth and Mature Forests which could make a major contribution to 
address climate change. Most carbon (80 percent+) is released into the 
atmosphere soon after logging. This makes the cutting of mature and old 
growth forests particularly harmful because of the decades or 
centuries-long carbon debt that is then incurred. This policy is long 
overdue: ABC and conservation partners have been asking for sound 
science-based policies to enlist forests into the fight against climate 
change by conserving mature and old growth forests in the Pacific 
Northwest since 2009.
    Addressing the duel climate and biodiversity crises will require 
land use changes to protect existing carbon stores held in standing 
forests, as well as adoption of new conservation measures to maintain 
or restore biodiversity hotspots. Please include language recommending:

    1. The protection of existing carbon stores in mature and old 
growth forests that provide habitat for the threatened Marbled Murrelet 
and Northern Spotted Owl.

    2. Interior, Agriculture, and Commerce Departments initiate a joint 
study to identify and map lands and waters of highest priority for 
maintaining biodiversity and climate resilience. Please see our comment 
regarding the America the Beautiful Atlas.

                               pesticides
    We are concerned by the slow response to scientific studies 
indicating organophosphate and neonicotinoid pesticides are causing 
significant environmental harm including insect population declines, 
bird population declines, waterway contamination, and soil 
contamination. Please include report language encouraging EPA to:

    1. Restrict the pre-emptive use such as seed-treatments of all 
currently registered neonicotinoid products; and 2. Conduct a 
scientific review of their impacts to birds, insects, and the overall 
environment and report these findings to Congress; and, 3. Clarify the 
Treated Article Exemption, FIFRA Sec. 152.25 so as to not include 
pesticide coated seeds; and 4. Uphold the tolerance revocation on 
chlorpyrifos while banning all uses of it; and 5. Request that FWS ban 
the use of agricultural pesticides on National Wildlife Refuges and 
other important bird habitats similar to the manner in which it was 
previously requested neonicotinoids be phased out via Memorandum in 
2014.

                   lead ammunition and fishing tackle
    As many as 16 million birds die each year from ingesting lead, with 
population level impacts to Bald and Golden Eagles. In addition, 
recovery of the endangered California Condor is currently being 
prevented by ongoing lead poisonings. To address this threat, we ask 
FWS to:

    1. Move to phase out lead ammunition and fishing tackle within a 
reasonable time period.

    2. Provide interim protection from lead within the range of the 
California Condor, on National Wildlife Refuges, and on other important 
bird areas.

    3. Provide funds for hunter education, outreach, and acquisition of 
nontoxic products to facilitate a smooth transition away from lead.

    [This statement was submitted by Steve Holmer, Vice President of 
Policy, American Bird Conservancy.]
                                 ______
                                 
           Prepared Statement of the American Hiking Society
    With the full support of American Trails, American Motorcyclist 
Association, Back Country Horsemen of America, Equine Land Conservation 
Resource, International Mountain Bicycling Association, National 
Wilderness Stewardship Alliance, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.
    Chair Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski, and members of the 
subcommittee, on behalf of American Hiking Society and the millions of 
trail users our collective organizations represent who spend their 
time, money and energy to get out on trails for recreation, health and 
wellness, and to volunteer, I thank the Committee for the opportunity 
to provide testimony on the importance of adequately funding our 
Nation's trails and public lands to ensure access for all. We ask the 
Committee to adopt the following funding requests so the Federal 
Government can continue to leverage private contributions and benefit 
from volunteer labor as well as provide inexpensive, healthy outdoor 
recreation options for your constituents and all Americans. 
Appropriations for Federal land management agencies requested herein, 
coupled with the significant resources provided by non-profit partners, 
serve to accelerate collective stewardship of our Nation's public lands 
and waters and enhance climate adaptability.
                          summary of requests
Forest Service:

  --Capital Improvement and Maintenance (CMTL), Trails at $30.51M, 
        including $11.957M for National Scenic and Historic Trails, and 
        funding for the National Forest System Trail Stewardship Trail 
        Partner Funding;

  --$72M to fund Recreation, Heritage & Wilderness;

  --$100M to fund Legacy Roads & Trails as a separate line item

Bureau of Land Management:

  --Trails Line Item

  --National Conservation Lands at $87.145M;

  --$9.644M to fund National Conservation Lands- National Scenic 
        Historic Trails, sub-activity Recreation Resources Management, 
        $1.5M for deferred maintenance projects on the Iditarod and 
        Pacific Crest Trails, and $10k for an Indigenous Places Names 
        project on the Arizona Trail

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

  --Refuge Visitor Services at least $93M

National Park Service:

  --Rivers, Trails, & Conservation Assistance (RTCA) program at $15M;

  --Park Service Operations for the National Trails System maintained 
        at a minimum of $22.18M;

  --Volunteers in Parks programs at a minimum of $8M, including 
        dedicated funding to the National Trails System;

  --Visitor Services sub-activity, Youth Partnership Programs at a 
        minimum of $10.95M, including an acknowledgment of the benefits 
        for trails;

  --Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP) Program, at a min 
        $125M

US Geological Survey:

  --$1.5M to fully fund the National Digital Trail Project (NDTP)

(Across Agencies) Restore Staffing for Federal Land Managers
                     forest service recommendation
    National Forest trails benefit everyone and receive increasing 
public use each year. Collectively, the National Forests provide 
159,000 miles of trails for activities ranging from hiking, biking, 
horseback riding, off-highway vehicle usage, groomed winter trails for 
cross-country skiing and snowmobiling, and access points for ``river 
trails.'' Roughly 120,000 of the 159,000 miles of trails are in need of 
some form of maintenance or repair.

Program: Capital Improvement and Maintenance, Trails
FY23 Funding Level Requested: $30.51M
FY22 Level: $18.5M
Department: US Department of Agriculture
Agency/Account: Forest Service, Capital Improvement and Maintenance, 
Trails
Report Language requested: ``Volunteer groups, Tribal organizations, 
and non-profit partners are integral to the trail building and 
maintenance required for the 159,000 miles of trails on National Forest 
System lands, including more than 10,000 miles of nationally designated 
scenic, historic, and recreation trails. The Committee supports the 
Forest Service's 10-Year Trail Shared Stewardship Challenge and 
continuing the Trail Stewardship Partner Funding Program to facilitate 
these efforts. The Committee is aware of the growing need to sustain 
and increase the capacity for resilient trail building within the 
outdoor recreation community.''

``National Scenic and Historic Trails.--The Committee directs the 
Forest Service to continue to provide specific trail operation, 
maintenance, and construction funding and accomplishment data for the 
National scenic and historic trails in future budget justifications.''

Program: National Forest System Trail Stewardship Trail Partner Funding 
Program
Department: US Department of Agriculture
Agency/Account: Forest Service, Capital Improvement and Maintenance, 
Trails
Report Language requested: Within Capital Improvement and Maintenance, 
Trails the committee supports continued funding for the National Forest 
System Trail Stewardship Trail Partner Funding Program. Much of the 
Forest Service's trail work is accomplished today by volunteer groups 
and non-profit partners. The Forest Service has a successful Trail 
Stewardship Partner Funding challenge cost share program that leverages 
Federal funding by 3 to 5:1.

Program: Recreation, Heritage & Wilderness
FY23 Funding Level Requested: $72
FY22 Level: $38M
Department: US Department of Agriculture
Agency/Account: Forest Service, Recreation, Heritage & Wilderness

Program: Legacy Roads & Trails
FY23 Funding Level Requested: $100M
FY22 Level: $5M & restored line item.
Department: US Department of Agriculture
Agency/Account: Forest Service, Legacy Roads & Trails
                           blm recommendation
    The BLM manages 13,468 miles of trails over 245 million acres -more 
land than any other Federal land management agency and contains a 
diversity of landscapes that often provide the public less structured 
but nonetheless diverse recreational opportunities. BLM recreation 
resources and visitor services support strong local economies. More 
than 120 urban centers and thousands of rural towns (comprising 64 
million people) are located within 25 miles of BLM lands.

Program: Bureau of Land Management Trails Funding
FY23 Funding Level Requested: See Report Language Below
FY22 Level: Report Language Included
Department: Bureau of Land Management
Agency/Account: Trails
Report Language requested: ``The committee directs the Bureau of Land 
Management to create a trails line item in the BLM budget, including 
$9.63M for National Scenic and Historic Trails.''

Program: National Conservation Lands
FY23 Funding Level Requested: $87.145M
FY22 Level: $49.274M
Department: Bureau of Land Management
Agency/Account: Bureau of Land Management, National Conservation Lands

Program: National Conservation Lands-National Scenic Historic Trails, 
sub-activity Recreation Resources Management
FY23 Funding Level Requested: $9.63M
FY22 Level: $6.547M
Department: Bureau of Land Management
Agency/Account: Bureau of Land Management, National Conservation Lands
Report Language requested: Within National Conservation Lands, unit-
level allocations for each of the National scenic and historic trails 
shall be provided.
                           fws recommendation
    Refuge Visitor Services provides funding for trail maintenance 
across FWS-managed land. Located in every U.S. state and territory, and 
within an hour's drive of nearly every major U.S. city, National 
Wildlife Refuges provide incredible opportunities for outdoor 
recreation, including hiking, hunting, fishing, birding, boating and 
nature photography across 2,500 miles of trails. More than 37,000 jobs 
are reliant on refugees. Funding at a level of $93M will provide for 
trail maintenance across the land and water trails, refuges, wetlands, 
and hatcheries, including 11 National Scenic and Historic Trails and 
forty-four National Recreation Trails.

Program: Visitor Services
FY23 Funding Level Requested: $93M
FY22 Level: $77.237M
Department: Department of Interior
Agency/Account: Fish and Wildlife Service, Visitor Services
                           nps recommendation
    National Parks, and the world-class experiences their 18,844 miles 
of trails provide, are one of the most unifying forces in America. 
Well-maintained trails improve the quality of visitor experiences and 
enhance visitor safety.

Program: Rivers, Trails, & Conservation Assistance (RTCA)
FY23 Funding Level Requested: $15M
FY22 Level: Unknown
Department: Department of Interior
Agency/Account: National Park Service, National Recreation and 
Preservation
Report Language requested: Within, National Recreation and 
Preservation, $15M for the Rivers, Trails, & Conservation Assistance 
program.

Program: National Trails System
FY23 Funding Level Requested: $22.18M
FY22 Level: $16.856M
Department: Department of Interior
Agency/Account: National Park Service, Park Service Operations
Report Language requested: Within, Park Service Operations, $22.18M for 
administration of the National Trails System.
    ``National Trails System.--The Committee understands the importance 
of providing adequate funding to develop and maintain the National 
Trails System for future generations to enjoy. The Committee urges the 
Service to continue its efforts to support construction and maintenance 
projects and volunteer coordination efforts, including activities in 
support of non-unit National Scenic Trails.''

Program: Volunteers in Parks
FY23 Funding Level Requested: $8M
FY22 Level: Unknown
Department: Department of Interior
Agency/Account: National Park Service, Park Partnership Support 
Functions
Report Language requested: The committee recommends funding through 
Volunteers in Parks be provided for volunteer support of the National 
Trails System, National Rivers, and National Park Service trails.

Program: Youth Partnership Programs
FY23 Funding Level Requested: $10.95M
FY22 Level: Unknown
Department: Department of Interior
Agency/Account: National Park Service, Visitor Services
Bill Language requested:
Report Language requested: The committee recommends funding through the 
Youth Partnership Programs be provided for support of the National 
Trails System, National Rivers, and National Park Service trails.

Program: Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership
FY23 Funding Level Requested: At least $125M
FY22 Level: Unknown
Department: Department of Interior
Agency/Account: National Park Service, State Conservation Grants
Report Language requested: The committee recommends funding through the 
Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program be provided for support 
of trails, including the National Trails System.
                  us geological survey recommendation
Program: National Digital Trail Project
FY23 Funding Level Requested: $1.
FY22 Level: $0.85M
Department: U.S. Geological Survey
Agency/Account: U.S. Geological Survey, Core Science Systems
     (across agencies) restore staffing for federal land managers 
                             recommendation
Federal land managers, including those overseeing recreation and trails 
programs across NPS, USFS, BLM, and FWS sites, continue to face 
staffing shortages impacting the ability to adequately manage, 
maintain, and conserve the Nation's trails. Across the board land 
management agency staffing needs to be increased in order to support 
all aspects of trail management and maintenance, including volunteer 
engagement and partnerships, land acquisition, on the ground 
maintenance of trails systems that are desperately in need of attention 
to reduce maintenance backlogs, ensure that trails are safe and 
accessible, and address current and anticipated high levels of public 
use.

    [This statement was submitted by Kathryn Van Waes, PhD., Executive 
Director, American Hiking Society.]

                                 ______
                                 
 Prepared Statement of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium 
                                (AIHEC)
                            request summary
    On behalf of the Nation's Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), 
which are the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), we 
are pleased to present our Fiscal Year 2023 (FY 2023) appropriations 
recommendations for the 29 colleges funded under Titles I and II of the 
Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities Assistance Act (TCU Act); 
the two tribally chartered career and technical postsecondary 
institutions funded under Title V of the TCU Act; the two Bureau of 
Indian Education (BIE) postsecondary institutions; and the Institute of 
American Indian Arts (IAIA). The BIE administers these programs, with 
the exception of IAIA, which is funded in its own account. We 
respectfully recommend the following funding levels:
                       department of the interior
  --$93,257,409 to fund institutional operations under Title I 
        ($75,447,409) and Title II ($17,000,000), along with TCU 
        Endowments ($109,000) and technical assistance ($701,000), of 
        the TCU Act. This funding would provide the Congressionally 
        authorized amount of $9,937*/Indian student for first time 
        since the enactment of the TCU Act more than 40 years ago 
        (*$8,000 per Indian student adjusted for inflation). This 
        request also provides an additional $100,000 for needed 
        technical assistance, which has been level-funded for 15 years 
        despite growing numbers of developing TCUs and increased 
        demands for accountability and student success.

  --$15,000,000 for Title V of the TCU Act, which provides partial 
        institutional operations funding for two tribally chartered 
        postsecondary career and technical institutions.

  --$11,772,000 for the Institute of American Indian Arts.

  --$30,000,000 for Haskell Indian Nations University and Southwestern 
        Indian Polytechnic Institute, the BIE's two postsecondary 
        institutions.

  --$35,000,000 for TCU Infrastructure Improvement, authorized under 
        section 113 of the TCU Act.
              opportunity and innovation in indian country
    The nation's 35 accredited TCUs operate more than 75 campuses and 
sites in 15 States. TCU geographic boundaries encompass 80 percent of 
American Indian reservations and Federal Indian trust lands. American 
Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) TCU students represent more than 230 
federally recognized Tribes and hail from more than 30 States. Nearly 
80 percent of these students receive Federal financial aid and nearly 
half are first generation students. In total, TCUs serve more than 
160,000 AI/ANs and other rural residents each year through a wide 
variety of academic and community-based programs. TCUs are public 
institutions, chartered by federally recognized Indian Tribes or the 
Federal Government. No TCU is chartered by any other entity, and 
although several financially challenged institutions may desire to be a 
Tribal Colleges or University, the criteria and standards are 
unambiguous, with Tribal control being the central pillar. Further, all 
TCUs receiving Federal funding have full and sustained accreditation by 
independent regional accreditation agencies and, like all U.S. 
institutions of higher education, must regularly undergo stringent 
performance reviews to retain their accreditation status. Each TCU is 
directly accountable to its Tribal community/communities, and each one 
is committed to improving the lives of its students through higher 
education and to moving AI/ANs to self-sufficiency. Our collective 
vision is strong sovereign Tribal Nations through excellence in Tribal 
higher education. To achieve this vision, TCUs have become workforce 
and job creation engines, public libraries, Tribal archives, small 
business incubators, and community computer labs. They operate Native 
language learning centers and immersion programs, community gardens, 
economic development centers, childcare centers, and applied research 
hubs for everything from natural resources to food sovereignty and 
community behavioral health.
    Despite the hope and opportunity that higher education brings to 
Tribal communities, as well as the trust responsibility and binding 
treaty obligations, the Federal Government has never fully funded TCU 
institutional operations authorized under the TCU Act (*$9,937 per 
Indian student = $8,000 per Indian student adjusted for inflation). But 
TCUs are resilient and resourceful, and we are proud to be leading the 
Nation in many areas, including preparing an AI/AN workforce of nurses, 
land managers, and teachers for tribal-serving schools. For example, 
half of all AI/AN special education teachers in Montana are graduates 
of Salish Kootenai College. TCUs prepare professionals in high-demand 
fields, including agriculture and natural resources management, 
information technology, and building trades. By teaching the job skills 
most in demand on our reservations, TCUs are laying a foundation for 
Tribal economic growth, which is the only way to move Tribes and Tribal 
members to self-sufficiency. Yet, we know that workforce development is 
not enough. We must do more to accelerate the move to self-
sufficiency--we must move beyond simple workforce training. We must 
create new industries and new businesses and build a new culture of 
innovation. Our job creation initiative is focusing initially on 
advanced manufacturing through a partnership with the U.S. Department 
of Energy, National Laboratories, TCUs, and industry. Already, we are 
seeing results with new TCU-Tribal-Industry partnerships, new 
contracting opportunities, and new jobs for our students and graduates.
    Tribal Colleges and Universities continually seek to instill a 
sense of hope and identity within AI/AN youth, who will one day lead 
our Tribal nations. Unacceptably, the high school dropout rate for AI/
AN students remains around 50 percent. TCUs work with local schools to 
create a bridge for AI/AN students as early as elementary school, 
encouraging them to stay focused on achievable goals, finish high 
school, and go on to the local TCU. TCUs offer dual credit courses for 
high school students, provide math teachers for local high schools to 
improve course delivery, and host weekend academies, after school 
programs, and summer camps for middle and high school students. At the 
other end of the spectrum, TCUs offer GED/HiSET training and testing 
and have 2+2 partnerships to bridge programs with regional 
universities. All are solid steps to bolster future prospects for AI/AN 
youth and break the cycle of generational poverty.
                    covid-19 pandemic impact on tcus
    Despite facing serious financial, Internet connectivity and 
equipment, and faculty professional development challenges that are far 
worse than other schools and colleges in the U.S. and having student 
(and faculty) populations at greater health risk than other groups in 
the U.S., the Nation's 35 accredited TCUs have worked diligently to 
respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in a comprehensive manner, addressing 
both the needs of students and community. As place-based, community-
anchoring institutions, TCUs had no choice but to continue to serve 
Tribal nations to the best of their abilities. Most TCUs have not 
closed at any point during the pandemic, and those that ceased 
operations did so only for a few weeks. As TCUs work to mitigate the 
devasting impacts of the pandemic in Tribal communities, TCUs are also 
facing drastic changes in enrollment with a future impact on Federal 
funding formulas.
    Academic Year (AY) 2022-23 Challenges: As the economic decline 
resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic extends into the foreseeable 
future, the losses facing TCUs are growing. Most TCUs start their 
fiscal year on July 1. As TCUs plan for fiscal Year 2023 (AY 2022-23), 
they face:

  --Reduction in support from chartering Tribal governments due to 
        Tribal enterprise revenue losses, and the need for Tribes to 
        divert scarce resources to address critical COVID-19 response 
        issues (e.g. Tribal health budget increases, growing Tribal 
        member safety net expenses). Past Tribal TCU support in 2018-
        19: $33,331,078; support in 2017-18: $31,049,542.

  --Declines in enrollment as students drop out or fail to return 
        because they lack Internet connectivity and cannot participate 
        in online classes or because they need to increase work hours 
        (if jobs are available) to help support families in economic 
        crisis. TCU Fall 2019 Enrollment: 15,114; TCU Fall 2020 
        Enrollment: 14,844.

  --Students facing growing financial challenges are unable to fully 
        pay tuition and fees. This results in TCUs providing tuition 
        waivers and writing off more tuition payments than in previous 
        years. TCUs--as place-based, open door institutions--write off 
        a significant amount of tuition each year because they want 
        students to benefit from the opportunity of higher education. 
        Annual TCU tuition write-off: 2019-20: $4,405,422; 2018-19: 
        $4,000,595; 2017-18: $2,906,650.
   tcu infrastructure needs: broadband, facilities, and operations & 
                   maintenance neglected for 40 years
    For TCUs to realize our goals of strengthening our Tribes as 
sovereign nations and building a 21st century Native workforce, TCUs 
must have the facilities and infrastructure capable of educating and 
training students in a safe environment. It simply cannot be done on 
the scale needed in classrooms with leaking roofs and exposed and 
substandard electrical wiring; outdated computer labs; students 
sleeping in cars and trucks because there are no dorms; and the 
slowest--yet most expensive--Internet access of any institution of 
higher education in the country. Yet, that is what TCUs are asked to 
do.
    We thank the House and Senate Interior Appropriations Committees 
for working together in fiscal Year 2021 to provide $15 million to 
create the new BIE ``Tribal Colleges and Universities Facilities 
Improvement and Repair Fund''. In July 2021, each TCU received $428,571 
to begin to address urgent facilities and maintenance needs. In order 
to build on the committee's initial investment, we recommend further 
investments in the following areas:
    TCU Facilities Study: We recommend the subcommittee provide funding 
for a comprehensive and unbiased TCU Facilities Study, to include all 
35 accredited TCUs. to survey the condition of existing facilities, 
examine facilities-related health and safety concerns, and identify 
current and long-term infrastructure needs (25 U.S.C. 1812). Originally 
authorized over 40 years ago in the TCU Act, an in-depth study will 
provide a thorough inventory of facilities-related needs.
    TCU Infrastructure Construction: The results of the proposed TCU 
facilities study will likely expand on the needs identified in a July 
2021 AIHEC survey, which revealed many chronic unmet facilities and 
infrastructure needs, including lack of student and faculty housing, 
inadequate classroom space, insufficient libraries, and outdated 
laboratories. The self-reported survey resulted with the following 
estimates: $400 million (total) in deferred maintenance and 
rehabilitation costs and $2.7 billion (total) to complete existing 
master plans. We respectfully request $35 million be allocated in 
fiscal Year 2023 to begin addressing TCU infrastructure needs.
    TCU Operations and Maintenance Account: In order to properly 
manage, fully use, and extend the lifespan of TCU facilities, AIHEC 
recommends the subcommittee provide funding for a TCU Facilities 
Operations and Maintenance Account. Currently, BIE K-12 schools receive 
operations and maintenance funding to address safety and health 
concerns, perform routine maintenance to optimize the lifecycle of 
facility-related systems, and protect land and property value. As 
outlined throughout this document, TCUs are creatively addressing a 
myriad list of needs with limited, thinly stretched budgets. The 
creation of a dedicated TCU Operations and Maintenance Account would 
allow TCUs to fully use current BIE TCU operational funding for 
``academic, educational, and administrative purposes'' as outlined in 
the TCU Act, while building more parity within the BIE K-20 system.
    challenges: indian student count and growth isc formula and non-
                             beneficiaries
    As noted earlier, TCU operations funding remains insufficient, and 
our budgets are further disadvantaged; because, unlike other 
institutions of higher education, most TCUs receive operations funding 
based on the number of Indian students served, with ``Indian student'' 
defined as a member of a federally recognized Tribe or a biological 
child of an enrolled Tribal member. Yet, approximately 15 percent of 
TCU enrollments are non-Indian students. Many TCUs seek operating funds 
from their respective state legislatures for non-Indian state-resident 
students (``non-beneficiary students''), but success has been 
inconsistent. Given their locations, often hundreds of miles from 
another postsecondary institution, TCUs are open to all students, 
Indian and non-Indian, because we know that postsecondary education is 
the catalyst to a better economic future in rural America.
                             growth of tcus
    Since the enactment of the TCU Act more than 40 years ago, TCUs 
have never received the modest Congressionally authorized funding level 
($9,937 per Indian student, $8,000 adjusted for inflation). Yet, we are 
so close: an increase of $17 million over the fiscal Year 2021 level is 
all that we need to fully fund TCUs for the first time ever. In the 
context of other Federal programs, our request is quite modest. For 
example, the only other minority serving institution that receives 
operating funding from the Federal Government, Howard University, 
received $205,788,000 for undergraduate programs in fiscal Year 2019, 
or about $23,000 student, along with $3 million for its endowment. We 
ask only for $9,937 per student for the Title I TCUs.
    Over the past 10 years, this subcommittee has worked diligently to 
provide the extra resources needed to enable all TCUs to be funded on 
an academic year schedule. We are extremely grateful for this. The 
benefit to TCUs of being able to plan an annual budget and start the 
academic year with operating funding has been tremendous. Yet, during 
the time it took to provide this funding, four new TCUs became eligible 
to receive funding under Title I of the TCU Act: College of the 
Muscogee Nation (Okmulgee, OK), Red Lake Nation College (Red Lake, MN), 
Tohono O'odham Community College (Sells, AZ), and White Earth Tribal 
and Community College (Mahnomen, MN). Unfortunately, Title I funding 
has not kept pace with inflation, much less received increases 
sufficient to support new TCUs. For example, between fiscal Year 2014-
2018, funding for the 28 Title I TCUs was flat despite the growing need 
for higher education across Indian Country. As we move forward, we are 
worried about TCU operating funding: at least three new TCUs could join 
the pool soon (Alaska Pacific University, California Tribal College, 
and San Carlos Apache College). The addition of these TCUs is important 
for Indian Country, but only if support is available to ensure that 
they can operate effectively.
                               conclusion
    TCUs provide quality higher education to thousands of AI/ANs and 
other rural residents and provide essential community programs and 
services to those who might otherwise not have access to such 
opportunities. The modest Federal investment in TCUs has paid great 
dividends in terms of employment, education, and economic development 
and has significantly reduced social, health care, and law enforcement 
costs. The global pandemic has exacerbated existing challenges and 
created new challenges for TCUs as they plan for an uncertain future. 
More than even, TCUs need your ongoing support. We appreciate the 
subcommittee's past support of the Nation's TCUs and your thoughtful 
consideration of our fiscal Year 2023 appropriations requests.

    [This statement was submitted by Carrie L. Billy, President & CEO.]

                                 ______
                                 
  Prepared Statement of the American Institute of Biological Sciences
    The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) appreciates 
the opportunity to provide testimony in support of appropriations for 
the Smithsonian Institution, United States Geological Survey (USGS), 
United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) for fiscal year 2023. We encourage Congress to 
provide additional funding to the Smithsonian Institution in fiscal 
Year 2023, including at least $60 million to the National Museum of 
Natural History with new funding to support scientific and curatorial 
work. We urge Congress to provide the USGS with $1.85 billion in fiscal 
Year 2023, with at least $360 million for its Ecosystems Mission Area. 
We further request that Science Support within USFWS be provided at 
least $36 million in fiscal Year 2023. Lastly, we request that Congress 
provide EPA Science and Technology with at least $850 million in fiscal 
Year 2023.
    The unprecedented loss of biological diversity and the associated 
negative impacts on human health and well-being are of significant 
concern. As human population grows and people increasingly come into 
contact with new environments and species migrating into new habitats, 
the risk of new diseases, such as zoonotic pandemics, is of growing 
concern. Biological diversity, however, offers a buffer against the 
spread of pathogens and contributes to environmental sustainability and 
increases our resilience to natural disasters. Robust Federal 
investments in scientific research and monitoring that improves our 
understanding of biological diversity and ecosystem function must be a 
priority as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. The agencies funded 
by this appropriations bill are centrally involved in conducting, 
supporting, and using this scientific research for public benefit.
    AIBS is a scientific association dedicated to promoting the use of 
science to inform decision-making that advances the biological sciences 
for the benefit of science and society. AIBS works to ensure that the 
public, legislators, funders, and the community of biologists have 
access to information to guide informed decision-making.
                        smithsonian institution
    Scientific collections and the professionals and scientists who 
collect, care for, and study these resources are a vital component of 
our Nation's research infrastructure and bioeconomy. Collections are a 
critical resource for advancing the knowledge needed to address current 
global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and 
pandemics.
    The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History 
(NMNH) is a valuable Federal partner in the curation of and research on 
scientific specimens. Scientists at the NMNH care for 146 million 
scientific specimens and ensure the strategic growth of this 
internationally recognized scientific research institution. To increase 
the availability of these scientific resources to researchers, 
educators, other Federal agencies, and the public, NMNH is working on a 
multi-year effort to digitize its collections and make the data 
available online. That effort will substantially increase the use of 
these collections by researchers, educators and students, and 
policymakers. NMNH is also working to strengthen curatorial and 
research staffing and to backfill positions left open by retirements 
and budget constraints. The current staffing level is insufficient to 
provide optimal care for the collections. Future curatorial and 
collections management staffing levels may be further jeopardized given 
prior funding cuts at science agencies, such as the USGS that, until 
recently, supported staff positions at NMNH.
    The budget for NMNH has not seen adequate increases in recent 
years. We urge Congress to provide NMNH with at least $60 million in 
fiscal Year 2023 to allow the museum to undertake critical collections 
care, make needed technology upgrades, and conduct cutting edge 
research.
                         u.s. geological survey
    The USGS provides unbiased, independent research, data, and 
assessments that are needed by public and private sector decision-
makers. Data generated by the USGS save taxpayers money by enabling 
more effective management of water and biological resources and 
providing essential geospatial information that is needed for 
commercial activity and natural resource management. The data collected 
by the USGS are simply not available from other sources.
    The Ecosystems Mission Area is the biological research arm of USGS 
and is integral to the agency's other science mission areas. It 
provides the science needed to achieve sustainable management and 
conservation of natural resources and inform land and water 
stewardship. The USGS conducts research on and monitors fish, wildlife, 
and vegetation-data that informs management decisions by other Interior 
bureaus. Biological science programs collect and analyze long-term data 
not available from other agencies, universities, or the private sector. 
The knowledge generated by the USGS are used by Federal and State 
natural resource managers to maintain healthy and diverse ecosystems 
while balancing the needs of public use.

    Examples of successful USGS Ecosystem initiatives include:

  --Development of comprehensive geospatial data products that 
        characterize the risk of wildfires on all lands in the United 
        States. These products are used to allocate firefighting 
        resources and to plan wildfire fuel reduction projects.

  --Development and evaluation of control measures and other management 
        interventions for invasive species, such as Asian carp and sea 
        lamprey, that cause billions of dollars in economic losses to 
        fisheries, hydropower, recreation, and many other industries.

  --Development of the scientific understanding needed to combat the 
        spread of avian flu, white-nose syndrome, and other diseases 
        spread by wildlife in North America, including diseases that 
        can jump from wild populations to livestock, agricultural 
        systems, and humans.

    The USGS also supports critical science needed to respond to a 
number of national and global challenges. Examples of the important 
work conducted by the USGS include:

  --The National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers. This 
        program is responsible for developing the science and tools to 
        address the effects of climate change on land, water, wildlife, 
        fish, ecosystems, and communities. These centers play a vital 
        role in addressing the impacts of unique weather patterns on 
        ecosystem health across the country.

  --The National Wildlife Health Center. This USGS-wide program 
        investigates national and international wildlife health issues, 
        including the spread of zoonotic pathogens, such as the virus 
        that causes COVID-19. Zoonoses-diseases that spread from 
        wildlife to humans-can pose serious threats to human health and 
        cause significant disruptions to the economy.

  --Cooperative Research Units (CRUs). CRUs are located on 40 
        university campuses in 38 States. These research centers are a 
        cost-effective way for USGS to leverage research and technical 
        expertise affiliated with these universities to conduct 
        actionable research, provide technical assistance, and develop 
        scientific workforces through graduate education and mentoring 
        programs.

  --Environmental Health Research. The Toxic Substances Hydrology and 
        Contaminant Biology programs work collaboratively with other 
        USGS Mission Areas, and with many external collaborators to 
        study environmental contaminants and pathogens in the 
        environment and provide the critical science needed to help 
        Federal, State, and local government agencies, the private 
        sector, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholder 
        groups protect fish and wildlife health.

  --Research on ecosystems of concern. This research is a critical 
        component of efforts to restore and manage important national 
        resources, such as the Everglades and the Chesapeake Bay. The 
        Changing Arctic Ecosystems initiative conducts research on 
        wildlife and habitat responses to ecosystem change in the 
        Arctic to inform land and species management decisions and 
        address the needs of Arctic residents, including Native 
        communities.

    In summary, the USGS is uniquely positioned to provide a scientific 
context for many of the Nation's biological and environmental 
challenges, including pandemics, water quality and use, energy 
independence, and conservation of biodiversity. This array of research 
expertise not only serves the core missions of the Department of the 
Interior, but also contributes to management decisions made by other 
agencies and private sector organizations. USGS science also enables 
cost-effective decisions, as the agency's activities help to identify 
the most efficient management actions. Increased investments in these 
important research activities will yield dividends.
    We urge Congress to provide significant funding increases to the 
Ecosystems Mission Area. In recent years, the budget for USGS has 
stagnated. Failure to make critical investments in the research 
conducted by the agency will hamper long-term data collection 
initiatives, lead to critical data loss, and undermine the Nation's 
ability to address national challenges.
    We request that Congress fund USGS at $1.85 billion in fiscal Year 
2023, with at least $360 million for the Ecosystems mission area.
                     u.s. fish and wildlife service
    Funding for the Science Support program within USFWS has remained 
essentially flat at $17.3 million since fiscal Year 2018. The program 
is slated to receive $23 million in fiscal Year 2022, $13 million below 
the level requested by President Biden. The Science Support program 
provides scientific information needed by USFWS, such as research on 
conservation of priority species prior to Endangered Species Act 
listing, the impacts of energy production on wildlife, and best 
management practices for combating invasive species, and needs to be 
robustly funded.
    We request that Science Support be provided at least $36 million in 
fiscal Year 2023.
                    environmental protection agency
    Funding for EPA Science and Technology supports valuable research 
that identifies and mitigates environmental problems. EPA research 
informs decisions made by public health and safety managers, natural 
resource managers, businesses, and other stakeholders concerned about 
air and water pollution, human health, and land management and 
restoration. This program provides the scientific basis upon which EPA 
monitoring and enforcement programs are built.
    Despite the important role of EPA Science and Technology in the 
Federal Government's ability to ensure that people have clean air and 
water, funding for its programs in recent years has remained 
significantly lower than the level enacted in fiscal Year 2010. 
Although President Biden proposed to increase EPA's overall budget by 
21 percent in fiscal Year 2022, Congress provided only a 3 percent 
increase to the agency. Strong increases in funding are needed for 
programs such as the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Research Grants 
Program, which supports extramural research that advances EPA's mission 
to protect human health and the environment, and the Global Change 
Research program, which develops scientific information that allows 
policy makers, stakeholders, and society to respond to climate change.
    Please provide at least $850 million in fiscal Year 2023 to support 
scientific research at the EPA. This much needed increase will allow 
the agency to provide resources for efforts to protect and restore our 
Nation's natural resources.
                               conclusion
    We urge Congress to sustain its bipartisan support for science by 
investing in our Nation's scientific capacity. Thank you for your 
thoughtful consideration of this request.

    [This statement was submitted by Jyotsna Pandey, Ph.D., Public 
Policy Director.]

                                 ______
                                 
            Prepared Statement of American Lung Association
Summary of FY 2023 Appropriations Recommendations:

  --EPA topline--$11.9 billion

  --Clean Air Program overall--$705.57 million

  --Climate Protection Program--$135.38 million

  --Federal Support for Air Quality Management--$299.4 million

  --Federal Vehicle Fuels Standards and Certifications Programs--$152.2 
        million

  --Categorical Grants: State and Local Air Quality Management--$500 
        million

  --Categorical Grants: Tribal Air Quality Management--$33 million

  --Compliance Monitoring--$144.77 million

  --Enforcement--$291.3 million

  --Environmental Justice Enforcement--$294.93

  --Diesel Emissions Reduction Grant Program--$150 million

  --EPA Radon Program--$5 million

  --Categorical Grant: Radon--$16 million

  --New Wildfire Smoke Protection Program--$15 million

    Thank you for the opportunity to provide written testimony to 
highlight the funding priorities of the American Lung Association 
within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for fiscal year 2023 
(FY23). The American Lung Association is the leading organization 
working to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung 
disease through education, advocacy and research. Between the toll of 
lung cancer, the prevalence of asthma, the harms of unhealthy air and 
the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, investments in the 
Nation's lung health are critical. We urge the Committee to support 
$11.9 billion in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency.
    EPA programs save lives and improve lung health. The Agency is 
responsible for setting and enforcing national air pollution standards; 
supporting State, local and Tribal air quality monitoring and pollution 
reduction efforts; educating the public about air toxics and air 
pollution; issuing grants to retrofit dirty diesel buses and more. Air 
pollution poses a threat to the health of all Americans, but there is 
someone in every family at heightened risk of health harms from 
breathing polluted air. There are nearly 37 million Americans living 
with a chronic lung disease like asthma or chronic obstructive 
pulmonary disease (COPD). Children, seniors, pregnant people and those 
who work and play outside are also more likely to suffer health harms. 
Additionally, people of color and those with low incomes face a greater 
risk of exposure to air pollution due to communities being overlooked 
for investment and enforcement in addition to longstanding racist 
practices like redlining.
    The President's FY23 budget includes a 25 percent increase for EPA. 
We strongly support the budget request to ensure increased funding for 
programs that promote clean air and enforce pollution cleanup. Funds 
under EPA's Clean Air Program are used in part to assist States, Tribes 
and local air pollution control agencies with implementing 
comprehensive air quality management programs to meet the National air 
quality standards. This program also includes testing and oversight to 
ensure vehicles are emitting lawful amounts of pollution into the air 
as well as efforts to reduce carbon pollution, methane, and other 
climate pollutants to protect public health from the impacts of climate 
change. Please provide $523.97 million for Environmental Programs and 
Management and $181.6 million for Science and Technology. Within this 
program area, the Lung Association specifically requests $135.38 
million for the Climate Protection Program; $299.4 million for Federal 
Support for Air Quality Management; and $152.2 million for Federal 
Vehicle Fuels Standards and Certifications Programs.
    Accurately monitoring the air we breathe is the first step to 
addressing air pollution. Unfortunately, State, local and Tribal air 
agencies--who run most of the Nation's air quality monitoring system--
have been perennially underfunded, and many areas are operating with 
out-of-date monitors. The Government Accountability Office release a 
report in 2020 showing that there has been a 20 percent decrease in 
funds, adjusted for inflation, since 2004.\1\ Grant dollars provided 
under Section 103 and 105 of the Clean Air Act help fund air quality 
monitoring work, which informs the public of risks to their health and 
identifies areas in need of cleanup. We appreciated additional funds 
that were provided in the American Rescue Plan, but we know that more, 
regular and consistent funding is needed so that State, local and 
Tribal air agencies can add, upgrade and maintain air monitors and 
improve engagement with the public to protect health, as part of a 
multi-year, sustained investment in these critical programs. The 
National Association of Clean Air Agencies, an organization that 
represents many of the Section 103 and 105 recipients, surveyed its 
members to determine what they will need to successfully implement 
their programs under current and anticipated Federal requirements. The 
results showed that air agencies need large increases if they are to 
adequately protect health by monitoring air pollution levels.\2\ Please 
provide $500 million for State and Local Air Quality Management 
Categorical Grants and $33 million for Tribal Air Quality Management 
Categorical Grants.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Government Accountability Office. (2020). Air Pollution: 
Opportunities to Better Sustain and Modernize the National Air Quality 
Monitoring System (GAO-21-38)
    \2\ National Association of Clean Air Agencies fiscal Year 2023 
Funding One Pager February 2022 https://www.4cleanair.org/wp-content/
uploads/NACAA-FY-2023-Funding-One-Pager-February-2022-2.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Compliance with EPA's air quality rules must be enforced if these 
safeguards are to truly achieve their intended health benefits. 
Investment in EPA's enforcement work is critical to ensure the public 
is protected from dangerous air pollution as the law requires. EPA must 
have the ability and funding needed to reduce non-compliance, as well 
as enforce penalties for violations. EPA must also be prepared to 
respond to civil enforcement actions authorized by the Clean Air Act. 
Additionally, air pollution does not impact everyone equally. The 
Administration has tasked EPA with prioritizing righting environmental 
injustices. To do so effectively, EPA needs dedicated funding for 
environmental justice. Please provide $144.77 million for compliance 
monitoring, $291.3 million for enforcement and $294.93 dedicated for 
enforcing environmental justice commitments.
    One of the programs within EPA that continues to receive bipartisan 
support is the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) Program. Millions 
of old, dirty diesel engines are in use today that pollute communities, 
threaten workers and cause lung cancer. According to a 2019 EPA report, 
the Committee's continued investments in this program have yielded up 
to $30 in health benefits for every $1 spent.\3\ Immense opportunities 
remain to reduce diesel emissions through the DERA program, and we urge 
the Committee to appropriate $150 million in FY23. Additionally, we 
urge the Committee to continue supporting the rapid transition to 
electric school buses through the Clean School Bus Program provided by 
the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Millions of children ride a 
bus to school, exposing them to pollution from these dirty diesel 
engines. Investing in the transition to electric school buses will 
provide a safer, healthier environment for children, who are among 
those most at risk of health harm from breathing in pollution.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ Environmental Protection Agency (2019) DERA Fourth Report to 
Congress (EPA-420-R-19-005) https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/
2019-07/documents/420r19005.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Radon is an odorless, colorless gas that seeps through the ground 
as it shifts and is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the 
United States. EPA's radon program and its State Indoor Radon Grants 
are the only nationwide tools that help prevent exposure to radon. 
States and Tribes depend on these programs to educate the public and 
fight this deadly carcinogen. We recommend $5 million for EPA's Radon 
Program and $16 million for the State Indoor Radon Grants. 
Additionally, we recommend that the Agency move away from the use of 
the EPA zone map to indicate areas of concern. Radon is a dangerous 
substance that should be tested for and abated regularly. The EPA radon 
zone map is outdated and could falsely lead families to thinking their 
zone 1 community is safe, when in reality, every home has the potential 
to have unsafe levels of radon.
    We are also renewing our request for a new program to be housed 
with EPA and note that the President's Budget Request includes a new 
program at the agency to address the health impacts of wildfires and 
wildfire smoke. Wildfires are no longer a rare occurrence, making 
wildfire smoke an urgent and increasing threat to health. Currently 
there are knowledge gaps, particularly on how wildfires affect the 
health of those living in downwind States, and there is a lack of a 
focused Federal response to health impacts. EPA would be well equipped 
to provide that Federal response with additional resources. The Lung 
Association requests a total of $15 million in funding to address these 
impacts, including $5 million to establish Wildfire Smoke Health 
Centers in Collaboration with US Forest Service Missoula Fire Sciences 
Laboratory; $7 million for targeted research on wildfire smoke exposure 
and policy; and $3 million for EPA to coordinate interagency science, 
management and communication strategies for addressing wildfires.
    Lastly, the American Lung Association also asks for your leadership 
in opposing all policy riders that would weaken key lung health 
protections, including those in the Clean Air Act. Policy riders have 
no place in appropriations bills, and the Lung Association strongly 
opposes attempts to include them, especially riders that would make it 
harder to protect Americans from air pollution.
    Investments in EPA programs are critical to protecting public 
health. On behalf of the Lung Association, I thank you for your 
consideration of these requests.

    [This statement was submitted by Harold P. Wimmer, National 
President and CEO, American Lung Association.]
                                 ______
                                 
             Prepared Statement of Animal Welfare Institute
    The Animal Welfare Institute, a nonprofit national animal welfare 
advocacy organization, asks the subcommittee to provide adequate 
funding levels for crucial wildlife programs and to include measures to 
protect at-risk species.
                   wild horses and burros (blm & fs)
    The BLM, which oversees the vast majority of America's wild horses 
and burros, continues to mismanage herds, relying on an endless cycle 
of costly removals from public lands instead of implementing 
immunocontraceptive vaccines to control fertility rates and manage 
these federally protected animals on the range. Under its current plan 
(based on the BLM's May 2020 report to Congress), the BLM has called 
for accelerated removals at a cost of roughly $900 million in the first 
5 years alone. For FY22, the BLM plans to gather and remove at least 
19,000 wild horses. But while the agency spends upwards of $70 million 
annually on removals and holding, it has spent less than 1 percent of 
its WHB program budget on fertility control in recent years. We ask the 
subcommittee to again include a directive for a minimum of $11 million 
within the BLM's existing WHB program budget to go towards the 
administration of proven and safe immunocontraceptive vaccines--
specifically the widely supported porcine zona pellucida (PZP) vaccine, 
as per the National Academy of Sciences recommendation. Moreover, we 
strongly support the continued inclusion of provisions to ensure that 
both BLM- and U.S. Forest Service-managed wild equines cannot be 
destroyed for commercial purposes in order to protect these animals 
from slaughter, as well as language preventing the destruction of 
healthy, unadopted wild horses and burros.
    Lastly, in recent years, the BLM has pursued attempts to manage 
wild horses via a risky and invasive surgical procedure known as 
``ovariectomy via colpotomy,'' which involves blindly locating the 
ovaries and severing them using a rod-like tool while the animal 
remains conscious. In its report on wild horse management, the NAS 
explicitly warned the BLM against using this procedure due to the risks 
of serious complications. Numerous lawmakers in the House and Senate 
have criticized the BLM's plans to ovariectomize horses and national 
polling shows overwhelming opposition to this procedure. We ask the 
subcommittee to include language barring the use of Federal funds to 
conduct ovariectomies on wild horses and burros so that taxpayer 
dollars can be directed towards cost-effective, safe, and humane 
fertility control methods such as PZP.
              endangered species act implementation (fws)
    We ask the subcommittee to appropriate $693.4 million across five 
programs to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for the purpose of 
Endangered Species Act (ESA) implementation:

  --$78.71 million for Listing

  --$287.0 million for Recovery

  --$162.1 million for Planning and Consultation

  --$15.7 million for Candidate Conservation in Conservation and 
        Restoration

  --$149.9 million for the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation 
        Fund (CESCF)

    Implementation of the Endangered Species Act, our Nation's most 
effective law for species conservation, has been severely underfunded 
for years. The FWS requires a budget of $693.4 million across five 
programs to begin to make up for lost ground and put species on the 
path to recovery. Critically, this includes ensuring every listed 
species receives a minimum of $50,000 per year for recovery. This 
funding package will allow the Endangered Species Act to be implemented 
in the way Congress intended when it dedicated our country to 
protecting the species and the habitats that need it most.
    The funding levels requested above would help the FWS process the 
backlog of 430 species that still need to be reviewed for protection 
under the act; if current trends hold, one species will be declared 
extinct every year in the U.S. while waiting for protection. The above 
funding levels would also put adequate resources toward recovery 
planning and actions for every listed species; maximizing the efficacy 
and efficiency of working with other Federal agencies and with States, 
counties, and private landowners; and implementing early conservation 
actions that keep species from ever reaching the brink of extinction. 
Additionally, CESCF serves as an essential source of funding for States 
and private landowners, making it a crucial tool for cooperative 
conservation.
                          trophy hunting (fws)
    We urge the subcommittee to include language prohibiting the use of 
funds by the FWS for the issuance of any permit authorizing the 
importation of a sport-hunted elephant or lion trophy until the 
Secretary (a) withdraws the memo issued March 1, 2018 establishing the 
current policy that enhancement findings for such imports will be made 
on a case-by-case basis, and (b) establishes a policy to make 
enhancement findings for such imports on a country-wide basis, 
including public notice and comment for enhancement findings pursuant 
to section 553 of title 5, United States Code. Under this policy, 
positive enhancement findings must determine whether the country where 
the animal was killed adequately provides for the conservation and 
monitoring for that species, including a fully funded and implemented 
management plan for that species: that is based on the best available 
science that addresses existing threats to the species; provides a 
significant conservation benefit to the species; formally coordinates 
with adjacent countries to protect transboundary populations; and 
ensures that any take is sustainable and does not contribute to the 
species' decline in either the short-term or long-term according to 
current population estimates derived through use of the best available 
science.
    African elephant and lion populations in many nations have 
undergone steep declines in the last decade. African elephants and 
lions are both listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), 
demonstrating a scientific need for heightened protections. Between the 
early 20th century and 2016, the number of elephants in Africa 
plummeted from 3-5 million to approximately 400,000. In 2021, the IUCN 
Red List reassessed the African savanna elephant as endangered, meaning 
it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild. African lion 
populations declined by 43 percent from 1993 to 2014. The subspecies 
Panthera leo melanochaita, comprising the lions of east and southern 
Africa, is listed as threatened under the ESA, with only 17,000-19,000 
remaining.
    The FWS has responded with a series of vacillating trophy-import 
policies, calling into question the degree to which the agency had 
evaluated whether lion and elephant trophy imports enhanced the 
survival of the species, as required under the ESA. Presently, FWS 
policy is to issue permits for lion and elephant trophy imports based 
on a case-by-case review of each application's enhancement finding 
requirements, rather than the former approach of having rules that 
applied to each species within each country of origin. Congress in its 
FY20-22 appropriations packages directed FWS to reevaluate the current 
policy and analyze how targeted investments and technical assistance to 
these countries would impact elephant and lion survival, improve local 
communities, and sustain species populations. FWS has failed to report 
back to Congress.
    In light of these conservation concerns, as well as of the lack of 
assurance that FWS is adhering to the ESA's legal requirements, no 
funds must be provided for the issuance of permits for import of 
elephant and lion trophies until a thorough, scientific analysis has 
been completed.
                             trapping (fws)
    We urge the subcommittee to include the same language that was in 
the FY22 House report (but not the FY22 conference report) allocating 
$300,000 to the FWS to institute a 3-year pilot program that replaces 
the use of body-gripping traps (Conibears, legholds, and snares) on 
National Wildlife Refuge Service land by agency personnel with non-
lethal methods and equipment, with the following exceptions:

  --When the body-gripping trap is used to (i) control documented 
        invasive species to achieve resource management objectives 
        where alternative methods have failed; or (ii) protect a 
        species that is listed as endangered or threatened under the 
        Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) or 
        treated by the Forest Service as a sensitive species;

  --Exception only applies when (i) such use of a body-gripping trap is 
        in accordance with applicable State and Federal law; (ii) prior 
        to use of a body-gripping trap, all available and viable 
        nonlethal methods for such control or protection, respectively, 
        are attempted; and (iii) such attempts are documented in 
        writing, and such documentation is maintained at the 
        headquarters of the department that employs the individual 
        engaging in such attempt.

    Furthermore, we hope the subcommittee will encourage the FWS to 
continue reviewing and updating both physical trapping signage and 
trapping information posted on the website, and continue providing 
trapping information to the subcommittee on an annual basis. In 
addition, it would be highly valuable if, for each refuge listed online 
as allowing trapping, the FWS specified whether the trapping is 
conducted by private trappers for recreational/commercial purposes and/
or by government personnel for management purposes.
    Body-gripping traps, such as snares, Conibear traps, and steel-jaw 
leghold traps, are inhumane and inherently nonselective. The nontarget 
animals caught in these traps include threatened and endangered 
species, as well as family pets. These traps do not belong on national 
wildlife refuges where families enjoy spending time outdoors, and where 
anyone who trips a trap can become a victim. Refuges are a very popular 
destination; the National Wildlife Refuge System attracts more than 61 
million visits every year. Additionally, many wildlife refuges are 
either close to or are located in urban areas.
    Nonlethal methods are often highly effective and FWS personnel 
would be serving both wildlife and outdoor recreation interests-such as 
hiking and nature photography, which account for approximately 86 
percent of total recreation-related expenditures on refuges-by 
prioritizing their use.
                    beaver conflict mitigation (fws)
    Across the country, thousands of beavers are trapped, snared, and 
shot each year in an effort to prevent damage caused to property by 
beaver activity. However, this killing is often unnecessary due to the 
availability of cost-effective, nonlethal devices that can successfully 
prevent such damage. For example, trees can be shielded by encircling 
them with wire mesh fencing or coating their trunks with a mixture of 
paint and sand that deters beavers from chewing. Roads, agricultural 
resources, and other property can be protected from flooding by 
installing water flow control devices, which allow enough water to pass 
through a beaver dam to avoid flooding while ensuring sufficient pond 
depth for beaver use, thus maintaining acceptable water levels.
    Restraining traps and snares used to capture and kill beavers can 
cause prolonged pain and unintentionally injure and kill nontarget 
animals. They are also rarely, if ever, a long term-solution; beavers 
dispersing in search of suitable habitat can quickly recolonize trapped 
areas. By contrast, flow devices can provide long-term relief and 
typically last 10 years before they need to be replaced. Nonlethal 
measures to mitigate beaver conflicts are effective, cost-efficient, 
long-lasting, and ecologically beneficial. These devices can protect 
transportation infrastructure, buildings, agricultural lands, and other 
property. Despite these benefits, no Federal programs currently exist 
to promote or facilitate the use of these techniques.
    We urge the subcommittee to recognize the ecological benefits 
beavers provide to landscapes and ecosystems across the country by 
providing $3,000,000 to the Fish and Wildlife Service to institute a 3-
year pilot program to provide grants to eligible entities for projects 
that seek to use nonlethal measures to achieve a reduction in damage to 
roads, railroads, bridges, buildings, airports, levees, dams, 
agricultural resources, trees, or other public or private property 
caused by beavers. Eligible entities would include States; Tribes; 
State, Federal, and Tribal agencies; landowners; local governments; and 
nongovernmental organizations. Nonlethal measures are those that are 
not designed to grip, trap, relocate, injure, or kill beavers. 
Nonlethal measures include, but are not limited to, fencing and paint-
sand mixtures used to protect trees, and water flow control devices 
used to prevent flooding and maintain beaver ponds at acceptable 
levels. To document the progress of this program, FWS should be 
encouraged to submit a report to the subcommittee describing activities 
under the pilot program each fiscal year.
                      prescott grant program (fws)
    We urge the subcommittee to provide no less than $2,000,000 for the 
John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance grant program. The 
Prescott Program, led by the FWS, provides funding to eligible 
stranding network participants assisting stranded sea otters, manatees, 
Pacific walruses, and polar bears. Congress began to allocate funds to 
the FWS in fiscal year 2019 to implement the program. To date, the FWS 
has awarded $3.1 million in funding to conservation organizations and 
State agencies through the Prescott Grant Program. In fiscal year 2022, 
$1,300,000 was allocated towards this program. Given the rising number 
of strandings and the importance of marine mammals to the health of 
ocean ecosystems, at least $2,000,000 in funding is requested.

    [This statement was submitted by Nancy Blaney, Director, Government 
Affairs, Animal Welfare Institute.]
                                 ______
                                 
          Prepared Statement of Appalachian Trail Conservancy

  operation of the national park system allocation for the appalachian 
                         national scenic trail
    On behalf of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC or 
``Conservancy''), I submit this request to increase the annual 
Operation of the National Park Service (ONPS) appropriation for the 
Appalachian National Scenic Trail (ANST, A.T., or Trail), a unit of the 
National Park Service (NPS) within the Interior, EPA, and Related 
Agencies appropriations bill. The current level of ONPS appropriations 
for the Trail, $1.79 million for fiscal year 2021 (enacted FY22 funding 
not yet administratively allocated between units), is insufficient to 
fulfil the NPS obligations under the National Trails System Act (NTSA), 
relevant NPS-related statutes, and the cooperative agreement with ATC. 
We believe a budget of $3.5 million is necessary to meet the needs of 
the Trail. Particularly as our Nation responds to the mounting impacts 
of anthropogenic climate change, Congress must invest heavily in 
habitat restoration, combating invasive species/the loss of 
biodiversity, and maintaining the functionality and ecological services 
of our public lands. In the A.T., continued underinvestment could be 
catastrophic. We have been advocating within the NPS for a further 
increase request, but recognize the central role the Congress serves in 
determining funding for the Federal Government.
    The Conservancy is the Sec. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization 
responsible for developing the Appalachian Trail and leading its 
Cooperative Management System, which joins the Federal Government, the 
governments of 14 States, 31 Maintaining Clubs, and local and non-
profit partners in caring for our iconic long trail. ATC's position 
with the Trail, which began over 100 years ago outlining the vision of 
a continent-spanning footpath, remains formalized under a cooperative 
agreement with the NPS. Recognizing the needs of the Trail, President 
Trump's last budget increased its requested ONPS allocation from $1.52 
million in FY20 to $1.65 million in FY21-NPS ultimately went even 
further and allocated the current $1.79 million funding level. 
Likewise, President Biden's first two budgets have requested ANST ONPS 
allocations of $1.95 million (FY22) and $2.06 million (FY23). 
Recognizing the unit is struggling to meet obligations, the Committees 
on Appropriations--via the explanatory statements for both the fiscal 
year 2021 and FY22 Omnibus bills--''encourages'' the NPS to submit an 
increased allocation.
    The ANST runs 2,194 miles with approximately 4,500 miles of 
boundaries encasing an approximately 300,000-acre conserved 
``Corridor.'' The A.T. Corridor includes lands within the National Park 
and National Forest Systems, as well as State and local units, with the 
NPS directly responsible for approximately half of the acreage. The 
Trail is the centerline of the largest contiguous stretch of public 
land in the eastern United States. It is the longest park unit in the 
National Park System. In terms of size, the ANST has more NPS-
administered acreage than Biscayne, Voyageurs, or Zion National Parks. 
In terms of boundary mileage, it is second in the National Park System 
only to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The Trail's normal visitation 
is an estimated 4 million or more annually, placing it 18th in 
visitation within the System-higher than Grand Teton or Yosemite 
National Parks.
    The ANST's length (spanning 12 of latitude in the temperate zone), 
north-south alignment, changes of over 6,500 feet in elevation and the 
numerous peaks and ridges it crosses along the Appalachian Mountain 
chain creates its topographically diverse landscape, protecting very 
high habitat diversity and connectivity while providing for a unique 
recreation experience. It is an important landscape in the eastern U.S. 
that offers large-scale continuity and important climate refugia, 
increasingly vital attributes in the highly developed and increasingly 
taxed eastern public land network. The ANST is one of (if not the most) 
biodiverse units of the National Park System. While the ANST does not 
have the physical infrastructure such as paved roads and water systems 
that rank costly in terms of facility maintenance, the natural resource 
management needs of the Trail are legion. Unlike facility assets, 
opportunities within the NPS to fund natural resource programmatic work 
are rare to materialize.
    Currently, the NPS office that administers the Trail has 9.3 
fulltime-equivalent employees (FTEs), approximately 40 Conservation-
related staffers at ATC, and 6,000 volunteers contributing annually a 
total of 245,000 labor hours (equivalent to 118 employees). The $1.79 
million ONPS allocation is, for the most part, consumed by staff salary 
and benefits. The allocation is insufficient to allow for much project 
work or to enable NPS staff to visit locations along the Trail. Under 
the current park operations funding model, there are certain things 
that are very difficult to fund except through a unit's ONPS 
allocation, specifically: providing law enforcement (maintaining and 
asserting the Federal Government's property rights as well as providing 
public safety); processing environmental compliance documents (such as 
required by NEPA) and; overseeing (if not funding) natural resource 
protection work.
    Between 2005 and 2020, the ANST Park Office ONPS base allocation 
has grown at an average annual rate of 3.3 percent. When adjusted for 
the effects of inflation, ONPS funding has grown at an annualized rate 
of 1.4 percent. Among the 42 NPS units with annual visitation in the 
one to three million range, the average ONPS allocation is $3.93 per 
visitor, while the ANST is currently at 54 per visitor. Few units are 
funded by their ONPS allocation alone; most, if not all, rely on 
allocations distributed subsequent to Service-wide ``calls'' to 
disburse non-unit specific funds Congress appropriates. By and large, 
successive administrations have requested, and Congress has granted, 
flat increases to the funding streams within the NPS that allow for 
facility asset maintenance (i.e. Cyclic Maintenance, Repair-Rehab). The 
same cannot be said for the Natural Resource Projects call (which, it 
must be noted, funds projects, but not programs, meaning it cannot fund 
FTE) and there is no call for law enforcement or for compliance, which, 
like natural resource programmatic staff, must be funded through an 
ONPS allocation.
    The current, and reasonable needs of the unit are more than the 
current cooperative management partners can support given the legal 
division of responsibilities. Comparatively, NPS units with far smaller 
acreage to manage and far less complex obligations and programs receive 
relatively much larger base budgets, including the 16-acre Springfield 
Armory with a base budget of $1.56 million; the 968-acre Appomattox 
Court House with a base budget of $1.96 million; and the 16-acre Fort 
Stanwix with base budget of $1.68 million.
    Law Enforcement--.The law enforcement needs of the Trail are 
significant considering the ANST spans 14 States and 88 counties. These 
responsibilities can be broken down roughly into two categories: 
individuals threatening safety (criminal) and encroachments (civil). 
Both are commonly referred to as ``incidents'' and ``incident 
response'' is the general term used to mean ``responding to potential 
harm to the legal rights of the Trail and its users.'' Criminal 
incidents on the Trail posing a significant threat to public safety 
are, thankfully, rare. Much more common are civil incidents/
encroachments. ANST owns 2,083 fee tracts, containing 108,000 acres of 
lands with over 1,200 miles of exterior boundary line which is 
maintained and monitored by ATC staff and staff-coordinated volunteers. 
Roughly 50 new encroachment violations are discovered each year, with 
10 percent of those being severe in nature. Approximately 430 known 
(ATC-identified) ANST boundary violations have occurred over the past 
decade, many of which still remain unresolved. Examples of severe and 
ongoing encroachment issues include large-scale timber and resource 
theft, widespread ATV use, construction of building, homes, pools and 
patios, and waste dumping. It is the legal responsibility of the NPS to 
address these encroachments, something unpracticable with its current 
ANST law enforcement (LE) staffing of two FTEs.
    ATC staff and volunteers routinely assist in responding to Trail 
incidents. The current-and preferred-management of the Trail places the 
Chief Ranger duty stationed at the Trail's administrative headquarters 
in Harper's Ferry, WV and the one FTE split between the ANST and BLRI 
(Blue Ridge Parkway NPS unit) in southern Virginia, serving that 
region, and one FTE split between the ANST and GETT (Gettysburg 
National Military Park) serving that immediate region. For the NPS-
managed Trail miles north of Harrisburg, the ANST relies on less formal 
staff sharing. ATC advocates for replicating the staff-sharing model 
across the mid-Atlantic and northern stretches of the Trail, stationing 
six individuals, working 50 percent time on the ANST in Maine, New 
Hampshire/Vermont/Massachusetts, Connecticut/New York, New Jersey/
Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania/Maryland, and West Virginia/Virginia. 
Increasing LE staffing on the Trail will increase the NPS' ability to 
connect to rural communities and to safeguard not only the increasingly 
manifest desire of the public to recreate on our public lands, but the 
narrow ribbon of conserved land providing critical species habitat and 
providing for migration and climate adaptations in the densely 
populated eastern U.S. More funding is also needed to train ATC staff 
and volunteers as they support incident management as needed.
    Resources Management--.The majority of the management of any 
National Park System unit is the proper administration of natural and 
cultural resources and minimizing impacts from visitors. The ANST 
currently splits coordination for both these buckets between one FTE 
when at least two, and preferably three FTE, are warranted. There is no 
biologist on the NPS staff for the ANST. Regarding natural resources, 
ATC staff and volunteers are responsible for all Trail-related 
maintenance as well as the stewardship and restoration of the Trail 
corridor lands as quality habitat for flora and fauna. Except for the 
aforementioned FTE at the ANST, the majority of the funding for natural 
resources management is provided by individual and charitable 
foundation giving. Some of the natural resource work is funded through 
competitive grants awarded by DOI Region One, but funding is extremely 
limited and project-focused. Funding for natural resource work 
supported by ONPS funding has diminished steadily in recent years.
    Natural resources management for the ANST is multi-faceted. 
Management of ``endangered plants and animals, invasive species, 
climate change mitigation, and scientific research projects'' are all 
Cooperative Agreement-identified responsibilities for the NPS to 
``provide overall leadership'' for. ATC staff and volunteers are 
required to ``coordinate [the] on-the-ground management activities 
needed to protect occurrences of rare, threatened, and endangered 
species, exemplary natural communities, historic properties, and other 
natural, cultural, and aesthetic resources.'' In recent years, ATC has 
led several natural resource management projects within the ANST 
corridor, including Ash treatments to halt the spread of the invasive 
Emerald Ash Borer in Massachusetts, Georgia, North Carolina and 
Tennessee, red spruce restoration in North Carolina, Tennessee and 
Virginia, habitat creation for the globally imperiled Northern 
Metalmark Butterfly in Connecticut, and restoration of Atlantic Salmon 
habitat in Maine. ATC staff hold professional licenses and degrees in 
areas such as ecological restoration, pesticide application and hazard 
tree arboriculture, serving as the primary experts for these services 
on the ANST.
    Compliance--.ANST staff depend on ATC staff to collect information 
required for the completion of National Environmental Policy Act 
compliance for all treadway and corridor related work. ATC staff are 
generally responsible for the completion of impact assessments, field 
monitoring and coordination with state Natural Heritage and wildlife 
offices. Yet NEPA compliance is a process that can not be delegated in 
full and ANST capacity is required to facilitate and oversee this 
process as well as research permit evaluations and approvals.
    The A.T. is uniquely situated to serve as a barometer for the air, 
water, climate and biological diversity of the Appalachian Mountains 
and much of the eastern United States, which is what makes it an 
attractive place to explore scientific questions. The ANST has clearly 
identified the need for sound scientific baselines and trend 
information on environmental and resource conditions to inform adaptive 
management and stewardship activities, however current capacity does 
not allow the ANST to even entertain proposals from educational 
institutions and research entities seeking permission to use the ANST 
as a study area. Each year, requests for scientific analysis, 
evaluation and monitoring within the A.T. corridor, submitted through 
the NPS Research Permit and Reporting System, go unanswered and un-
permitted. Each of these unfilled research requests is a missed 
opportunity for stronger science and informed A.T. management.
    For compliance under section 106 of the NHPA, ANST NPS staff cannot 
delegate its obligations to ATC. Additionally, closer coordination with 
State and Tribal offices of historic preservation will further the 
ability of the ANST to address extant compliance demands as well as 
build the capacity to perform government-to-government consultations 
with the 34 identified Native nations with ancestral and/or reservation 
lands along the Trail. NPS staff cannot delegate to ATC government-to-
government consultation responsibilities.
    Thank you for considering our request.

    [This statement was submitted by Brendan Mysliwiec, Director of 
Federal Policy and Legislation, Appalachian Trail Conservancy.]
                                 ______
                                 
 Prepared Statement of Assiniboine and Sioux Rural Water Supply System
         fort peck reservation rural water system ($3,370,000)
    The Assiniboine and Sioux Rural Water Supply System (ASRWSS) 
submits this testimony in support of $3,370,000 in funding for 
continued Operations, Maintenance, and Replacement (OMR) of part of the 
Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water System as authorized by PL 106-382.
    ASRWSS is the tribally chartered entity charged with the planning, 
design, construction, operation, maintenance and replacement (OMR) of 
the Assiniboine and Sioux Rural Water Supply System, which is the part 
of the Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water System on the Fort Peck Indian 
Reservation. We are strong partners with Dry Prairie Rural Water System 
(DPRWS), which operates the part of the Project that is off the 
Reservation.
    The most basic of governmental function is the delivery of clean, 
safe, and reliable drinking water. We are honored to provide water and 
service in northeastern Montana to an area of 7,750 square miles 
connected by 3,200 miles of pipeline when completed in 2023. Completion 
of all construction funding is expected in fiscal Year 2022. The 
project provides safe, adequate, and reliable drinking water to an area 
larger than New Jersey and just smaller than Massachusetts.
    ASRWSS wants to thank the subcommittee for the full funding of OMR 
costs of the Water Project at $3.358 million in fiscal Year 2022.
    As the Project works toward completion of construction, OMR needs 
continue to increase. Thus, for fiscal Year 2023 we will need an 
additional $12,000 for total level of funding at $3.370 million in 
appropriations for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Construction 
account.

    The funding increase of $12,000 is necessary to:

        i) safely operate, maintain, repair and replace system 
        features,

        ii) employ the necessary level of qualified and certified staff

        iii) purchase chemicals for treatment

        iv) purchase power for pumping and treatment facilities.

        v) address inflation, which is now more of a factor than in 
        earlier years

    The Congress (Energy and Water subcommittee) will have appropriated 
over $354 million to complete the project through fiscal Year 2023. The 
ASRWSS/DPRWS projects are 95 percent complete and full funding will be 
available to complete the project in fiscal Year 2022 and 2023. It is 
imperative, through Interior appropriations (and a DPRWS non-federal 
cost share), that ASRWSS maintain, and replace the investment of 
Congress in the ASRWSS infrastructure valued at $226 million and held 
in trust by the United States.
    The DPRWS cost share covers the OMR cost of their use common 
facilities as agreed upon between ASRWSS, DPRWS and the Secretary in a 
Water Service Agreement. DPRWS makes monthly payments on a timely 
basis. DPRWS will provide an estimated $669,000 in fiscal Year 2023 to 
supplement appropriations.
    ASRWSS provided drinking water to more than 21,500 residents in 
Northeast Montana in 2020. In 2023 over 24,000 residents will be 
served. Ultimately, 31,000 residents will be served as the population 
of the region continues to grow over the next several decades. The 
population served at the end of 2016 was less than 10,000, and OMR 
funding needs have been increasing accordingly. The project also serves 
social and governmental agencies, including the BIA Agency Office, 
schools, clinics, hospitals, Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge, 
Fort Union Trading Post National Historic site, U.S.- Canadian border 
stations, and the towns of Poplar, Wolf Point, Frazer, Culbertson, 
Medicine Lake, Scobey, Nashua, St. Marie, Fort Kipp, and Brockton. 
Opheim and will be served in 2022. The small communities of Reserve and 
Lustre will also be added in 2022.
    The Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water System was authorized by the 
Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water System Act of 2000, Pub. L. 106-382. 
The enactment ensured a safe, adequate, and reliable municipal, rural 
and industrial water supply for the residents of the Fort Peck Indian 
Reservation and the residents of Roosevelt, Sheridan, Daniels, and 
Valley Counties outside the Reservation. As noted in the President's 
previous budget requests: ``Groundwater from shallow alluvial aquifers 
... for the municipal systems . . . is generally poor with 
concentrations of iron, manganese, sodium, sulfates, bicarbonates and 
total dissolved solids above recommended standards.'' This project 
provides a perpetual remedy to historic water quality issues that 
impaired health and stunted economic growth.
    The Project called for the construction of a single treatment plant 
on the Missouri River near Wolf Point, Montana, that will distribute 
water through 3,200 miles of pipeline to both the Reservation Tribal 
system and through three completed and operational interconnections to 
DPRWS. A single water source on the Missouri River replaced nearly two 
dozen individual community water sources and ensured a clean, 
plentiful, and safe water supply.
    The Federal legislation authorizing the Fort Peck Reservation Rural 
Water System requires that the OMR costs of ASRWSS, held in trust by 
the United States, are fully funded. Interior appropriations to BIA are 
the Federal source of OMR funding. This is consistent with the Federal 
trust responsibility to the Tribes who were promised a permanent home 
when the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes agreed to move to the 
Reservation. A permanent home requires safe drinking water. The funding 
request enables ASRWSS to deliver superior drinking water, meeting all 
Federal and State standards, to all the people, towns, and federal, 
Tribal, State, public and private agencies, and businesses.
    Thus, the $3.370 million requested in fiscal Year 2023 for the OMR 
of this vital infrastructure project is critical. The increased funding 
of $12,000 over the fiscal Year 2022 level for the OMR of the Project 
is needed as the Project buildout increases the service population and 
requires additional personnel, power, chemicals, repairs, replacements 
and improvements to operate the water treatment plant and other 
facilities.
    Again, we thank the subcommittee for the continued support of OMR 
funding for ASRWSS as authorized by Public Law106-382.

    [This statement was submitted by Ashleigh Weeks, Executive 
Director, Assiniboine and Sioux Rural Water Supply System.]
                                 ______
                                 
Prepared Statement of Association of the Air Pollution Control Agencies 
                                (AAPCA)
    The Association of Air Pollution Control Agencies (AAPCA)\1\ 
appreciates the opportunity to provide written testimony regarding the 
development of Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations for the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). AAPCA's members are State and 
local air agencies that serve as co-regulators with U.S. EPA under the 
Federal Clean Air Act and are responsible for designing, implementing, 
and enforcing air pollution control regulations that protect public 
health and the environment. As highlighted in a recent annual report 
from AAPCA,\2\ State, local, and Tribal air agencies, in coordination 
with U.S. EPA, have overseen remarkable progress in the Nation's air 
quality, underscoring the Clean Air Act's core principle of cooperative 
federalism as a proven framework for approaching emerging environmental 
priorities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ AAPCA is a national, non-profit, consensus-driven organization 
focused on assisting State and local air quality agencies and personnel 
with implementation and technical issues associated with the Federal 
Clean Air Act. Created in 2012, AAPCA represents 48 State and local air 
pollution control agencies, and senior officials from 21 state 
environmental agencies currently sit on the AAPCA Board of Directors. 
AAPCA is housed in Lexington, Kentucky as an affiliate of The Council 
of State Governments. You can find more information about AAPCA at: 
www.cleanairact.org.
    \2\ AAPCA, State Air Trends & Successes: The StATS Report, April 
19, 2022.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As your subcommittee undertakes the appropriations process for U.S. 
EPA, AAPCA specifically asks for State and local air quality management 
grants under the State and Tribal Assistance Grant (STAG) program to be 
funded at levels that meet new and historic Clean Air Act requirements 
and allow maximum flexibility to agencies to determine the best use for 
addressing air pollution control needs in their jurisdiction. AAPCA 
also continues to reaffirm the importance of maintaining the granting 
authority for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) monitoring under Section 
103 of the Clean Air Act, rather than the proposal by U.S. EPA's Office 
of Air and Radiation to transition to Section 105,\3\ which would 
necessitate that agencies match funds.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ See page 31 of the Draft fiscal Year 2023-2024 Office of Air 
and Radiation (OAR) National Program Guidance, open for comment through 
July 14, 2022.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Congress funded the STAG program at $4.352 billion under the 
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 (H.R. 2471), which was signed 
into law on March 11, 2022.\4\ STAG funding in fiscal Year 2022 
included $231.391 million for State and local air quality management 
grants--nearly $2 million above the fiscal Year 2021 enacted level--as 
well as $92 million for diesel emission reduction grants and $61.927 
million for targeted airshed grants. Providing adequate funding and 
flexibility for grants under Sections 103 and 105 of the Clean Air Act 
is critical for State and local agencies that are technical, planning, 
and jurisdictional experts and deeply engaged with their communities 
and stakeholders.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ H.R. 2471--Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 (Public Law 
No: 117-103). Funding levels prior to rescissions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    While STAG funds are a key budgetary component for State and local 
agencies, Clean Air Act mandates are ultimately met through strict 
budgeting, attentive programming, best practice development, and 
dedicated leadership and staff. Air agencies are responsible for a 
broad range of complex and technical efforts that support the National 
Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), air toxics, regional haze, and 
other Clean Air Act programs. These obligations span air quality 
planning and rule development, monitoring and modeling, emissions 
inventory management, permitting, inspections and enforcement, and 
hiring, training, and staff development. These frontline agencies must 
also undertake extensive efforts around public outreach and 
involvement, risk communication, exceptional events demonstrations, 
Federal policy evaluation, and stakeholder engagement.
    Further, State and local air agencies must also be responsive to 
increasing requirements from U.S. EPA and other fiscal challenges, 
often with ever-more-finite resources. A few abbreviated examples 
include:

  --Crafting state implementation plans (SIPs) to meet current NAAQS 
        and regional haze requirements as well as SIPs that will be 
        required for more stringent NAAQS that are expected to follow 
        the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, or CASAC, review 
        of the standards for particulate matter (PM) and ozone.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ For a detailed example, please see AAPCA's request to U.S. EPA 
to extend the comment period on the proposed ``Federal Implementation 
Plan Addressing Regional Ozone Transport for the 2015 Ozone National 
Ambient Air Quality Standard,'' (May 3, 2022).

  --Recognizing, evaluating, and communicating emerging environmental 
        concerns, such as ethylene oxide (EtO), and integrating 
        national priorities like environmental justice and equity into 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        planning, permitting, and outreach efforts.

  --Administering and maintaining the Nation's monitoring network, 
        critical infrastructure that is central to ensuring that an 
        area meets the NAAQS and community concerns are appropriately 
        addressed.\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ U.S. Government Accountability Office, Air Pollution: 
Opportunities to Better Sustain and Modernize the National Air Quality 
Monitoring System, November 12, 2020 (publicly released December 7, 
2020).

  --Making sure that staff are well-trained to understand technically 
        and socially complex issues, a necessity that is complicated by 
        turnover and hiring challenges that can create expertise 
        gaps.\7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\ See AAPCA comments on the draft fiscal Year 2022-2024 content 
development plan for the National Air Quality Training Program (October 
14, 2021).

    Federal grant flexibility is necessary as resource priorities 
evolve to meet these challenges. Air agency budgets, to an extent 
reliant on emissions fees from permitted sources, have been impacted by 
the successes that characterize air pollution control work. This 
includes revenue decreases from the Clean Air Act Title V Operating 
Permit program,\8\ which have declined due to the program's pollutant 
fee structure and the program's success in achieving its primary goal 
of reducing emissions to create better air quality.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \8\ U.S. EPA Office of Inspector General, EPA's Title V Program 
Needs to Address Ongoing Fee Issues and Improve Oversight, January 12, 
2022.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Providing adequate funding for State and local air quality 
management grants and other STAG programs should also take into 
consideration the state of the current economy. Inflation, compounded 
by a slowed supply chain, has introduced new difficulties for air 
agencies in their on-the-ground work to protect the environment. This 
ranges from making tough fiscal decisions around programming to finding 
alternative solutions for unavailable monitoring equipment and parts.
    Thank you for your attention to this testimony. AAPCA's members 
look forward to working with your subcommittee as Congress develops its 
priorities for fiscal Year 2023 appropriations for U.S. EPA. If you 
have any questions, please contact Mr. Jason Sloan, Executive Director, 
at [email protected] or (859) 244-8043.

    [This statement was submitted by Bryce Bird, Director, Division of 
Air Quality, Utah Department of Environmental Quality, 2022 President, 
AAPCA.]

                                 ______
                                 
  Prepared Statement of the Association of Clean Water Administrators
    The Association of Clean Water Administrators (ACWA) appreciates 
the opportunity to submit written testimony to the U.S. House of 
Representatives Committee on Appropriations, subcommittee on Interior, 
Environment, and Related Agencies. As the National voice of state, 
interstate, and territorial officials responsible for the 
implementation of programs that protect surface waters across the 
Nation, ACWA supports the President's FY23 Discretionary Budget 
Request's suggested increase to the Environmental Protection Agency's 
(EPA) budget.
    The President's discretionary request funds EPA at $11.8 billion, 
which represents a $2.3 billion or 25 percent increase from the FY22 
enacted level. The request outlines many key areas this additional 
funding will be used, including fighting climate change; promoting 
environmental justice; gathering data on polluters and holding them 
accountable; and investing in water infrastructure projects and 
contaminated site clean-ups. These functions are all essential to 
carrying out the EPA's mission of protecting human health and the 
environment.
    This proposed increase comes with many benefits, especially as 
States begin to prepare to handle the historic infrastructure 
investment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Our nation's water 
and wastewater systems are critical for promoting economic growth and 
protecting public health. In this sense, it is vital that we address 
these and other issues by providing strategic and consistently robust 
financing for water infrastructure, programs, workforce development, 
and more. While the FY22 funding was a critical step forward in funding 
these programs, increasing these levels will ensure that they are 
equipped to handle future crises and ongoing infrastructure challenges.
    State surface water programs play an integral role in building 
water infrastructure, from planning to design permitting to 
construction to compliance and robust section 106 funding is critical. 
State agencies are responsible for a myriad of infrastructure-related 
tasks including providing technical assistance to small, rural, 
disadvantaged, and underserved communities; marketing investments in 
green infrastructure; processing loan and grant applications; 
prioritizing projects to meet the greatest need; conducting 
environmental reviews; performing engineering analyses; permitting 
projects; monitoring compliance; and preventing fraud and waste. Any 
upcoming gaps in funding would undercut the proven success of these 
programs and jeopardize the essential assistance they provide to 
States. The case against funding cuts is only strengthened when 
considering that increases in Federal investment could help reverse 
declines in water quality, create hundreds to thousands of construction 
jobs, boost the National economy, and benefit private-sector 
development. With this in mind, ACWA asks for your support in 
delivering States the resources they need to carry out these critical 
programs as you consider the President's budget request.
    The States welcome the focus on injecting resources into the system 
to spur infrastructure development and repair. This money is certainly 
needed. However, the States also need increased resources to support 
States in meeting their obligations to the Clean Water Act (CWA) 
through, Clean Water Act (CWA) Sec. 106 grants, 319 grants, and funding 
to regional programs like the Chesapeake Bay or the Mississippi River/
Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force. States are also being asked to 
address PFAS and other emerging contaminants and to support 
environmental justice priorities and screening initiatives. Much of the 
Federal funding has focused on specific outcomes and projects without 
much attention to the crucial seasoned state staff that execute vital 
support and analytic functions. Robust funding for CWA programs is 
necessary to ensure States have the capacity to handle an increase in 
funding for water infrastructure, manage permitting programs, and 
provide technical assistance to disadvantaged communities. Fully 
funding section 106 and similar programs will ensure that insufficient 
staffing and administrative resources do not cause delays or 
bottlenecks with projects moving to construction with the appropriate 
public health safeguards and environmental permits.
    Federal funding of the 106 and 319 programs comprises approximately 
33 percent of the funds States and interStates rely on to carry out the 
CWA's mandates. Section 319 funding has been on the decline since 2005, 
and the States currently absorb over two thirds of the cost of mandated 
state and delegated Federal water quality programs. Additional Federal 
funding would enable States to build upon the successes of the 319 
program and work to improve the States' water quality protection 
activities and ability to carry out the basic requirements of the CWA.
    Congress has acknowledged its support of administrative costs of 
the historic BIL funding by providing U.S. EPA with such funding. For 
instance, in Section 6002 of the American Rescue Plan Act, Congress 
directed the EPA Administrator to reserve 2 percent or 5 percent for 
necessary administrative costs linked to specific subsections. In 
another example, in the fiscal year 2021 appropriations under the State 
and Tribal Assistance Grants, Congress directs the EPA Administrator to 
report on the amounts and sources used to administer and provide 
oversight of these grant programs. States agree with Congress that it 
is important to acknowledge and support administrative needs and asks 
that it similarly consider funding for States who work most directly 
with communities to both develop proposals and seek their input when 
determining state priorities.
    While appropriation increases have occurred over time since the 
inception of these programs, a more comprehensive analysis shows 
Federal funding has remained nearly flat throughout the past decade, 
and its purchasing power has diminished when taking inflation into 
account. For example, CWA sec. 106 funding in 2010 was $229 million; 
after a rise in funding in 2011 and 2012, funding levels settled to 
$231 million over 2014--2019. Section 106 funding in 2020 fell to $223 
million. If you look at a more recent time horizon, the Section 106 
enacted level was $230,806,000 in FY2016 and $230,000,000 in fiscal 
year 2021, a reduction of $806,000. This funding is especially critical 
as CWA programs have grown much larger. The NPDES permitting program 
now covers 900,000 municipal, industrial, stormwater and construction 
facilities today. Additionally, the water quality issues facing the 
States and interStates are more complex and more challenging. Nutrient 
reduction in surface waters, stormwater management, alterations in 
hydrology, in part due to climate change, considerations of ground 
water, e-reporting requirements, emerging contaminants such as PFAS, 
and now social considerations of environmental justice are 
complications not envisioned when the CWA became law 50 years ago.
    In conclusion, we ask that the subcommittee use the President's 
discretionary budget request as a starting point and robustly fund the 
above noted CWA programs. Similarly, we ask that the proposed FY23 
budget provides States with robust section 106 funding to invest in 
critical water programs and ensure that BIL money is used efficiently 
and effectively. These investments will have tangible benefits for 
States, interStates, territories, and Americans across the country by 
making progress toward our Nation's water quality goals, not to mention 
the other benefits of stimulating economic growth, supporting tourism, 
providing recreation, and promoting nationwide health with a clean 
water supply. The States cannot do it alone, so we ask for a strong 
federal-state partnership through the FY23 appropriations process. 
Federal Government support for ACWA's work--and States' work--is 
essential.

    [This statement was submitted by Andrew Gavin, Deputy Executive 
Director, Susquehanna River Basin Commission, ACWA President.]

                                 ______
                                 
      Prepared Statement of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums
    Thank you Chair Merkley and Ranking Member Murkowski for the 
opportunity to submit testimony about the priorities of the Association 
of Zoos and Aquariums for Fiscal Year 2023. Specifically, we urge the 
subcommittee's support to continue and expand funding for Endangered 
Species Recovery Challenge Grants ($15,000,000) and the Multinational 
Species Conservation Funds ($30,000,000) administered by the U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service (USFWS). These grants have proven successful in 
supporting cooperative recovery efforts. Given the documented global 
extinction crisis, it is crucially important to expand funding for the 
USFWS to grow capacity and carry out its work to implement and enforce 
the Endangered Species Act (ESA). I also am providing an update about 
the funding included in the ``American Rescue Plan Act'' (Public Law 
117-2) for the care of captive species listed under the ESA and rescued 
and confiscated wildlife in facilities experiencing lost revenues due 
to COVID-19.
    My name is Dan Ashe, and I am the President and CEO of the 
Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Founded in 1924, the AZA is a 
501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that our 253 
accredited zoos, aquariums, nature and science centers, and related 
facilities reflect the global standard of excellence in animal care and 
welfare, conservation, education, science, and guest experience. AZA's 
member facilities are examples of how economic and environmental 
prosperity can work hand-in-hand. Our members welcome nearly 200 
million visitors annually, generating more than $22 billion in economic 
activity, and supporting more than 198,000 jobs across the country. 
They also contribute well over $200 million in direct support for field 
conservation each year. They support work in 115 countries benefiting 
more than 942 species and subspecies, of which 223 are listed under the 
ESA.
    At the heart of AZA is its mandatory accreditation requirement, 
which assures that only those zoos and aquariums that meet the highest 
standards can become members. The independent and objective AZA 
accreditation process includes self-evaluation, rigorous on-site 
inspection, and critical peer review. Our standards are publicly 
available and are continuously evolving and improving as we learn more 
about the needs of the animals in our care. Once earned, AZA 
accreditation confers best-in-class status, an important message for 
local, State, and Federal Government and the visiting public. AZA 
accreditation is the global gold standard for modern zoological 
facilities.
    AZA and its members are leaders, partners, and participants in 
species conservation. We work in concert with Congress, Federal 
agencies, conservation organizations, State governments, the private 
sector, and the general public to conserve our wildlife heritage. AZA's 
Wildlife Trafficking Alliance is a coalition of private companies, non-
profit organizations, and AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums working 
closely with U.S. government agencies to combat wildlife trafficking 
worldwide. AZA and its member facilities have long-standing 
partnerships with the USFWS, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). 
Our collaborative efforts have focused on:

  --Engaging in endangered species recovery and reintroduction, 
        including some of the most successful and heralded recovery 
        efforts, like California condor. In fact, two of the condors 
        recently released as part of the partnership with the Yurok 
        Tribe were from the Oregon Zoo.

  --Carrying out rescue, rehabilitation, and confiscation activities in 
        collaboration with Federal and State agencies, including USFWS, 
        to the benefit of many threatened and endangered species.

  --Supporting conservation domestically and internationally through 
        multinational species conservation funds and state wildlife 
        grants.

  --Collaborating on partnership opportunities involving national parks 
        and wildlife refuges, migratory birds, freshwater and saltwater 
        fisheries, national marine sanctuaries, illegal wildlife trade, 
        amphibians, and invasive species.

    I am submitting testimony in support of the following key programs 
funded through the annual Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies 
appropriations bill.
                 u.s. fish and wildlife service budget
    Much of the important conservation work at AZA-accredited 
facilities depends on a robust and fully staffed USFWS. Acknowledging 
the budget challenges facing Congress and the agencies, we encourage 
you to assure that the USFWS has sufficient resources to employ 
qualified professionals, particularly for the programs handling 
permits, which support AZA's science-based conservation breeding and 
wildlife education programs that require animals to be moved in an 
efficient, humane, and timely manner: International Affairs (Management 
and Scientific Authorities), Endangered Species, Law Enforcement, and 
Migratory Birds. In particular, AZA is keenly interested in expanding 
our critical work in support of treating and placing live confiscated 
wildlife seized at the ports/borders and on scientific and conservation 
research on polar bears in AZA facilities. The success of these 
important initiatives depends on the effective assistance of the USFWS.
    For this reason, we request that the subcommittee specifically 
increase the budgets for the Management and Scientific Authorities by 
$250,000 to hire and support a dedicated and qualified employee to 
facilitate zoo and aquarium permitting. Our members contribute $22 
billion annually to the U.S. economy so this is a small investment to 
support that economic engine. During the past several years, lengthy 
permitting delays and communication gaps have become the rule rather 
than the exception. Our members are increasingly frustrated at 
permitting delays that stretch from months to years. Increasingly, our 
members are finding that international partners, as well as our members 
in Canada, Mexico, and other countries, are reluctant to work with our 
U.S. members due to the uncertainties surrounding permitting. These 
unnecessary delays undermine conservation efforts and jeopardize the 
welfare of animals.
    We also request dedicated funding of $1 million for the Office of 
Law Enforcement to support the design and implementation of a 
nationwide ``confiscations network.'' As we battle the global epidemic 
of wildlife trafficking, and as we improve detection and interruption 
of trafficking routes and syndicates, confiscated animals are the 
casualties. They need to be placed, and often held for lengthy periods, 
as evidence. The USFWS often comes to AZA and its members for 
assistance, typically at a substantial cost to our members who readily 
and willingly provide this service. We need a national and 
international confiscations network. We have had very fruitful 
discussions with the USFWS and have designed a pilot for the Pacific 
Southwest. Expanding this pilot to other regions and, ultimately, the 
entire United States, will unburden the agency's law enforcement 
officers, so they can focus their time on catching and prosecuting 
criminals; our members can focus on placing and caring for the animals.
    To put this latter request in context, and as you are aware, the 
USFWS has an entire facility--the National Wildlife Property Repository 
in Denver--that holds all of the wildlife products confiscated from 
illegal trade. If you will, all the ``dead stuff.'' The agency has no 
facility, expertise, or capacity to hold and maintain the living 
evidence of criminal trafficking. Our members posses these capabilities 
and are anxious to build a partnership with USFWS. This funding would 
help make this reality.
       endangered species recovery and recovery challenge grants
    We express our gratitude for the subcommittee's continued support 
for increasing funding for endangered species through the Recovery 
account and working with our partners at the USFWS to create the 
Endangered Species Recovery Challenge Grant program in fiscal year 
2018. This program recognizes the critically important role of 
nonprofit partners to the Service's endangered species recovery 
efforts, and it is a mechanism, through merit-based matching grants, to 
provide funding in a more commensurate manner to support and enhance 
these efforts. Recovery Challenge Grants are limited to nonprofit 
organizations implementing the highest priority recovery actions 
identified in recovery plans, such as for genetically sound breeding, 
rearing, and reintroduction programs.
    We urge you to continue to provide robust funding for endangered 
species recovery and prioritize longstanding recovery efforts in which 
existing resources and partner expertise can be most effectively 
leveraged. Specifically, we are requesting an increase in funding for 
the Recovery Challenge Grant program to $15 million in fiscal year 
2023. This funding will power recovery partnerships and inspire their 
work to better recover critically endangered species.
                multinational species conservation funds
    We support the inclusion of $30 million for the Multinational 
Species Conservation Funds (MSCF) administered by USFWS. These programs 
support public-private partnerships that conserve wild tigers, Asian 
and African elephants, rhinos, great apes, freshwater turtles, 
tortoises, and marine turtles in their native habitats. Through the 
MSCF programs, the United States supplements the efforts of developing 
countries that are struggling to balance the needs of their human 
populations and endemic wildlife. These programs help to sustain 
wildlife populations, address threats such as poaching and illegal 
trade, reduce human-wildlife conflict, and protect essential habitat. 
The USFWS is seen as a global conservation leader in large part due to 
its commitment to international conservation efforts. This Federal 
program supports AZA-accredited facilities in their field conservation 
efforts and partnerships with the USFWS.
                         endangered species act
    AZA and its members enthusiastically support the ESA, which has 
saved hundreds of listed species from extinction. Like AZA 
accreditation, the ESA is the global ``gold standard.'' It reflects our 
National commitment to species and ecosystem conservation, and it is 
working. Since its inception in 1973, it has prevented the extinction 
of 99 percent of the species it protects. However, we know that the 
challenges facing our planet in the 21st century are as complex as they 
are urgent. Scientists estimate that the total number of mammals, 
birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish has declined by more than 50 
percent since 1970, and many believe, including me, that we are living 
amidst the planet's sixth mass extinction. Climate change is 
accelerating this crisis. Without critical intervention today, we are 
facing the very real possibility of losing some of our planet's most 
magnificent creatures such as lions, cheetahs, elephants, gorillas, sea 
turtles, and sharks.
    AZA-accredited facilities have a unique opportunity and 
responsibility to help others understand this crisis. It is our 
obligation--to these animals and to all life on earth--to take bold 
action now to protect our planet's biodiversity. One achievement that 
has gone unnoticed by most people is that zoos and aquariums have 
played a significant role in bringing over 25 species, including 
California condor, Florida manatee, and black-footed ferret, back from 
the brink of extinction.
    Although we have made significant progress in saving endangered 
species, this work is far from done. Species protection and 
conservation requires long-term commitment by all of us. It is through 
the ongoing work related to species recovery plans that we will 
conserve these species for future generations. The AZA and its members 
support the ESA, and we encourage you to assure that the agencies 
responsible for carrying out the mandates of the act receive the 
necessary funding and human resource capacity to succeed.
                    american rescue plan act funding
    Finally, we appreciate the subcommittee's support for $30 million 
in the ``American Rescue Plan Act'' (Public Law 117-2) for the care of 
captive species listed under the ESA and rescued and confiscated 
wildlife in facilities experiencing lost revenues due to COVID-19. 
Under a cooperative agreement with USFWS to implement this provision, 
AZA is providing reimbursements to eligible facilities that cared for 
endangered and threatened species and rescued and confiscated wildlife 
and that experienced earned revenue losses as a result of the COVID-19 
pandemic. Funds have been directed toward reimbursing eligible 
facilities for the following three captive care categories: 1) U.S. 
native plant and animal species listed under the ESA); 2) U.S. native 
wildlife listed under the ESA rescued from the wild; and/or 3) wildlife 
confiscated by the U.S. government at U.S. ports and borders or 
otherwise involved in international trade and held in animal care 
facilities. AZA is in the final phase of reviewing eligible 
reimbursement applications and making funding recommendations to USFWS 
and NOAA Fisheries for ultimate funding decisions. We expect to 
complete this process by the end of June 2022. With the success of this 
effort to fund some of the critical conservation work of facilities 
like those accredited by AZA, we hope to work with the subcommittee and 
USFWS to develop similar future funding opportunities that address 
these essential ongoing wildlife conservation efforts.
    AZA and its members look forward to continuing to work with this 
subcommittee and Congress to assure that as a nation we are devoting 
the necessary resources to conserve wildlife at home and globally.

    [This statement was submitted by Dan Ashe, President and CEO, 
Association of Zoos and Aquariums.]
                                 ______
                                 
          Prepared Statement of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers
    On behalf of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA), the voice for our 
wild public lands, waters and wildlife, I write in support of stable 
funding levels and critical funding increases for many key programs 
within the fiscal year 2023 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies 
Appropriations bill. Programs within your subcommittee directly drive 
important economies related to our Nation's hunting, fishing and 
outdoor recreation industries with millions of Americans annually 
generating $689 billion.
    As we enter the fiscal year 2023 budget cycle BHA encourages this 
subcommittee to invest in the natural resource programs within the U.S. 
Department of Interior, the U.S. Forest Service and the Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) that sustain fish and wildlife habitat, drive 
hunting and fishing opportunities, enhance sportsmen's access, and 
create economic stability in America. BHA is motivated to work with you 
and the authorizing committees on identifying key funding solutions 
that benefit future generations of sportsmen and women.
                    land and water conservation fund
    BHA strongly supported the Great American Outdoors Act which 
permanently and fully funded the Land and Water Conservation Fund 
(LWCF). The $900 million floor for LWCF doesn't burden taxpayers and in 
fact expands economic support to rural communities, enhances public 
recreational access, and conserves quality fish and wildlife habitats.
    BHA encourages the allocation of discretionary funding to take 
advantage of the tremendous opportunities to leverage funding and 
prioritize projects with partners in the land trust community that 
would eliminate landlocked public lands currently closed to hunters and 
anglers. Additionally, we support the use of funds to address projects 
that consolidate fragmented ownership of Federal public lands, connect 
wildlife corridors, enhance recreational access in addition to 
complementing State-based investments in natural resource management.
                           blm land resources
    BHA supports maintaining stable funding levels similar to those in 
FY22 for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Land Resources subaccount 
within the BLM Management of Lands and Resources section. This 
subaccount includes funding for BLM's high priority planning efforts 
across more than 247 million acres of land the agency manages, 
including the initiation of new resource management plans, address the 
need for planning updates and amendments, and implementation 
strategies. It's essential to ensure that BLM has the resources 
necessary to integrate the most recent State and Federal fish and 
wildlife science, outdoor recreation needs, and balancing energy 
development and resource extraction uses within the planning process.
                blm wildlife and fish habitat management
    BHA supports maintaining stable funding levels similar to those in 
FY22 for the BLM Wildlife and Fish Habitat Management account. The work 
conducted through this account supports the maintenance, restoration, 
and enhancement of fish, wildlife, and their habitats on BLM 
administered public lands. Important BLM activities such as conducting 
inventories of fish and wildlife resources and developing cooperative 
management plans while providing for responsible recreation and 
commercial uses are critically important for BLM's ongoing work with 
state fish and wildlife agencies and local communities across the West.
                    greater sage-grouse conservation
    Greater sage-grouse habitat has experienced concerning degrees of 
fragmentation and degradation across the West and historic 
collaboration efforts have created powerful conservation plans tailored 
to 11 States across nearly 70 million acres of sagebrush steppe. 
Unfortunately, the previous administration finalized changes that will 
weaken these conservation plans. Eliminating thoughtful policies that 
balanced other uses like energy development with the need for improving 
habitat across sagebrush country undermines our ability to keep the 
bird off the endangered species list but also threatens our hunting 
heritage. BHA supports the inclusion of funding for sage-grouse 
conservation efforts at levels similar to those in FY22 provided to the 
BLM Wildlife Habitat Management and Resource Protection and Maintenance 
subaccounts to ensure the weakened plans don't compromise population 
recovery for the bird. We also encourage the inclusion of report 
language that asks BLM to address significant gaps in staffing and 
hiring capacity to update sage-grouse and sagebrush management plans.
    BHA also supports the removal of the harmful sage-grouse rider that 
compromises the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) ability to 
utilize important conservation tools within the Endangered Species Act 
should populations continue to decline. This rider ties the hands of 
wildlife managers across the country and threatens the livelihood rural 
communities that depend on sagebrush country for economic stability. 
BHA encourages you to oppose efforts to include any limiting sage-
grouse rider language in FY23 appropriations bills.
              abandoned hardrock mine reclamation funding
    BHA supports funding levels of at least $287 million to be provided 
for the abandoned hardrock mine reclamation program created by Sec. 
40704 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. It is critical 
that this new program receive funding to address the estimated 500,000 
abandoned hardrock mines in the West. According to the Government 
Accountability Office, Federal agencies spent, on average, about $287 
million annually from 2008 through 2017 identifying, cleaning up, and 
monitoring abandoned hardrock mine sites. However, at this rate it 
would still take nearly two centuries to clean up all of our Nation's 
abandoned mines which represent the largest single source of pollution 
with 40 percent of watersheds in the West contaminated by mine tailings 
and runoff.
             usfws north american wetlands conservation act
    BHA supports an increase in funding levels for the North American 
Wetlands Conservation Fund from the FY22 enacted levels to $60 million. 
This one-of-a-kind program leverages 1:4 ratio in contributions from 
nonfederal partners to restore migratory birds and other wildlife 
habitat within FWS allocations. To date NAWCA has already conserved 
more than 30 million acres.
         usfws national fish habitat action plan & partnerships
    This USFWS account funds the National Fish Habitat Partnership, a 
coalition of outdoor, hunting, angling, industry, and other 
conservation organizations, that work together to address the loss and 
depletion of fish habitat in critical waterways throughout America. BHA 
supports funding this partnership to further water restoration efforts 
across our country.
                 usfws national wildlife refuge system
    BHA supports an increase in funding for the FWS National Wildlife 
Refuge System's (NWRS) Operations and Maintenance account from the FY22 
enacted levels to $712 million. The NWRS currently allows hunting on 
434 and fishing in 378 wildlife refuges, generating more than $2.4 
billion annually in economic revenue from hunting, fishing and other 
outdoor recreation activities. The Refuge System also supports more 
than 35,000 jobs across our Nation.
              usfws partners for fish and wildlife program
    The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program has been reauthorized 
through fiscal year 2023. BHA supports maintaining the FY22 funding 
levels. This program that provides technical and financial assistance 
to private landowners and help implement critical projects that restore 
grasslands, wetlands and other habitats important to our critters, 
including pheasant, canvasbacks, mule deer and other game species.
           usfws neotropical migratory bird conservation fund
    BHA supports an increase in funding levels for the Neotropical 
Migratory Bird Conservation Fund from the FY22 enacted levels to $8 
million. This will help protect more than 368 bird species throughout 
their migratory life cycles across North and South America. The program 
is a competitive grant program that benefits more than 3.7 million 
acres of habitat, promoting long-term conservation of neotropical 
migratory birds through partner- based conservation and energizing 
local, on-the-ground conservation efforts.
                  usfws state & tribal wildlife grants
    BHA supports an increase in funding for FWS State and Tribal 
Wildlife Grants from the FY22 enacted levels to $82 million. This will 
provide state fish and wildlife management agencies the resources they 
need to continue managing and restoring critical habitats for species 
at risk of becoming endangered. In doing so the program facilitates 
collaboration between state, Tribal and Federal interests to invest in 
conservation efforts that prevent more expensive management costs in 
the future.
                         usfs non-fire programs
    With the issue of borrowing funds from non-fire programs addressed, 
like the Vegetation and Watershed Management and Wildlife, Fisheries 
Habitat Management programs and many others, which were consumed by 
suppressing wildfires, BHA encourages the reinvestment in non-fire 
programs to find innovative ways that promote active management, forest 
health and resiliency, sustainable fish and wildlife habitat and 
quality opportunities for outdoor recreation.
                         usfs roads and trails
    BHA supports robust funding for the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) 
Roads and Trails on National Forest System lands to help alleviate 
millions in maintenance backlogs. Many hunters, anglers and other 
outdoor recreationalists depend on roads and trails to gain access to 
our public lands and waters. Without proper funding and management, 
public access can become eliminated or reduced significantly. 
Addressing USFS's maintenance backlog account is an important priority 
BHA would like to see addressed by Congress.
                        epa geographic programs
    BHA supports maintaining stable funding levels similar to those in 
FY22 for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Geographic Programs. 
The Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay programs provide necessary Federal 
investments that leverage State and local dollars to improve water 
quality and fish and wildlife habitat for Canada geese, speckled trout 
and other game species.
    While we understand the need to be fiscally responsible with 
taxpayer dollars, we believe that conservation programs are key 
economic drivers, providing large returns on investment in addition to 
ensuring that America has clean drinking water. Therefore, we ask you 
to support stable, annual funding for our Nation's public lands and 
waters to support healthy communities and habitats for fish and 
wildlife. Thank you for your consideration of Backcountry Hunters & 
Anglers' fiscal year 2023 recommendations for the Interior, 
Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill.

    [This statement was submitted by John Gale, Conservation Director, 
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.]
                                 ______
                                 
        Prepared Statement of Black Mesa Community School Board
    Black Mesa Community School is located in a remote mountainous area 
of the Navajo Nation Reservation, 26 miles North of Pinon, Arizona. Our 
community is small, but the Black Mesa Community School lies at the 
center of it, providing a space not only for children to learn, but for 
parent involvement. We have an enrollment of nearly 70 students in 
grades K-8th and host a ``Growing in Beauty Home Visitation Program'', 
serving prenatal to 3 year old children. We are a community grant 
school, funded by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) and operated 
pursuant to the Tribally Controlled Schools Act (Public Law 100-297). 
Black Mesa Community School is also a Member of the Dine Bi Olta School 
Board Association (DBOSBA), which represents all of the locally-elected 
school boards within the Navajo Nation. We would like to associate 
ourselves with DBOSBA's fiscal Year 2023 appropriations testimony and 
tell our school's story to provide context for these priorities.
    Our testimony highlights the following fiscal Year 2023 priorities:

  --Increases for ISEP Formula Funds;

  --Full Funding for Teacher and Counselor Pay Parity;

  --Expanding Eligibility for Tribally Controlled Schools to 
        Participate in the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS);

  --Continued Support for Early Childhood and Family Development 
        Programs;

  --Formula Funds for the Native Language and Culture Immersion Program 
        Instead of Competitive Grants;

  --Increased Funding and Flexibility for Education IT;

  --Increases for Road Maintenance for School Bus Routes and Student 
        Transportation;

  --Increases for School Facilities Operations and Maintenance;

  --Increases for School Facility Construction and School Replacement 
        Construction; and

  --Reduce Unnecessary and Burdensome Reporting.

    ISEP Formula Funds is the core BIE account, which funds our 
school's operations. This account funds everything from classroom 
instruction materials to teacher salaries. Increases for ISEP directly 
benefit our students. For example, increases for ISEP could provide the 
resources we need to hire tutors to help our students make up the 
progress they lost during the worst months of the pandemic. ISEP 
increases could also pay for things like transportation subsidies to 
assist our teachers who often travel great distances to teach at our 
school. We also need the resources to retain teachers with the capacity 
to provide culturally appropriate, bilingual education consistent with 
requirements of the Navajo Department of Education. We have seen 
important student performance successes thanks to bilingual and 
cultural education programs, but have no additional funding sources for 
training, curriculum development, teacher certification and 
professional development. ISEP funding increases are vital to enhancing 
learning opportunities for all of our students through the training, 
development, and retention of excellent teachers. Schools across the 
Nation are facing a significant teacher shortage but that shortage is 
particularly acute here in remote communities like ours on the Navajo 
Nation. Further compounding this problem is the fact that surrounding 
public schools in Arizona and neighboring New Mexico have responded to 
the Nationwide teacher shortage by substantially increasing teacher pay 
by tens of thousands of dollars. We wholeheartedly believe teachers 
should be compensated in a way that reflects the important work they do 
every day, but we do not have the budget to compete with these salaries 
being offered by neighboring public schools. This is one of our biggest 
challenges, which has become increasingly difficult. In order to 
effectively address this problem, we need ISEP increases paired with 
Full Funding for Teacher and Counselor Pay Parity, and opportunities to 
expand the benefits package we can offer our teachers and staff that is 
comparable to State Public Schools or Department of Defense Schools.
    Full Funding for Teacher and Counselor Pay Parity is a critical 
tool for attracting and retaining quality teachers. Federal law 
requires the BIE provide funding so that teachers and counselors in the 
BIE-funded school system may be paid equivalent salaries to their 
counterparts in the Department of Defense Education Activity. Federal 
law also provides that, at the discretion of the local school board, a 
BIE-operated school may pay salaries consistent with those paid by 
public schools in the state where the BIE school is located. We would 
like to thank the subcommittees for the fiscal Year 2021 House Report 
116-448 and the Joint Explanatory Statement accompanying the 2021 
Consolidated Appropriations Act which direct the BIE to ``clearly 
display funding amounts required to comply with Defense Department-
equivalent pay rates as part of future budget justifications and to 
include sufficient funding in its budget request to fully fund these 
requirements''. We ask the subcommittees to continue to hold the BIE 
accountable for ensuring that the amounts requested for pay parity are 
sufficient to either match the increases provided by the Defense 
Department schools or are consistent with the rate of pay of nearby 
public schools, whichever of these rates are higher. Given our acute 
teacher shortage, these requested increases to provide pay parity are 
essential.
    Expanding Eligibility for Tribally Controlled Schools to 
Participate in the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) would not 
create any new costs for the Federal Government but it could 
significantly bolster the efforts of tribally controlled schools like 
ours to attract and retain quality teachers. Congress recently extended 
eligibility for tribally controlled schools to participate in the 
Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) and Federal Employee Group Life 
Insurance (FEGLI) programs. Extending the option of FERS participation 
to us and other tribally controlled schools would strengthen this 
effort.
    Early Childhood and Family Development funding plays a critical 
role preparing our children for school and supporting and empowering 
their parents. We currently operate a Navajo Nation ``Growing in Beauty 
Home Visitation'' program to meet the needs of Navajo children with 
delays or disabilities from birth to 3 years of age. The Growing in 
Beauty program is founded on the concept that any family, given needed 
supports and resources, can help their child learn. As Congress 
separately considers a nation-wide expansion of access to high-quality 
pre-school and early learning opportunities, it is absolutely critical 
that schools in the BIE system are included and receive dedicated, 
sufficient, and flexible funding to support current early learning 
programs and to help those schools without a program to start one.
    Providing Formula Funds to all Schools for Native Language and 
Culture Immersion would significantly help our school and others. 
Because this program is currently a competitive grant program, 
participation is limited. We believe that all Native students in BIE 
system schools could benefit from these resources without burdening our 
school administrators with yet another grant application for short-term 
funds.
    Education IT, specifically, funding to increase connectivity for 
schools, students, and teachers and to pay the salaries of technical 
staff is absolutely critical. The funding increases proposed for fiscal 
Year 2022 are welcomed and can be built upon for fiscal Year 2023. We 
also ask that the subcommittees ensure that these funds reliably make 
it out to schools and are not micromanaged or endlessly tied up in the 
BIE's bureaucracy. One specific example is that we would like to use 
this funding to wire teacher housing for internet access-something that 
the (separate) E-Rate program we use for other connectivity priorities 
cannot cover.
    Student Transportation in the BIE Budget and Road Maintenance for 
School Bus Routes in the BIA Budget are of particular importance for 
us. In the area Black Mesa Community School serves, very few roads are 
paved or ``improved.'' A strong rain or snowstorm can render our school 
bus routes impassible and disrupt learning for days. Maintenance costs 
for our vehicles are higher than average for this reason and because 
maintaining our buses requires long transport trips to garages in 
Flagstaff and Gallup which are 150 and 170 miles away, respectively. 
However, we are concerned that the General Services Administration's 
planned conversation to an electric vehicle fleet could further 
complicate this situation, given the current state of our roads and 
electric grid. To be effectively implemented, either our infrastructure 
would need to be significantly updated or these buses would need to be 
specifically designed to handle our remote, challenging terrain and 
unreliable electric grid. Currently, the fuel cost is increasing 
outrageously and this will cause shortfalls in our transportation 
budget.
    School Facilities Operations and Maintenance funds play a pivotal 
role in the health and safety of our students and staff. Proper 
functioning of our HVAC system is key. More funding is needed to 
address the BIE system-wide maintenance backlog and to ensure all of 
our schools have enough funding to adequately heat and cool our 
buildings, and to achieve adequate clean air circulation to reduce the 
risk of coronavirus transmission as we return to in-person classes. 
Each year, we receive the lengthy results of our safety inspections but 
insufficient funding to address these findings. Congress should ensure 
that Facilities funding is timely distributed to schools and not held 
up by the BIE or the BIA Division of Facilities Management and 
Construction. We also ask that Congress to shift these two accounts to 
the forward funded portion of the BIE's budget to help further insulate 
our schools from the disruptive uncertainties of continuing resolutions 
and government shutdowns.
    School Facilities Improvement & Repair and School Replacement 
Construction in the BIE's Education Construction budget also 
significantly impact the health and safety of our students and staff. 
Our school was built in 1985 and since then, we have far outgrown it: 
many of our classes take place in portable/modular buildings and our 
small cafeteria doubles as our gymnasium. We also have so many 
piecemeal fixes and repairs needed that it would likely be more cost 
effective to simply replace our school. Unfortunately, we are not alone 
in this respect: many schools throughout the BIE school system have 
reached far past the end of their safe and useful life and must be 
replaced. Many of these schools are located across the Navajo Nation. 
The BIE's fiscal Year 2022 budget justification reports that only one 
of the 10 schools on the 2016 School Replacement List is complete. It 
is critical for Congress to continue robust levels of funding for 
School Replacement Construction so the remaining schools on the list 
can be completed expeditiously and a new list created. We thank 
Congress for enacting the Great American Outdoors Act, and call on the 
subcommittees to ensure that the act's 5 years of supplemental funding 
to help address the repair and replacement backlogs across the BIE 
school system is just that: supplemental to the robust funding Congress 
is already providing.
    Reduce Unnecessary and Burdensome Reporting to ensure the effective 
implementation of these vital programs and the efficient use of these 
valuable Federal resources. We call the subcommittee's attention to 
several immediate and urgent oversight concerns regarding the BIE's 
noncompliance and disregard for statutory mandates that Congress 
enacted in order to ``facilitate Indian control of Indian affairs in 
all matters relating to education'' as enshrined in the Indian 
Education Title of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
Amendments of 1978 (Public Law 95-561) and the TCSA (Public Law 100-
297). The BIE's actions undermine self-determination in Indian 
education and distract our teachers and administrators from focusing on 
providing quality educational services to our students. The BIE has not 
met the standards set by Congress and does not deserve a passing grade 
for its performance. Significant improvement by the BIE is needed to 
ensure effective program implementation and efficient use of Federal 
resources. Our concerns are reflected in the separate letter DBOSBA is 
providing to the subcommittees which details the need for greater 
accountability at the BIE and less unnecessary paperwork and reporting 
requirements for tribally controlled schools. We respectfully ask that 
the subcommittees express awareness of our oversight concerns in the 
appropriations instructions that will be provided to the BIE and that 
those instructions request a report or response from the BIE.
    Thank you. We would like to thank the subcommittees for your 
support and partnership throughout the pandemic. The resources you 
allocated for BIE system schools helped keep our students and teachers 
safe and connected. We also deeply the appreciate the recent increases 
provided to the key BIE accounts we depend on and your ongoing 
oversight of the BIE. We consider you our partners in this important 
endeavor of preparing our students for a bright future. Thank you for 
the opportunity to provide this testimony. Please consider us a 
resource if you have any questions.

    [This statement was submitted by Carolyn Ben, Secretary, Black Mesa 
Community School Board.]
                                 ______
                                 
       Prepared Statement of Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation

Recommendations:

        1. Provide full funding and advance appropriations for the 
        Indian Health Service

        2. Ensure mandatory funding for Contract Support Costs and 
        105(l) lease payments

        3. Amend Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act 
        to Clarify CSC provisions

        4. Fund Critical Infrastructure investments for the Indian 
        health system

        5. Increase funding and authorize a self-governance funding 
        mechanism option for the Special Diabetes Program for Indians

        6. Increase funding for Preventive Health programs.

        7. Reduce dependence on competitive grants for Indian Country

    Introduction.-- Thank you Chairman Merkley, Ranking Member 
Murkowski, and Members of the subcommittee for the opportunity to share 
our funding priorities for the fiscal Year 2023 Federal budget. My name 
is Robert Clark and I am the President/CEO of the Bristol Bay Area 
Health Corporation. The Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation was created 
in 1973 to provide health care services to Alaska Natives of Southwest 
Alaska. We began operating and managing the Kanakanak Hospital and the 
Bristol Bay Service Unit for the IHS in 1980, and was the first Tribal 
organization to do so under the Indian Self-Determination and Education 
Assistance Act (ISDEAA). BBAHC is a co-signer to the Alaska Tribal 
Health Compact with the Indian Health Service (IHS) under the ISDEAA 
and is now responsible for providing and promoting health care to the 
people of 28 Alaska Native Villages.
    We are grateful that IHS received over $9 billion supplementary 
appropriations to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Those resources have 
been critical to ensuring that we had the means to serve our patients 
and fight this terrible disease. The pandemic also gives us an 
opportunity to make real, sustained investments in the Indian health 
system. As we have seen with the remarkable distribution of the COVID-
19 vaccine in Alaska and throughout Indian Country, when given adequate 
resources and when Tribal sovereignty is honored, Tribal communities 
demonstrate remarkable success. We believe now time to take the lessons 
learned from the COVID-19 pandemic--both positive and negative--to 
renew the Indian health system. Annual appropriations are essential to 
fulfilling the Federal Government's trust and treaty obligations by 
ensuring critical programs and services receive adequate funding to 
fulfill their intended purpose. Therefore, I offer the following 
recommendations for your consideration for fiscal Year 2023 
appropriations for the IHS:
    Provide Full Funding for the Indian Health Service.-- With support 
from the IHS, we strive to provide Alaska Natives and American Indians 
(AI/AN) with access to high quality and comprehensive medical services, 
no more so than during the ongoing pandemic. The Indian health system 
has navigated unimaginable hardships related to supplies, staffing 
levels, infrastructure and facilities, and high rates of underlying 
conditions in serving our people at this time. We sincerely appreciate 
the work that this committee has undertaken--on a bipartisan basis--to 
provide funding increases for IHS year after year. However, more must 
be done for the United States to honor its trust and treaty obligations 
to Tribal Nations.
    The IHS Tribal Budget Formulation Workgroup has calculated the need 
at $49.8 billion for full funding. The Workgroup supports fully funding 
this amount in fiscal Year 2023. The top priorities for program 
expansion from the fiscal Year 2022 National Tribal Budget 
Recommendation Planning base of $12.8 billion as follows:\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Full recommendations are available here: https://www.nihb.org/
docs/02072022/FY percent202023 percent20Tribal percent20Budget 
percent20Formulation percent20Workgroup percent20Recommendations 
percent20Vol percent201.pdf

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    1) Hospitals and Clinics: +$8.65 billion

    2) Purchased/Referred Care: +$5.22 billion

    3) Mental Health: +$3.59 million

    4) Alcohol and substance Abuse: +$2.31 million

    5) Maintenance and Improvement: +$2.27 billion

    Mandatory and Advance Appropriations for IHS.--We appreciate the 
Biden Administration's proposal to provide mandatory funding for IHS 
and increase funding over 10 years. Reclassifying the IHS budget as 
mandatory spending not only reflects the nature of the trust and treaty 
obligations to Tribal Nations, but also will allow IHS to be funded at 
a level that is necessary for providing health care to AI/ANs. As noted 
in the President's budget request, ``Mandatory funding for the IHS 
provides the opportunity for significant funding increases that could 
not be achieved under discretionary funding caps.'' \2\ The proposal 
outlined in the President's Budget request is a good start, but must be 
developed in partnership with Tribal Nations. We stand ready to work 
with you and IHS to fully develop this proposal so that it provides 
adequate funding for IHS and fully honors Tribal self-determination and 
self-governance.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ Department of Health and Human Services, Fiscal Year 2023, 
Indian Health Service, Justification of Estimates for Appropriations 
Committees, p. CJ-3.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    However, if fully mandatory appropriations cannot be achieved for 
fiscal Year 2023, we continue to support IHS advance appropriations for 
the short term. It has unfortunately become the norm that IHS does not 
receive its full yearly appropriation until several months (sometimes 
longer) after the start of the fiscal year. In the recent past, IHS, 
Tribal and Urban health programs have even had to deal with government 
shutdowns, when no funding was provided for weeks on end putting the 
lives of our patients in jeopardy. These funding delays make it 
impossible for IHS and Tribal health programs to plan and manage their 
annual budgets. Congress recognized these challenges when it provided 
the Veterans Administration with advance appropriations over a decade 
ago. Yet, IHS still waits for parity. In fiscal Year 2022, we did not 
receive our full funding amount until almost halfway through the fiscal 
year. The practical implication of this is that our health systems do 
not have the ability to plan our finances even weeks ahead, as we do 
not know what our funding level will be. At a time when we are 
desperate for medical professionals and when the health system is in 
crisis due to the global pandemic, this is just unacceptable. Full 
advance appropriations for the IHS would lead to better stability for 
our health system, improve provider recruitment and retention, and 
improve practices over all. We appreciate President Biden's support for 
IHS advance appropriations in his fiscal Year 2022 budget request to 
Congress and the support of many members of this subcommittee on IHS 
advance appropriations. We urge the Committee to take the necessary 
steps in the fiscal Year 2023 appropriations bill to move/continue IHS 
to an advance appropriation for fiscal Year 2023 and beyond. The time 
is now to end the delay of health care for AI/ANs.
    Mandatory Funding for Contract Support Costs and 105(l) lease 
payments.--If Congress is not able to enact full mandatory funding for 
IHS this year, we continue to support mandatory funding for Contract 
Support Costs (CSC) and 105(l) leases. We appreciate the subcommittee's 
commitment to ensuring that CSC and 105(l) lease costs are fully funded 
by including an indefinite discretionary appropriation in recent years 
for both of these accounts. However, changing these accounts to 
mandatory appropriations in fiscal Year 2023 would bring appropriations 
process into line with the clear legal requirements of the authorizing 
statute. CSC and 105(l) lease funds are already an entitlement under 
substantive law for the ISDEAA to function as intended by Congress. It 
is contradictory and problematic to appropriate funding for CSC on a 
discretionary basis. A simple amendment to a permanent appropriations 
statute could solve this challenge.
    Amend Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act to 
Clarify CSC provisions.--We also request that the committee consider 
amending the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act 
(ISDEAA) to clarify that when agency funding paid to a Tribe for 
program operations is insufficient for contract and compact 
administration, contract support costs will remain available to cover 
the difference. In the recent court decision Cook Inlet Tribal Council, 
Inc. v. Dotomain,\3\ a Federal appeals court held that costs for 
activities normally carried out by IHS are ineligible for payment as 
CSC-even if IHS transfers insufficient, or even no, funding for these 
activities in the Secretarial amount. Under this new ruling, if 
facility costs are higher for a Tribe than for IHS, the Tribe is forced 
to cover the difference by diverting scarce program dollars. Recently, 
this serious misinterpretation of the ISDEAA that has been applied to 
one Tribal organization resulting in a 90 percent reduction of contract 
support costs reimbursement threatens Tribal self-governance and self-
determination. Therefore, we call upon Congress to provide a 
legislative fix to clarify the intent on Congress for this matter, and 
ensure consistency with precedent.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc. v. Dotomain, 10 F.4th 892 (D.C. 
Cir. 2021).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Fully fund critical infrastructure investments.--As Congress 
considers making dramatic investments in the country's infrastructure, 
it is critical that the Indian health system not be left behind. 
Therefore, we request that the subcommittee allocate funding for full 
implementation of interoperable Electronic Health Records (EHR) and 
tele-health. This will ensure that IHS can provide services that are 
similar to other health providers. Last year, IHS said before the 
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs that the current EHR ``created 
significant barriers to the rapid response needed for COVID-19.'' For 
Tribes and Tribal health organizations who have committed their own 
resources to move away from RPMS and make their systems functional, IHS 
should take this into consideration with any new resources and ensure 
these programs are not only interoperable, but compensated accordingly.
    We were thrilled to see that the Sanitation Facilities Construction 
program received $3.5 billion in appropriations in the Infrastructure 
Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58). These funds will be 
especially critical in Alaska, which has a deficit of almost $2 billion 
in unmet sanitation needs in Alaska Native communities. That said, it 
is critical that Congress make still significant investments in Tribal 
health facilities construction. IHS and Tribal facilities are some of 
the oldest in the Nation, meaning that facilities are out of date, or 
not appropriate for the size of the patient populations they serve. 
Therefore, consistent with the Budget Formulation Workgroup's request, 
we recommend $10.6 billion for facilities in fiscal Year 2023.
    Staff Housing Quarters.--We continue to experience challenges 
finding adequate housing for staffing for health and other 
professionals to serve our community. As you know, health staffing 
shortages across the Indian health system are dire, and providing 
adequate living spaces for professionals are directly linked with our 
ability to recruit and retain staff.
    Extend Self-Governance Funding Options to the Special Diabetes 
Program for Indians (SDPI) and increase funding to $250 million/year.--
While we understand that SDPI is not under the jurisdiction of the 
subcommittee, we appreciate that Congress included a 3-year 
reauthorization of SDPI in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 
(Public Law 116-260). Communities like ours across Indian Country rely 
on SDPI resources to address the alarming rates of diabetes and 
diabetes-related health complications among our people. SDPI's success 
rests in the flexibility of its program structure that allows for the 
incorporation of culture and local needs into its services. Consistent 
with this model, Congress should authorize SDPI participants the option 
of receiving their Federal funds through either a grant (as currently 
used) or self-governance funding mechanisms under the Indian Self-
Determination and Education Assistance Act. This would be a natural and 
just extension of SDPI in respecting Tribal sovereignty. Additionally, 
SDPI has not had an increase in funding since fiscal Year 2004. Short 
term reauthorizations also destabilize this health program and make 
staffing and program continuity difficult. For this reason, we 
recommend permanent reauthorization for SDPI at a minimum base of $250 
million per year with annual adjustments for inflationary increases. We 
urge you to work with your Congressional colleagues to ensure that SDPI 
receives a funding increase of at least $250 million per year.
    Plan for the Future with Dedicated Funding for Preventative Health 
Services.--Among the many things we have learned from the COVID-19 
pandemic is that basic public health functions are critical to 
preserving life and overall health of Americans, yet public health 
systems in most Tribal communities lag far behind systems in other 
jurisdictions. Without robust public health systems in place, 
responding to public health threats means that Tribal communities will 
continue to be a challenge. Like other governments, Tribes have the 
responsibility to provide public health services for their people. Yet 
the Federal Government provides few resources to Tribal communities for 
this purpose. AI/ANs experience health disparities for a variety of 
health conditions such as such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, 
cancer and other largely preventable chronic conditions. Treating these 
chronic health conditions imposes unnecessary challenges on Tribal 
health systems and IHS. We support long-term, sustained, full 
investment in Tribal public health infrastructure so that Tribal 
communities have the resources available to respond quickly when the 
next crisis hits.
    Reduce Dependence on Federal Grants.--In addition to the critical 
funding needs outlined above, we also support moving away from 
competitive grants for Federal funding mechanisms. The Federal trust 
responsibility does not require that we jump through a myriad of hoops 
and onerous applications to see that services are provided to our 
people. Grants also unfairly pit Tribes against Tribes, when all are 
deserving of critical resources. Therefore, we agree with other Tribal 
leaders and continue to support broad based funding for our health 
systems across all Federal agencies. Too often, Tribes are under 
resourced to apply for Federal grants, and to comply with the 
associated burdensome reporting requirements which vary from grant to 
grant. Applications and reporting requirements force our health system 
to divert staff time to apply and report thereby diluting the 
usefulness of the resources. Instead, we request wide-spread, formula-
based funding across all programs and the flexibility needed to respond 
to the specific needs of their own communities, not those prescribed by 
Federal grants. A Tribal workgroup has developed draft legislation to 
reduce dependence on Federal grants by enacting Title VI of ISDEAA, 
which would allow for self-governance to be extended to non-IHS 
programs within the Department of Health and Human Services. We would 
appreciate the subcommittee's support of this legislation.

    [This statement was submitted by Robert J. Clark, President/CEO, 
Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation.]
                                 ______
                                 
     Prepared Statement of Business Council for Sustainable Energy
    The Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) appreciates the 
opportunity to submit testimony for the record regarding programs 
impacting clean energy at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and 
the Department of Interior (DOI) in the Fiscal Year 2023 Interior, 
Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill.
    The BCSE is a coalition of companies and trade associations from 
the energy efficiency, energy storage, natural gas, renewable energy, 
sustainable transportation and emerging decarbonization technology 
sectors. It includes independent electric power producers, investor-
owned utilities, public utilities, equipment manufacturers, commercial 
end users and service providers in energy and environmental markets. 
Founded in 1992, the coalition's diverse business membership is united 
around the revitalization of the U.S. economy and the creation of a 
clean, secure, and reliable energy future in America.
    The BCSE is pleased to have an independent small- and medium-size 
businesses initiative under its banner, the Clean Energy Business 
Network (CEBN). Together, the BCSE and CEBN represent a broad range of 
the clean energy economy, from Fortune 100 companies to small 
businesses working in all 50 States and over 350 Congressional 
districts. On a national basis, these industries support over 3 million 
U.S. jobs.
         environmental protection agency clean energy programs
    As a business group working to advance clean energy policies, BCSE 
has seen first-hand the importance of the Federal role EPA fills in 
sharing information about new technologies and practices to help speed 
adoption of clean energy, and to allow consumers to make more informed 
decisions about energy usage. EPA initiatives help businesses manage 
environmental issues, foster transparency and best practices in 
emissions and water management, and leadership in environmental 
stewardship and sustainability. EPA also provides transparent, 
standardized, and independent data and expertise that cannot be 
replicated with the same credibility by private sector or non-
governmental organizations.
    BCSE requests funding for Environmental Agency programs including 
the CHP Partnership, Green Power Partnership, Natural Gas Star, Methane 
Challenge, AgStar, Center for Corporate Climate Leadership, SmartWay 
Transport Partnership, and others, which embody longstanding public-
private endeavors that benefit American businesses and help them 
continue to compete on a global scale. These EPA initiatives provide 
market transparency, encourage voluntary action, and identify companies 
that are leaders in businesses and in environmental protection. 
Additionally, EPA's laboratories lead the world in capabilities that 
make the United States preeminent in research and analysis which 
supports private sector capabilities to enhance economic growth and 
emissions reductions simultaneously.
    The Energy Star program has a proven track record of success. 
Through brand recognition, information and positive publicity, the 
Energy Star program has provided the catalyst for many consumers, 
homeowners, businesses, and State and local governments to invest in 
energy efficiency. BCSE requests a doubling of funding for the Energy 
Star program in fiscal year 2023.
    The Renewable Fuel Standard, which is implemented by the Office of 
Transportation and Air Quality, has enabled the biomass and biogas 
industry to help meet lower carbon energy needs. The Council encourages 
funding for EPA for the processing of pathways and applications to 
enable biomass, biogas, renewable natural gas (RNG), and waste-to-
energy projects to produce RINs for electricity. Electricity derived 
from biogas, RNG, renewable biomass, and solid forms of biomass, is 
currently being used as a transportation fuel and should be credited 
accordingly under the RFS program. Congress should appropriate $1 
million in funding for EPA to take final action within 90 days, on any 
registration application or pathway petition to participate in the 
Renewable Fuels Pathway II Rule which has been pending for more than 1 
year.
    EPA's State and Local Climate and Energy Program offers expertise 
about energy efficiency, renewable energy, and climate change policies 
and programs to interested State, local, and Tribal governments. By 
providing these resources, EPA removes barriers that would otherwise 
prohibit action at the local level due to resource constraints or lack 
of information on best practices. Through its programs on renewable 
energy, renewable natural gas (RNG), natural gas, combined heat and 
power and energy efficiency, EPA encourages the use of clean, 
efficient, and market ready technologies that can lower costs and 
improve resilience in addition to lowering emissions.
    EPA is also engaged in a variety of international activities to 
advance climate change science, monitor our environment, and promote 
activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. EPA establishes 
partnerships, provides leadership, and shares technical expertise to 
support these activities.
              department of interior clean energy programs
    The Department of Interior has a critical role in renewable energy 
production on public lands and waters and BCSE requests funding to 
facilitate this transition to clean energy.
    The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) Office of Renewable 
Energy Programs (OREP) and Environmental Studies Program (ESP) play 
crucial roles in the development of offshore wind energy. Providing 
additional resources to these offices will help the processing of 
permits for an unprecedented number of offshore wind projects while 
allowing the Department to conduct additional lease sales and identify 
new lease areas on the Outer Continental Shelf. A doubling of funding 
is needed for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) 
to ensure safety while deploying offshore wind projects. BCSE also 
supports funding for the Bureau of Land Management renewable energy 
program and for an increase in funding for planning and consultation 
services and staff at the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) needed for 
Endangered Species Act evaluations.
    The Council welcomes the opportunity to share information from the 
2022 edition of the Sustainable Energy in America Factbook which shows 
that despite the lingering pandemic, global supply chain bottlenecks, 
rising inflation, and considerable uncertainty in 2021, the clean 
energy and energy efficiency transition continued, with a record-
breaking year for deployment of renewable power, battery storage and 
sustainable transportation, and an unprecedented injection of new 
capital into companies, technologies and projects. We encourage you to 
build upon this momentum with sustained support for clean energy 
programs in fiscal year 2023.
    BCSE looks forward to working with you throughout the fiscal year 
2022 budget cycle. Please feel free to reach out to Ruth McCormick at 
[email protected] with any questions.

    [This statement was submitted by Lisa Jacobson, President, Business 
Council for Sustainable Energy.]
                                 ______
                                 
    Prepared Statement of the Center for Invasive Species Prevention
    We write to ask you to support funding for two programs of the USDA 
Forest Service. Each is essential for protecting the resilience of the 
Nation's forests in the face of invasive pests.
    Specifically, we ask that the subcommittee appropriate to the 
Forest Health Management Program (FHP) $51 million for the Cooperative 
Lands subprogram and at least $32 million for the Federal Lands 
subprogram. Both subprograms must be funded in order to ensure 
continuity of protection efforts--which is the only way they can be 
effective.
    We ask further that the subcommittee adopt report language 
requiring that five percent of the Forest and Rangeland Research 
Program's $318 million budget be allocated to research on invasive 
species. The $16 million would fund research necessary to improving 
managers' understanding of invasive forest insects' and pathogens' 
invasion pathways and impacts, as well as to developing effective 
management strategies.
    urban, rural, and wildland forests: indispensable and threatened
    About one-third of America's land area supports forests or 
woodlands. These provide many benefits, including wood and non-wood 
forest products; jobs for rural economies; wildlife habitat; carbon 
sequestration; clean water and air; and recreation and aesthetic 
enjoyment. About 60 percent of these forests are owned by States or 
private entities.
    While the ecosystem benefits provided by rural and wildland forests 
are well understood, the contributions of urban forests are sometimes 
not recognized. Urban forests moderate temperatures and winds, thus 
reducing energy expenditures and related emissions of carbon dioxide 
and other pollutants. They curb stormwater runoff and its management 
costs. Urban trees filter air and water pollutants. And they improve 
the health and wellbeing of city residents.
              the need for a continuum of pest management
    A growing number of non-native insects and pathogens threaten our 
forests. Already, an estimated 41 percent of forest biomass in the 
``lower 48'' States is at risk to mortality caused by the 15 species 
causing the greatest damage. Unique plant communities and critical 
watersheds are being destroyed. These include the black ash swamps of 
the upper Midwest, riparian forests in the far West, stream canyons of 
the Appalachian range, and high-elevation forests of the Rocky Mountain 
States. [A thorough discussion of these pests' impacts is in Invasive 
Species in Forests and Grasslands of the United States: A Comprehensive 
Science Synthesis for the United States Forest Sector, available here 
https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/61982]
    Meantime, newly-discovered pests cause threats to which the FHP 
must respond. Examples include rapid `ohi'a death threatening the 
unique forest ecosystems of Hawai`i; beech leaf disease, which is 
killing beech trees from Ohio to Maine and south to Virginia; and the 
spotted lanternfly, now spread across Pennsylvania and down the 
Appalachians to the middle of Virginia, as well as on the Indiana/
Kentucky border.
    These introduced pests usually first appear in cities or suburbs 
because they arrive on imported goods destined to population centers. 
The immediate result is enormous damage to urban forests.
    However, the pests don't stay in cities. Instead, they proliferate 
and spread to rural and wildland forests, including National forests. 
Some spread on their own. Others are carried far and wide on firewood, 
plants, or even storage pods holding household furnishings. Thus they 
quickly grow from a local outbreak to a national problem that hop-
scotches across state boundaries.
    In this way, the pests introduced to our cities threaten forests 
across the continent, demanding a Federal response. Examples of tree-
killing pests that have spread from urban areas to our National forests 
include the hemlock woolly adelgid, emerald ash borer, polyphagous and 
Kuroshio shot hole borers, sudden oak death, laurel wilt disease, and 
spotted lanternfly.
    As this history demonstrates, protecting our National forests must 
begin by addressing pests where they are first found--usually in urban 
or semi-rural forests. The Cooperative Lands subprogram of the Forest 
Health Management program does this by providing technical and 
financial assistance to the States and other forest-management 
partners.
    Our request for $51 million for work on non-federal cooperative 
lands would partially restore capacity lost over the last decade. Since 
Fiscal Year 2010, spending to combat 11 specified non-native insects 
and pathogens fell by about 50 percent. Meanwhile, the pests have 
spread.
    Of course, management of the many non-native and native pests 
threatening our National forests constitutes an essential element of 
the pest-management continuum. For this reason, CISP supports a $32 
million appropriation for the Federal Lands subprogram for FY23.
    I will highlight a less-known but vital aspect of the FHP program: 
its leadership on breeding pest-resistant trees to restore forests 
decimated by pests. One component, the Dorena Genetic Resource Center, 
in Cottage Grove, Oregon, has long provided genetic services to the 19 
National forests plus cooperators in Oregon and Washington. One of the 
Center's projects has developed Port-Orford cedar seedlings resistant 
to the fatal root. These seedlings are now being planted by National 
forests, the Bureau of Land Management, and others. In addition, pines 
with some resistance to white pine blister rust are also under 
development. Both conifers are important timber species and essential 
to restoring the region's biodiversity, so these resistant trees are 
good news! Also, the Dorena Center offers expert advice to partners in 
the Forest Service and other federal, state, and academic institutions 
engaged in resistance-breeding for Oregon's ash trees and two tree 
species in Hawai`i, koa and `ohi`a.
       usda forest service forest and rangeland research program
    Effective programs to prevent, suppress, and eradicate non-native 
insects, diseases, and plants can be developed only after scientists 
understand the pest-host relationship. Often, when pests are first 
detected, little to nothing is known about them. This crucial knowledge 
can be gained only through research.
    Unfortunately, only a tiny percentage of the Forest Service's $300 
million research budget has been allocated to improving managers' 
understanding of specific invasive species and, more generally, of the 
factors contributing to bioinvasions.
    Funding for research conducted by the Research stations on 10 non-
native pests decreased from $10 million in Fiscal Year 2010 to just 
$2.5 million in Fiscal Year 2020--less than one percent of the total 
research budget. This cut of more than 70 percent has crippled the 
USFS' ability to develop effective tools to manage the growing number 
of pests.
    We thank the Committee for not accepting the proposal--last year--
to close the Pacific Southwest Research Station. We are glad that the 
Station remains operational since it leads research on sudden oak 
death; multiple threats to Hawaiian forests (rapid `ohi`a death, `ohi`a 
rust, koa wilt, Erythrina gall wasp on wiliwili tree; and Myoporum 
thrips on naio); and the growing number of introduced wood-borers in 
California.
    The USFS Research and Development program must also continue 
leading efforts to breed hemlocks resistant to hemlock woolly adelgid; 
ashes resistant to emerald ash borer; beech resistant to both beech 
bark disease and beech leaf disease; and elms resistant to Dutch elm 
disease. The Research program also continues studies to understand the 
epidemiology of laurel wilt disease, which has spread to sassafras 
trees in Kentucky and Virginia.
    To ensure the future health of America's forests, we ask the 
subcommittee to enhance funding for vitally important research into 
invasive species by including in its report language an instruction 
that the Service increase the funding for this vital research area to 
five percent of the total research budget.
    Thank you for addressing these matters. I would be pleased to 
provide additional information.

    [This statement was submitted by Faith T. Campbell, President, 
Center for Invasive Species Prevention.]
                                 ______
                                 
   Prepared Statement of Central Arizona Water Conservation District
    On behalf of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District 
(CAWCD), I encourage you to direct the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 
to again expend at least $2.0 million from its Aquatic Habitat 
Management Program sub-activity (formerly known as the Soil, Water and 
Air Program) for Colorado River specific salinity control activities in 
Fiscal Year 2023. The funding will help protect the water quality of 
the Colorado River that is used by approximately 40 million people for 
municipal and industrial purposes and used to irrigate approximately 
5.5 million acres in the United States.
    CAWCD manages the Central Arizona Project (CAP), a multi-purpose 
water resource development and management project that delivers 
Colorado River water into central and southern Arizona. The largest 
supplier of renewable water in Arizona, CAP diverts an average of over 
1.5 million acre-feet of Arizona's 2.8-million-acre-foot Colorado River 
entitlement each year to municipal and industrial users, agricultural 
irrigation districts, and Tribal communities.
    Our goal at CAP is to provide an affordable, reliable and 
sustainable supply of Colorado River water to a service area that 
includes more than 80 percent of Arizona's population.
    These renewable water supplies are critical to Arizona's economy 
and to the economies of Native American communities throughout the 
state. Nearly 90 percent of economic activity in the State of Arizona 
occurs within CAP's service area. The canal provides an economic 
benefit of $100 billion annually, accounting for one-third of the 
entire Arizona gross state product. CAP also helps the State of Arizona 
meet its water management and regulatory objectives of reducing 
groundwater use and ensuring availability of groundwater as a 
supplemental water supply during future droughts. Achieving and 
maintaining these water management objectives is critical to the long-
term sustainability of a State as arid as Arizona.
                 negative impacts of concentrated salts
    Natural and man-induced salt loading to the Colorado River creates 
environmental and economic damages. EPA has identified that more than 
60 percent of the salt load of the Colorado River comes from natural 
sources. The majority of land within the Colorado River Basin is 
federally owned, much of which is administered by BLM. Human activity, 
principally irrigation, adds to salt load of the Colorado River. 
Further, natural and human activities concentrate the dissolved salts 
in the River.
    The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) has estimated the 
current quantifiable damages at about $354 million per year to U.S. 
users with projections that damages would increase to approximately 
$671 million per year by 2040 if the program were not to continue. 
These damages include:

  --A reduction in the ability to reclaim and reuse water for 
        beneficial uses, including drinking water and irrigation water 
        supplies, due to high salinities in the water delivered to 
        water treatment and reclamation facilities;

  --A reduction in the yield of salt sensitive crops and increased 
        water use to meet the leaching requirements in the agricultural 
        sector;

  --Increased use of imported water and cost of desalination and brine 
        disposal for recycling water in the municipal sector;

  --A reduction in the useful life of galvanized water pipe systems, 
        water heaters, faucets, garbage disposals, clothes washers, and 
        dishwashers, and increased use of bottled water and water 
        softeners in the household sector;

  --An increase in the cost of cooling operations and the cost of water 
        softening, and a decrease in equipment service life in the 
        commercial sector;

  --An increase in the use of water and the cost of water treatment, 
        and an increase in sewer fees in the industrial sector;

  --A decrease in the life of treatment facilities and pipelines in the 
        utility sector; and

  --Difficulty in meeting wastewater discharge requirements to comply 
        with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit 
        terms and conditions, and an increase in desalination and brine 
        disposal costs due to accumulation of salts in groundwater 
        basins.

    The threat of salinity continues to be a concern between the United 
States and Mexico. Since the agreement of Minute 242 in 1973 to the 
1944 Water Treaty, the United States has taken several actions to 
improve the quality of water delivered to Mexico, including operating 
and maintaining the Main Outlet Drain Extension (MODE). More recently, 
on November 20, 2012, a 5-year agreement, known as Minute 319, was 
signed between the U.S. and Mexico to guide future management of the 
Colorado River. Among the key issues addressed in Minute 319 included 
an agreement to maintain current salinity management and existing 
salinity standards. The United States, Mexico, and key water users, 
including CAWCD, worked since 2015 to develop a successor agreement, 
Minute 323, which was finalized on September 27, 2017. Minute 323 
continues collaboration and cooperation among the United States and 
Mexico with respect to salinity control in the Colorado River system. 
The CAWCD and other key water providers are committed to meeting these 
goals.
    Adequate funding for salinity control will prevent the water 
quality of the Colorado River from further degradation and avoid 
significant increases in economic damages to municipal, industrial and 
irrigation users.
                               conclusion
    Implementation of salinity control practices through the BLM 
Program has proven to be a very cost-effective method of controlling 
the salinity of the Colorado River and is an essential component of the 
overall Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program.
    The continuation of funding will prevent further degradation of the 
water quality of the Colorado River and further degradation and 
economic damages experienced by municipal, industrial and irrigation 
users. A modest investment in source control pays huge dividends in 
improved drinking water quality for nearly 40 million Americans. CAWCD 
requests that this committee direct that BLM again expend in Fiscal 
Year 2023 at least $2.0 million from its Aquatic Habitat Management 
Program sub-activity for Colorado River specific salinity control 
activities.

    [This statement was submitted by Theodore C. Cooke, General 
Manager.]
                                 ______
                                 
            Prepared Statement of Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
    On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure 
Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) Public Law 117-58, also known as the 
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), into law. The Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Law is the largest long-term investment in our 
infrastructure and economy in our Nation's history. As you know, it 
provides $550 billion over fiscal years 2022 through 2026 in new 
Federal investment in infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and 
mass transit, water infrastructure, resilience,
    and broadband. In section 14005 of the law, the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs Road Maintenance Program was authorized for appropriations of 
$50,000,000 in 2022 with $2,000,000 stepped increases each year of the 
law, through FY2026. If fully funded at the authorized levels, this 
would mark the highest increase that the Road Maintenance Program has 
ever seen. The program has been severely underfunded and mostly 
forgotten about over the last 30 years with funding levels hovering 
around $24 million in the 1990's, a jump to about $40 million in the 
early 2000's, and then a fall back down in the 2010's with small 
increases over the last 7 years.
    In March of 2022, Congress funded the BIA Road Maintenance Program 
at $37 million for fiscal year 2022, underfunding the program by $13 
million from what was authorized in the bipartisan law. Hundreds of 
billions of dollars will be invested in infrastructure over the next 
several years through the new Surface Transportation Reauthorization 
Act of 2021 (STRA-21) in BIL, and so we find it makes no sense to short 
the Road Maintenance Program $13 million when the need is so great and 
such large investments are being made in other areas. Currently, BIA 
has a deferred maintenance backlog in excess of $300 million to 
maintain BIA-owned roads and bridges to an adequate standard. As part 
of a 2018 survey conducted by the BIA, the deferred maintenance backlog 
for all Tribal and BIA respondents was estimated at $498 million.
    The BIA Road Maintenance Program is currently operating with only 
13 percent of its miles in good to excellent condition while the other 
87 percent remain fair to failing. The American Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 infused an historic amount of 
additional funding into the program and allowed Tribes across the 
country to complete thousands of road maintenance projects. Through 
ARRA, $141 million in supplemental road maintenance spending was pumped 
into the program. As a result, the amount of road miles in good to 
excellent condition saw a marked increase. Each year following the 
percentages have slowly dropped as roads in Indian Country deteriorate. 
The data is there and the proof is there to show what increased funding 
can do for the Road Maintenance Program.
    We strongly ask that you fully fund the program at the $52 million 
authorized in fiscal year 2023 and also fully fund the program each 
year of the remaining authorization in the law. Give us the chance to 
show once again what Indian Country can and will do to prove that 
better funding is what makes this program operate at a higher level. 
The data and proof will be there once again to show that this increased 
investment in Road Maintenance will not only make the roadways safer 
but make the level of service of these routes rise to that good to 
excellent condition. This will also help to improve economic 
development opportunities across our lands.
    Thank you for your cooperation. If you would like to discuss this 
further you can reach me at (605) 964-4155.

    [This statement was submitted by Harold C. Frazier, Chairman 
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.]
                                 ______
                                 
              Prepared Statement of the Conservation Fund
    Chairman Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowksi, and Members of the 
Appropriations subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related 
Agencies, thank you for this opportunity to submit outside witness 
testimony on behalf of The Conservation Fund (TCF). TCF supports the 
mandatory funding request of $900 million and additional discretionary 
funding in fiscal year 2023 for the Land and Water Conservation Fund 
(LWCF), which includes the Federal land acquisition programs of the 
Bureau of Land Management ($75 million), National Park Service ($105 
million), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ($125 million), U.S. Forest 
Service ($135 million), as well as three State grant programs: the U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service's Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation 
Fund ($31 million); National Park Service's State Assistance Grants 
program ($270 million); and the U.S. Forest Service's Forest Legacy 
Program ($110 million). TCF also supports a funding request for the 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's North American Wetlands Conservation 
Fund ($60 million); U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's State and Tribal 
Wildlife Grant Programs ($100 million); U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service's Chesapeake Watershed Investments for Landscape Defense 
Program ($15 million); National Park Service's Chesapeake Bay Gateways 
and Watertrails Program ($3 million); and the U.S. Forest Service's 
Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program ($10 million); and 
the Department of Interior's (DOI) Natural Resource Damage Assessment 
and Restoration Program ($10 million). TCF requests funding for the 
Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Great Lakes Restoration 
Initiative ($400 million) and Chesapeake Bay Program ($91 million).
    TCF is a national, non-profit conservation organization dedicated 
to conserving America's land and water legacy for future generations. 
Established in 1985, TCF works with landowners; federal, State and 
local agencies; and other partners to conserve our Nation's important 
lands for people, wildlife and communities. To date, TCF has helped our 
partners to conserve over 8.5 million acres. These accomplishments are 
due, in large measure, to the leadership of this subcommittee over many 
years to appropriate funds to acquire lands for future generations, 
working forests, recreational opportunities, wildlife habitat, and many 
other benefits.
    Below are highlights of some benefits of the LWCF and land 
acquisition programs. While these projects show the tremendous 
diversity of benefits of land acquisition for the public, they have one 
thing in common: each of these projects is driven by landowners. Many 
farmers, ranchers and forestland owners have significant financial 
equity in their land. By enabling a landowner to sell a conservation 
easement or fee title, the LWCF program provides landowners with funds 
to stay in business, reinvest in businesses, or meet other financial 
goals.
    As the subcommittee crafts its Interior, Environment and Related 
Agencies Appropriations bill, there are several key points we 
respectfully request you to consider, listed below.
    Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) at $900 million in 
mandatory and additional discretionary funding: The enactment of the 
Great American Outdoors Act is a generational land conservation 
victory. The Conservation Fund applauds Congress for passing the 
bipartisan, bicameral legislation that provides full and mandatory 
funding (at $900 million) for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. We 
also encourage Congress to provide discretionary funding to address 
emerging needs and opportunities. Funding the Nation's premier 
conservation program with both mandatory and discretionary funding in 
fiscal year 2023 will ensure LWCF continues to fulfill its mission to 
safeguard natural areas, water resources, and our cultural heritage, 
and to provide recreation opportunities to all Americans.
    The Conservation Fund urges the Senate and House to end the 
practice in recent years to rescind prior years' appropriated dollars 
from the LWCF, which undermines this critical conservation program. It 
is common for Federal land acquisition funds to remain ``unobligated'' 
until the last step in an acquisition project-this can reasonably take 
up to 5 years. Unobligated balances are not a problem in and of 
themselves, but funding should be moved to other acquisition projects 
if it is no longer needed for acquisitions within the Federal unit 
originally receiving the LWCF funding. To this end, Congress should 
continue to encourage the agencies to use a tool they already have-
reprogramming-rather than rescissions to ensure LWCF funds are spent on 
critical conservation needs, fulfilling the purpose of the LWCF and the 
intent of the Great American Outdoors Act.

        LWCF-Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Land Acquisition at $75 
        million. The BLM and its National Conservation Lands provide 
        some of our Nation's best recreation and historic areas, from 
        opening new recreational access to sportsmen along with North 
        Platte River SRMA in Wyoming to protecting riverside lands of 
        the Upper Snake/South Fork ACEC SRMA in Idaho. We request $75 
        million to fund BLM's land acquisition program and projects.

        LWCF-National Park Service (NPS) Federal Land Acquisition at 
        $105 million. Hosting more than 237 million visitors in 2020, 
        the 423 National Park units provide an economic boost to their 
        local communities and those employed directly and indirectly. 
        Funding for NPS LWCF will help protect key access points for 
        recreation, historic areas, trails and more. We respectfully 
        request $105 million to fund NPS's land acquisition program and 
        projects.

        LWCF-U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Land Acquisition at 
        $125 million. National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) are our Nation's 
        protectors of clean water, clean air, abundant wildlife and 
        world-class recreation. Funding for fiscal year 2023 FWS LWCF 
        will help protect critical wildlife habitat, provide public 
        access and recreation, and improve water quality at Refuges, 
        including Maryland's Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and 
        Texas' Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge; as well as 
        preserving our Nation's working lands, such as at Montana's 
        Rocky Mountain Front Conservation Area. We respectfully request 
        $125 million to fund FWS's land acquisition program and 
        projects.

        LWCF-U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Land Acquisition at $135 
        million. USFS LWCF funds help with forest management by 
        protecting key inholdings and reducing fire threats. From 
        Colorado's Pike-San Isabel National Forest to Minnesota's 
        Superior National Forest-Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness 
        to the Appalachian Mountain's White Mountain (NH/ME), George 
        Washington-Jefferson (VA), Cherokee (TN), Pisgah (NC), and 
        Chattahoochee (GA) National Forests, we are working with 
        willing landowners at priority project areas and respectfully 
        request $135 million to fund USFS's land acquisition program 
        and projects.

    LWCF State Grant Programs: FWS-Cooperative Endangered Species Fund, 
NPS- State Conservation Grants, and USFS-Forest Legacy: We encourage 
the subcommittee to fund:

  --FWS-Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund: $31 million 
        (for the LWCF-funded portion)

  --NPS-State Assistance Grants program: $270 million

  --USFS-Forest Legacy Program: $110 million

    DOI and USFS Conservation and Land Acquisition Programs: TCF 
encourages the Committee to fund:

  --FWS-North American Wetlands Conservation Fund at $60 million

  --FWS-State and Tribal Wildlife Grant Program at $100 million. The 
        State and Tribal Wildlife Grant Program is the only Federal 
        funding source available to States that leverages non-federal 
        funds to help protect critical habitat for over 12,000 species 
        in greatest conservation need identified in state wildlife 
        action plans. To build upon the State and Tribal Wildlife 
        Program, TCF urges Congress to enact the Recovering America's 
        Wildlife Act. This legislation aims to provide critical 
        resources to conduct proactive, non-regulatory fish and 
        wildlife conservation efforts nationwide.

  --FWS-Chesapeake Watershed Investments for Landscape Defense Program 
        at $15 million

  --NPS-Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Program at $3 million

  --USFS-Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program at $10 
        million

    Department of the Interior-Natural Resource Damage Assessment and 
Restoration Program at $10 million. The Restoration Program leads the 
National response for recovery of natural resources that have been 
injured or destroyed because of oil spills or releases of other 
hazardous substances. Recoveries from responsible parties can only be 
spent to implement restoration plans developed by the Trustee Council 
for each incident. These funds are one hundred percent private and 
represent the amount needed to restore environmental resources or 
compensate for lost public use since the damage in question. The fiscal 
year 2023 funds would allow the Program to add carefully targeted staff 
allocated to Interior bureaus and offices through its Restoration 
Support Unit to accelerate restoration activities.

    Environmental Protection Agency Programs: TCF encourages the 
Committee to fund:

  --Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GRLI) at $400 million. TCF 
        urges funding of GLRI at $400 million. The Initiative provides 
        critical support for on-the-ground restoration programs and 
        projects targeted at the most significant environmental 
        problems in the Great Lakes ecosystem.

  --Chesapeake Bay Program at $91 million: TCF urges funding of the 
        Chesapeake Bay program at $91 million. This program brings 
        together a diverse partnership to support the Bay's 
        restoration.

    The Conservation Fund stands ready to work with you to secure full 
and consistent funding for the LWCF and the other critically important 
programs that help protect the environment, economies, forests, and 
community values across our Nation. Thank you for the opportunity to 
provide this testimony and your consideration of our request.

    [This statement was submitted by Kelly Reed, Senior Vice President 
of Government Relations, The Conservation Fund.]
                                 ______
                                 
            Prepared Statement of Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
    On behalf of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (Choctaw Nation or the 
Nation), I am writing to urge the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on 
Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies to include the following 
recommendations in its Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations package:

  --$246 million for increased public safety costs incurred by the 
        Choctaw Nation and other Oklahoma Tribes following the Supreme 
        Court's Ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma, 591 U. S. (2020).

  --$300,000 to the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma to hire two Tribal 
        Mining Remediation Compliance Officers to account for the mines 
        in Oklahoma.

  --$150 per student for the Johnson O'Malley (JOM) Program.

  --Fund all current commitments for the Joint Venture Construction 
        Program (JVCP).

  --Direct the Indian Health Service (IHS) to solicit JVCP applications 
        on a regular cycle.

  --Provide recurring direct funding and support for IHS and Tribal 
        Graduate Medical Education (GME) Program.

    Additionally, the Choctaw Nation urges the subcommittee to consider 
report language that:

  --Directs the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) to make publicly 
        available a report on its efforts to implement the JOM 
        Modernization Act as it relates to updating student counts.

  --Directs funding to the Federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation 
        and Enforcement to work with the Oklahoma Department of Mines 
        to conduct an assessment of mines in the State of Oklahoma, 
        with a particular emphasis on mines or reclamation projects 
        located within the boundaries of Indian Reservations.

    These priorities are discussed in further detail below.
                         indian health service
    Fund All Current Commitments for JVCP Projects; Require IHS to 
Solicit JVCP Applications on a Regular Cycle, Not Less Than Every Two 
Years; and Require the IHS to Move All Eligible JVCP Applications 
Forward in Each Competition. The Choctaw Nation appreciates that 
Congress continues to appropriate funding for the Joint Venture 
Construction Program (JVCP), a proven, successful model for leveraging 
Federal resources to improve access to care in Indian country. Choctaw 
has utilized the JVCP to expand health care services to our citizens 
and created jobs throughout our reservation, which consists of 13 
counties in Southeast Oklahoma. One of the great benefits of the JVCP 
to the Choctaw Nation Health Services is that it leverages scarce 
resources with a tribal/federal partnership. This allows Tribes to 
address lack of access to healthcare in our Tribal communities. Our 
most recent JVCP is the Choctaw Nation Durant Regional Medical Clinic, 
a 143,000 square foot clinic, opened in 2017 and contains the first 
Tribal outpatient ambulatory surgery clinic. The JVCP allows Tribes or 
Tribal organizations to construct and equip a healthcare facility at 
their cost with a Federal commitment for staffing. Participants in this 
competitive program are selected from among eligible applicants who 
agree to provide an appropriate facility to IHS that rank highest with 
relative need. Because the historic IHS Health Care Facilities 
Construction list has been frozen without adding any additional 
projects since the 1990s, the JVCP is the only means that many Tribes 
across most IHS Areas must address extremely outdated health facilities 
and underserved populations. The IHS has been opening JVCP competition 
sporadically and not moving all eligible projects forward in each 
competition.

  --Provide Recurring Direct Funding and Support for IHS and Tribal GME 
        Programs; Direct IHS to Waive the Scores for Their Loan 
        Repayment and Make Tribes Automatically Eligible Like the 
        National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Did; and Increase funding 
        for IHS and Tribal Provider Housing Construction and 
        Renovation. Indian health programs and facilities face long 
        standing challenges in recruiting and retaining essential 
        staff, which are attributable to a variety of factors that 
        include, but are not limited to, the remoteness of some IHS 
        facilities, rural communities, aging IHS facilities and medical 
        equipment, housing shortages, limited access to high quality 
        schools and basic amenities, limited spousal employment 
        opportunities, and competition with higher paying public and 
        private health care systems. The Choctaw Nation has operated a 
        highly successful Graduate Medical Education (GME) program 
        since 2012 which has taught us that GME improves quality of 
        care by providing teaching/learning environments and raising 
        the performance of all personnel to an exceptional level, which 
        in turn becomes its own means of recruitment. Since the Choctaw 
        GME program's inception, about 80 percent of our residents 
        continue to work in rural settings, and about 70 percent of our 
        residents accept employment in the Choctaw Nation health 
        system. The Choctaw Nation, with our hospital located in 
        Talihina, a community with a population of l , 100, has had to 
        construct and maintain provider housing as the IHS formerly did 
        in the same location prior to 1995. The COVID-19 pandemic has 
        exacerbated provider shortages and revealed unmet needs for 
        housing where no appropriate housing exists, not only for 
        doctors, but also nursing personnel.
                        bureau of indian affairs
                             public safety
    Allocate $246 million to Cover the Increased Public Safety Costs 
Incurred by the Choctaw Nation and Other Oklahoma Tribes Following the 
Supreme Court's Ruling in McGirt.
    Following the Supreme Court decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma, the 
Choctaw Nation's jurisdiction now amounts to approximately 45 percent 
of the state of Oklahoma. As such, the responsibility for Tribal 
governments has increased tremendously, so too have caseloads. The 
Choctaw Nation has seen a 3,000 percent increase in criminal cases, and 
approximately a 6,000 percent increase in traffic cases. It has been 
nearly 19 months since our Nation's highest court handed down this 
ruling, and we have yet to receive the necessary funding from Congress 
to cope with the situation. We are being forced to divert nearly $19 
million of our own Tribal resources to maintain public safety on our 
Reservation. The United States is failing to uphold its treaty and 
trust responsibility to the Choctaw Nation and is forcing us to execute 
our 638-contract agreement for law enforcement on only $650,000, or 1 
percent of the formula-based need. Since McGirt, BIA has not provided 
parity funding for Oklahoma Tribes that now have newfound reservation 
status. This is unacceptable. Thus, while we are very appreciative of 
your subcommittee's efforts to provide $62 million in the fiscal Year 
2022 consolidated appropriations package, it is still well below what 
the Choctaw Nation and other Oklahoma Tribes require to ensure public 
safety on reservation land. The United States has a responsibility to 
provide adequate public safety funding for the more than 1.5 million 
people who reside on the reservations of the Five Civilized Tribes and 
the Quapaw.
                              environment
  --Allocate $300,000 to the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma to Hire Two 
        Tribal Mining Remediation Compliance Officers to Conduct an 
        Inventory of the Status of Mines in Oklahoma. The Choctaw 
        Nation's responsibilities following the Supreme Court ruling in 
        McGirt are not limited to public safety. It also extends to the 
        environmental protection of our lands and resources within the 
        boundaries of our Reservation. In 2021, the Federal Office of 
        Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) notified 
        State officials that the Federal Government would resume 
        control of surface coal mining and reclamation operations 
        within the boundaries of the Choctaw Nation.\1\ With prior or 
        existing mines in more than 16 counties in the State of 
        Oklahoma, the Choctaw Nation needs resources to hire at least 
        two new staff and purchase equipment to begin conducting an 
        inventory of the status of the mines within its Reservation 
        boundaries. Without these resources, we remain woefully 
        unprepared to undertake such a large task.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Federal Register, OSMRE Jurisdiction To Administer the Surface 
Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 Within the Exterior 
Boundaries of the Cherokee Nation Reservation and the Choctaw Nation 
Reservation in the State of Oklahoma, 86 FR 57854 (Oct. 19, 2021), 
available at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/10/19/2021-
22720/osmre-j urisdiction-to-adm in ister-the-surfaceminin o-control-
and-reclamation-act-of- 1977-with in-the.

  --Direct the Federal OSMRE to Work with the Oklahoma Department of 
        Mines to Conduct an Inventory of Mines in the State of 
        Oklahoma, with a Particular Emphasis on Mines Located Within 
        the Boundaries of Indian Reservations. Additionally, while the 
        Tribe welcomes the decision in McGirt, we would be remiss to 
        acknowledge the role that the state of Oklahoma Department of 
        Mines has played in monitoring and documenting the existence 
        and status of reclamation projects in the State. For this 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        reason, we urge this

    Subcommittee to direct the Federal OSMRE to undertake a thorough 
inventory of mines in Oklahoma to ensure that first, the Choctaw Nation 
is aware of the status of mines with the borders of its Reservation, 
and second, that we can protect the quality of our waters, lands, and 
more importantly, Native people residing within our Reservation.
                       bureau of indian education
Johnson O'Malley

  --Increase JOM Funding to $150 Per Student. Through the JOM Program, 
        the Choctaw Nation serves an estimated 13,000 students in 75 
        schools throughout the Nation's 11,000 square mile Reservation. 
        Since the early 1990s, our numbers have never increased. As a 
        result, we support each Choctaw Nation student at an average of 
        $65 per student. While this is more per student than most 
        Tribes, it is woefully inadequate and an insult to our 
        children--the future of our Tribe. The subcommittee must 
        increase JOM funding to a minimum of $ 150 per student.

  --Direct the BIE to Make Publicly Available a Report on its Efforts 
        to Implement the JOM Modernization Act as it Relates to 
        Updating Student Counts. In 2017, Congress enacted the JOM 
        Supplemental Indian Education Program Modernization Act (Public 
        Law 115-404) directing the BIE to take initial steps in 
        ensuring full participation of all qualified and eligible 
        Native students in the JOM program, clarifying the current 
        contracting and reporting practices, and obtaining accurate 
        student counts. While the BIE submitted its preliminary report 
        and subsequent final rule, they have failed to meet their 
        obligations under the report.\2\ In an April 2020 report, the 
        Government Accountability Office stated that ``BIE does not 
        maintain a complete and accurate list of all its JOM 
        contractors, who provide services including targeted academic 
        support, Native language classes, and cultural activities.'' 
        \3\ The subcommittee should direct the BIE to make publicly 
        available a report on the BIE's efforts to implement the JOM 
        Modernization Act, including obtaining accurate student counts.

    \2\ Federal Register, available at https://www.federalregister.gov/
documents/2019/10/29/2019-23617/johnsonomalley-program-preliminary-
report; Federal Register, available at https://www.federalregister.gov/
documents/2020/02/25/2020-02883/educationcontracts-under-johnson-
omalley-act
    \3\ Gov't Accountability Office, available at https://www.gao.gov/
assets/710/706797 .pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Yakoke for taking the time to consider the fiscal Year 2023 
appropriations priorities of the Choctaw Nation.

    [This statement was submitted by Gary Batton, Chief, Choctaw Nation 
of Oklahoma.]
                                 ______
                                 
      Prepared Statement of Chugach Regional Resources Commission
    The Chugach Regional Resources Commission (CRRC) requests increases 
to the fiscal Year 2023 appropriation that would permit us to establish 
a Federal base program award of $1.18 million for our services under 
the following three Interior subaccounts: 1) BIA's TM/DP subaccount, 2) 
BIA's Fish, Wildlife & Parks subaccount, and 3) the U.S. Fish & 
Wildlife Service's Migratory Bird Management subaccount. This figure 
would represent 50 percent of our targeted fiscal Year 2023 operating 
budget of $2.36 million. The BIA Alaska Regional Office denied our 
fiscal Year 2022 contract submission for $2.36 million due to 
insufficient Federal funds.
    CRRC is a Tribal Organization whose primary mission is to develop 
the natural resource capability and capacity for each of our seven 
member Tribes located within Alaska's Chugach Region in southcentral 
Alaska. CRRC is overseen by a Board of Commissioners with 
representation from each of our villages. We depend on Federal 
appropriations to the BIA's Tribal Management/Development Program (TM/
DP) and Fish, Wildlife & Parks accounts within BIA's Natural Resources, 
together with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) funds to perform 
such programs as habitat protection and enhancement, conservation of 
fish, wildlife and plant resources, subsistence management, technical 
capacity building at the local level for natural resource management, 
support the use of traditional Alaska Native ecological knowledge, and 
operate and maintain one of the only Tribally-operated shellfish 
hatcheries in Alaska, the Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute (former 
Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery). We perform all these duties working 
with our Federal, State, and local partners.
    CRRC greatly appreciates the bipartisan work of the subcommittee to 
redress chronic funding disparities faced by Alaska Natives and 
American Indians. With your support, CRRC is assisting Alaska Natives 
to live healthier and longer lives, learn, and implement sustainable 
mariculture farming techniques that improve marine and plant habitats, 
promote jobs, food security, and educate Alaska Native youth in STEM 
programs.
    CRRC is primarily dependent upon appropriations by this 
subcommittee for BIA's TM/DP and Fish, Wildlife & Parks programs within 
the Bureau's Trust-Natural Resources account. We urge the subcommittee 
to build upon any fiscal Year 2022 increases it includes for the BIA's 
TM/DP and Fish, Wildlife & Parks program, and U.S. Fish & Wildlife 
Service's Migratory Bird Management Program. We submit our testimony 
concerning fiscal Year 2023 appropriation needs without knowing the 
final fiscal Year 2022 appropriation for Interior.
    If CRRC is to play the active role we seek to educate, motivate, 
and inspire the next generation of Alaska Native marine biologists, 
mariculture directors, and scientists, and assist in the creation of 
sustainable mariculture jobs our Alaska Native villages, we need 
increased and recurring resources within the Interior Department's 
appropriation to staff critical positions, travel to our seven Alaska 
Native villages, and educate Alaska Native youth by sharing our passion 
for science, sustainable fishing, mariculture farming, and hunting. 
Please help us achieve our mission. Through our programs, services, and 
educational outreach programs, CRRC contributes significantly to the 
health and economic stability of our member villages. This was 
especially important while the pandemic and supply chain challenges 
persist which contribute to food and economic insecurity in Alaska 
Native villages.
    Our work sustains full-time and seasonal employment for up to 20 
Alaska Native people and helps surrounding businesses, all of which 
contributes to the health of the more than 1,200 Alaska Natives we 
serve. Our employees are able to earn a living and support their 
families and reinvest their wages in the community. This supports the 
employment of other Alaska Native and non-Native families, thereby 
removing families from Alaska State and Federal assistance rolls. This 
contributes to family and community stability and serves as a bulwark 
against depression, substance abuse, suicide, and other social ills 
that plague remote Alaska Native communities.
    CRRC sustained arbitrary reductions by the BIA in prior years to 
our TM/DP base funding level that undermined our services, reduced our 
natural resource and marine research and development, stretched our 
limited resources, and made it difficult to retain staff. Our work is 
important for the future of the mariculture industry in Alaska and to 
our Tribes and their members who depend on CRRC's programs and 
services. We require a stable Federal budget, together with the timely 
payment of contract support cost funds, to help us perform our 
programs, pay staff, and operate and maintain the hatchery.
    During the pandemic, we developed innovative ways using webinars 
and teleconferencing and posting information to our webpage to reach 
our villages and continue our work in these communities. With the 
pandemic peaking in Alaska in late January of 2022, and average daily 
infections dropping below 300 the first week of March, we are hopeful 
that we will be able to return to our pre-pandemic travel and routines.
    Our programs also support future economic and commercial 
opportunities for the Prince William Sound and Lower Cook Inlet regions 
through the protection and development of the Alaskan shellfish 
industry and other natural resources. Federal investment in CRRC 
translates into economic opportunities and community investments that 
have a great impact on the Chugach Region of Southcentral Alaska. When 
BIA appropriations for CRRC fall below our expectations, we do our best 
to seek other funding sources. This is essential if we are to retain 
the loyal staff we depend on. It is they who ensure the success of our 
programs and outreach through their dedication and passion.
    For fiscal Year 2021, we received $615,000 in TM/DP funds from the 
BIA. This figure represents a combination of recurring TM/DP funds, 
contract support costs, and discretionary grants within TM/DP and the 
BIA's Fish, Wildlife & Parks account. This amount represented about 
one-third of our actual operating budget of $1.8 million for fiscal 
Year 2021.
    For fiscal Year 2023, our goal is to increase TM/DP, BIA Fish, 
Wildlife and Parks, and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Migratory Bird 
Management Program funding to a level that will permit us to cover 50 
percent, or $1.18 million, of our targeted operating budget of $2.36 
million with these program funds. A $2.36 million operating budget 
includes $1.375 million to cover the salary and fringe benefits of our 
14-person staff, including a Mariculture Director, Science Director, 
Marine Mammal Program Coordinator, Fish and Wildlife Coordinator, 
Environmental Coordinator, Shellfish Technician, Ocean Acidification 
Lab Manager, Nanwalek Salmon Technicians, Inter-Tribal Liaison, Climate 
Specialist, Executive Director, and Alaska Migratory Bird Co-Management 
Council Director.
    Another $400,000 is required for salary and fringe benefits for six 
(6) additional positions, including two additional Hatchery Technicians 
(totals $71,500 with fringe benefits), a Research Scientist position 
and Tribal Conservation District (TCD) Program Coordinator (totals 
$177,320 with fringe benefits), and an Executive Assistant and 
Maintenance Supervisor (totals $150,150 with fringe benefits). CRRC 
must also cover Tribal special projects in our villages, travel costs 
to villages, program costs for our annual ``Subsistence Memorial 
Gathering,'' utilities, repair and maintenance, insurance, accounting 
and audit, grant writing costs, training, and related expenses.
    Last year, we renewed our lease with the City of Seward for the 
10,000 sq. ft. Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute and adjoining land with a 
lease term through 2069. This long-term lease (nearly 50 years) will 
allow us to confidently secure funds from Federal, State, and other 
grant sources to finance the renovation and expansion of our existing 
hatchery and research space. In addition to our APMI facility in 
Seward, we lease space in Anchorage for our administrative offices.
    Despite our repeated requests to BIA officials in the Alaska 
Regional Office and BIA headquarters in Washington, D.C., we have not 
received written confirmation of our true recurring base award of TM/DP 
funds in advance of annual negotiations with the BIA. This makes 
planning and budgeting difficult. Tribal organizations deserve this 
information. To date, in March 2022, we have not yet received our 
fiscal Year 2022 TM/DP or contract support costs. This is not how 
Tribal organizations should have to operate. Delays by the BIA in the 
payment of our recurring funding and contract support cost dollars and 
uncertainty over what our true ``Secretarial amount'' is under our BIA 
``638'' contract undermine our program goals and our ability to 
efficiently carry out services and activities to our member Tribes.
    CRRC was organized in 1987 to address environmental and natural 
resource issue for our Tribes and develop culturally sensitive economic 
projects at the community level. For the last 35 years, CRRC has 
received anywhere from $380,000 to $409,500 in TM/DP funds. However, 
since 1987, costs to operate an organization that strives to provide 
competitive salaries and serve a growing Tribal member base, have 
increased.
    CRRC respectfully asks the subcommittee to include report language 
directing the BIA to include in future budget submissions to Congress 
its requested TM/DP funding amount for each of the nearly three dozen 
programs financed within TM/DP. Without such detailed information in 
the President's budget submission to Congress, Tribal organizations 
like CRRC are left to guess what our recurring funding level is when 
Interior officials do not disclose it.
    If Congress enacts an appropriation for TM/DP at the 
Administration's requested budget level, the BIA should award each TM/
DP program no less than the amount reflected in the Administration 
budget tables submitted to Congress. Funding increases should be shared 
across the board among all the TM/DP recipients absent express 
direction by Congress in your reports. Doing so would permit Tribal 
organizations like CRRC to ascertain what our fiscal year base award 
amount is, plan, budget, and negotiate our upcoming Annual Funding 
Agreement with the BIA.
    Congress has grown the TM/DP base funding level by over forty-two 
percent (42 percent) over the last 8 years, from $9.22 million in 
fiscal Year 2013 to $13.146 million in fiscal Year 2021. But during 
that same period, we have seen our funding arbitrarily and unilaterally 
reduced in the President's Budget Justification from $410,000 to as low 
as $348,000. Among the 35 TM/DP Programs funded in fiscal Year 2018, 
our program was the only program (of 35) singled out by the 
Administration for a 15 percent cut. CRRC simply asks for equity with 
other TM/DP-funded programs. CRRC has not received recurring budget 
increases equal to the percentage growth of the TM/DP account, while 
carrying out similar subsistence fish management services, habitat 
restoration, and mariculture activities for our member villages. In 
fact, CRRC's TM/DP-funded amount has remained essentially the same 
since the early 1990's despite our services and Tribal member base 
expanding exponentially.
    The annual increases to the TM/DP account that appropriators have 
included in annual spending measures is a great accomplishment and a 
testament to all the Tribal recipients of TM/DP funds. It reflects the 
commitment of Congress to support these important programs. CRRC wishes 
to expand the programs and services we provide. Increased funding to 
this account that our program shares with other TM/DP recipients will 
enable us to do more for our member Tribes.
    An annual recurring Federal budget for CRRC of at least $1.18 
million will allow CRRC to:

  --Expand the Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute's production of oyster 
        and littleneck clam seeds, geoducks, cockles, and razor clams;

  --Sustain the shellfish sanctuary in Port Graham and Resurrection 
        Bay;

  --Expand our study of ocean acidification as part of the Alaska Ocean 
        Acidification Network and the impact of acidification on fish 
        and shellfish stocks.

  --Expand Nanwalek Salmon Enhancement Project, a subsistence fishery, 
        to rejuvenate the availability of fish for direct consumption;

  --Expand natural resource efforts on behalf of our Tribes, including 
        wetlands monitoring and planning, traditional foods advocacy 
        and protection, climate change vulnerability and adaptation 
        planning, subsistence resource advocacy, and the development 
        and management of a Tribal Conservation District;

  --Expand our leadership as statewide manager and member of the Alaska 
        Migratory Bird Co-Management Council (AMBCC) work with the 
        State and USF&WS and

  --Enhance the monitoring and refinement of our Natural Resource 
        Management Program objectives for each of our Alaska Native 
        villages.

    Thank you for giving CRRC the opportunity to share our fiscal Year 
2023 budget needs.

    [This statement was submitted by Willow Hetrick-Price, Executive 
Director, Chugach Regional Resources Commission.]
                                 ______
                                 
      Prepared Statement of Chugach Regional Resources Commission
    The Chugach Regional Resources Commission (CRRC) requests increases 
to the fiscal Year 2023 appropriation that would permit us to establish 
a Federal base program award of $1.18 million for our services under 
the following three Interior subaccounts: 1) BIA's TMDP subaccount, 2) 
BIA's Fish, Wildlife & Parks subaccount, and 3) the U.S. Fish & 
Wildlife Service's Migratory Bird Management subaccount. This figure 
would represent 50 percent of our targeted fiscal Year 2023 operating 
budget of $2.36 million.
    CRRC is a Tribal organization whose primary mission is to develop 
the natural resource capability and capacity for each of our seven 
member Tribes located within Alaska's Chugach Region in southcentral 
Alaska. CRRC is overseen by a Board of Commissioners who are appointed 
by each of our seven Native villages. We depend on Federal 
appropriations to the BIA's Tribal Management/Development Program 
(TMDP) and Fish, Wildlife & Parks accounts within BIA's Natural 
Resources, together with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) funds 
to perform such programs as habitat protection and enhancement, 
conservation of fish, wildlife and plant resources, subsistence 
management, conservation and co-management of migratory birds, 
technical capacity building at the local level for natural resource 
management, support the use of traditional Alaska Native ecological 
knowledge, and operate and maintain the only Tribally-operated 
shellfish hatchery in Alaska, the Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute 
(former Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery). We perform all of these 
duties working with our Federal, State, and local partners.
    CRRC advocates for co-management, fills in gaps in data from 
wildlife management agencies with limited budgets, monitors the 
ecosystem to ensure access to traditional foods, and assists in the 
creation of sustainable mariculture jobs for our Alaska Native 
villages. To do so, we need increased and recurring resources within 
the Interior Department's appropriation to staff critical positions, 
travel to our seven Alaska Native villages, enhance and reinvigorate 
our traditional food sources, and educate Alaska Native youth by 
sharing our passion for science, sustainable fishing, mariculture 
farming, and hunting. Please help us achieve our mission. Through our 
programs, services, and educational outreach programs, CRRC contributes 
significantly to the health, economic stability, and food security of 
our member villages. This is a vital lifeline for our communities while 
continuing pandemic and supply chain challenges contribute to food and 
economic insecurity in Alaska Native villages.
    CRRC was organized in 1987 to address environmental and natural 
resource issue for our Tribes and develop culturally sensitive economic 
projects at the community level. For the last 35 years, CRRC has 
received anywhere from $348,000 to $409,500 annually in TMDP funds. 
However, since 1987, costs to operate have increased significantly. Our 
ability to pay competitive salaries and serve a growing Tribal member 
base is an annual challenge.
    Our work sustains full-time and seasonal employment for up to 20 
Alaska Native people and helps surrounding businesses, all of which 
contributes to the health of the more than 1,200 Alaska Natives we 
serve. Our employees are able to earn a living and support their 
families and reinvest their wages in the community. This supports the 
employment of other Alaska Native and non-Native families, thereby 
removing families from Alaska State and Federal assistance rolls. This 
contributes to family and community stability and serves as a bulwark 
against depression, substance abuse, suicide, and other social ills 
that plague remote Alaska Native communities.
    During the pandemic, we developed innovative ways using webinars 
and teleconferencing and posting information to our webpage to reach 
our villages and continue our work in these communities. With the 
pandemic peaking in Alaska in late January of 2022, and 7-day average 
infections dropping to around 208 in May, we are hopeful that we will 
be able to return to our pre-pandemic routines.
    Our programs also support future economic and commercial 
opportunities for the Prince William Sound and Lower Cook Inlet regions 
through the protection and development of the Alaskan shellfish 
industry and other natural resources. Federal investment in CRRC 
translates into economic opportunities and community investments that 
have a great impact on the Chugach Region of Southcentral Alaska. When 
BIA appropriations for CRRC fall below our expectations, we vigorously 
seek out other funding sources. This is essential if we are to retain 
the loyal staff we depend on. It is they who ensure the success of our 
programs and outreach through their dedication and passion.
    CRRC was shocked that the President's fiscal Year 2023 Budget 
Justification for BIA flatlines CRRC's recommended TMDP base recurring 
award at the fiscal Year 2021 enacted level, while all 34 other TMDP 
Tribal recipients are recommended for an increase to their base TMDP 
recurring funding level. Meanwhile, the BIA Alaska Regional Office 
denied our request--submitted in November 2021--for an increase in 
funds in our fiscal Year 2023 contract due to ``insufficient Federal 
funds.'' We are at a loss to understand how every TMDP recipient except 
for CRRC could receive a proposed budget increase.
    Congress has grown the TMDP base funding 56.8 percent from fiscal 
Year 2013 to fiscal Year 2022, from $9.22 million in fiscal Year 2013 
to $14.459 million in fiscal Year 2022. The annual increases to the 
TMDP account that appropriators have included in annual spending 
measures is a great accomplishment and a testament to all the Tribal 
recipients of TMDP funds. It reflects the commitment of Congress to 
support these important programs.
    But during that same period, we have seen our funding arbitrarily 
and unilaterally reduced in the President's Budget Justification from 
$410,000 to as low as $348,000. Among the 35 TMDP Programs funded in 
fiscal Year 2018, our program was the only program (of 35) singled out 
by the Administration for a 15 percent cut. In fact, CRRC's TMDP-funded 
amount has remained essentially the same since the early 1990's despite 
our services and Tribal member base expanding exponentially. Over the 
years, CRRC has not received critical recurring budget increases equal 
to the percentage growth of the TMDP account, while carrying out 
similar subsistence fish management services, habitat restoration, and 
mariculture activities for our member villages.
    In prior years, arbitrary reductions by the BIA to CRRC's TMDP base 
recurring funding level undermined our services, reduced our natural 
resource and marine research and development, stretched our limited 
resources, and made it difficult to retain staff. In 2020, we prevailed 
in a Contract Disputes Act (CDA) claim against BIA regarding these 
reductions. Our work is important for the future of the mariculture 
industry in Alaska and to our Tribes and members who depend on CRRC's 
programs. We require a stable Federal budget, together with the timely 
payment of contract support cost funds, to help us perform our 
programs, pay staff, and operate and maintain the hatchery.
    For fiscal Year 2021, we received $507,783 in TMDP funds from the 
BIA. This figure represents a combination of recurring TMDP funds and 
discretionary grants from the BIA. To receive discretionary funds, we 
must expend administrative resources to write grant proposals and 
report on activities. While we welcome discretionary awards by the BIA, 
the fiscal Year 2021 funds represent a fraction of our budget 
requirement. We need budget certainty, without extraneous 
administrative burden.
    For fiscal Year 2023, our goal is to increase TMDP, BIA Fish, 
Wildlife and Parks, and USFWS Migratory Bird Management Program funding 
to a level that will permit us to cover 50 percent, or $1.18 million, 
of our targeted operating budget of $2.36 million with these program 
funds. A $2.36 million operating budget includes $1.375 million to 
cover the salary and fringe benefits of 14 full-time staff, including a 
Mariculture Director, Science Director, Marine Mammal Program 
Coordinator, Fish and Wildlife Coordinator, Environmental Coordinator, 
Shellfish Technician, Ocean Acidification Lab Manager, Nanwalek Salmon 
Technicians, Inter-Tribal Liaison, Climate Specialist, Executive 
Director, and Alaska Migratory Bird Co-Management Council Director.
    Another $400,000 is required for salary and fringe benefits for six 
(6) additional positions, including two additional Hatchery Technicians 
(totals $71,500 with fringe benefits), a Research Scientist position 
and Tribal Conservation District (TCD) Program Coordinator (totals 
$177,320 with fringe benefits), and an Executive Assistant and 
Maintenance Supervisor (totals $150,150 with fringe benefits). CRRC 
must also cover Tribal special projects in our villages, travel costs 
to villages, program costs for our annual Subsistence Memorial 
Gathering, utilities, repair and maintenance, insurance, accounting and 
audit, grant writing costs, training, and related expenses.
    This year, we renewed our lease with the City of Seward for the 
10,000 sq. ft. Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute facility and adjoining 
land with a lease term through 2069. This long-term lease (nearly 50 
years) will allow us to confidently secure funds from Federal, State, 
and other grant sources to finance a badly-needed renovation and 
expansion of our existing hatchery and research space.
    An annual recurring Federal budget for CRRC of at least $1.18 
million will allow CRRC to:

  --Expand the Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute's production of oyster 
        and littleneck clam seeds, geoducks, cockles, and razor clams;

  --Sustain shellfish sanctuaries at Tribal beaches throughout the 
        region

  --Expand our study of ocean acidification as part of the Alaska Ocean 
        Acidification Network and the impact of acidification on fish 
        and shellfish stocks;

  --Expand the Nanwalek Salmon Enhancement Project, a subsistence 
        fishery, to rejuvenate the availability of fish for direct 
        consumption;

  --Expand natural resource efforts on behalf of our Tribes, including 
        wetlands monitoring and planning, traditional foods advocacy 
        and protection, climate change vulnerability and adaptation 
        planning, subsistence resource advocacy, and the development 
        and management of a Tribal Conservation District;

  --Expand our leadership as statewide manager and member of the Alaska 
        Migratory Bird Co-Management Council (AMBCC) work with the 
        State and USFWS; and

  --Enhance the monitoring and refinement of our Natural Resource 
        Management Program objectives for each of our Alaska Native 
        villages.

    Despite our repeated requests to BIA officials in the Alaska 
Regional Office and BIA headquarters in Washington, D.C., we have not 
received written confirmation of our true recurring base award of TMDP 
funds in advance of annual negotiations with the BIA. This makes 
planning and budgeting difficult. Tribal organizations deserve this 
information. To date, we have not yet received our fiscal Year 2022 
TMDP funds or contract support costs. This is not how Tribal 
organizations should have to operate. Delays by the BIA in the payment 
of our recurring funding and contract support cost dollars and 
uncertainty over what our true ``Secretarial amount'' is under our BIA 
``638'' contract undermine our program goals and our ability to 
efficiently carry out services and activities to our member Tribes.
    CRRC respectfully asks the subcommittee to include report language 
directing the BIA to include in future budget submissions to Congress 
its requested recurring TMDP funding amount for each of the nearly 
three dozen programs financed within TMDP. Without such detailed 
information in the President's budget submission to Congress, Tribal 
organizations like CRRC are left to guess what our recurring funding 
level is when Interior officials do not disclose it. Doing so would 
permit Tribal Organizations like CRRC to know what our fiscal year base 
award amount is, plan, budget, and negotiate our upcoming Annual 
Funding Agreement with the BIA with certainty.
    If Congress enacts an appropriation for TMDP above the 
Administration's requested budget level, the BIA should allocate the 
increase across the board among all the TMDP recipients absent express 
direction by Congress in legislation or conference reports. We 
respectfully request that the subcommittee include report language 
advising the BIA to allocate increases among all TMDP recipients.
    CRRC greatly appreciates the bipartisan work of the subcommittee to 
redress chronic funding disparities faced by Alaska Natives and 
American Indians. With your support, many Tribal Organizations are 
assisting Alaska Natives to live healthier and longer lives, learn, and 
implement sustainable mariculture farming techniques that improve 
marine and plant habitats, promote jobs, food security, and educate 
Alaska Native youth in STEM programs.
    CRRC is primarily dependent upon appropriations by this 
subcommittee for BIA's TMDP and Fish, Wildlife & Parks programs within 
the Bureau's Trust-Natural Resources account. We urge the subcommittee 
to build upon any fiscal Year 2022 increases it includes for the BIA's 
TMDP and Fish, Wildlife & Parks program, and USFWS's Migratory Bird 
Management Program, and to include CRRC in those increases. Thank you 
for giving CRRC the opportunity to share our fiscal Year 2023 budget 
needs.

    [This statement was submitted by Willow Hetrick-Price, Executive 
Director, Chugach Regional Resources Commission.]
                                 ______
                                 
         Prepared Statement of Coalition for American Heritage
    Thank you for the opportunity to offer the Coalition for American 
Heritage's recommendations for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) Interior, 
Environment and Related Agencies appropriations for the Department of 
the Interior.
    The Coalition for American Heritage (``the Coalition'') is an 
organization comprised of heritage professionals, scholars, small 
businesses, non-profits and history-lovers across the country. Our 
350,000 members work together to promote our Nation's commitment to 
historic preservation. Preserving historic resources helps stabilize 
neighborhoods, attract investment, create jobs, generate tax revenues, 
support small businesses, and power America's heritage tourism 
industry.
    We appreciate the strong funding provided to historic preservation 
programs in recent Interior Appropriations legislation. Investing in 
these programs will help ensure the continuance of our country's proud 
tradition of preservation. As you work to address funding levels for 
FY22, the Coalition requests robust funding for all of the U.S. 
Department of the Interior's historic preservation and cultural 
management programs, and for the National Endowment for the Arts and 
the National Endowment for the Humanities. Respectfully, the Coalition 
urges the Committee to approve the following funding levels for FY23:

  --NPS Historic Preservation Fund: $200 million

  --NPS Office of International Affairs: $2.25 million

  --NPS National Heritage Areas and Heritage Partnership Program: $32 
        million

  --Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Cultural Resources Management: $1 
        million above enacted

  --BLM National Conservation Lands: $78.145 million

  --Department of Interior Land and Conservation Fund (LWCF): continued 
        increase toward the full $900 million in dedicated funding from 
        offshore mineral leasing revenues, including $20 million for 
        the American Battlefield Protection Program

  --Advisory Council on Historic Preservation: $10.5 million

  --National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment 
        for the Humanities (NEH): at least $201 million for each one

                         national park service
    The popularity of our National parks is at an all-time high. Our 
country cannot afford unwarranted reductions to visitor services and 
cuts to the responsible stewardship of our historic and cultural 
resources. The NPS is responsible for 418 National Park System units. 
Over the past 20 years, more than 40 new parks have been added to the 
park system. Many recent additions preserve historic places and themes 
that have traditionally been underrepresented within the system.
    Within the requested funds, we recommend robust funding for 
Resource Stewardship, including the National Underground Railroad 
Network to Freedom, the African American Civil Rights Network, and the 
Reconstruction Era National Historic Network. Funding for these popular 
initiatives provides the public with valuable educational resources 
that honor and preserve our country's rich African-American heritage 
and history for future generations.
    We also urge the Committee to address the deferred maintenance 
backlog at America's national parks. Almost half of the current backlog 
concern historic assets. Robust investments in this area will 
contribute to the successful preservation of historic sites and 
structures and other NPS cultural resources. Without critically needed 
funding for repair and rehabilitation, these critical sites, buildings 
and artifacts that draw visitors to our National parks' assets risk 
further deterioration and potential loss.
                     nps historic preservation fund
    We urge the Committee to appropriate $200 million in FY23 for the 
Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), a vital program that, in partnership 
with States, local governments and Tribes, is the cornerstone of our 
country's historic preservation initiatives.
    Within the $200 million request, we recommend the following funding 
breakdown:

  --$65 million for State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPOs) for 
        heritage preservation and protection programs.

  --$34 million for Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs).

  --$24 million for competitive grants to document, interpret, and 
        preserve historic sites associated with the Civil Rights 
        Movement.

  --$5 million for the competitive grants program to preserve the sites 
        and stories associated with securing civil rights for all 
        Americans, including women, Latinos, Native Americans, Native 
        Hawaiians, Alaska Natives, and LGBTQ Americans.

  --$35 million for Save America's Treasures grants for the 
        preservation of nationally significant sites, structures, and 
        artifacts.

  --$12 million for grants to Historically Black Colleges and 
        Universities to preserve and repair historic buildings.

  --$12 million for Paul Bruhn preservation grants to revitalize 
        historic properties of national, State, and local significance.

  --$3 million for competitive grants for the survey and nomination of 
        properties associated with communities currently 
        underrepresented on the National Register of Historic Places 
        and National Historic Landmarks.

         national park service: office of international affairs
    We urge a $2.25 million FY23 appropriation for the NPS Office of 
International Affairs. This funding would ensure that the United States 
can robustly engage in and support the World Heritage Program. 
Communities throughout the country are pursuing nominations of sites in 
their area to the World Heritage List, including Hopewell Ceremonial 
Earthworks in Ohio and Mount Vernon in Virginia. The Office of 
International Affairs is critical to shepherding advocates through the 
nominations process.
                      nps national heritage areas
    We recommend $32 million in funding for the Heritage Partnership 
Program and our National Heritage Areas (NHAs). Through the use of 
public-private partnerships, NHAs support historic preservation, 
heritage tourism, and recreation. These programs collaborate with 
communities to make heritage relevant to local interests and needs.
                   blm cultural resources management
    We appreciate the Committee's ongoing oversight of the BLM 
reorganization and the impacts of the move on BLM's ability to oversee 
the largest, most diverse collection of historic and cultural resources 
on America's public lands. We remain very concerned about the staff 
reductions in the Cultural Resources Division. It is vital that BLM has 
sufficient staff to support Section 106 reviews, monitor compliance 
with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and 
consult with Tribes.
    To assist staff with providing these key services, we respectfully 
request that the committee provide $1 million above the enacted level 
for BLM Cultural Resources Management. We ask that the Committee 
support BLM efforts to fill key staff vacancies, especially those 
cultural resources positions stipulated in the BLM Tribal Relations 
Manual, including: National Curator/NAGPRA Coordinator, National Tribal 
Coordinator, and 10 of the 12 State office Tribal Coordinator 
positions.
    This funding would also support ongoing collaboration with state 
historic preservation offices to standardize and integrate cultural 
resources data for BLM lands through the National Cultural Resources 
Information Management System. Strengthening BLM's ability to update 
predictive modeling and data analysis will enhance the agency's ability 
to address large-scale, cross-jurisdictional land-use projects.
                    blm national conservation lands
    We urge a $78.145 million FY23 appropriation for the National 
Conservation Lands. An increase in base funding will prevent critical 
damage to 36 million acres of congressionally and presidentially 
designated National Monuments, National Conservation Areas, Wilderness, 
Wilderness Study Areas, National Scenic and Historic Trails, and Wild 
Scenic Rivers managed by BLM. Increased funding will help achieve 
President Biden's goal of conserving at least 30 percent of our lands 
and waters by 2030.
                    blm land water conservation fund
    Many of our country's most significant historic and cultural 
landscapes have been permanently protected through LWCF investments, 
including Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Park, Canyons of the 
Ancients National Monument, and Hopewell Culture National Historic 
Park. In total, more than $550 million has been invested to acquire 
historic sites and 137,000 acres in 162 NPS units.
    Within LWCF funding, we urge the Committee to fund the American 
Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) at $20 million in FY23. Through 
public-private partnerships, the ABPP has helped communities to 
preserve more than 100 historic battlefields in 42 States and 
territories. In protecting the hallowed ground upon which so many 
Americans fought and died, the ABPP preserves a valuable part of our 
shared history.
    independent agencies: advisory council on historic preservation
    We request $10.5 million for the Advisory Council on Historic 
Preservation (ACHP), to fund its work to administer the rulemaking 
process for historic preservation law, assist in resolving conflicts 
from historic resource reviews, and provide advice on historic 
preservation.
          national endowments for the arts and the humanities
    The Coalition urges the Committee to fund the NEA and the NEH at a 
minimum of $201 million each in FY23. Robust funding for the NEA and 
NEH is critical to communities across America. NEH Preservation 
Assistance Grants help small and mid-sized institutions--such as 
libraries, museums, historical societies, archival repositories, 
cultural organizations, town and county records offices, and colleges 
and universities--improve their ability to preserve and care for their 
significant humanities collections, which may include books and 
journals, archives and manuscripts, prints and photographs, 
architectural and cartographic records, decorative and fine art 
objects, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, furniture, 
historical objects, and digital materials.
    The Coalition is grateful to the Committee for the opportunity to 
offer its perspective on FY23 appropriations for the Interior, 
Environment and Related Agencies appropriations bill. The Coalition 
stands ready to work with the Committee on finding common ground to 
achieve the FY23 funding levels that will support and enhance historic 
preservation.

    [This statement was submitted by Marion Werkheiser, Policy Director 
for the Coalition for American Heritage.]
                                 ______
                                 
  Prepared Statement of Coalition to Protect America's National Parks
    Chairman Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski, and members of the 
subcommittee, I am Michael B. (Mike) Murray, Chair of the Executive 
Council of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks 
(Coalition). The Coalition is a non-profit organization composed of 
more than 2,200 retired, former and current employees of the National 
Park Service (NPS) who collectively have over 40,000 years of 
experience managing and protecting our National parks. The Coalition 
studies, educates, speaks, and acts for the preservation of America's 
National Park System. We are pleased to have the opportunity to present 
this statement for the record on the fiscal Year 2023 Appropriations 
for the National Park Service.
    The Coalition to Protect America's National Parks (Coalition) was 
pleased to see the overall fiscal Year 2023 discretionary budget 
request for the NPS of $3.6 billion from the Biden administration. 
However, this request is short of what is needed in some key areas 
because of the significant amount of its former capacity the NPS has 
lost over the last decade. As Director Sams recently testified before 
the House Interior Appropriations subcommittee, the NPS' operational 
capacity has been reduced by more than 15 percent since fiscal Year 
2010 while over the same time Congress has added 33 units to the 
National park system and visitation has grown by over 40 million 
visits. This growth has overwhelmed NPS staff and has led to low 
morale, reduced visitor experiences, and visitor safety concerns. In 
turn, during the Covid 19 pandemic, parks became an even more treasured 
refuge for the American public further dramatically increasing 
visitation pressure in many urban park units. Additionally, inflation 
of over seven percent during the last year is further challenging parks 
in meeting their budget needs.
    The Coalition believes there are three specific areas where NPS 
funding needs to be enhanced in the fiscal Year 2023 Interior 
Appropriations bill.

        1) Enhancing and Building Operational Capacity. The most 
        important priority is to address the need to replace the lost 
        staff capacity the NPS has seen over the last decade. The Biden 
        administration has included funding to address a part of this 
        shortfall through some specific initiatives for underserved 
        communities, new parks, additions to other parks, and new 
        Tribal liaisons, to name a few. The Coalition is strongly 
        supportive of these initiatives; however, we believe the 
        proposed increases miss parks and programs that are still 
        suffering their loss of staff.

    Last year, the Coalition recommended that Congress commit to adding 
an additional 500 new staff for each of five fiscal years to make 
headway in resolving the lost capacity. Unfortunately, funding 
constraints did not allow this recommendation to be fulfilled in the 
final appropriations bill adopted in March.
    As a result, the Coalition respectfully requests a recommitment to 
the goal of providing the needed staff across the board in parks, 
program offices, and central offices of the NPS. We note that the 
program offices and central offices have seen their own lost capacity 
over the past decade and these offices remain critically important, 
especially to the small- and medium-sized parks that do not have their 
own specialists on staff. The Coalition recommends an additional $70 
million to the operations budget of the NPS (ONPS) to deal with this 
service-wide staffing issue and we urge the subcommittee to direct that 
this additional amount be spread as equitably as possible among parks, 
program offices, and central offices to meet their unmet staffing 
needs.
    It is critical to restore and increase operational capacity to 
ensure NPS meets its responsibilities because of increasing visitation 
and major threats to cultural and natural resources. This staff funding 
is also important to help address the low morale among many park 
employees who feel that they are being asked to do more with fewer 
resources while trying to maintain a consistent level of service to the 
thousands of visitors they experience each year.
    Additionally, the Coalition notes its continued support for the NPS 
proposal to extend the period of availability of funding in the ONPS 
account to 2 years, which will allow more efficient management of 
resources and permit adjustment for disruptions that occur within the 
fiscal year. This request is consistent with that provided to other 
bureaus within the Department of the Interior.

        2) Natural and Cultural Resource Conservation. The Biden 
        administration's budget includes a $179.8 million request for 
        the Natural Resources Conservation Initiative in fiscal Year 
        2023. This request takes an important step forward to address 
        the critical challenges of our time by increasing scientific 
        capacity and improving strategic thinking and resource planning 
        to leave lands and waters preserved for future generations to 
        use and enjoy. The Conservation initiative directly supports 
        several priorities that would conserve 30 percent of the 
        Nation's lands and waters by 2030 (the ``America the 
        Beautiful'' Initiative), would establish a Civilian Climate 
        Corps, and would support climate resilience and adaptation. NPS 
        is a vital component of the government-wide approach to address 
        the impacts of climate change.

    Stewardship of our natural resources is a mission critical task for 
NPS and, as such, the task is ingrained in NPS units, programs, budget 
activities and appropriations. For natural resource conservation, the 
fiscal Year 2023 budget seeks to bolster existing successful programs 
protecting wildlife and landscape, fund climate change science and 
resiliency, and increase resources supporting climate and natural 
resource decision-making.
    The requested increase also includes $29.6 million to engage in 
high-priority natural resource projects on a range of issues, such as 
wildlife migration corridors, wildland fire fuels management, climate 
resilience, and responding to natural resource threats. The Coalition 
is supportive of both of these natural resource funding requests.
    Equally important for the subcommittee is doing something to 
replace the loss of almost 30 percent of cultural resource management 
positions in our National parks, and program or regional offices. Many 
cultural resources, including historic buildings, museum objects, and 
archeological sites, are unmaintained, severely threatened, or 
degraded. The Cultural Resource Challenge (Challenge), launched in 
2013, provided a strategic framework for NPS stewardship and completing 
partnership responsibilities for America's cultural heritage.
    Last year, the Coalition recommended additional appropriations over 
four fiscal years to help complete this Challenge that has only been 
partially funded since 2013. The president's budget request for fiscal 
Year 2023 recommends some small increases in cultural resources 
capacity. We urge an additional $22.5 million be added to the ONPS 
budget for fiscal Year 2023 to make progress toward this effort with 
$11 million of this amount to increase the number of parks that have at 
least one cultural resource expert on staff and to ensure the parks 
have ready access to all basic cultural resource disciplines at the 
regional level. An additional $9 million of the total would help 
improve the baseline cultural resource documentation information 
available to management at a number of parks and the remaining $2.5 
million would help stabilize archeological sites, cultural landscapes, 
and historic and prehistoric structures per year, or conduct preventive 
conservation on museum objects, or support scientific research on new 
threats to resources.
    We recognize there are issues involved with how park, program and 
regional offices budgets are constructed and maintained from 1 year to 
the next when Congress directs funding to specific areas such as 
cultural resource protection. We understand the subcommittee has had 
discussions with the NPS about this and we urge those discussions to 
continue to find ways that funding can be maintained for cultural 
resource preservation activities over the longer term to help minimize 
inconsistent funding year-over-year to ensure adequate cultural 
resource conservation in our parks and program offices.

        3) National Recreation and Preservation (NR&P). Within the 
        president's budget, various programs such as the National 
        Register of Historic Places, the Rivers, Trails, and 
        Conservation Assistance, and several grant programs including 
        the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation, 
        Japanese American Confinement Sites, and National Heritage 
        Areas, are funded under this account.

    The Coalition notes that these programs are critical to the 
partnership work of the National Park Service and they need adequate 
staff to fulfill their partnership responsibilities in a timely manner. 
Last year the Coalition noted specifically the need for increases in 
this account for managing the National historic preservation program 
for administration of their related grant programs, documentation of 
nationally significant threatened resources, increased grants to 
support new preservation technology, and development of guidance to 
assist public and private owners in meeting the threats of a changing 
climate, as just one example. The Rivers, Trails, and Conservation 
Assistance program, which provides technical support to local 
conservation and outdoor recreation projects, is also in need of 
additional funding to keep up with the increasing demands upon its 
program related to increased LWCF State grants and the 3030 
initiative.
    Additional funding is required to ensure each of these programs can 
maintain the level of service provided by NPS and to meet the 
increasing demands for NPS assistance from their State and local 
partners. The Coalition recommends an additional $3 million to this 
account in order for the NPS to fulfill its historic and cultural 
resource responsibilities as well as its partnership assistance duties.
    We end our statement by noting our support for the administration's 
request to improve coordination with Tribal nations by supporting 
additional Tribal liaisons, for its request for the continuing work of 
the Historic Preservation Fund to preserve historically and culturally 
significant sites and provide competitive grants to other, non-Federal 
entities, and for the NPS Construction budget request, which 
complements the funding provided by the Great American Outdoors Act. We 
particularly support the recommendation of $7.9 million for new 
construction or rehabilitation of existing employee housing, which is 
needed throughout the park system where affordable housing for purchase 
or rent is limited. Providing affordable housing will help parks in 
recruiting and retaining qualified employees and assist in improving 
employee morale by providing modernized and decent living quarters.
    Thank you for consideration of our request. We look forward to 
continuing to work with you during the consideration of the fiscal Year 
2023 Interior Appropriations bill.

    [This statement was submitted by Michael B. Murray, Chair of the 
Executive Council, Coalition to Protect America's National Parks.]
                                 ______
                                 
    Prepared Statement of Coalition of Refuge Friends and Advocates
    I appreciate the opportunity to provide written testimony on behalf 
of the Coalition of Refuge Friends and Advocates. Coalition of Refuge 
Friends and Advocates (CORFA) is a non-stock corporation in the 
Commonwealth of Virginia whose mission is to be a national peer support 
group for members of Friends organizations and community partners, who 
are working to promote the understanding and conservation of natural, 
cultural, and historical resources associated with the National 
Wildlife Refuge and Hatchery Systems. Our organization has 
approximately 800 participants. I am Vice President of the Board of 
this organization. We thank you for your support for the National 
Wildlife Refuge System and for the opportunity to offer comments on the 
fiscal year 2023 Interior Appropriations bill, most importantly 
regarding funding for the Refuge System Operations and Maintenance 
Fund, which we respectfully request you fund at $712 million for fiscal 
year 2023.
    CORFA is an all-volunteer organization aiding the nonprofit groups 
that support National Wildlife Refuges and Hatcheries. These groups 
turn to CORFA to build relationships through conversations that answer 
questions and share information, insights, and experiences concerning 
nonprofit governance and management. Members of these nonprofits can 
receive and give advice on the various challenges our incredible 
organizations face such as building capacity, marketing and 
communications, fund-raising, and coalition building. I am a member of 
the Board of this organization and serve as Vice President.
    When the pandemic quickly shutdown most federal, State, and local 
parks, and other public lands, there were few places visitors could go 
to safely enjoy and appreciate nature, while masked and socially 
distanced. One of those places was often a National Wildlife Refuge. 
Although Visitor Centers, restrooms, and even the parking lots might be 
closed, people flocked to National Wildlife Refuges by the millions to 
soak up a much-needed ration of the outdoors.
    In 2019 over 59 million people visited National Wildlife Refuges. 
As more and more people ``discovered'' refuges as a respite in the very 
stressful time of Pandemic, there has been a heightened awareness of 
these public lands as a valuable resource to local communities. Refuges 
pumped $3.2 Billion into local economies in 2019. But, with increased 
awareness and usage came increased need for upkeep and protection. The 
Fish and Wildlife Staff has done a stellar job of preserving the 
habitat of our refuges, but they are working at a great handicap. The 
completely inadequate budgets continue to fail to cover the cost of 
maintaining the incredibly rich and diverse wildlife habitats that make 
up the Refuge System. Our refuges are being loved to death.
    A 2020 National Audubon article stated, ``A lack of resources 
throughout the refuge system is limiting its capacity to provide 
healthy habitat for birds and other wildlife. Essential infrastructure 
is crumbling. Managers oversee growing groups of refuges that are 
lumped together even when they're hundreds of miles apart. And staff 
can't provide the community outreach and visitor services they want to 
offer.
    Fixing these problems would take at least $900 million a year, 
advocates say. That's a far cry from the refuge system's budget of 
$502.4 million for the 2021 fiscal year.''
    This funding gap that has arisen due to low budget allocations over 
the last decade has degraded critical wildlife habitat and imperiled 
important species. The Refuge System cannot fulfill its obligation to 
the American public and our wildlife without increases in maintenance 
and operation funds. Even with the gains in fiscal Year 2020, overall 
funding for the Refuge System has declined substantially over the last 
12 years. Funding in FY2010 was $503 million--$598 million in today's 
dollars with inflation and salary increases. This difference of $95 
million has forced the Service to cut back on programs and create 
efficiencies whenever possible--efficiencies that are sometimes harmful 
or even dangerous. For example, many refuges have been placed into 
complexes, where staff travel sometimes large distances to juggle 
duties on multiple refuges. We must change this trajectory.
    National Wildlife Refuges are currently funded at 59 per acre per 
year. Compare that to funding for National Park Service at $30 per acre 
per year.
    The number of annual Refuge System visitors jumped by 13 million 
over the last few years and is likely to take another jump for 2021 
visitors, due to lack of access to many other nature areas as mentioned 
above. More people are looking to recreate on wildlife refuges, yet 
understaffed refuges struggle to provide those opportunities. 
Reductions in visitor services can be extremely limiting for 
constituencies who want to visit.
    Equally troubling is a 15 percent drop in the number of volunteers 
since FY2011. At a time when record numbers of Americans are retiring 
and have the capability and desire to give back, the Service's ability 
to oversee volunteer efforts has been curtailed. Volunteers provide an
    additional 20 percent of work on our National wildlife refuges, yet 
they are being turned away when the System needs them the most. We hear 
every day from Friends groups about the frustration their members are 
experiencing because they cannot perform the volunteer work for their 
refuge that they would ordinarily be doing. Outdoor areas will continue 
to be a safer and popular choice for Americans looking to escape the 
seclusion of pandemic restrictions but without adequate staffing, 
refuges cannot provide the volunteer supervision that makes many of 
their visitor services possible.
    The Refuge System is bare bones right now and increased growth in 
urban spaces and outdoor recreation, and the impacts of climate change, 
place additional stress on the System. Every year, more and more 
refuges are closed to the public, habitat degrades, and visitors are 
turned away. Current funding is nowhere near the at least $900 million 
needed for full funding. Our goal is to reach that figure in the next 3 
years. Funding the Refuge System Operations and Maintenance Fund at 
$712 million is a step to reaching that goal.
    CORFA appreciates the subcommittee's consideration of our request 
of $712 mil for the refuge system operations and maintenance budget for 
fiscal year 2023 We look forward to working with Congress to accomplish 
this goal and appreciate your consideration of our requests. Please let 
me know if you have any questions.

    [This statement was submitted by Cheryl Turoczy Hart, Board Vice 
President of Coalition of Refuge Friends and Advocates.]
                                 ______
                                 
  Prepared Statement of Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program
    Thank you for the opportunity to provide written testimony in 
support of fiscal year 2023 (FY23) funding for the Colorado River Basin 
Salinity Control Program (Program) in the amounts listed in the table 
below. Congress authorized the Program in the Colorado River Basin 
Salinity Control Act (Public Law 93-320) to enhance and protect the 
quality of water available for Colorado River water users in the United 
Sates and the Republic of Mexico. This FY23 funding request will help 
fulfill obligations of this act and prevent further water quality 
degradation and related economic damages in our region.

 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                  FY22 Appropriation  FY23 Appropriation                       Salinity Control
          Subcommittee                  Request             Request         Federal Agency          Program
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interior, Environment, and        $2.0 Million......  $2.0 Million......  Bureau of Land      Aquatic Habitat
 Related Agencies.                                                         Management (BLM).   Management Sub-
                                                                                               Activity
                                 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Energy and Water Development,     $10.7 Million.....  $10.7 Million.....  U.S. Bureau of      Title II--
 and Related Agencies.                                                     Reclamation         Basinwide Program
                                                                           (Reclamation).
                                 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agriculture, Rural Development,   $12.4 Million.....  $15.6 Million.....  Natural Resources   Environmental
 Food and Drug Administration,                                             Conservation        Quality
 and Related Agencies.                                                     Service (NRCS).     Incentives
                                                                                               Program (EQIP)
                                 ===============================================================================
    Total.......................  $25.1 Million.....  $28.3 Million.....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    As a regional water wholesaler, The Metropolitan Water District of 
Southern California (Metropolitan) provides supplemental water for 26 
public member agencies to deliver-either directly or through their sub-
agencies-to nearly 19 million people living in Los Angeles, Orange, 
Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties. Metropolitan 
imports about one fifth of Southern California's water supply from the 
Colorado River.
    The Program has successfully reduced the salinity of the Colorado 
River by over 90 milligrams per liter (mg/l) at Lake Havasu. Despite 
the Program's success, salt in the Colorado River continues to cause an 
estimated $354 million in damages to water users each year, including 
damages to consumer and commercial equipment, water supply treatment 
processes, agriculture, groundwater replenishment activities, and 
wastewater recycling. Many of these damages occur within Metropolitan's 
service area as water imported via the Colorado River Aqueduct has the 
highest salinity of all of Metropolitan's supplies, averaging around 
630 mg/L since 1976. The continuing severe drought in the western 
United States threatens to exacerbate these damages as low river flows 
and record-low reservoir volumes provide less water to dilute saline 
inflows.
    Without the Program, damages to Colorado River water users would be 
much higher. Modeling by Reclamation indicates that economic damages 
would rise to approximately $671 million-almost double current damages-
by the year 2040 without continuation of the Program. Metropolitan 
urges the subcommittee to support funding for the Program in FY23 at 
the levels outlined above so that it can avoid these additional impacts 
of increased salinity.
    Given the scale of these potential damages, Congress's continuing 
modest investment in the Program yields a substantial rate of return. 
In addition to Congress's contribution, the seven Colorado River Basin 
States provide matching funds up to 30 percent of Program funding, 
extending the value of Congress's contribution even further.
    The Program funds the Paradox Valley Unit (PVU), which includes a 
deep injection well used to sequester brine from the hyper-saline 
Dolores River (a tributary to the Colorado River) in western Colorado. 
The well has been virtually non-operational since March 2019 due to 
induced seismic activity in the valley. The PVU is especially important 
to our region as it is the largest single salinity control project in 
the Program. Historically, the PVU has reduced salt loads to the 
Colorado River by over 100,000 tons per year and salt concentrations at 
key downstream locations by up to 9 mg/L. Given the unique importance 
of the PVU, Metropolitan urges Reclamation to resume operation of the 
existing well and to expedite the process of finding a long-term 
solution that prevents the salt from reaching the Colorado River. 
Metropolitan also requests the subcommittee's support for resuming PVU 
operations as soon as practicable.
    The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum (Forum) was formed 
in 1973 to coordinate the Colorado River Basin States' salinity control 
efforts. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has charged the 
Forum with reviewing the Colorado River's water quality standards for 
salinity every 3 years (the ``Triennial Review''). In so doing, the 
Forum adopts a Plan of Implementation consistent with these standards. 
The level of appropriations requested in this testimony is in keeping 
with the Forum's Plan of Implementation adopted in the 2020 Triennial 
Review, which will be implemented by the BLM, Reclamation, and the 
NRCS.
    Metropolitan appreciates your consideration of this request. Please 
feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

    [This statement was submitted by Adel Hagekhalil, General Manager, 
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.]
                                 ______
                                 
   Prepared Statement of Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum
    Waters from the Colorado River are used by nearly 40 million people 
for municipal and industrial purposes and for irrigation of 
approximately 5.5 million acres in the United States. Natural and man-
induced salt loading to the Colorado River causes environmental and 
economic damages. In 2020 the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) 
estimated the quantifiable damages to Lower Basin water users due to 
elevated salinity levels at about $354 million per year. Congress 
authorized the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program (Program) 
through the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act (Act) (Public Law 
93-320) in 1974 to offset increased damages caused by continued 
development and use of the waters of the Colorado River. Modeling by 
Reclamation indicates that the quantifiable damages would rise to 
approximately $671 million by the year 2040 without continuation of the 
Program. Congress has directed the Secretary of the Interior 
(Secretary) to implement a comprehensive program for minimizing salt 
contributions to the Colorado River from lands administered by the 
Bureau of Land Management (BLM). BLM has funded these efforts as 
directed by Congress through its Aquatic Habitat Management sub-
activity. BLM's efforts are an essential part of the overall effort. A 
funding level of $2.0 million for salinity specific projects in 2023 is 
requested to prevent further degradation of the quality of the Colorado 
River and a commensurate increase in downstream economic damages.
    EPA has identified that more than 60 percent of the salt load of 
the Colorado River comes from natural sources. The majority of land 
within the Colorado River Basin is federally owned, much of which is 
administered by BLM. In authorizing Program (Public Law 93-320, Act) in 
1974, Congress recognized that most of the salts in the Colorado River 
originate from federally owned lands. Title I of the act deals with 
programs downstream of Imperial Dam that enable the U.S. to meet its 
commitment regarding the quality of waters being delivered to Mexico 
(Minute No. 242 of the International Boundary and Water Commission, 
United States and Mexico). Title II of the act addresses measures 
upstream from Imperial Dam, thus improving the quality of the water 
delivered to users in the United States. This testimony deals 
specifically with Title II efforts. In 1984, Congress amended the 
Salinity Control Act (Public Law 98-569) and directed the Secretary to 
develop a comprehensive program for minimizing salt contributions to 
the Colorado River from lands administered by BLM. In 2000, Congress 
reiterated its directive to the Secretary and requested a report on the 
implementation of BLM's program (Public Law 106-459). In 2003, BLM 
employed a Salinity Coordinator to increase BLM efforts in the Colorado 
River Basin to pursue salinity control studies and to implement 
specific salinity control practices.
    BLM is now working on a comprehensive Colorado River Basin salinity 
control program as directed by Congress. In January 2018 BLM issued A 
Framework for Improving the Effectiveness of the Colorado River Basin 
Salinity Control Program, 2018-2023. This document lays out how BLM 
intends to implement Colorado River Basin salinity control activities 
over the 5-year period. Meaningful resources have been expended by BLM 
in the past few years to better understand salt mobilization on 
rangelands. With a significant portion of the salt load of the Colorado 
River coming from BLM administered lands, the BLM portion of the 
overall program is essential to the success of the effort. Inadequate 
BLM salinity control efforts will result in significant additional 
economic damages to water users downstream.
    Concentration of salt in the Colorado River causes approximately 
$354 million annually in quantified damages and significantly more in 
unquantified damages in the United States and results in poor water 
quality for United States users. Damages, by water usage sector, 
include the following:

  --a reduction in the ability to reclaim and reuse water for 
        beneficial uses, including drinking water and irrigation water 
        supplies, due to high salinities in the water delivered to 
        water treatment and reclamation facilities,

  --a reduction in the yield of salt sensitive crops, increased water 
        use to meet leaching requirements and additional actions 
        necessary to comply with the Clean Water Act within the 
        agricultural sector,

  --increased use of imported water and cost of desalination and brine 
        disposal for recycling water in the municipal sector,

  --a reduction in the useful life of galvanized water pipe systems, 
        water heaters, faucets, garbage disposals, clothes washers and 
        dishwashers, and increased use of bottled water and water 
        softeners in the household sector,

  --an increase in the cost of cooling operations and the cost of water 
        softening, and a decrease in equipment service life in the 
        commercial sector,

  --an increase in the use of water and the cost of water treatment, 
        and a corresponding increase in sewer fees in the industrial 
        sector,

  --a decrease in the lifespan of treatment facilities and pipelines in 
        the utility sector, and

  --difficulty in meeting wastewater discharge requirements to comply 
        with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit 
        terms and conditions, and an increase in desalination and brine 
        disposal costs necessary to minimize accumulation of salts in 
        groundwater basins.

    The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum (Forum) is composed 
of gubernatorial appointees from Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, 
New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. The Forum is charged with reviewing the 
Colorado River's water quality standards for salinity every 3 years to 
facilitate compliance with Section 303(c) of the Clean Water Act 
(Public Law 92-500). In so doing, it adopts a Plan of Implementation 
consistent with these standards. The level of appropriation requested 
in this testimony is in keeping with the adopted Plan of 
Implementation. If adequate funds are not appropriated, significant 
damages from higher salinity concentrations in the water will be more 
widespread in the United States and Mexico.
    In summary, implementation of salinity control practices through 
BLM is a cost-effective method of controlling the salinity of the 
Colorado River and is an essential component to the overall Program. 
Continuation of adequate funding levels for salinity control within the 
Aquatic Habitat Management sub-activity will assist in preventing 
further degradation of the Colorado River's water quality with a 
commensurate significant increase in economic damages to municipal, 
industrial and irrigation users. A modest investment in source control 
pays huge dividends in improved water quality to nearly 40 million 
Americans. The Forum requests that this committee direct that BLM again 
expend at least $2.0 million in 2023 from its Aquatic Habitat 
Management Program sub-activity for Colorado River specific salinity 
control activities.

    [This statement was submitted by Don A. Barnett, Executive 
Director, Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum.]
                                 ______
                                 
        Prepared Statement of Colorado River Board of California
    This testimony is in support of Fiscal Year 2023 funding for the 
Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) associated 
activities that assist the implementation of Title II of the Colorado 
River Basin Salinity Control Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-320). This 
long-standing successful and cost-effective salinity control program in 
the Colorado River Basin is being carried out pursuant to the Colorado 
River Basin Salinity Control Act and the Clean Water Act (Public Law 
92-500). Congress has directed the Secretary of the Interior to 
implement a comprehensive program for minimizing salt contributions to 
the Colorado River from lands administered by the BLM. BLM funds these 
efforts through the Aquatic Habitat Management Program. BLM's efforts 
are an essential part of the overall effort. A funding level of $2.0 
million for salinity specific projects in FY-2023 is requested to 
prevent further degradation of the quality of Colorado River water 
supplies and increased environmental and economic damages.
    The Colorado River Board of California (Colorado River Board) is 
the state agency charged with protecting California's interests and 
rights in the water and power resources of the Colorado River system. 
In this capacity, California participates along with the other six 
Colorado River Basin States through the Colorado River Basin Salinity 
Control Forum (Forum), the interstate organization responsible for 
coordinating the Basin States' salinity control efforts. In close 
cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and 
pursuant to requirements of the Clean Water Act, the Forum is charged 
with reviewing the Colorado River water quality standards every 3 
years. Every 3 years the Forum adopts a Plan of Implementation 
consistent with these water quality standards. The level of 
appropriation being supported in this testimony is consistent with the 
Forum's 2020 Plan of Implementation. The Forum's 2020 Plan of 
Implementation can be found on this website: https://
coloradoriversalinity.org/docs/2020 percent20REVIEW percent20- 
percent20Final percent20w percent20appendices.pdf. If adequate funds 
are not appropriated, significant damages associated with increasing 
salinity concentrations of Colorado River water will become more 
widespread in the United States and Mexican portions of the Colorado 
River Basin.
    The EPA has determined that more than sixty percent of the salt 
load of the Colorado River comes from natural sources. The majority of 
land within the Colorado River Basin is federally owned, much of which 
is administered by BLM. Through passage of the Colorado River Basin 
Salinity Control Act in 1974, Congress recognized that much of the 
salts in the Colorado River originate on federally owned lands. Title I 
of the Salinity Control Act deals with the U.S. commitment to efforts 
related to maintaining the quality of waters being delivered to Mexico 
pursuant to the 1944 Water Treaty. Title II of the act deals with 
improving the quality of the water delivered to water users in the 
United States. In 1984, Congress amended the Salinity Control Act and 
directed that the Secretary of the Interior develop a comprehensive 
program for minimizing salt contributions to the Colorado River from 
lands administered by BLM. In 2000, Congress reiterated its directive 
to the Secretary and requested a report on the implementation of BLM's 
program (Public Law 106-459). In 2003, BLM employed a Salinity 
Coordinator to coordinate BLM efforts in the Colorado River Basin 
States to pursue salinity control studies and to implement specific 
salinity control practices. BLM is now working to create a 
comprehensive Colorado River Basin salinity control program as directed 
by Congress. In January 2018 BLM issued A Framework for Improving the 
Effectiveness of the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program, 
2018-2023. This document lays out how BLM intends to implement Colorado 
River Basin salinity control activities over the next 5 years. 
Meaningful resources have been expended by BLM in the past few years to 
better understand salt mobilization on rangelands. With a significant 
portion of the salt load of the Colorado River coming from BLM-
administered lands, the BLM portion of the overall program is essential 
to the success of the entire effort. Inadequate BLM salinity control 
efforts will result in significant additional economic damages to water 
users downstream.
    Over the forty-eight years since the passage of the Colorado River 
Basin Salinity Control Act, much has been learned about the impact of 
salts in the Colorado River system. As described in the 2020 Plan of 
Implementation, the salinity concentration of Colorado River water 
causes about $354 million in quantifiable economic damages in the 
United States annually. Economic and hydrologic modeling by Reclamation 
indicates that these economic damages could rise to more than $671 
million by the year 2040 without continued implementation of the 
salinity control program. For example, damages can be incurred related 
to the following activities:

  --A reduction in the ability and increased costs to reclaim and reuse 
        water due to high salinities in the water delivered to water 
        treatment and reclamation facilities;

  --A reduction in the yield of salt-sensitive crops and increased 
        water use to meet the leaching requirements in the agricultural 
        sector;

  --Increases in the amount of imported water;

  --Increased costs of desalination and brine disposal for recycled 
        water in the municipal sector;

  --A reduction in the useful life of galvanized water pipe systems, 
        water heaters, faucets, and other household appliances, and 
        increased use of bottled water and water softeners in the 
        residential sectors;

  --Increased costs of cooling operations and the cost of water 
        softening, and a decrease in equipment service life in the 
        commercial sector;

  --Increases in the use of water and cost of water treatment, and an 
        increase in sewer fees in the industrial sector;

  --Decreased life of treatment facilities and pipelines in the utility 
        sector;

  --Increasing difficulty in meeting wastewater discharge requirements 
        to comply with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System 
        permit terms and conditions; and

  --Increased desalination and brine disposal costs due to accumulation 
        of salts in groundwater basins.

    The Colorado River is, and will continue to be, a major and vital 
water resource to the nearly 20 million residents of southern 
California, including municipal, industrial, and agricultural water 
users in Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San 
Diego, and Ventura Counties. The protection and improvement of Colorado 
River water quality through the continued implementation of this very 
effective salinity control program avoids, or reduces, additional 
environmental and economic damages to California, the other Colorado 
River Basin States, and Mexico that rely on Colorado River water 
resources.

    [This statement was submitted by Christopher S. Harris, Executive 
Director, Colorado River Board of California.]
                                 ______
                                 
  Prepared Statement of Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program
    Congress has directed the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) to 
implement a comprehensive program for minimizing salt contributions to 
the Colorado River from lands administered by the Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM). BLM has funded these efforts as directed by Congress 
through its Aquatic Habitat Management sub-activity. BLM's efforts are 
an essential part of the overall salinity control effort in the 
Colorado River Basin. A funding level of $2.0 million for salinity 
specific projects in 2023 is requested to prevent further degradation 
of the quality of the Colorado River and a commensurate increase in 
downstream economic damages.
    The BLM is the largest land manager in the Colorado River Basin. It 
manages public lands that are heavily laden with naturally occurring 
salt. When salt-laden soils erode, the salts dissolve and enter the 
river system, affecting the quality of water used from the Colorado 
River by the Lower Basin States and Mexico.
    Waters from the Colorado River are used by nearly 40 million people 
for municipal and industrial purposes and for irrigation of 
approximately 5.5 million acres in the United States. Natural and man-
induced salt loading to the Colorado River causes environmental and 
economic damages. Congress authorized the Colorado River Basin Salinity 
Control Program (Program) through the Colorado River Basin Salinity 
Control Act (Act) (Public Law 93-320) in 1974 to offset increased 
damages caused by continued development and use of the waters of the 
Colorado River.
    EPA has identified that more than 60 percent of the salt load of 
the Colorado River comes from natural sources. Most of the land within 
the Colorado River Basin is federally owned, much of which is 
administered by BLM. In authorizing the Program (Public Law 93-320, 
Act) in 1974, Congress recognized that most of the salts in the 
Colorado River originate from federally owned lands. Title I of the act 
deals with programs downstream of Imperial Dam that enable the U.S. to 
meet its commitment regarding the quality of waters being delivered to 
Mexico. Title II of the act addresses measures upstream from Imperial 
Dam, thus improving the quality of the water delivered to users in the 
United States. This testimony deals specifically with Title II efforts. 
In 1984, Congress amended the Salinity Control Act (Public Law 98-569) 
and directed the Secretary to develop a comprehensive program for 
minimizing salt contributions to the Colorado River from lands 
administered by BLM. In 2000, Congress reiterated its directive to the 
Secretary and requested a report on the implementation of BLM's program 
(Public Law 106-459). In 2003, BLM employed a Salinity Coordinator to 
increase BLM efforts in the Colorado River Basin to pursue salinity 
control studies and to implement specific salinity control practices.
    BLM is now working on a comprehensive Colorado River Basin salinity 
control program as directed by Congress. In January 2018 BLM issued A 
Framework for Improving the Effectiveness of the Colorado River Basin 
Salinity Control Program, 2018-2023. This document lays out how BLM 
intends to implement Colorado River Basin salinity control activities 
over the 5-year period. Meaningful resources have been expended by BLM 
in the past few years to better understand salt mobilization on 
rangelands. With a significant portion of the salt load of the Colorado 
River coming from BLM administered lands, the BLM portion of the 
overall program is essential to the success of the effort. Inadequate 
BLM salinity control efforts will result in significant additional 
economic damages to water users downstream.
    In 2020 the Bureau of Reclamation estimated the quantifiable 
damages to Lower Basin water users due to elevated salinity levels at 
about $354 million per year, plus significantly more in unquantified 
damages in the United States and results in poor water quality for 
United States users. Modeling by Reclamation indicates that the 
quantifiable damages would rise to approximately $671 million by the 
year 2040 without continuation of the Program. Damages include:

    1. a reduction in the ability to reclaim and reuse water

    2. a reduction in the yield of salt sensitive crops

    3. increased use of imported water and cost of desalination and 
brine

    4. a reduction in the useful life of galvanized water pipe systems, 
water heaters, faucets, garbage disposals, clothes washers, and 
dishwashers

    5. an increase in the cost of cooling operations and the cost of 
water softening

    6. an increase in the use of water and the cost of water treatment, 
and a corresponding increase in sewer fees

    7. a decrease in the lifespan of treatment facilities and 
pipelines, and

    8. difficulty in meeting wastewater discharge requirements to 
comply with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit 
terms and conditions, and an increase in desalination and brine 
disposal costs necessary to minimize accumulation of salts in 
groundwater basins.

    New Mexico is a member State of the Colorado River Basin Salinity 
Control Forum which is charged with reviewing the Colorado River's 
water quality standards for salinity every 3 years to facilitate 
compliance with the Clean Water Act (Public Law 92-500). In so doing, 
it adopts a Plan of Implementation consistent with these standards. The 
level of appropriation requested in this testimony is in keeping with 
the adopted Plan of Implementation.
    In summary, implementation of salinity control practices through 
BLM is a cost-effective method of controlling the salinity of the 
Colorado River and is an essential component to the overall Program. 
Continuation of adequate funding levels for salinity control within the 
Aquatic Habitat Management sub-activity will assist in preventing 
further degradation of the Colorado River's water quality. New Mexico 
requests that this committee direct that BLM again expend at least $2.0 
million in 2023 from its Aquatic Habitat Management Program sub-
activity for Colorado River specific salinity control activities.

    [This statement was submitted by Mike A. Hamman, P.E., New Mexico 
State Engineer.]
                                 ______
                                 
 Prepared Statement of Council of Infrastructure Financing Authorities
    The Council of Infrastructure Financing Authorities (CIFA) 
represents the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds 
(SRFs), the Nation's premier programs for funding water infrastructure 
that protects public health and the environment.
                                funding
    CIFA urges Congress to fully fund the Clean Water and Drinking 
Water SRFs at $2.75 billion each, the 2023 authorization in the Clean 
Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act. Additionally, fully funding the 
$5 million authorization for the state financing authorities under the 
Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) Program will 
ensure SRFs have access to affordable financing to leverage their 
programs to meet demand.
    Full funding is needed to reduce the legacy gap and growing deficit 
in water infrastructure investment. According to the American Society 
of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the need for capital investment in water 
infrastructure was $129 billion in 2019, while actual investment was 
just $48 billion, leaving a gap of $81 billion. If this trend 
continues, the gap is will grow to $434 billion by 2029.
    Moreover, full funding is needed to help utilities maintain 
sustained investment in water infrastructure, while keeping household 
user rates affordable. First, more funding is needed to cover 
significant cost increases for water infrastructure projects due to 
historic levels of inflation, supply chain disruptions, and a tight 
labor market. Second, more funding is needed to help utilities comply 
with more stringent water quality standards. Third, demand for SRF 
subsidized loans is likely to increase as the Federal Reserve raises 
interest rates which will impact interest rates on municipal bonds.
    Additionally, CIFA urges Congress to fully fund delegated water 
quality programs, including the Public Water System Supervision Grants 
and Water Pollution Control (Section 106) Grants. These programs play 
an integral role in permitting water infrastructure projects that 
protect water quality and public health. Without increased Federal 
funding, States may not have adequate resources to implement these 
delegated programs and process permit applications for drinking water 
and wastewater infrastructure projects, the number of which will 
increase due to supplemental appropriations in the IIJA.
                                earmarks
    CIFA urges Congress to restore full Federal funding of the 
capitalization grants for the Clean Water and Drinking Water SRFs.
    The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 maintained the 2021 
funding levels for the Clean Water and Drinking Water SRFs. However, 
Congress used the SRF capitalization grants to fund earmarks, which cut 
funding for state projects by $818 million--$393 million or 36 percent 
for state drinking water projects and $425 million or 27 percent for 
state wastewater, stormwater, and clean water projects.
    While appropriations in the IIJA mitigate the immediate impact of 
these funding cuts, paying for congressionally-selected projects by 
cutting funding for state priorities sets an alarming precedent with 
significant cascading consequences.

  --Cutting Federal funding for subsidized loans for state priorities 
        to provide grants for congressionally selected projects 
        undermines the successful SRF state-federal partnership. Using 
        the SRF capitalization grants to fund earmarks side-steps the 
        States' proven process for prioritizing limited funding for 
        water infrastructure, which can potentially increase the risk 
        to public health and the environment.

  --Cutting Federal funding for SRF subsidized loans impacts other 
        funding. Using the capitalization grant to pay for earmarks 
        reduces state match and diminishes the leveraging power of the 
        SRFs to issue bonds to increase funding for water 
        infrastructure.

  --Cutting Federal funding for the SRFs also cuts funding for 
        additional subsidy (grants and principal forgiveness), which 
        helps build water infrastructure for communities that couldn't 
        otherwise afford it.

  --Cutting Federal funding for the SRFs also cuts funding for critical 
        water quality programs and activities, including technical 
        assistance for small, rural and Tribal communities, source 
        water protection and capacity development under the Public 
        Water System Supervision Program, and other State and local 
        water protection activities.

  --Cutting Federal funding for SRF subsidized loans permanently 
        eliminates revolving funds to pay for ongoing water 
        infrastructure needs.

                           additional subsidy
    CIFA urges Congress to eliminate mandates for additional subsidy in 
appropriations--10 percent for the Clean Water SRF and 14 percent for 
the Drinking Water SRF. Additional subsidy is the portion of an SRF 
subsidized loan that doesn't have to be repaid and comes in the form of 
principal forgiveness or a grant.
    Congress established the SRFs as state-federal partnerships with 
shared commitment to protect water quality and provide a safe reliable 
supply of water in communities across the Nation. Annual Federal and 
State funding was intended to capitalize the subsidized loan programs 
which could then provide a recurring source of funding to meet the 
perpetual need for sustained investment in water infrastructure. Thanks 
to Congress' forward thinking, the SRFs have more than $85 billion in 
loan repayments (revolving funds) today--more than total Federal 
funding of $74 billion--to fund projects that may never have been built 
under a traditional Federal grant program.
    However, Federal mandates for additional subsidy have eroded 
capitalization of SRFs, jeopardizing a permanent, protected, recurring 
source of funding to meet water infrastructure needs for future 
generations.
    Only 20 percent of 2022 annual appropriations for the Drinking 
Water SRF must be provided in subsidized loans, which capitalize the 
programs. Of the remaining capitalization grant,

  --26 percent must be used for federally mandated additional subsidy 
        (14 percent mandated by the 2022 Appropriations Act and 12 
        percent mandated by the Safe Drinking Water Act),

  --23 percent may be used for additional subsidy at the discretion of 
        the state, and

  --31 percent may be used for set-asides (2 percent for technical 
        assistance for small communities, 4 percent for administration, 
        10 percent to support the Public Water System Supervision 
        program, and 15 percent for State and local activities, such as 
        capacity development and source water projection).

    Only 54 percent of 2022 annual appropriations for the Clean Water 
SRF must be provided in subsidized loans, which capitalize the program. 
Of the remaining capitalization grant,

  --20 percent must be used for federally mandated additional subsidy 
        (10 percent mandated by the 2022 Appropriations Act and 10 
        percent mandated by the Clean Water Act),

  --20 percent may be used for additional subsidy at the discretion of 
        the state, and

  --6 percent may be used for set-asides (2 percent for technical 
        assistance for small, rural and Tribal communities and 4 
        percent for administration).

    Federal mandates for additional subsidy have also impacted the 
ability of some States to issue bonds for state match. These SRFs need 
loan repayments to provide security for bonds to generate state match; 
fewer loans and historically low interest rates have reduced revenue 
needed for state match.
    Congress has provided multiple forms of financial assistance to 
help low-income, disadvantaged and underserved communities to build 
much-needed water infrastructure.

  --As part of the IIJA, Congress mandated that 10 percent of annual 
        Federal funding for the Clean Water SRF be provided in 
        additional subsidy for communities that meet the affordability 
        criteria and increased the mandate for additional subsidy for 
        the Drinking Water SRF from 6 percent to 12 percent. Moreover, 
        Congress has provided States with the ability to provide up to 
        30 percent of annual Federal funding for the Clean Water SRF 
        and up to 35 percent of annual Federal funding for the Drinking 
        Water SRF to help communities that couldn't otherwise afford 
        much-needed water infrastructure.

  --According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 
        interpretation of the IIJA, Congress requires 49 percent of 
        2023 supplemental appropriations--$2.2 billion for each 
        program--to be provided in additional subsidy to communities 
        that meet affordability or disadvantaged community criteria. 
        That's more than $2 billion in funding for principal 
        forgiveness and grants in 2023.

  --In 2018, Congress established the Small, Underserved and 
        Disadvantaged Community Grant Program specifically to help the 
        neediest communities build infrastructure to provide safe 
        drinking water.

    Finally, many States have grant programs to help low-income, 
disadvantaged communities. State grant programs tend to be more 
accessible and user-friendly for small and disadvantaged communities, 
especially those that lack the professional capacity to comply with 
Federal mandates, such as Davis Bacon, American Iron and Steel, and the 
myriad of Federal crosscutters required of SRF borrowers.
    dedicated funding in the infrastructure investment and jobs act
    CIFA urges Congress to provide specific allowances for dedicated 
special category appropriations in the IIJA, including funding to 
replace lead pipes and remediate emerging contaminants with a focus on 
per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Changes to the base program 
are not necessary. However, targeted and limited adjustments for the 
dedicated special category funding are needed to efficiently and 
effectively achieve the goals of Congress.
    2022 and 2023 Appropriations for Replacement of Lead Service Lines:

  --Allow funding to be used for replacement of any, and all, lead 
        pipes, including lead water mains which EPA has determined are 
        ineligible for this dedicated funding.

  --Allow up to 100 percent of funding to be used for additional 
        subsidy for any community, which is necessary to alleviate the 
        cost to homeowners to replace the privately owned portion of 
        the lead service lines.

  --Allow funding to be used by SRFs to contract directly for lead 
        service line inventories.

  --Allow funding to be used to replace indoor lead plumbing, such as 
        water fountains and faucets, for public buildings or buildings 
        that serve vulnerable populations, such as daycare centers, 
        schools, nursing homes, libraries, and courthouses.

    2022 and 2023 Appropriations for Remediation of Emerging 
Contaminants with a Focus on Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances 
(PFAS):

  --Allow funding to be used for testing and monitoring.

  --Allow funding to be used by SRFs to contract directly for 
        remediation efforts.

  --Extend the deadline to apply for the capitalization grant by 1-year 
        to provide sufficient time for SRFs to build a pipeline of 
        projects for this new dedicated special category funding.

  --Eliminate the requirement that 10 percent of the capitalization 
        grant for this dedicated special category funding be used for 
        green projects.

    [This statement was submitted Deirdre Finn, Executive Director, 
Council of Infrastructure Financing Authorities (CIFA).]
                                 ______
                                 
              Prepared Statement of Defenders of Wildlife
    Madam Chairman, Ranking Member and Members of the subcommittee, 
thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony. I am Mary Beth 
Beetham, Director of Legislative Affairs at Defenders of Wildlife. 
Founded in 1947, Defenders has nearly 2.2 million members and 
supporters and is dedicated to the conservation of wild animals and 
plants in their natural communities.
    Biodiversity is in crisis on a global scale. Numerous scientific 
studies in the last several years have raised the alarm about this 
crisis. A landmark 2019 study \1\ compiled by hundreds of the world's 
leading scientists found that about one million species are facing 
extinction. The health of wildlife and ecosystems is directly related 
to human health--exploitation and habitat loss can cause spillover of 
animal diseases to humans. Moreover, the World Economic Forum found 
that biodiversity loss is one of the top three threats to the global 
economy in its 2022 report.\2\ And a 2022 National Academy of Sciences 
report emphasizes biodiversity's ``essentially incalculable'' role in 
protecting human health, agriculture, and the economy.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Diaz, S., J. Settele, E. S. Brondizio, et al. 2019. ``Summary 
for Policymakers of the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and 
Ecosystem Services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on 
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.''
    \2\ World Economic Forum Global Risks Report 2022
    \3\ National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 
2022. ``Biodiversity at Risk: Today's Choices Matter.'' Washington, DC: 
The National Academies Press.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The biodiversity crisis cannot be addressed without funding--more 
than 1,900 scientists signed a letter \4\ published in the journal 
Science which asked Congress to fully fund conservation programs to 
protect biodiversity, including the Endangered Species Act (ESA). While 
we appreciate the modest increases provided in the final fiscal Year 
2022 bill, years of severely inadequate funding and the scale of the 
catastrophe facing the planet's wildlife make them gravely 
insufficient. Significantly more funding is needed in every area.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ Malcom, J et al. 2019. ``Solve the biodiversity crisis with 
funding.'' Science 365 (6459): 1256
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In addition, Defenders is deeply disturbed that, although neither 
the House nor Senate fiscal Year 2022 bills included the sage-grouse 
rider, the omnibus yet again included this longstanding prohibition on 
protecting the sage-grouse under the ESA that has been in the bill 
since 2014. We urge the subcommittee to draw a line in the sand and 
ensure that this rider which undermines sound science and the ESA is 
removed from the fiscal Year 2023 bill once and for all.
                       fish and wildlife service
    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is our Nation's premier 
wildlife conservation agency. To address the biodiversity crisis, the 
agency needs additional increases to support recovery of threatened and 
endangered species; protect migratory birds and fish, species of global 
conservation concern and other trust species; and prevent domestic and 
international wildlife crimes.
    Ecological Services--Defenders is part of a coalition of more than 
150 organizations requesting a significant infusion of funds into the 
Ecological Services program to begin to address the biodiversity 
crisis. We very much appreciate the $356.2 million in the president's 
request, but the need is far greater. Based on available data on the 
needs and costs for ESA implementation by FWS across its programs, as 
well as inflation adjustment, program funding should be at least $543.5 
million, or $266.5 million more than the fiscal Year 2022 level:

  --Listing: There are approximately 310 species on the FWS National 
        Listing Workplan for fiscal Year 2022-FY 2027 that must be 
        reviewed for protections under the ESA, with more species 
        petitioned for protection every year. For FWS to meet this 
        obligation, a total of $78.7 million is needed annually, an 
        increase of $57.4 million.

  --Recovery: Of the more than 1600 listed U.S. species, more than 1200 
        have no recovery plans or have plans that are at least a decade 
        old and that may no longer contain current scientific 
        information, especially related to climate change. Hundreds of 
        listed species receive less than $1,000 per year for recovery 
        and many receive no FWS funding at all. Congress should provide 
        a minimum of $50,000 per year per species for recovery. For FWS 
        to meet its obligations under the recovery budget, a total of 
        at least $287 million is needed annually, an increase of $178.6 
        million. We very much appreciate report language directing FWS 
        to incorporate climate change adaptation into recovery plans 
        and language supporting improved recovery efforts for red 
        wolves; we urge continued oversight of these activities.

  --Planning and Consultation: FWS conducts ESA Section 7 consultations 
        on more than 10,000 Federal actions each year so that projects 
        can move forward while minimizing harm to listed species. The 
        requirements of pesticide consultations in particular are 
        highly technical and essential to protecting species. In 
        addition, the agency will have significantly increased 
        obligations under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 
        To meet these needs and to work with non-federal stakeholders 
        to develop Habitat Conservation Plans, $162.1 million is needed 
        annually, an increase of $50 million. We are grateful for the 
        continued support for the Integrated Planning and Consultation 
        system and for compliance monitoring. We urge continued 
        oversight of these efforts.

  --Conservation and Restoration: At least $15.7 million per year is 
        needed for the Candidate Conservation element of Conservation 
        and Restoration to assist with early conservation action on the 
        current 25 candidate species.

  --Wolf Livestock Loss Demonstration Program: We are disappointed that 
        the president's budget zeroed out this important program that 
        assists livestock owners co-existing with wolves, and we urge 
        continued funding at no less than $1 million.

    National Wildlife Refuge System Operations and Maintenance--A key 
component in addressing the biodiversity crisis in the U.S. is to 
refocus Federal land management on it. Our National Wildlife Refuge 
System is the largest network of public lands and waters in the Nation 
dedicated to wildlife conservation. Since 2010, the System has added 2 
million land acres, 13 national wildlife refuges, and 597 million acres 
of marine national monuments, has experienced a 44 percent increase in 
visitation, and has worked to significantly expand its urban refuge 
program in historically excluded communities. Yet the System has lost 
25 percent of its staff since 2010, and despite increases provided in 
the fiscal Year 2022 bill, its funding is far below the fiscal Year 
2010 inflation adjusted level of $636 million. While Defenders very 
much appreciates the president's request of $597.9 million, we 
recommend $712 million to begin to address the real need, an increase 
of $193.2 million.
    Partners for Fish and Wildlife--Defenders urges full funding of $75 
million, an increase of $17.3 million to address a backlog of 
applications and fund practices that could restore tens of thousands of 
land acres and stream miles on private land. We urge inclusion of 
report language directing continued prioritization of projects that 
connect, enlarge, and buffer National Wildlife Refuges.
    Migratory Bird Management--In North America nearly 3 billion birds 
have disappeared since 1970 and the only groups to not suffer severe 
declines were waterbirds that have received substantial funding over 
the decades.\5\ The administration is currently working to develop 
regulations to govern incidental take under the Migratory Bird Treaty 
Act (MBTA) following the reversal of harmful Trump-era policies. 
Defenders supports the $70.2 million in the president's request, an 
increase of $20.7 million, which includes increases of $8.1 million to 
help support development of proposed regulations under the MBTA and $1 
million for Urban Treaties to help address threats to birds in 
underserved communities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ Rosenberg, L. V. et al. 2019. ``Decline of the North American 
avifauna.'' Science 366 (6461): 120-124.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) and International Affairs (IA)--For 
OLE, we support $115 million, an increase of $25.2 million, to help OLE 
continue to address the crisis in the illegal global wildlife trade and 
the threat of zoonotic disease. For IA, we support $35 million, an 
increase of $9.6 million, crucial in continuing to combat illegal 
wildlife trade and to build capacity in range countries.
    Cooperative Landscape Conservation and Science Support--We support 
the president's request of $19 million (an increase of $6.2 million) 
and $38.5 million (an increase of $15.3 million) respectively. With 
these increases, FWS can continue to work to address complex challenges 
posed by the dual climate and biodiversity crises.
    Key grant programs--Defenders supports: $149.9 million for the 
Cooperative Endangered Species Fund, an increase of $93 million; $20 
million for the Neotropical Migratory Bird Fund, an increase of $15 
million; and $30 million for the Multinational Species Conservation 
Fund, an increase of $10 million.
            u.s forest service and bureau of land management
    The U.S. Forest Service (FS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 
manage close to 20 percent of the country's land base, providing 
habitat for hundreds of species listed under the ESA and thousands of 
sensitive species. These agencies have long been deprived of the 
funding they need to adequately conserve and recover imperiled species. 
While we thank the subcommittee for the modest increases provided in 
the fiscal Year 2022 bill, we were disappointed that the president's 
request for fiscal Year 2023 included explicit funding for only one of 
the five critical programs listed below. Given the enormity, urgency, 
and complexity of the biodiversity crisis and the importance of Federal 
public lands, explicit funding and long-term increases are badly needed 
for these programs that specifically address the biodiversity crisis 
and restore resilient ecosystems.
    FS Threatened, Endangered and Sensitive (TES) Species--Defenders 
recommends reestablishing the TES line item at a level of $24.7 million 
under Wildlife and Fisheries Habitat Management (WFHM). This 
appropriation should also be reflected in top-line increases for WFHM 
to ensure that increased capacity for TES does not detract from WFHM's 
other mission-critical functions. Based on cost estimates in ESA 
recovery plans, the FS would need to spend roughly three times the 
requested amount annually to meet its responsibility to help recover 
the 470 listed species that occur on FS-administered lands. This 
increase will help the FS make substantial progress while continuing to 
build toward that goal in subsequent appropriations cycles. 
Additionally, we request report language asking the FS to report on its 
T&E recovery projects, expenditures, and resultant outcomes, and to 
ensure that TES funding is used specifically to advance recovery of 
listed species on its lands rather than to pay for ESA Section 7 
consultations, which should be funded by the benefitting programs.
    FS Research and Development Programs (R&D)--Defenders supports 
$88.7 million, an increase of $38.7 million for R&D, which was the 
president's budget request for fiscal Year 2022. This includes funding 
for the Wildlife and Fish Research Program to support crucial science 
and applied research. We recommend a specific budget allocation for the 
Wildlife and Fish Research Program, which has historically received 9-
10 percent of the R&D programs line item but warrants a significant 
increase given the magnitude of the biodiversity crisis. We also ask 
that the subcommittee direct the FS to report on the potential for 
Research Natural Areas (RNAs) to provide information about climate-
related changes over time and the potential of RNAs to protect habitat 
for plant and wildlife species such as rare plants, endemics, and those 
with small ranges.
    FS Legacy Roads and Trails (LRT)--Defenders recommends $100 million 
for LRT, an increase of $95 million. The increase would restore 
capacity and address the significant backlog of projects that has 
compounded since LRT lost dedicated funding between fiscal Year 2018-FY 
2021. We also ask the subcommittee to direct the FS to report on LRT 
accomplishments.
    BLM Threatened and Endangered (T&E) Species Management--Defenders 
supports $51.7 million, an increase of $20.7 million, and elevation of 
the program to its own subactivity to better support imperiled species 
recovery and improve outcome tracking and accountability. This increase 
should also be reflected in top-line increases for the account that 
houses the Program to ensure that increased capacity for the T&E 
Program does not detract from other mission-critical wildlife 
functions. Our request is the best available estimate of what BLM needs 
to meet its responsibility to help recover the 330 listed species that 
occur on BLM-administered lands based on cost estimates in ESA recovery 
plans and current range data.
    BLM Plant Conservation and Restoration--Defenders supports $40 
million, which includes $35 million for the base program to better 
implement the National Seed Strategy and to increase botanical 
expertise, and an additional $5 million for the working capital fund to 
scale up native plant material development. This program provides 
national leadership to ensure consistent and adequate supplies of 
America's native plant species for restoration of native ecosystems. It 
is also responsible for implementation of key initiatives including the 
National Seed Strategy and rare plant conservation. Historically, 
funding has been inconsistently cobbled together from multiple sources 
within the agency. These contributions have fluctuated between $10 
million to $16 million annually over the past 5 years. We recommend 
establishment of the program as its own subactivity to ensure it 
endures and is accountable Bureau-wide.
                         u.s. geological survey
    Ecosystems--Defenders supports the $375.7 million in the request, 
an increase of $97.8 million to support development of crucial 
scientific information for sound management of our Nation's biological 
resources. This includes a total of $124.7 million, an increase of 
$72.8 million for the National and Regional Climate Adaptation Centers.

    [This statement was submitted by Mary Beth Beetham, Director of 
Legislative Affairs, Defenders of Wildlife.]
                                 ______
                                 
      Prepared Statement of Dine Bi Olta School Board Association
    The Navajo Nation established the Dine Bi Olta School Board 
Association (DBOSBA) to represent the locally-elected school boards 
within the Navajo Nation. With its representation of school boards from 
the 66 Bureau of Indian Education-funded (BIE) schools located on the 
Navajo Nation, DBOSBA's membership constitutes more than one-third of 
the 183 BIE-funded schools nationwide. Of those 66 BIE-funded schools, 
32 are operated by the BIE and 34 are tribally-operated (33 pursuant to 
grants under the Tribally Controlled Schools Act, Public Law 100-297 
(TCSA) and one pursuant to a contract under the Indian Self-
Determination and Education Assistance Act, Public Law 93-638 
(ISDEAA)). DBOSBA unites school boards to advocate for educational 
programs and services that help ensure each Navajo student graduates 
with the preparation necessary to lead a productive and fulfilling 
life, with knowledge and understanding of Navajo language and culture.
    DBOSBA is grateful for the leadership and commitment of these 
subcommittees to address the many challenges facing federally-funded 
schools operating on the Navajo Nation and elsewhere throughout Indian 
Country. We particularly appreciate the emergency supplemental support 
Congress provided to our communities in response to the COVID-19 
pandemic. We ask for your sustained partnership as we continue to 
respond to these exceptional demands and work to confront longstanding 
inequities.
    In the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act, Congress provided our 
schools with important support, including: increased Indian School 
Equalization Program (ISEP) Formula Funds; continued funding for school 
replacement construction projects; action to correct the BIE's failure 
to request the funding necessary to meet statutory teacher pay parity 
requirements; and extending to all BIE-funded schools the option of 
offering their employees participation in the Federal Employee Health 
Benefit (FEHB) program. Congress also created an indefinite 
appropriation within the BIA's budget to pay for full service leases 
and ensured the continuation of full funding for Tribal Grant Support 
Costs.
    DBOSBA respectfully asks that Congress continue to build upon these 
achievements. Our fiscal Year 2023 priorities are increases for ISEP 
Formula Funds; full funding for Teacher Pay Parity; Early Childhood and 
Family Development; Special Education; Education IT; Student 
Transportation; Road Maintenance for School Bus Routes; Facilities 
Operations and Maintenance; Facilities Improvement and Repair; and 
Replacement Construction; ensuring that employees of all BIE-funded 
schools are eligible to participate in the Federal Employee Retirement 
System; full funding for Tribal Grant Support Costs; mandatory funding 
for full service leases; and the inclusion of BIE schools in any 
expansion of pre-kindergarten across the Nation. To ensure these vital 
Federal resources reach our communities, DBOSBA calls on Congress to 
hold the BIE accountable and restore the Federal commitment to ``a 
meaningful Indian self-determination policy for education.'' 25 U.S.C. 
Sec. 2501(b).
    ISEP Formula Funds are the core account for BIE-operated and 
tribally controlled schools (also known as ``grant schools''). This 
account funds everything from classroom instruction materials and 
teacher salaries to gifted and talented programs, summer programs, and 
food services. Increases in ISEP Formula Funds directly benefit 
students and help attract and retain the quality teachers vital to our 
students' academic success. BIE-funded schools across the Nation are 
facing a significant teacher shortage, but that shortage is 
particularly acute here on the Navajo Nation, where many schools 
operate in remote locations and because surrounding public schools in 
New Mexico and Arizona have responded to the teacher shortage by 
substantially increasing teacher pay. Having the resources to attract 
and retain quality teachers is one of our biggest challenges.
    Full Funding for Teacher and Counselor Pay Parity is a critical 
tool for attracting and retaining quality teachers. Federal law 
requires the BIE provide funding so that teachers and counselors in the 
BIE-funded school system may be paid equivalent salaries to their 
counterparts in the Department of Defense Education Activity. Federal 
law also provides that, at the discretion of the local school board, a 
BIE-operated school may pay salaries consistent with those paid by 
public schools in the state where the BIE school is located.
    DBOSBA would like to thank the subcommittees for the fiscal Year 
2021 House Report 116-448 and the Joint Explanatory Statement 
accompanying the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act which direct the 
BIE to ``clearly display funding amounts required to comply with 
Defense Department-equivalent pay rates as part of future budget 
justifications and to include sufficient funding in its budget request 
to fully fund these requirements.'' While the Administration's fiscal 
Year 2022 budget request for the BIE proposed an increase for ISEP 
Formula Funds and included teacher and counselor pay parity among the 
priorities to be funded from within this program increase, the fiscal 
Year 2022 budget justification failed to quantify the specific amount 
for this purpose. We ask the subcommittees to continue to hold the BIE 
accountable for quantifying and requesting the correct amount for 
teacher and counselor pay parity and ensuring that the amounts provided 
are sufficient to match the increases provided by the Defense 
Department schools or are consistent with the rate of pay of public 
schools in the States where our BIE-operated and tribally controlled 
schools are located, whichever of these rates is higher. Given the 
acute teacher shortages, this parity is essential to our schools' 
ability to recruit and retain qualified teachers.
    Ensuring that employees of all BIE-funded schools are eligible to 
participate in the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) would 
significantly bolster the ability of tribally controlled schools to 
attract and retain quality teachers, and would not create any new costs 
for the Federal Government. Congress recently extended grant schools 
the opportunity to offer their employees insurance through the FEHB and 
Federal Employee Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) programs. Similarly, 
extending the option of FERS participation to all BIE-funded schools 
would provide valuable benefits to teachers and schools at no cost to 
the Federal Government.
    Early Childhood and Family Development funding plays a critical 
role in preparing children for school and supporting and empowering 
their parents. Substantial program increases are needed each year to 
expand these opportunities to more BIE-system schools. Of the 183 
schools in the BIE school system, the Administration's fiscal Year 2022 
budget justification reports that 47 receive Early Childhood and Family 
Development funds. The National Education Association finds that 
children in early childhood education programs are: less likely to 
repeat a grade; less likely to be identified as having special needs; 
more prepared academically for later grades; more likely to graduate 
from high school; and more likely to become higher earners in the 
workforce. As Congress separately considers a nation-wide expansion of 
access to high-quality pre-school and early learning opportunities, it 
is absolutely critical that schools in the BIE system are included and 
receive dedicated, sufficient, and flexible funding.
    Special Education requires greater investment and improved 
congressional oversight of the BIE. American Indian children are more 
likely to require special education services than any other group in 
the United States (18 percent of students, according to the National 
Center for Education Statistics in 2020, but our experience indicates 
an even higher rate for students at Navajo Nation schools). Yet, our 
schools do not have the resources to recruit qualified and culturally 
knowledgeable special education teachers. In addition to funding, 
greater accountability of the BIE is needed to ensure that the 
resources made available to the BIE serve to enhance special education 
programming and services for the students who need them.
    Education IT, specifically, funding to increase connectivity for 
schools and students is absolutely critical as some of our schools are 
still holding classes remotely or on a hybrid schedule and because 
connectivity needs will persist even after the worst of the pandemic 
recedes. The funding increases proposed for fiscal Year 2022 are 
welcomed and can be built upon for fiscal Year 2023.
    Student Transportation in the BIE Budget and Road Maintenance for 
School Bus Routes in the BIA Budget are of particular importance to 
schools located on the Navajo Nation. Our students travel some of the 
longest distances to their schools on some of the worst roads in the 
Nation. Outdated buses improperly equipped to handle the many unpaved 
and unimproved roads put our students' safety at risk or can mean that 
our students miss critical instruction days and fall behind their peers 
in other jurisdictions. DBOSBA cautions that the proposed conversion to 
electric buses could actually present new problems given the extensive 
distances of remote bus routes on the Navajo Nation and the limited 
electric system capacity of many of our communities. Without further 
increases for Student Transportation and Road Maintenance, and the 
alignment of new technologies to our circumstances, this precarious 
situation will continue.
    School Facilities Operations and Maintenance funds play a pivotal 
role in the health and safety of our students and staff. More funding 
is needed to address the BIE system-wide maintenance backlog and to 
ensure schools have enough funding to adequately heat and cool 
buildings and to achieve air circulation rates that reduce the risk of 
coronavirus transmission. Congress should ensure this funding gets 
properly distributed to schools. DBOSBA encourages Congress to shift 
these two accounts to the forward funded portion of the BIE's budget to 
further insulate schools from the uncertainties of continuing 
resolutions and government shutdowns.
    School Facilities Improvement & Repair and School Replacement 
Construction in the BIE's Education Construction budget also 
significantly impact the health and safety of our students and staff. 
This funding not only helps keep our students and staff safe, it also 
helps prolong the useful life of our school buildings. Unfortunately, 
many schools throughout the BIE system are far beyond the end of their 
safe and useful life and must be replaced. Many of these schools in 
poor or dangerous condition are located on the Navajo Nation. The BIE's 
fiscal Year 2022 budget justification reports that only one of the 10 
schools on the 2016 School Replacement List is complete. It is critical 
for Congress to continue to provide robust levels of funding for School 
Replacement Construction so the remaining schools on the list can be 
completed expeditiously and a new list can be created. DBOSBA thanks 
Congress for enacting the Great American Outdoors Act, and calls on the 
subcommittees to ensure that the act's 5 years of supplemental funding 
to help address the repair and replacement backlogs across the BIE 
school system is just that: supplemental to the robust funding Congress 
will continue to provide in the coming years.
    Continued Full Funding for Tribal Grant Support Costs means that 
tribally controlled schools can focus ISEP funds where it counts: 
supporting students, improving classroom instruction, and attracting 
and retaining quality teachers. DBOSBA thanks Congress for providing 
full funding for Tribal Grant Support Costs since fiscal Year 2016.
    Shifting 105(l) Tribal Leases to Mandatory Funding would make the 
discretionary budget process more predictable and would free up 
additional funding for Indian programs within the topline allocation 
for the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies appropriations bill. 
In fiscal Year 2023, the Administration is requesting that this account 
be classified as mandatory spending. DBOSBA strongly supports the 
Administration's request.
    DBOSBA is committed to working with Congress to ensure the 
effective implementation of these vital programs and the efficient use 
of these valuable Federal resources. We call the subcommittee's 
attention to several immediate and urgent oversight concerns regarding 
the BIE's noncompliance and disregard for statutory mandates that 
Congress enacted in order to ``facilitate Indian control of Indian 
affairs in all matters relating to education'' as enshrined in the 
Indian Education Title of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
Amendments of 1978, Public Law 95-561, and the TCSA. The BIE's actions 
undermine self-determination in Indian education and distract our 
teachers and administrators from focusing on providing quality 
educational services to our students. The BIE has not met the standards 
set by Congress and does not deserve a passing grade for its 
performance. Significant improvement by the BIE is needed to ensure 
effective program implementation and efficient use of Federal 
resources. DBOSBA will be providing the subcommittees with a letter to 
accompany this testimony detailing our observations and concerns 
regarding the need for greater accountability at the BIE. DBOSBA 
respectfully requests that the subcommittee express its awareness of 
our oversight concerns in the appropriations instructions that will be 
provided to the BIE and that those instructions request a report or 
response from the BIE.
    DBOSBA thanks the subcommittees for the opportunity to provide this 
testimony.

    [This statement was submitted by Ervin Chavez, Executive Board 
Chair of the Dine Bi Olta School Board Association.]
                                 ______
                                 
          Prepared Statement of Ding Darling Wildlife Society
    This testimony is submitted on behalf of the ``Ding'' Darling 
Wildlife Society (Society), the Friends-of-the Refuge group that was 
formed in 1982 to support the J. N. ``Ding'' Darling National Wildlife 
Refuge on Sanibel Island, Florida. As the Society celebrates its 
fortieth anniversary, we respectfully request that the National 
Wildlife Refuge System Operations & Maintenance budget receive fiscal 
year 2023 funding of $712M.
    The J. N. ``Ding'' Darling National Wildlife Refuge is a critical 
driver in the tourist-based economy of Southwest Florida and is the 
second most visited location, after our beaches, in the entire area. 
It's wealth of wildlife, some endangered, is unique. And although 
protected within the framework of the National Wildlife Refuge System 
(NWRS), its very existence is under threat by climate change, by water 
quality issues and, most seriously, by the severe lack of adequate 
Federal funding of the NWRS.
    In the last 10 years, annual visitation to the Refuge has increased 
by some 60 percent to nearly one million but, during that same period, 
its Federal Appropriations, impacted by years of Continuing 
Resolutions, has forced the US Fish and Wildlife Service to reduce the 
refuge's staff by almost half. As a Friends group, the Society has done 
whatever it can to help fill the gap through the generation of 
independent funds to support student education, internships, research 
projects, informational literature, advocacy, land acquisition and 
facility enhancements.
    As an example, in recent months the Society has been able augment 
the Refuge's commitment to the NWRS urban refuge program by helping 
design, equip and staff a Wildlife on Wheels (WoW) mobile classroom 
that visits local schools, churches and other locales, primarily in 
economically-distressed areas. In so doing, youth and adults from these 
areas re provided the opportunity to enjoy a glimpse of the tremendous 
benefits that wildlife refuges afford. Since December of 2020, WoW has 
had over 10,000 visitors with the vast majority expressing unanimously 
positive reactions.
    However, that being said, both the J. N. ``Ding'' Darling National 
Wildlife Refuge and the NWRS overall remain significantly underfunded. 
The NWRS requires at least $1 billion in Operations and Maintenance 
Funding to be considered ``fully funded''. Such funding would support 
staffing of all refuges at the needed levels; provide for adequate 
maintenance; and adequately finance comprehensive biological, hunting, 
fishing, and environmental education as well as interpretive programs. 
Our testimony reflects the criticality of reaching this full funding 
goal over the next few years and, as a result, we ask that you work 
towards that by recommending $712 million in annual funding for the 
NWRS Operations and Maintenance budget in Fiscal Year 2023.
    Our $712 million funding request reflects the urgent need to 
address the loss of over 1,000 NWRS staff in the last decade, the 
direct result of budget shortfalls during that period. At the same 
time, millions of new acres were added to the System, including 13 new 
refuges. During this same period, the Refuge System's important urban 
program was launched and NWRS has been challenged to address the 
increasing problem of managing invasive species on almost all of its 
refuges. While the requested fiscal year 2023 funding may be viewed as 
a significant increase, it is precisely what is needed to sustain 
healthy and vibrant wildlife habitats throughout the NWRS.
    Thank you for your consideration, and please feel free to contact 
me at 239-410-7931 or [email protected] should additional information 
be needed.

    [This statement was submitted by Michael J. Baldwin, PhD, Board 
Member & Immediate Past President ``Ding'' Darling Wildlife Society.]
                                 ______
                                 
      Prepared Statement of Dzilth-Na-O-Dith-Hle Community School
    Dzilth-Na-O-Dith-Hle Community School (DCS) operates a K-8 school 
and residence program in Bloomfield, New Mexico. DCS is funded by the 
Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) and has operated pursuant to the 
Tribally Controlled Schools Act (TCSA, Public Law 100-297) since 2005. 
DCS is a Member of the Dine Bi Olta School Board Association (DBOSBA), 
which represents all of the locally-elected school boards within the 
Navajo Nation. DCS wishes to associate ourselves with DBOSBA's fiscal 
Year 2023 appropriations testimony and share our school's experiences 
to provide additional context for these priorities.
    DCS is one of the schools on the 2016 Replacement School list and 
we are excited to report that we received the certificate of 
substantial completion for our dormitory last week and that we 
anticipate receiving the certificate of substantial completion of our 
academic building in April. Thanks to the subcommittees' dedication to 
prioritizing appropriations and oversight for School Replacement 
Construction, DCS for the first time will now be able to offer our 
students a healthy and safe facility. Our dormitory and academic 
buildings are designed with Navajo cultural features that invite 
students into an atmosphere that is colorful and open for learning and 
growth. These new buildings have Navajo names. For example, the 
academic building's name, ``Al'chini bi Olta,'' means ``place for 
learning that belongs to the children.'' It reflects our School's 
commitment to Navajo culture and our students. We could not be where we 
are in this process without your dedication to our students' well-
being.
    Our testimony highlights the following fiscal Year 2023 priorities:

  --School Replacement Construction and Oversight of the Division of 
        Facilities Management and Construction (DFMC);

  --Continued Support for Early Childhood and Family Development 
        Programs;

  --Formula Funds for the Native Language and Culture Immersion Program 
        Instead of Competitive Grants;

  --Increases for ISEP Formula Funds;

  --Full Funding for Teacher and Counselor Pay Parity;

  --Expanding Eligibility for Tribally Controlled Schools to 
        Participate in the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS);

  --Increased Funding and Flexibility for Education IT;

  --Increases for Road Maintenance for School Bus Routes and Student 
        Transportation;

  --Shift School Facilities Operations and Maintenance Accounts to the 
        Forward Funded Portion of the BIE's Budget; and

  --Reduce Unnecessary and Burdensome Reporting.

    School Replacement Construction and Oversight of the Division of 
Facilities Management and Construction (DFMC). As one of the schools on 
the 2016 Replacement School list, we are currently at the 80 percent 
completion stage of our design-build contract. DCS is committed to 
putting our school in operation as promptly as possible for the well-
being of our students. Our students have always been academically well-
prepared, as shown by test scores and other performance measures. They 
have demonstrated high achievement despite the hindrances of broken 
pipes, sewer back-ups, and outdated internet technology. They have also 
had to endure health and safety risks associated with poor air quality 
and the presence of asbestos. With the new academic building and 
dormitory, our students will have the opportunity to excel to their 
potential. They will have healthy and safe facilities that include bi-
polar ionization to filter viruses and bacteria from the air, fast and 
reliable connectivity to the internet, and features supporting computer 
technology, as well as cultural features demonstrating pride in their 
Navajo culture and identify. DCS is grateful to the subcommittees for 
your partnership with us.
    As we have reported in prior years' testimony, under DCS 
leadership, the school replacement construction project has largely 
been on track for its scheduled completion and budget despite delays 
and bottlenecks caused by the Indian Affairs Division of Facilities 
Management and Construction (DFMC) failure to meet review and approval 
timeframes. Last year, however, we encountered a number of 
disconcerting setbacks arising from the DFMC's failure to properly 
supervise the contractor DFMC assigned to be project manager. The 
project manager failed to respect the new school construction project 
grant agreement terms and the previously approved project documents. As 
a result, DFMC issued directives to expand scope of work for the school 
reconstruction project to require additional square footage, a redesign 
and reconstruction of our wastewater lagoon, and a rooftop HVAC 
penthouse. This penthouse requirement interferes with the approved 
project design that includes a roofline based on the contours of a 
traditional, Navajo hogan. Each of the DFMC's directives were 
unilateral and received post-award, meaning that the cost to carry them 
out was not included in the authorized program budget. Only after our 
School filed disputes and made repeated requests for grant amendments 
did DFMC provide funding for its directives--the most recent of those 
were only resolved in February 2022. Although DCS has been able to 
steer the project to success and the DFMC has taken corrective action, 
meeting the project's milestones has taken more time, money, and effort 
from DCS than it should have. Looking forward, we urge the 
subcommittees to redouble your oversight of the DFMC.
    Early Childhood and Family Development funding plays a critical 
role preparing our children for school and supporting and empowering 
their parents. DCS' Family and Community Engagement (FACE) program 
provides pre-school, home-based and adult education programs that 
strengthens our community and school. Even during the COVID-19 Pandemic 
our program served 27 families with 33 children. We have seen 
significant increases in the number of parents who achieve a graduate 
equivalent degree (GED) through our adult education program and 
children who participate in the pre-school program arrive to 
kindergarten more prepared than those who do not. DCS provides 
trainings to parents in our Navajo language. The DCS FACE program has 
been nationally recognized as a model for other schools. Funding 
increases are essential as many schools are unable to hire teachers and 
trainers. As Congress separately considers a nation-wide expansion of 
access to high-quality pre-school and early learning opportunities, it 
is absolutely critical that schools in the BIE system are included and 
receive dedicated, sufficient, and flexible funding to support current 
early learning programs and to help those schools without a program to 
start one.
    Providing Formula Funds to all Schools for Native Language and 
Culture Immersion would significantly help our school and others. 
Additional funding is needed as we work to recruit, train, and retain 
teachers with the knowledge and cultural understanding to provide 
culturally appropriate, bilingual education consistent with 
requirements of the Navajo Department of Education. We have seen 
important student performance gains thanks to the bilingual and 
cultural education programs funded with grants from this program in the 
past. DCS is able to offer Navajo language and culture materials on a 
daily basis. Through DCS's conversational Navajo language course, we 
have seen our students' language skills grow--and frequently observe 
our students using Navajo words and phrases in their interactions with 
each other. Because this program is currently a competitive grant 
program, participation is limited. We believe that all Native students 
in BIE system schools could benefit from these resources.
    ISEP Formula Funds is the core BIE account, which funds our 
school's operations. This account funds everything from classroom 
instruction materials to teacher salaries. Increases for ISEP directly 
benefit our students. ISEP funding increases are vital to enhancing 
learning opportunities for all of our students through the training, 
development, and retention of excellent teachers. Schools across the 
Nation are facing a significant teacher shortage but that shortage is 
particularly acute here in more remote communities like ours on the 
Navajo Nation. Additionally, New Mexico has responded to the Nationwide 
teacher shortage by increasing teacher pay by tens of thousands of 
dollars. We believe teachers should be compensated to reflect the 
important work they do every day, but we do not have the budget to 
compete with these salaries being offered by public schools here in New 
Mexico. In order to effectively address this problem, we need ISEP 
increases paired with Full Funding for Teacher and Counselor Pay 
Parity, and opportunities to expand the benefits package we can offer 
our teachers and staff as discussed below.
    Full Funding for Teacher and Counselor Pay Parity is a critical 
tool for attracting and retaining quality teachers. We ask the 
subcommittees to continue to hold the BIE accountable for ensuring that 
the amounts requested for pay parity are sufficient to match the 
increases provided by the Defense Department schools. Given the 
significant salary increases for public school teachers in New Mexico, 
DCS also encourages consideration for pay rate increases that would 
keep pace with either the Defense Department schools, or the rate of 
nearby public schools, whichever of these rates are higher. Given our 
acute teacher shortage, these requested increases to provide pay parity 
are essential.
    Expanding Eligibility for Tribally Controlled Schools to 
Participate in the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) would not 
create any new costs for the Federal Government but it could 
significantly bolster the efforts of tribally controlled schools like 
ours to attract and retain quality teachers. Congress recently extended 
eligibility for tribally controlled schools to participate in the 
Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) and Federal Employee Group Life 
Insurance (FEGLI) programs. Extending the option of FERS participation 
to us and other tribally controlled schools would strengthen this 
effort.
    Education IT, specifically, funding to increase connectivity for 
schools, students, and teachers and to pay the salaries of technical 
staff is absolutely critical. The funding increases proposed for fiscal 
Year 2022 are welcomed and can be built upon for fiscal Year 2023. We 
also ask that the subcommittees ensure that these funds are distributed 
to schools and are not centralized, micromanaged, or delayed by the 
BIE's bureaucracy.
    Increases for Student Transportation in the BIE Budget and Road 
Maintenance Funding for School Bus Routes in the BIA Budget are of 
particular importance to DCS. Many of our students travel long 
distances on unpaved and unimproved roads. Poor weather creates safety 
concerns and makes student absences more likely. Meanwhile, 
skyrocketing fuels costs have increased the strain on our budgets. DCS 
welcomes more fuel-efficient vehicles, however, given distances, road 
conditions and limited electrical system capacity, we ask the 
subcommittees to ensure the General Services Administration (GSA) 
conducts proper feasibility assessments before seeking to deploy 
electric vehicles on our bus routes. Continued increases for Student 
Transportation and Road Maintenance funding targeted to school bus 
routes remain essential.
    School Facilities Operations and Maintenance funds play a pivotal 
role in the health and safety of our students and staff. We call upon 
Congress to shift these two accounts to the forward funded portion of 
the BIE's budget to help further insulate our schools from the 
disruptive uncertainties of continuing resolutions and government 
shutdowns.
    Reduce Unnecessary and Burdensome Reporting to ensure the effective 
implementation of these vital programs and the efficient use of these 
valuable Federal resources. When Congress drafted the TCSA, it included 
an express limitation on tribally controlled schools' reporting 
requirements and what authorities apply to them. Under the TCSA, 
tribally controlled schools must submit an annual financial statement 
and financial audit that complies with the Single Audit Act, along with 
an annual program evaluation conducted by an impartial evaluation 
review team. Yet, the BIE often attempts to subject tribally controlled 
schools to additional reporting that duplicates information already 
available in the existing reports that tribally controlled schools 
provide. For example, our independent audit comprehensively evaluates 
program compliance and financial management. Despite the comprehensive 
information tribally controlled schools submit pursuant to statutory 
and regulatory requirements, the BIE has demanded that schools complete 
numerous time-consuming reports and forms that are not permitted by 
statute. When DCS personnel are used to gather, format, and submit 
information in response to the BIE, they are not available to focus 
their efforts on providing educational services to our students.
    We call the subcommittee's attention to these reporting concerns 
and to the separate letter DBOSBA is providing to the subcommittees 
regarding the need for greater accountability at the BIE. We 
respectfully ask that the subcommittees express awareness of concerns 
in the appropriations instructions that will be provided to the BIE and 
that those instructions request a report or response from the BIE.
    Thank you. We would like to thank the subcommittees for your 
support and partnership throughout the pandemic. The resources you 
allocated for BIE system schools helped keep our students and teachers 
safe and connected. Thank you for the opportunity to provide this 
testimony. Please consider us a resource if you have any questions.

    [This statement was submitted by Chrystal Martinez-Tom, Principal, 
Dzilth-Na-O-Dith-Hle Community School.]
                                 ______
                                 
          Prepared Statement of Ecological Society of America
    The Ecological Society of America (ESA) appreciates the opportunity 
to provide testimony in support of Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations for 
U.S Forest Service Research and Development. ESA is the Nation's 
largest society of professional ecologists, representing over 9,000 
members across the country. Improving the future health and 
sustainability of the Nation's forests, grasslands and aquatic systems 
requires a strong investment in USDA Forest Service Research and 
Development (R&D), funded through the Forest and Rangeland Research 
budget line. We thank you for supporting a funding increase in FY 2023 
and urge you to increase funding for all of Forest Service R&D (Forest 
and Rangeland Research) to a minimum of $80 million and provide $22.2 
million for Forest Service Inventory and Analysis, matching the fiscal 
Year 2023 President's Budget Request. ESA supports $10.8 billion in 
overall Forest Service appropriations, recognizing that the Forest 
Service's land management programs must be fully funded in order for 
Forest Service employees to be able to adequently use the best 
available science in decision-making.
    Building on a trove of over 100 years of research, Forest Service 
R&D programs inform policy and landmanagement decisions that improve 
the health and use of the Nation's forests and grasslands and adjoining 
aquatic systems. Funding for these important activities is critical to 
sustaining the Nation's natural resources. Showing value in this 
investment requires R&D leaders and scientists be attuned and 
responsive in providing relevant information and support in a timely 
manner with an ability to effectively deliver assistance to all users. 
The work conducted at experimental forests and ranges, regional 
research stations, and the Forest Products Lab, incubates progress on 
new products and services; tracks disturbance responses; fosters 
greater forest resilience; quantifies contributions to air and water 
quality; and drives innovation in renewable energy and product 
development.

    Notable recent Forest Service R&D contributions include:
  avoiding endangered species act listing and saving taxpayer dollars
    Forest Service fish and wildlife researchers are leading scientists 
in their fields and specialize in providing applied research to natural 
resource managers and decision-makers in State and Federal Government 
and the private sector. Forest Service research informs conservation 
efforts that have helped to avoid Endangered Species Act listings for 
several forest and rangeland wildlife species. For example, Forest 
Service scientists used molecular techniques to determine that the 
Arapahoe Snowfly, a species petitioned for protection, was not actually 
a distinct species but rather a hybrid. This type of robust science is 
a perfect example of researchers providing the best available science 
to inform management actions.
                  guiding drought management response
    Drought affects local and regional economies through its effects on 
water resources for agriculture, ranching, and forestry operations and 
the supply of clean drinking water. Drought also leads to more 
devastating wildfires, resulting in loss of life and property, reduced 
economic activity, degraded wildlife habitat, and greater wildlife 
suppression costs. Forest Service R&D has been a leader in reviewing 
impacts of drought on U.S. forests and rangelands to better manage for 
resiliency and adaptation. Agency drought assessments and guidance have 
helped federal, Tribal, State, and private stakeholders devise and 
implement strategies to sustain healthy, resilient ecosystems.
  revolutionizing monitoring for invasive species and species at risk
    Land managers and regulatory agencies are using environmental DNA 
(eDNA), a non-invasive genetic sampling technique, to locate invasive 
species as well as rare and sensitive species in need of special 
management considerations. For example, water sampling can reveal 
Forest Service R&D has leveraged it own investments in this path-
breaking technology to receive additional funding through partnerships 
with national forests and other agencies. Future research will continue 
to lower the cost and improve the efficiency of eDNA sampling, which is 
twice as likely as traditional sampling to detect species in low 
abundance at less than half the cost. Broad-scale implementation could 
save natural resources management agencies millions of dollars in 
sampling costs annually.
                    valuing urban forests and trees
    Forest Service scientists have devised alternatives to grey 
infrastructure and helped communities calculate the economic, 
environmental, and social value of new and existing trees-including 
property value increases, energy savings, air pollutant uptake, and 
stormwater reduction. In addition, R&D research also encourages clean 
watersheds by analyzing the impacts of people, vegetation, and 
infrastructure on urban water, and supports urban watershed restoration 
projects that revitalize neighborhoods.
                    utilizing applied forest ecology
    Silviculture research forms the scientific foundation for forest 
management and conservation. Forest Service silviculture researchers 
study how to regenerate forest trees and other plants, how trees grow 
over time, and how stands of trees interact with the environment, 
wildlife, diseases, and insects. R&D research creates, quantifies, and 
integrates knowledge about tree growth, soils, plant physiology, and 
genetics. The condition of today's forests are due, in part, to Forest 
Service silviculture research in the past. Future forest conditions 
will depend on today's investments in silviculture research to help 
respond to a changing climate and other disturbances.
               balancing fish habitat and resource needs
    R&D fisheries biologists are developing better approaches to 
managing forested landscapes that provide good habitat for native 
salmon and trout in high elevation lakes and streams across the 
Rockies. Critical to developing comprehensive restoration strategies, 
this science has not only helped create more resilient forests but also 
the habitats and prey essential for healthy, native fish populations. 
Recent successes include innovative protocols for monitoring fish 
populations and habitat quality in addition to strategies for meeting 
growing demands for water, energy, and other forest-based commodities 
while ensuring the sustainability, diversity, and integrity of aquatic 
species.
    quantifying the role of forests in providing clean air and water
    Research directly linking trees to clean air and water underscores 
the economic value and benefits trees and forests provide to all 
residents and communities. Recent R&D work shows that forests, which 
make up 26 percent of U.S. land area, are the source of 46 percent of 
the U.S. water supply. Managing forested landscapes to sustain and 
enhance production of low-cost, clean water supplies as well as 
improved air quality is critically important to human health and 
provides a value of nearly $7 billion every year. In particular, the 
recommended funding level will enable R&D to expand delivery of this 
science to managers of forested watersheds whose activities benefit 
water supply utilities in cities and towns that depends on clean 
surface water supplies.
             data and tools to improve wildfire management.
    In February 2021, Forest Service scientists updated the National 
Wildland Fire Hazard Potential map using the most current vegetation 
data. This map informs risk reduction models of hazardous fuels 
treatments and supports wildland fire response systems. For example, 
the WildfireSAFE response tool is a web interface that integrates real-
time data from multiple data sources, including fire hazard potential, 
drought conditions, satellite-derived vegetation conditions, and 
weather analysis to automatically analyze the fuels, terrain 
conditions, and values at risk in the surrounding area. Fire managers 
can view data for any active incident, compare active incidents within 
an area of interest, and capture observations about fire behavior. 
Forest Service research about pre-fire management planning processes 
also supports wildland fire response. For instance, recent research 
about potential control locations showed the extent to which forest 
roads are useful in fire operations response planning, accounting for 
82 percent of fire holding features during a coordinated planning 
process.
    Additional research in fiscal Year 2021 produced new information 
about the vulnerability of communities to wildland fire, including a 
new spatial dataset of wildfire risk for populated areas in the United 
States and a Fireshed Registry that uses information about community 
vulnerability as one of the datasets to inform the agency's strategic 
placement of fuel treatments to reduce risk.
  collaborative, participatory research with underserved communities.
    During fiscal Year 2021, Forest Service R&D and USDA Climate Hubs 
worked together with Tribes to investigate how climate change could 
affect various Tribal agricultural efforts and communities, as well as 
to assess priorities for post-fire rehabilitation of Tribal lands.
    Another recent example of collaborative research with the 
Stillmeadow Community PeacePark and Forest in Baltimore, Maryland 
demonstrates the value of working together to improve urban green 
spaces. In fiscal Year 2021, Forest Service R&D worked with Stillmeadow 
community members to transform an ecologically degraded, hazardous 
forest into a place of healing and resilience for the Baltimore 
community. Forest Service R&D provided best practices for urban 
reforestation, long-term monitoring and evaluation, empowering citizen 
stewards, and knowledge exchange through field visits, demonstrations, 
webinars, and multi-media content.
     insect and disease disturbances correlate with reduced carbon 
                       sequestration in forests.
    In fiscal Year 2021, using FIA data, researchers found that forests 
damaged by insects sequestered about 70 percent less carbon than 
undamaged forests. Those affected by disease sequestered 28 percent 
less carbon. In total, the damage currently being caused by insects and 
diseases across the contiguous U.S. is reducing the sequestration 
potential of America's forests by roughly 50 million tons of carbon 
dioxide each year, the equivalent of emissions from more than 10 
million cars. Science-based strategies to reduce the frequency and 
intensity of forest insects and diseases include enhancing forest 
health protection and preventing non-native insects and diseases from 
entering North America.
    Advancing forest science is integral to improving the health and 
welfare of U.S. forests and citizens, increasing the competitiveness of 
U.S. products in the global marketplace, and adapting to unforeseen 
future challenges.


    [This statement was submitted by Ecological Society of America.]
                                 ______
                                 
       Prepared Statement of the Entomological Society of America
    The Entomological Society of America (ESA) respectfully submits 
this statement for the official record in support of funding for 
entomology-related activities at the U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, 
and the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI). For fiscal year 2023, ESA 
recommends $864 million for the EPA Science and Technology (S&T) 
account with $50 million towards the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) 
Program, as well as strong support for programs across the agency that 
advance the safe application of pesticides. ESA also strongly supports 
EPA's commitment to work with other Federal agencies to monitor and 
improve pollinator health. In addition, ESA requests the Forest Service 
be funded at no less than $9.0 billion in discretionary funds. Within 
the Forest Service, ESA requests the Forest and Rangeland Research 
budget be supported at $318 million to preserve valuable invasive 
species research and development. The Society also supports continued 
investment in Forest Health Management programs across the Forest 
Service at no less than the fiscal Year 2020 enacted level of $100 
million. ESA also recommends that DOI continue to support the important 
work of the National Invasive Species Council (NISC), at a level no 
less than $2 million for its critical coordination of efforts across 
agencies to respond to the threats posed by invasive species.
    Advances in forestry and environmental sciences, including the 
field of entomology, help to protect our ecosystems and communities 
from threats to our Nation's economy, public health, and agricultural 
productivity and safety. Through improved understanding of invasive 
insect pests and the development of biological approaches to pest 
management, entomology plays a critical role in reducing and preventing 
the spread of infestation and diseases harmful to national forests and 
grasslands. The study of entomology also contributes to the development 
of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques, which use science-
based, environmentally conscious, comprehensive methods to take 
effective management action against pests, often resulting in lower 
costs and a more judicious use of pesticides. In addition, entomology 
improves our knowledge of pollinators and factors affecting pollinator 
health and populations, helping to ensure safe, reliable crop 
production that meets the needs of a growing world population.
    EPA carries out its mission to protect human health and the 
environment by: developing and enforcing regulations; awarding grants 
for research and other projects; conducting studies on environmental 
issues; facilitating partnerships; and providing information through 
public outreach. Through these efforts, EPA strives to supply the 
Nation with clean water, clean air, a safe food supply, and communities 
free from pollution and harmful chemical exposures. EPA's Pesticides 
Licensing Program Area, supported by EPA's Science & Technology and 
Environmental Program & Management budgets, evaluates, and regulates 
new pesticides to ensure safe and proper usage by consumers. Through 
the mandate of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act 
(FIFRA), EPA uses scientific expertise and data, including knowledge 
gained from entomological sciences, to set maximum tolerated residue 
levels and to register pesticide products as effective and safe. By 
controlling insects that carry diseases of humans and domesticated 
animals, and invasive insect species that endanger our environment, 
pesticides registered by EPA help protect public health and the 
Nation's food supply.
    Although pesticide registrations and regulations are within EPA's 
purview, the agency has not been a major sponsor of entomology 
research. However, EPA has provided support to projects that promote 
IPM adoption and the safe application of pesticides while also 
promoting pollinator protection. For example, the EPA has supported the 
Pesticide Educational Resources Collaborative (PERC) which empowers 
farmworkers and other pesticide handlers to employ better and safer 
practices in pesticide use. Since 2016, PERC has successfully developed 
over 40 multilingual pesticide-related training programs, manuals, 
videos, and guides. In 2020 alone, the community downloaded over 75,000 
copies of PERC online resources.\1\ In addition, the EPA's Pesticide 
Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP) grants enable grantees to 
``implement sustainable pest management practices that reduce 
unnecessary risks from pests and pesticides.'' \2\ While IPM is a long-
standing and well-researched paradigm for mitigating pests, relatively 
few focused funding sources are available for entomologists focused on 
this subject. As such, ESA encourages the committee to continue 
expanding its investment in IPM and other innovative programs to 
promote the safe use of pesticides through increased funding for such 
activities across the agency's research and regulatory portfolios. ESA 
also requests $864 million for EPA S&T account including $50 million 
for the EPA's Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Program, which supports 
extramural research and a portion of which should be utilized to re-
instate the ESA's STAR Graduate Research Fellowship Program.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ EPA Awards $6 Million to the University of California, Davis to 
Support Pesticide Safety Outreach https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-
awards-6-million-university-california-davis-support-pesticide-safety-
outreach.
    \2\ Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program Grants https://
www.epa.gov/pesp/pesticide-environmental-stewardship-program-grants.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    ESA is in favor of increased funding for scientific studies of 
pollinator populations and health. Pollinators play a vital role in our 
Nation's agriculture industry. Honeybees alone pollinate more than 90 
crops in the U.S. and are essential to produce an estimated one-third 
of all the food we eat or export, contributing over $17 billion in 
annual crop and seed production in the U.S. alone. To ensure a healthy 
bee population, more research is needed to fully understand the diverse 
factors that endanger bee health. Pesticides represent just one 
potential risk to bees, but both the risks and benefits must be 
balanced, and they will vary between different crops and different 
crop-producing regions of the U.S. EPA is well-positioned to help 
identify methods for protecting bee health. The agency has previously 
awarded agricultural grants to three universities to aid in the 
development of IPM practices that lower pesticide risks to bees while 
protecting valuable crops from pests. For this reason, ESA supports 
EPA's participation in multi-agency efforts to investigate pollinator 
health and implement plans to prevent pollinator population decline.
    The U.S. Forest Service sustains the health, diversity, and 
productivity of 193 million acres of public lands in national forests 
and grasslands across 44 States and territories. Serving as the largest 
supporter of forestry research in the world, the agency employs 
approximately 30,000 scientists, administrators, and land managers. In 
addition to activities at the Federal level, the Forest Service 
provides technical expertise and financial assistance to state and 
private forestry agency partners.
    The Forest Service's Forest and Rangeland Research budget supports 
the development and delivery of scientific data and innovative 
technological tools to improve the health, use, and management of the 
Nation's forests and rangelands. Programs within Forest and Rangeland 
Research provide science-based approaches to reduce and prevent the 
spread of destructive insects, plants, and diseases that can have 
serious economic and environmental consequences for our Nation. For 
example, Forest Service scientists are working to understand the impact 
of the mountain pine beetle (MPB) on U.S. forests. Since 2000, 
outbreaks of MPB have affected more than 10 million hectares of 
lodgepole pine forests, compromising long-term forest health while 
creating the potential for more dangerous wildfires, loss of wildlife 
habitat, poorer water quality, and soil erosion.\3\ Such outbreaks are 
predicted to continue in the face of increased temperatures and drought 
associated with climate change. Funding for such studies will enable 
land managers to better predict and respond to ecosystem changes that 
occur following such outbreaks. ESA requests that Forest and Rangeland 
Research be funded at $318 million for fiscal Year 2023.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ Fettig, C.J., R.A. Progar, J. Paschke, F.J. Sapio. Forest 
insects. G. Robertson, T. Barrett (Eds.), Implications of Forest 
Disturbance Processes for Sustainability in the Western US. PNW-GTR-XX. 
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest 
Research Station, Portland, OR (2020). In press.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Also under the purview of the Forest Service is the Forest Health 
Management program, which conducts mapping and surveys on public and 
private lands to monitor and assess risks from potentially harmful 
insects, diseases, and invasive plants. The program also aids State and 
local partners to help prevent and control outbreaks that threaten 
forest health. According to a 2011 study, invasive forest insects cost 
local governments alone an average of over $2 billion per year; direct 
costs to homeowners from property loss, tree removal, and treatment 
averages $1.5 billion per year.\4\ Initiatives within the Forest Health 
Management program can help control these costly pests. The program's 
``Slow the Spread'' activities, for example, have led to a 60 percent 
reduction in the rate of the spread of the gypsy moth, another invasive 
species, resulting in an estimated benefit-to-cost ratio of 3:1. 
Without the program, it is estimated that 50 million additional acres 
would have been infested by the moth.\5\ Additionally, the southern 
pine beetle is the most destructive pest of pine trees from New Jersey 
to Florida and west to Texas. This beetle caused an estimated $1 
billion in damage during an outbreak across the southern U.S., and it 
has since rapidly moved far further northward than previously thought 
possible.\6\ The new northeast range of the southern pine beetle 
includes threatened and rare pine ecosystems, such as the pine barrens 
of New Jersey.\7\ Funding for the Forest Health Management Program will 
support detection, monitoring, prevention, and management of this pest 
and slow its spread and limit its damage as it affects more and more of 
our country's forests. To support these important functions, ESA 
requests that the subcommittee provide no less than the fiscal Year 
2020 enacted level of $100 million for Forest Health Management.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ Aukema, J.E.; Leung, B.; Kovacs, K.; et al. 2011. Economic 
impacts of non-native forest insects in the continental United States. 
PLoS ONE 6(9): e24587.
    \5\ Forest Service fiscal Year 2017 Budget Overview: http://
www.fs.fed.us/sites/default/files/FY-2017-FS percent20-budget-
overview.pdf.
    \6\ Nowak, J.; Asaro, C.; Klepzig, K. et al. 2008. The southern 
pine beetle prevention initiative: working for healthier forests. J. 
For. 106(5): 261-267.
    \7\ Dodds, K. J.; Aoki, C. F.; Arango-Velez, A. et al. 2018. 
Expansion of southern pine beetle in northeastern forests: management 
and impact of a primary bark beetle in a new region. J. For. 116(2): 
178-191.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The National Invasive Species Council (NISC) plays a critical role 
in coordinating policy, communication, and technology application to 
address invasive species detection and response across 16 Federal 
agencies. NISC serves a vital function since the impacts of invasive 
species are felt across a variety of sectors (agriculture, 
environmental protection, public health). A 2021 study estimated that 
invasive species have cost North America over $26 billion per year 
since 2010. Invasive insects have directly impacted native insect 
populations and entire ecosystems through predation, plant consumption, 
and disease transmission. For example, emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus 
planipennis, is an exotic beetle that was discovered in Michigan in 
2002. Since its discovery, EAB is now found in 35 States and five 
Canadian provinces. It has killed hundreds of millions of ash trees in 
North America and cost cities, property owners, tree nurseries, and 
forest products industries hundreds of millions of dollars.\8\ 
Preventing establishment of invasive species like EAB depends on early 
detection and rapid response. Improving these efforts requires not only 
relying on standard means of inspection and tracking but taking 
advantage of new technologies as well. To respond to such threats, NISC 
helped coordinate the development of guidelines for use by decision 
makers that improve access to and analysis of invasive species 
information.\9\ Such methods can enable more effective communication 
and aid in early detection of invasive species and rapid response, 
potentially saving billions of dollars' worth of crops, safeguarding 
native ecosystems, and preventing the destruction of private property. 
As such, ESA requests that the Committee provide the DOI funds to 
support NISC at no less than $2 million in fiscal Year 2023.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \8\ Emerald Ash Borer Information Network http://
www.emeraldashborer.info/index.php.
    \9\ Enabling Decisions that Make a Difference: Guidance for 
Improving Access to and Analysis of Invasive Species Information 2018. 
https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/uploads/isim_guidance.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    ESA, headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland, is the largest 
organization in the world serving the professional and scientific needs 
of entomologists and individuals in related disciplines. Founded in 
1889, ESA has more than 7,000 members affiliated with educational 
institutions, health agencies, private industry, and government. 
Members are researchers, teachers, extension service personnel, 
administrators, marketing representatives, research technicians, 
consultants, students, pest management professionals, and hobbyists. 
Thank you for the opportunity to offer the Entomological Society of 
America's support for programs at the National Invasive Species 
Council, Forest Service and EPA programs.

    [This statement was submitted by Jessica Ware, Ph.D., President, 
Entomological Society of America.]
                                 ______
                                 
            Prepared Statement of Fish and Wildlife Service
    The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) benefits our citizens and 
protects our wildlife and habitat. Yet the FWS is being starved for 
budget and resources with a budget that has stayed essential the same 
since 2010. The actual FWS budget from FY2011 to fiscal year 2022 
compared to the budget adjusted for the inflation rate each year 
averaged 14 percent lower and for that period translated to a shortfall 
of $952 million.
    I have been involved with the Texas Mid-coast National Wildlife 
Refuge Complex since 2004 helping with teaching students in our 
Environmental Education programs and with Outreach programs to the 
public. Several thousand students per year attend our Environment 
Education programs and several thousand attend our outreach programs. I 
joined the board of FOBWR in 2005 and have served various positions 
including President for 8 years.
    Over that time our refuges have lost 9 personnel, representing a 29 
percent reduction of staff, and 2 more are retiring this year and it's 
not clear if either will be replaced. Also, during this time frame our 
refuges have acquired over 40,000 acres of land in satellite refuge 
units with another 5,800 acres in the process of being acquired. It 
should be noted that Congress has authorized the acquisition of 70,000 
acres of riparian forest and costal prairie and wetlands to be added to 
our Mid-coast Complex.
    Our refuges are in the Central Flyway essential for migrating birds 
which need these habitats to survive. What land we can't preserve will 
be swallowed up by the ever-increasing Houston area urban sprawl. Our 
refuges also have an endangered species, the Kemp's Ridley turtle and 
species of concern, the Eastern Black Rail and the Piping Plover. Each 
of these species requires management by our refuge staff.
    We have many trails and hunting and fishing areas for the public to 
use. We have seen a large increase in number of visitors to our refuges 
during the past 2 years. But due to a lack of resources, the refuge 
managers are considering closing some of our trails because the refuge 
does not have the personnel to maintain them.
    Our Friends group has been successful in getting funds from local 
corporations for new trails, projects and large events. However, 
corporations generally are not prone to fund maintenance projects. We 
have started to submit requests to our corporate friends for trail 
maintenance with limited success, but this is not a long-term solution.
    To restore the alignment between services provided and resource 
needs, FOBWR is asking the United State Senate to increase the FWS 
budget to $712 million for fiscal year 2023. We also strongly support 
the National Wildlife Refuge Association's efforts on this matter.
    Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony for this 
important topic.

    [This statement was submitted by Edward Barrios Vice-President 
Friends of Brazoria Wildlife Refuges (FOBWR) & Board Member of the 
National Wildlife Refuge Association.]
                                 ______
                                 
        Prepared Statement of the Florida Keys Wildlife Society
    This testimony is being submitted on behalf of the Florida Keys 
Wildlife Society, which was formed in 1997 to support the Florida Keys 
National Wildlife Refuge Complex. We appreciate the opportunity to 
offer comments on the fiscal Year 2023 Interior Appropriations bill and 
ask that you work towards the overall goal of $900 million in annual 
funding. This year we are specifically asking that the budget include 
$712 million for Refuge System Operations and Maintenance for fiscal 
Year 2023.
    Woven into the fabric of the Florida Keys and attached to the 
hearts of residents and visitors are the four fabulous National 
Wildlife Refuges within the Florida Keys National Wildlife Complex. The 
economic engine of the Florida Keys is tourism. One of the Florida Keys 
NWR Complex's greatest challenges is not only to educate year around 
residents on how they can help sustain and protect the fragile habitats 
so many federally protected species depend on, but to also educate the 
5.3 million tourists who visit the Florida Keys each year so that their 
visitation also helps protect and sustain the same fragile habitats so 
appreciated by the residents. Our Refuges staff, volunteers and Friends 
group work together to educate residents and visitors on how they can 
enjoy the refuges with the goal of protecting the fragile habitats so 
many of our endangered species depend on. In the opinion of the 
Friends, staffing shortages are affecting the vital work of the Florida 
Keys National Wildlife Refuges and our ability to support them. The 
number of USFWS staff has dropped from 13 in 2010 to 6 in 2022. These 
six are responsible for the management of an area the size of the state 
of Rhode Island.
    In the Upper Keys, northernmost of our complexes four refuges is 
Crocodile Lake which was established in 1980 to protect and preserve 
critical habitat for the American crocodile. A common thread in the 
Florida Keys Complex is that several other federally protected species 
are found in all of the refuges contiguous habitats. Only slightly less 
iconic than Key Largo's American Crocodiles are the endangered Key 
Largo Woodrat found only on the northern one third of Key Largo.

    The Lower Florida Keys are home to the other three National 
Wildlife Refuges in the complex:

  --In 1957 the National Key Deer Refuge was established and 8,542 
        acres on Big Pine Key were dedicated to protect and preserve 
        the iconic Key Deer.

  --The Key West NWR was established in 1908 as a preserve and breeding 
        ground for native birds and other wildlife. The refuge 
        encompasses more than 200,000 acres with only 2,000 acres of 
        land. The area is home to more than 250 species of birds and is 
        important for sea turtle nesting.

  --The Great White Heron NWR in 1938 as a haven for great white 
        herons, migratory birds, and other wildlife. The refuge 
        consists of almost 200,000 acres of open water and islands 
        which provide critical nesting, feeding, and resting areas for 
        hundreds of species of birds and sea turtles.

    Overall, the National Wildlife Refuge System requires at least $900 
million in Operations and Maintenance Funding to be considered ``full 
funding'' with all refuges staffed, with adequate maintenance, 
biological, hunting, fishing, environmental education, and 
interpretation programs. We ask that you work towards that overall goal 
of $900 million in annual funding.
    We request that this subcommittee allocate $712 million in funding 
for the Refuge System Operations and Maintenance fund for fiscal Year 
2023.
    This request of $712 million would greatly impact our refuge which 
is currently critically understaffed. The Florida Keys NWR Complex 
would be able to hire more staff, restore more critical habitat, and 
most importantly operate our new Refuge Nature Center on Big Pine Key. 
Without sufficient USFWS staff, our volunteers are without adequate 
direction.
    Thank you for your consideration, and please feel free to contact 
Kathy Rhodes, of the Florida Keys Wildlife Society for any additional 
information.

    [This statement was submitted by Kathleen A. Rhodes, Chair, Board 
of Directors, Florida Keys Wildlife Society.]
                                 ______
                                 
  Prepared Statement of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
    Chairman Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski, and respected members 
of the Committee, I am Kevin Dupuis, the Chairman of the Fond du Lac 
Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. On behalf of the Fond du Lac Band of 
Lake Superior Chippewa, We submit this testimony to urge Congress to 
increase, or, at the very least preserve, the Federal funding levels 
for Indian programs.
    As we talk about funding needs in Indian country, it is essential 
to keep in mind that the problems that face communities nationwide are 
far more severe for Indian communities, with Tribes having far fewer 
resources to address problems like substance abuse, domestic violence, 
public safety, and homelessness. The Fond du Lac Band has worked, and 
will continue to work, to find solutions to problems of this kind. With 
seed money from Federal funds, we provide health, education, social 
services, public safety and other governmental services to our 4,200 
members and more than 7,300 Indian people who live on and near our 
Reservation. We are proud of what we have accomplished, but more 
remains to be done. The investment of Federal funds is key to that 
effort. It allows us to use Band resources and attract private partners 
so we can provide jobs, grow the local economy, educate our children, 
prevent crime, and care for our elders and infirm. We urge Congress to 
continue to fund these programs at least at the levels the President 
has requested.
                bia: trust-natural resources management
    There is nothing more important than preserving and protecting the 
territories and resources that our ancestors reserved for our people 
when they signed our Treaties with the United States. The Fond du Lac 
Band is committed to the management, conservation, and sustainability 
of the natural resources of the Fond du Lac Reservation and within our 
Ceded Territory, where we have Treaty rights to hunt, fish and gather. 
We urge you to provide full funding for Trust-Natural Resources 
Management in fiscal Year 2023, including increased funding for Rights 
Protection and Implementation which will allow us to protect, enhance, 
and restore natural resources within our Reservation and Ceded 
Territory.
    The Fond du Lac Reservation consists of 101,153 acres, including 
forests, lakes and rivers that must be managed and protected for the 
current and future generations. In addition, our Ceded Territory covers 
portions of Upper Michigan, Northern Wisconsin, and North Central 
Minnesota. The challenges to our natural resources across the region 
are diverse and complex, from species restoration and reintroduction to 
adaptation to climate change. But our members depend on our Treaty 
rights to put food on the table and for ceremonial practices that serve 
as the foundation for our culture. The stewardship of those natural 
resources-through scientific study, resource management, and 
enforcement of Band laws that regulate Tribal members who hunt, fish 
and gather those resources-is critical and is also an important source 
of employment for members.
                 environmental protection agency (epa)
    We appreciate Congress' continued support to provide Federal funds 
for EPA, but we ask that funding for EPA in fiscal Year 2023 be 
increased.
    State and Tribal Assistances Grants (STAG). We thank Congress for 
continuing to support funding for STAG. We strongly urge Congress to 
increase funding for this Program, which has not seen a substantive 
increase in years, yet the Band's responsibilities continue to grow as 
we work to protect our land, water and air in the face of increasing 
pressures and obstacles.
    Water Quality. We have a robust federally-approved water quality 
standards program. Given the current threats to water resources in our 
region, we urge that Tribal Section 106 funding be doubled so that we 
can do the work needed to protect our waters.
    Air. We have a long-standing air monitoring program that has faced 
a steady decline in Federal funding. As the impacts of climate change 
continue to be felt in higher temperatures and more frequent heavy 
precipitation events, both indoor and ambient air quality concerns 
continue to impact Band members and their health. We request that air 
quality program funding for Tribes be increased.
    Wetlands. One-half of our reservation is made up of wetlands. 
Proper management and restoration of this valuable resource is 
impossible without adequate and consistent Federal funding. We request 
sustained wetland monitoring and protection program funding.
    Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The Band fully supports this 
initiative and thanks Congress for its continued support of this 
initiative. We ask that Congress maintain the $330 million level of 
funding for this initiative. This initiative has broad-reaching 
benefits to resources of importance for all stakeholders (state, Tribal 
and private) in the Great Lakes region. This funding helps support our 
wildlife programs, including our ongoing wild rice and fisheries 
stewardship and restoration efforts on the Reservation and in our Ceded 
Territories.
                     bia: public safety and justice
    A significant part of protecting our homeland is having a fully 
staffed and trained law enforcement department. We appreciate 
Congress's decision to increase funding for BIA's Public Safety and 
Justice, including funding to solve Missing and Murdered Indigenous 
Women cold cases. The largest law enforcement problems we face are due 
to opioids and other substance abuse problems. Our law enforcement 
responds to a wide range of issues and calls, and the demand increases 
each year.
    We address law enforcement by a combination of Tribal and available 
Federal funds and cooperative agreements with local law enforcement 
agencies, but more funding is needed. To meet need, we should have 23 
full-time peace officers to provide 24-hour coverage on the Fond du Lac 
Reservation, but currently we only have funding for 19. Those 19 peace 
officers include the Chief of Police, Lieutenant Chief of Police, 3 
Investigators (General Crimes, Sex Trafficking, Narcotics), 1 Victim 
Advocacy Officer, 4 Patrol Sergeants, 6 Patrol Officers, 1 Officer in 
Field Training Program, 1 ``new hire'' in background process and 1 
School Resource Officer. With additional funding we would be able to 
add another General Crimes Investigator and fill the Patrol division 
shifts to four officers per shift. This would allow us to better 
respond to calls and protect our Reservation community. We currently 
respond to over 5,500 calls per year in two counties.
    We also have 3 administrative staff but should have 2 more to 
ensure our department can effectively operate, and we need funding to 
update crime tracking and case management systems. Funding is also 
needed for training. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and with an increase 
in the drug epidemic and related crimes, our officers need, but are not 
receiving, vital training, including for dealing with an increase of 
people with mental health issues. We have seen an increase in Heroin 
and Fentanyl overdoses, including an increase in fatal overdoses. We 
are also seeing that these incidents correlate with general crimes like 
burglary, theft and assaults. We need additional equipment including 
both marked and unmarked squad vehicles for narcotic investigations. We 
are currently using outdated equipment for narcotic investigations but 
budget constraints also restrict us from replacing and updating 
essential necessary equipment like tracking devices, cameras, and 
recorders.
                       bureau of indian education
    With funding from the BIE and the Department of Education, we 
operate the Fond du Lac Ojibwe School serving an average of 220 
children from pre-K through 12th grade. More than 90 percent of our 
students come from very low-income households, and 96 percent receive 
free or reduced-price lunch. We are slowly making progress in improving 
the outcomes for our students. While the high school graduation rates 
for American Indians in Minnesota is at 51 percent, we are now at 59 
percent, which is still far behind the State-wide rate of 81 percent. 
BIE funding has never kept pace with need, which prevents us from 
providing the educational services needed for our students. We urge 
Congress to significantly increase Federal funding for Indian 
education.
                         indian health service
    We appreciate Congress's continued support to increase funding for 
IHS. However incremental increases do not begin to address substandard 
outcomes in Tribal communities because it only provides an increase for 
current services. We urge Congress to provide full funding for IHS for 
a total of $49.8 billion as identified by our National Tribal Budget 
Formulation Workgroup. Indians at Fond du Lac, like Indians throughout 
the Nation, continue to face severe disparities across a broad range of 
health issues, including due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the opioid 
epidemic. We serve over 7,300 Indian people at our clinics, but the 
current funding level meets only 33 percent of our health care funding 
needs.
    We support the preservation of Medicaid, and the continuation of 
the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (``IHCIA'') and other Indian-
specific provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. 
We believe there needs to be dedicated funding to begin implementing 
the new authorities contained in the IHCIA, which have not yet been 
implemented and funded.
    We support the Administration's proposal to provide advance 
appropriations for Indian Health Service starting in fiscal Year 2023. 
We also believe that Tribal programs should be permanently excluded 
from sequestration and rescissions. The Indian Health Service is the 
only Federal health care system created as the result of treaty 
obligations, yet it is the most chronically underfunded Federal 
healthcare system and the only Federal healthcare system that is not 
exempt from government shutdowns or continuing resolutions. As many of 
my elders have said, we prepaid for our health care and this funding 
should not be subject to the discretionary appropriations process.
    We also support the proposal to make both Contract Support Costs 
and the 105(l) leasing funding mandatory, including establishing a 
mandatory appropriations account that is funded every year. This is 
important because this funding, which is a non-discretionary funding 
obligation for the agency competes with discretionary funding that 
could be directed to other much needed program increases. Any 
Congressional increase in discretionary funding for IHS never truly 
results in the full amount of that funding reaching discretionary 
programs because a large part gets re-directed to cover IHS' legal 
obligations to fund Contract Support Costs and 105(1) leasing 
requirements.
    We also support permanent reauthorization of the Special Diabetes 
Program for Indians (``SDPI'') and that it be funded at $250 million 
per year indexed for inflation. Tribes and Tribal Organizations should 
also be authorized to receive SDPI awards through Public Law 93-638 
contracts or compacts.
    The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the lack of infrastructure funding 
and support for Tribes and Tribal organizations. As such we support an 
increase of $627.5 million as well as recurring funding to support 
Public Health Infrastructure to address current and future public 
health emergencies. Congress should also fully fund Critical 
Infrastructure Investments, like EHR Monetarization to include Tribal 
facilities, health care facilities construction, and demonstration 
projects. Lastly, Congress should authorize Federally-Operated health 
facilities and IHS headquarters to use Federal dollars efficiently and 
adjust programmatic fund flexibility across accounts at the local 
level, in consultation with Tribes.

Miigwech. Thank you.

    [This statement was submitted by Kevin R. Dupuis, Sr., Chairman of 
the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.]
                                 ______
                                 
            Prepared Statement of the Fort Peck Reservation
    I am Floyd Azure, Chairman of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of 
the Fort Peck Reservation. I would like to thank the House Interior 
Appropriations subcommittee for the opportunity to present testimony 
concerning fiscal Year 2023 appropriations for the Indian Health 
Service (IHS), the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA).
    The Fort Peck Reservation is in northeast Montana, forty miles west 
of the North Dakota border, and fifty miles south of the Canadian 
border, with the Missouri River defining its southern border. The 
Reservation encompasses over two million acres of land. We have 
approximately 13,000 enrolled Tribal members, with approximately 7,000 
Tribal members living on the Reservation. We have a total Reservation 
population of approximately 12,000 people.
    Congress has long recognized that the foundation for economic 
development and prosperity in Indian country lay in community 
stability, which begins with quality health care and infrastructure, 
such as safe drinking water, roads, and public safety, and a clean 
environment.
                     indian health service funding
    We strongly support full funding for the Indian Health Service. The 
COVID-19 pandemic showed the Nation the chronic health care 
deficiencies in Indian country. Native people acquired and died of this 
disease at some of the highest rates in the Nation. This is because we 
suffer from the comorbidities at higher rates, we lack access to 
adequate health care, and we lack basic community infrastructure.
    As we are coming out of the pandemic, Indian country is preparing 
for the next health crisis, a mental health crisis. Our people were 
engaging in self-harming behaviors at drastic rates before the 
pandemic. We fear that because our people have suffered tremendous 
losses and have not been able to properly grieve, that this grief will 
manifest itself in unhealthy behaviors. Congress must focus on mental/
behavioral health programs to ensure that we do not have another 
epidemic to respond to.
                        bureau of indian affairs
    We strongly support the increased funding for the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs.

1. Social Services and ICWA Funding

    There is a dire need for increased funding for our Tribal Social 
Services program is critically needed. There has not been any increase 
in this program for several years. Over 36 percent of the children in 
the foster care system in Montana are Indian children--Indian people 
represent only 10 percent of the State population. More than 100 Fort 
Peck children are in the foster care system. We need a social worker in 
the Fort Peck Agency. We need more support to recruit and retain 
licensed foster care homes on the Reservation. Importantly, we need to 
provide social services to families so that they have the tools to be 
the best parents possible, so that their children do not enter the 
foster care system.
    Montana is one of six States in the country to have instituted an 
ICWA court. This court handles State ICWA cases in Yellowstone County 
from the Fort Peck, Northern Cheyenne, and Crow Tribes. The team 
approach of the ICWA Court in Montana fosters collaboration between 
State and Tribal stakeholders, promotes meaningful State compliance 
with the Indian Child Welfare Act, and improves outcomes for Indian 
children and their families involved in the foster care system.
    In this era where ICWA is under constant attack, in spite of it 
providing needed protections for Indian children, families and Tribes, 
the Committee should encourage the BIA to work collaboratively and 
strategically with Tribes to expand ICWA courts across the country. 
This kind of support and dedicated staff can only be done through 
additional funding for the BIA Tribal Social Service and ICWA programs.

2. Tribal Court Funding

    Relatedly, while we appreciate the increased funding for Tribal 
courts that Congress has provided, it has not been enough. Tribal 
Courts are the backbone of Tribal sovereignty. Without sound Tribal 
courts, we could not be a community where people feel safe, where 
business want to open and where our children and our most vulnerable 
receive protection. The Fort Peck Tribal Court is one of the oldest in 
the country and we are very proud of the work our judges, prosecutors, 
defense attorneys and clerks do.
    Currently, the Bureau of Indian Affairs only provides a fraction of 
the funding to operate our Tribal Court. Our court is one of the few 
Tribal Courts in the Country exercising expanded VAWA jurisdiction. 
This work is important to making our Reservation a safe place for 
women. However, this takes additional resources to retain properly 
trained defense counsel, prosecutors, and judges.

3. Law Enforcement

    There is critical need for increased law enforcement funding 
throughout Indian country. Our Police Chief estimates that 70 percent-
80 percent of criminal conduct has a drug component to it, with 
assaults and burglaries arising out of drug use-and addiction. We are 
dealing with violent crimes, in particular violent crimes against women 
and children. We need to emphasize community policing but to do this we 
need more law enforcement personnel to live and work in our community. 
The crime in our community is impacting the most vulnerable in our 
community the most and it is time that we stop accepting this as 
normal. It is not normal, it is tragic.

4. Housing

    One of the reasons the Pandemic impacted our community so 
significantly is that too many people on our Reservation are living in 
overcrowded conditions. In many homes, there are three or families 
living in 4-bedroom homes. Across Indian country it is estimated that 
approximately 20 percent of all homes are overcrowded, it is much 
higher on the Fort Peck Reservation. This overcrowding situation is 
contributing to the social disfunction that our children experience. In 
many instances, it is the grandparents who take in their adult children 
and grandchildren. Sadly, these adult children are in the grips of 
addiction, and other unhealthy behaviors, which their children can't 
escape from as they are living with it every day. Moreover, when a 
grandparent allows an active user to live in their home, they are 
putting their own housing security at risk, because our Housing 
Authority does not allow active users to live in a HUD home, and thus, 
these elders can face eviction. In short, in order to have a healthy 
community, we must have more housing. This includes not only more 
housing for families, but also recovery housing so that people with 
addictions are not forced to go homeless.
    In addition to overcrowded housing on the Reservation, the housing 
shortage also impacts our ability to recruit professionals, including 
education, law enforcement, and especially health care workers. Thus, 
we need housing that is not only directed to low-income families, but 
also working families so that we can attract the professionals we need 
to work in our schools, clinics, and police stations.
    Importantly, housing funding must include the resources for 
infrastructure to ensure any new housing has water, sewer, electricity, 
and broadband access. This is why the Instructure and Investment, and 
Jobs Act is so important to Indian country because it includes critical 
funding for this infrastructure.

5. Bison Program Funding

    We want to thank the subcommittee for funding that you provided for 
the Tribal Bison program. This funding is critical to bringing 
traditional food and traditional practices back to our communities. The 
Fort Peck Tribes have implemented a robust bison restoration program 
and now have partnered with the National Park Service to conduct post 
quarantine assurance testing of NPS bison from Yellowstone National 
Park. These efforts resulted in the restoration of over 600 bison to 
the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. We have translocated some of these 
bison to other Tribes for their herd development.
                    environmental protection agency
    There is an important need to increase funding for Tribal 
environmental programs with the Environmental Protection Agency. This 
in includes the Indian Environmental General Assistance Program, the 
Solid Waste-Indian Lands Program, and the Tribal Clean Air Program. 
None of these programs have received and increase in funding in several 
years. It is important to support these programs with increased 
funding.

    [This statement was submitted by Floyd Azure, Chairman Assiniboine 
and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation.]
                                 ______
                                 
  Prepared Statement of the Friends of Crab Orchard National Wildlife 
                                 Refuge
    I see the opportunity to give input to a committee which can 
determine the strength and ongoing vigor of our Refuge system for 
future generations.
    I live in Southern Illinois, in Williamson County, this county also 
is the host to Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge. Our Refuge has 
been organized as a formal Refuge for 75 years this August. It started 
as a WPA project to provide potable water and area recreation in 1939. 
The ensuing years saw the rise of fascism and the land was converted to 
the Illinois Ordnance Plant until the end of WWII. The lands were 
turned over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to maintain as a 
National Wildlife Refuge.
    Crab Orchard has 4 main objectives: 1) To provide available land 
for agricultural use (conservation related row crops, hay and grazing), 
2) To provide opportunity for business and industry, 3) To provide 
recreational opportunities to the community and visitors, and 4) 
conservation of native wildlife.
    Crab Orchard has been on this mission from its inception 75 years 
ago to today! The tactics to deliver results have varied over time. 
Each objective is rooted to the specific past of this land use. First 
settled by people looking for opportunity in the early 1800's the land 
was the home of many small farms and hamlets of people who came seeking 
the happiness enshrined in our constitution. A remnant of these early 
settlers are 38 known cemeteries on the Refuge. We just conducted a 
Memorial Day program, I led it with the help of two interns and my 
wife. At the Hampton Cemetery, there are 10 veterans buried. 7 are 
Union soldiers from our Civil War, 1 a veteran of the Franco-Prussian 
war, 1 a veteran of the Mexican War, and 1 from WWI. Just this cemetery 
signifies a significant swath of our country's history. This event had 
25 participants on a warm May morning, some interested in history, some 
were direct descendants of those interred, others just interested in 
the opportunity. This is a historic/cultural aspect that directly links 
today to our local past. This is a type of recreation.
    Two weeks ago, with the respite from Covid, the Refuge hosted the 
Kid's Fishing Derby. This is historically an annual event, but Covid 
put a pause on performance. We had 263 total participants, over 20 
volunteers supported the event. There were people of all ages, ethnic 
groups, veterans, parents, grandparents, loved ones of all varieties, 
and of course...KIDS, lots of them. I provided general support, worked 
to feed people, took photos, greeted people and interacted. I baited 
some hooks, cleared a line from a snag, saw several young folks catch 
their first fish. It was a memorable day. It provided a significant 
point of time and place to positively impact the youth and families in 
our area. This is a type of recreation.
    I can go on with my personal anecdotes, my witness of the positive 
impact the Refuge has on citizens in our local communities, but that 
would be driven by my recent calendar. All areas of impact need to be 
noted and opportunities to improve the impact are critical to note as 
well.
    The Refuge has provided a home to industry. Currently General 
Dynamics has a facility on site, this links with the defense production 
which was critical to the war effort in our past. Small industry also 
has some opportunities to use some of the features of our location.
    Agriculture was noted above. Row crops fields are available to 
farmers who agree to the conditions. This is beneficial to the area, 
and individual farmers. It is likewise a meaningful method to manage a 
portion of the property. Grain remnants provide food sources for 
migratory fowl and resident animals. The land has seen agricultural use 
since the early 1800s and that practice continues today.
    Conservation of native plants and animals is a cornerstone of our 
Refuge. This includes control and management methods such as hunting or 
fishing within seasonal guidelines and rules. There is a fish hatchery 
onsite which provides replenishment of fish to our three reservoirs and 
also the surrounding community. The Refuge has a wide variety of native 
fish, bass, crappie, bluegill, catfish, even trout. We have fishers 
throughout the year, bank and boat fishing are both popular.
    Invasive management, forestry, wetlands development, habitat 
development and restoration are all regular necessities to maintain 
both native plant and animals
    Animal conservation supports habitat for all native species. Two 
outstanding species which we have in abundance are Turkey and White 
Tail Deer. We conduct seasons for each of them. It is the fiftieth 
anniversary of deer hunting on the Refuge this year also. We have local 
hunters and also folks from hundreds of miles away that have made an 
annual pilgrimage to hunt deer on site. The deer hunts now host up to 3 
generations of hunters returning to the same hunting grounds.
    The Refuge has a small (7,00 acre) wilderness area maintained also.
    Finally, I will pause to note the multitude of recreational 
activities available at this Refuge. It is difficult to fit all 
activities into one label. Is bicycling recreation, exercise, social 
activity, or a means to simply immerse oneself into a natural 
environment. The same thought relates to hunting and fishing, it may be 
viewed as a means to control animal populations or simply as 
recreational sport. Thus things don't always fit neatly into ordered 
topics. Hiking is encouraged, we have several formal trails 
established, one is outstanding, Rocky Bluff Trail. That trail exhibits 
the exemplary topography for which our region is known, sandstone 
bluffs, intermittent waterfalls among glades. The site is filled with 
ephemeral wildflowers in April. Photography, a means to capture a 
memory and a moment is encouraged. We have a Friends of CONWR and 
Photography group, a joint project endorsed by the Service. There are 
over 250 Facebook members, and an active group of 50 people who take 
photos of nature weekly, at times daily at the Refuge. The groups 
quality work captured the attention of a regional art gallery who 
supported an exhibit, Nature Photographs from Crab Orchard National 
Wildlife Refuge. It was on display for 2.5 months. Subsequently the 
exhibit was shown at two local libraries. Is this practicing 
photographic skills or art? Is this providing nature photography tips 
and techniques or sparking the interest in nature photography in some 
young viewer? I aver that it is all of the previously noted attributes 
with an inclusion of repeated visits to the Refuge to find that perfect 
shot.
    Again, I could write on each recreational topic that I see folks 
enjoy. A short list to consider is: boating, kayaking, camping, 
hunting, fishing, hiking, walking, bicycling, jogging, picnicking, and 
simply enjoying nature.
    Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge is the 8th most visited 
Refuge in the system of over 650 such Refuges. We normally have over 
1.5 million visitors in any year. There has been an increased number 
since the pandemic.
    During the peak of the pandemic, people needed some refuge...we saw 
a marked increase of use during this period. People needed not just 
refuge, they needed Crab Orchard Refuge. Refuge use was up 30 percent 
in 2020 and 2021. This is without educational programming or public 
gatherings!
    All volunteer efforts and much Service work was halted for several 
months, then slowly, carefully restored. Today we are providing a 
normal list of educational opportunities and gatherings. There is one 
problem though in this natural paradise...Service staff.
    The Rangers are critical to visitor services in general and 
environmental education programming in particular. This includes such 
outreaches as school programs, library programs, community education, 
garden programs, environmental education programs of all types, and 
special requests by any group. The lack of Rangers disrupts an ongoing 
program designed to give the basic skills to enjoy and safely 
participate in all our activities, ``Becoming an Outdoor Family"
    Our last Ranger departed her part time position last October. The 
developed programs are facilitated primarily by volunteers currently, 
we do have 2 interns (students themselves), but are losing both of them 
by September. That leaves a Visitor Services Manager, and volunteers. 
We will have no professional leadership at the worker level, and an 
overtasked Manager.
    This is a dire situation at a time when we seem to most need 
Refuges. Local residents and visitors are seeking nature more often as 
the respite to relieve themselves from the turmoil of modern life. 
These visitors all need more opportunity to learn from and enjoy nature 
on a deeper level. If funding is not immediately made available for 
critical roles, such as Rangers, the process of operating and 
maintaining a welcoming Refuge will slowly grind to a halt. Rangers are 
only one example, mowing, road maintenance, invasive control and many 
other topics require staff and equipment to perform. Our nation's 
Refuge system is a natural wonder and a general expectation of our 
citizenry. It must be properly funded.
    I have input from several different Refuges throughout the system, 
this problem of staffing and adequate funding is ubiquitous among them 
all. It is not isolated to a Region, but is a holistic problem.
    Failure to address this issue will affect services and availability 
to the general public. It creates a scenario where the Refuge system 
moves toward an unfunded mandate, a shell of what was a gem in a 
perfect setting.

    [This statement was submitted by Rick Whitecotton, President, 
Friends of Crab Orchard Refuge.]
                                 ______
                                 
      Prepared Statement of Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge
    I am writing to urge you to provide a much needed and long over due 
increase to funding for our Nation's National Wildlife Refuges. In my 
view, this should not be seen as a partisan issue, rather it is an 
issue of national importance to American citizens generally. I know my 
region's Refuge--Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge--has seen large 
increases in use in the last decade or more. In fact, during Covid, 
visits to our Refuge sky rocketed and show no signs of leveling off 
now. I see families with children, hikers, bicyclists, boaters, people 
fishing, hunters and photographers all experiencing some peace and 
tranquility as they enjoy the wildlife and other natural wonders of the 
Refuge.
    I am currently retired and a member of the Friends of Crab Orchard 
NWR Board. As such, I visit and enjoy the Refuge a great deal along 
with my wife and other family members. Over the last 5 years alone, I 
have seen increased use of the Refuge. Yet, at the same time we have 
seen a number of staff lost and not replaced. In communication with 
other Friends members here and across the country, we are all seeing 
the same thing--increased use by the public--yet drops in funding for 
staffing across the board and in maintenance of the refuges as well. 
Little or no effort has been made to keep up with inflation--let alone 
deal with the huge uptick in use.
    As such, school groups will no longer be able to come to our refuge 
for education about wildlife, plants and the natural environment 
generally--because we don't have the Rangers to meet with them. Rangers 
provide a lot of interaction and education to other community groups as 
well.
    In addition, at our refuge photographers and hunters find common 
cause in preserving and maintaining wildlife habitat. We come together 
and serve on the same committees to support Refuge maintenance for 
waterfowl and and other wildlife. Yet we both see staff--when we have 
them--struggling to keep up with the basic maintenance needs of the 
Refuge. Another area that has reached crisis levels is the lack of law 
enforcement personnel--again due to totally inadequate funding. These 
are just a few examples of the failure to adequately fund our Nation's 
Refuges.
    Our National Wildlife Refuges are a treasure bestowed on us by wise 
past presidents. They are the envy of many other nations that are not 
so blessed.
    When you think about how little they are asking--712 million--and 
that this would fund 568 Refuges (up from 510 in 2010) this is clearly 
an amazing bargain. The facts easily support a figure of 1 billion in 
funding. This would help make up for the neglect to maintenance and 
failure to build in inflation costs that have occurred during the past 
12 years. I strongly urge you to provide the 1 billion that is truly 
needed to deal with the growth in number of refuges, people served by 
refuges, the ongoing cost of maintenance and the impact of inflation.
    Thank you for your kind and I hope urgent and generous attention to 
this matter.

    [This statement was submitted by Don Mullison, Friends of Crab 
Orchard NWR Board Member and interested citizen.]
                                 ______
                                 
 Prepared Statement of the Friends of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
    The purpose of this letter is to urge the members of the 
subcommittee to support the full funding detailed in the proposed 
fiscal Year 2023 budget for the operation of the Fish and Wildlife 
Service (FWS) and specifically for the operation of the Nation's 
National Wildlife Refuge System.
    Full funding of this important function for fiscal Year 2023 
amounts to a total of $712 million. This reflects a substantial 
increase, but one that is justified in every way. This critical 
environmental program has been starved for operating funds for years, 
and the result has been a very definite reduction in the health of the 
natural resources found our wildlife refuges and the services available 
to visitors at the refuges. Neither of these situations is acceptable.
    I speak from long personal experience. I am not only a regular 
visitor to our Nation's wildlife refuges but also the board president 
of the Friend of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, a non-profit 
organization that partners with our refuge to enhance resource 
protection and visitor services.
    From these twin vista points, I can tell you that a continuing lack 
of funding is sapping the ability of the refuges to carry out their 
mission. Here at Malheur, the staff of the refuge has shrunk year after 
year and is now barely half the size it was decades ago. And even when 
jobs still exist, they are often kept vacant for prolonged periods, 
further reducing management capacity.
    My organization exists to assist the Federal staff at Malheur NWR. 
We provide volunteers to assist the refuge in its operations and fill 
funding gaps to the best of our ability. All too often, however, 
despite their best intentions, our Federal colleagues simply don't have 
sufficient time to work with us, even when we are bringing material 
assistance to the refuge.
    Intensifying this situation is the inescapable fact that many of 
the refuges along the Pacific Flyway, including Malheur NWR, are facing 
severe impacts from drought and climate change. The very purpose of the 
refuges is threatened. Under these circumstances, starving these places 
for funding simply makes no sense.
    Speaking for the Friends of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, 
an organization with a thousand active members from all over the 
Nation, I urge you to provide the FWS the $712 million it so badly 
needs in fiscal Year 2023.

    [This statement was submitted by William Tweed, President and Board 
Chair of Friends of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.]
                                 ______
                                 
 Prepared Statement of the Friends of the Mid-Columbia River National 
                            Wildlife Refuges
    This testimony is being submitted on behalf of the Friends of the 
Mid-Columbia River National Wildlife Refuges. Our organization was 
formed in 2001 to support the 7 separate refuges and one national 
monument in eastern Washington State that are managed by the United 
States Fish and Wildlife Service. We appreciate the opportunity to 
offer comments on the fiscal Year 2023 Interior Appropriations bill.
    This subcommittee allocated $582 million in funding for Refuge 
System Operation and Maintenance in fiscal year 2022, and we are very 
grateful for the large increase, commensurate with the President's 
Budget Request that year. We don't anticipate a large increase in the 
President's Request for fiscal year 2023, but we request that this 
subcommittee continue the trend up and allocate $712 million in funding 
for the Refuge System O&M fund. These resources would have a strong 
positive impact for the Mid-Columbia Refuges by allowing them to fill 
vacant staff positions, to continue with much needed habitat 
restoration and to support their many environmental education programs. 
As a result of our volunteer work with F&WS staff of the Mid-Columbia 
River refuges, we can testify to their professionalism and dedication 
to the mission of this agency.
    Their work is very important to our community. Our region, like 
others, has been greatly affected by the pandemic and mandated 
isolation. During this time, we have noted that many people have been 
visiting the Mid-Columbia Refuges not just to hunt, but simply to walk 
or observe wildlife. We have had an annual visitation of approximately 
150,000 including roughly 30,000 hunt visits. Our local refuges have 
become a much needed refuge for people as well as wildlife. Our bi-
county health district has strongly encouraged these activities as a 
way to help local citizens cope with the isolation and depression 
associated pandemic restrictions.
    Our Friends group has worked closely with Refuges staff on many 
projects, including habitat remediation, field trips for the general 
public, trail maintenance (including improved ADA access), citizen 
science programs and wildlife rehabilitation. We know from personal 
experience how hard Refuge staff work to keep these lands healthy and 
accessible. Their support is very important to our community.
    But more is needed. Recent development and construction in our area 
has resulted in the loss of much valuable habitat. Similar issues on a 
national level are resulting in a reduction in the population of many 
species. The Mid-Columbia Refuges provide habitat for hundreds of 
thousands of waterfowl, endangered salmon, and rare/declining species 
including burrowing owls, long-billed curlews, and ferruginous hawks. 
We feel strongly that the Refuge system should continue playing a role 
in turning around national trends, and if we do not act now, we will 
lose much that we hold precious and valuable to our very existence.
    This request of $712 million for fiscal year 2023 reflects the loss 
of over 1,000 staff from the System in the last decade. In that time, 
hundreds of millions of new acres were added to the System, along with 
13 new refuges. The urban program was created and the Service is 
tackling invasive species on almost all refuges. While this seems like 
a large increase, it is simply what the System needs in order to 
maintain healthy wildlife habitats on our refuges.
    Thank you for considering this request. Please feel free to contact 
me at [email protected] if more information is required.

    [This statement was submitted by Carl Berkowitz, Secretary, Friends 
of the Mid-Columbia River National Wildlife Refuges.]
                                 ______
                                 
   Prepared Statement of the Friends of Missisquoi National Wildlife 
                                 Refuge
    Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony and offer 
comments on the fiscal Year 2023 Interior Appropriations bill. My name 
is Julie Filiberti, and I sit on the board of the Friends of Missisquoi 
National Wildlife Refuge, a non-profit organization formed in 2002 to 
support the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge. My comments in this 
testimony are on the behalf of this organization.
    The Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge is situated in the 
northwest corner of Vermont on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain. It 
is made up of lands and waters cared for by the Abenaki for thousands 
of years and is one of only two National Wildlife Refuges in the State 
of Vermont. Missisquoi NWR was established in 1943 to protect habitat 
for migrating waterfowl, and 70 years later, in 2013, was designated as 
a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance. The 7218 acres of the 
refuge includes the 457 acre Eagle Point Unit, co-managed with the 
Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, and the 262 acre tract located in 
upstate New York. The refuge is also responsible for the management and 
oversight of 376 acres of Conservation Easement in both Vermont and New 
York.
    The main parcel of the acreage in northwestern Vermont encompasses 
a variety of habitats. A majority of the refuge is composed of wetlands 
and floodplain forest where the Missisquoi River empties into Lake 
Champlain. This area is the most expansive intact floodplain forest in 
the state. The refuge also contains the largest bog in the northeast, 
the 900-acre Maquam Bog. In addition to these expanses of unique 
habitat, the refuge also contains shrublands and maintains 250 acres of 
managed grasslands. The refuge is an essential resting and feeding 
stopover for migrating ducks, geese, shorebirds, and other water birds. 
It is a haven for 17 state threatened or endangered species, including 
Spiny Softshell turtle, Black Tern, and the recently listed Eastern 
Meadowlark.
    The refuge is utilized for all six of the public use focuses of the 
National Wildlife Refuge system: hunting, fishing, wildlife 
observation, photography, interpretation, and education.
    Because of limited public lands in the area, the trails and 
waterways of the Missisquoi NWR provide the population of northwest 
Vermont with available areas for these outdoor recreation activities in 
all seasons. The recent pandemic saw a dramatic increase in the usage 
of the refuge as people sought out places to safely immerse themselves 
in the natural world. The refuge lands also provide the habitats for 
important learning and mentoring opportunities for students engaging in 
environmental education. Perhaps most importantly, the Missisquoi 
National Wildlife Refuge, like most refuges in the system, has the 
critical job of protecting and conserving a biologically diverse, 
internationally important, and archaeologically significant area.
    In 2002, the non-profit Friends of Missisquoi National Wildlife 
Refuge, Inc. was formed to support the work at the refuge. Now in our 
20th year, our small but dedicated group works to bring awareness to 
the refuge through public outreach by organizing educational and fun 
events for the public at large. We provide environmental education 
webinars, presentations, group birding opportunities, and various other 
outdoor events. Through our membership funds and donations, we support 
learning opportunities at the refuge for both students and adults. Our 
financial support also stretches to assist the refuge in acquiring 
grant funding for invasive species control. We work in collaboration 
with the refuge manager to provide financial assistance with any 
projects that do not have funding but are deemed necessary for the 
operation of the refuge.
    It has been many years since the Missisquoi NWR has had adequate 
Federal funding to keep up with its mission to appropriately manage the 
refuge for public use and provide protection for the lands and waters. 
According to the Comprehensive Conservation Plan, the refuge would need 
these 7 permanent full-time positions to completely function and meet 
its goals: a Refuge Manager, an Administrative Support Assistant, a 
Park Ranger, a Wildlife Biologist, a Maintenance Worker, and a Law 
Enforcement Officer along with an additional Park Ranger, Biological 
Technician, and Maintenance Worker as Term and/or seasonal positions. 
Missisquoi is currently operating with 4 positions: a Refuge Manager, a 
Wildlife Biologist, an Administrative Officer, and one Maintenance 
Worker. This current level of staffing is making operations and 
maintenance of the refuge difficult.
    The difficulties are seen in many areas. Missisquoi lost its Park 
Ranger in 2018, and the position has yet to be replaced. This critical 
loss, on top of an already short staff, has left a huge hole in the 
educational opportunities available, so our interpretive center and 
spacious classroom sit essentially unused. Many loved long-running 
programs such as the fishing derby and the Jr. Waterfowl Duck Stamp 
program have come to an end without staff to organize them. The refuge 
struggles to operate the visitor's center during the workweek, and it 
remains closed on weekends, which is peak visitation on the refuge. The 
trails are quickly falling into disrepair because recruitment, 
management, and coordination of volunteers and supervision of youth 
programs such as YCC are no longer possible. The absence of a Law 
Enforcement Officer means poaching, vandalism, dumping, and drug use 
are going unchecked since the closest Federal officer to respond is in 
Massachusetts. The State Wardens respond when they can, but they cannot 
fully dedicate themselves to ongoing refuge enforcement. Planning for 
any new projects for the refuge has not been possible when even 
emergency projects are struggling to get done. This refuge, with its 
small staff, is struggling. The Friends of Missisquoi contributes when 
possible, but our small organization with limited dollars and limited 
time, cannot make up for the lack of Federal funding or staffing. Like 
refuges all across the country, ours is visibly showing the suffering 
under a continual lack of appropriate Federal funding.
    Overall, the National Wildlife Refuge System requires at least $1 
billion in Operations and Maintenance Funding to be considered ``full 
funding.'' This allows all refuges to be staffed and to have adequate 
maintenance, biological, hunting, fishing, environmental education, and 
interpretation programs. Our testimony reflects our desire to reach 
this full funding goal over the next few years, and we ask that you 
work towards that overall goal of $712 million in annual funding in 
fiscal year 2023.
    Congress released omnibus language allocating just $519 million for 
fiscal year 2022 Refuge System Operations and Maintenance. This $16 
million increase over current funding was much needed and appreciated, 
yet it was far below the roughly $1 billion needed for full funding of 
the Refuge System. The President's Budget Request last year made it 
clear we needed $584 million to fund the System. We appreciate the 
small increase, but it still is a world away from what is needed to 
adequately fund the System. We request that this subcommittee continue 
the allocation trend upward and assign $712 million in funding for 
Refuge System Operations and Maintenance, which will get us closer to 
where we need to be.
    This request of $712 million reflects the loss of over 1,000 staff 
in the last decade from the System. In that time, hundreds of millions 
of new acres were added to the System, along with 13 new refuges. The 
urban program was created and the Service is tackling invasive species 
on almost all refuges. While this seems like a large increase, it is 
simply what the System needs in order to maintain healthy wildlife 
habitats on our refuges.
    The National Wildlife Refuge System is a national treasure in this 
country, providing valuable areas for our citizens to recreate and 
enjoy the great outdoors. In our current world threatened by climate 
change, protecting these critical habitats for wildlife as a whole is 
increasingly important. Refuges are places that provide environmental 
learning opportunities and are areas to immerse oneself in nature's 
wonders, both of which are crucial for future generations to develop an 
appreciation and respect for our natural world. This country's refuge 
system is uniquely set up to effectively protect these important 
habitats, but they need adequate funding to do their job. Dollars spent 
on the National Wildlife Refuge System are a wise investment for our 
country and our world, and I urge you to consider adequately funding 
the System.
    Thank you for your consideration, and please feel free to contact 
Rich Kelly, President of the Friends of Missisquoi NWR, at 
[email protected] if you would like any further information 
regarding our organization.

    [This statement was submitted by Julie Filiberti, Board Member, 
Friends of Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge.]
                                 ______
                                 
  Prepared Statement of Friends of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge
    Friends of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is a 501c3 non-
profit dedicated to supporting the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge 
Mission. As Friends we encourage membership, programs, and volunteer 
support. We know you are familiar with the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge 
in south east Georgia. We have a natural treasure of world 
significance, and we need your help.
    Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is currently facing exciting 
progress and unparalleled challenges. On the verge of progress towards 
becoming inscribed as a World Heritage site, the refuge is faced with 
budget shortfalls and staffing levels reduced to debilitating lows. We 
are pleading for you to step up in support of this crown jewel of the 
National Wildlife Refuge System. The support needed is: 1. The 
importance of our Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge as well as all 
Refuges for our earth, wildlife, and our communities. 2. Please support 
the overall National Wildlife Refuge System with an ask of $712 million 
for fiscal Year 2023, and special attention for the Okefenokee.
    The refuge is scheduled to build a new Visitor Center with funding 
allocated this current fiscal year. This new construction is essential 
to replace the existing aging structure and provide a world-class 
interpretive center for Okefenokee's visitors from around the world. 
Each year visitors from all 50 States and 46 different countries flock 
to this unique National Wildlife Refuge, also designated a Wetland of 
International Importance, National Natural Landmark, and National 
Wilderness Area. The refuge is at a critical juncture where they are 
recognizing the need for a beautiful, educational, and engaging visitor 
and education center, however Federal funds for such a project are 
falling short of what this refuge deserves to educate future 
generations in support of the National Wildlife Refuge System. Not only 
have building prices skyrocketed this year due to supply chain issues, 
the Federal dollars allocated for this project through U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service deferred maintenance will not even begin to cover the 
costs of building a new visitor center of comparable size as what the 
refuge currently has. Additionally, there have not been any Federal 
dollars allocated to cover the cost of exhibits, fabrication, or 
installation. This is where we need help from you to be able to secure 
the necessary funds to ensure that the Okefenokee National Wildlife 
Refuge and the refuge's thousands of visitors have the world-class 
visitor and education center that is deserved by this special place. It 
is estimated that an additional $1 million in funding is necessary to 
accomplish the refuge goals of building a 6500 square foot center with 
a 2300 square foot exhibit hall.
    Such exciting progress like a new Visitor Center should be welcome 
news to a refuge that is currently operating with a visitor center that 
is over 50 years old, but this also comes with challenges that cannot 
go unnoticed. Over the past 12 years, the staff at Okefenokee National 
Wildlife Refuge has been diminished to less than one half of what it 
once was. At one time, there were 32 full time Federal employees with 
countless seasonal hires, youth hires, and volunteers. Currently, the 
refuge is staffed with 11 full time employees to manage over 407,000 
acres, 120-miles of water trails, endangered red-cockaded woodpecker 
and longleaf pine restoration projects, and over 600,000 visits 
annually. Even though the refuge has been able to replace a handful of 
full time positions over the past 2 years, staffing levels still fall 
well short of what is absolutely critical to refuge functions.
    As I mentioned, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is on the 
verge of great progress towards becoming an inscribed World Heritage 
Site. This would mean that the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge 
would be one of only 24 internationally recognized sites in the entire 
United States, right here in your district! World Heritage Sites are 
designated and identified due to their global importance and the refuge 
is recognized in at least two criterion as being globally significant. 
Once a World Heritage Site is designated, there is a potential to see 
remarkable increase in domestic and international visitation and 
research due to elevating the reputation of these globally significant 
locations. Communities that support, market, and promote these sites 
can benefit in many ways in support of tourism to the designated site. 
The refuge is currently working on developing a steering committee and 
securing permission to pursue inscription as a World Heritage Site as 
designed by the United Nations Environmental, Scientific, and Cultural 
Organization (UNESCO).
    To summarize, we believe that although the Okefenokee National 
Wildlife Refuge and staff are currently embarking on exciting work that 
will shape the refuge for generations, we are pleading for your help 
for additional Federal appropriations to ensure that the National 
Wildlife Refuge can develop the world class facilities and staffing 
support necessary for public safety, education, and environmental 
health.
    Thank you again for your support of the Okefenokee National 
Wildlife Refuge's the National Wildlife Refuge System.

    [This statement was submitted by Lynn Crew, Friends of the ONWR 
Vice-President.]
                                 ______
                                 
  Prepared Statement of the Friends of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge
    This testimony is being submitted on behalf of the Friends of 
Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, which was formed in 1997 to support 
the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge Complex in Oak Harbor, Ohio. We 
appreciate the opportunity to offer comments on the fiscal Year 2023 
Interior Appropriations bill.
    The Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge Complex is comprised of three 
national wildlife refuges. Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge is located 
between Toledo and Port Clinton. The 7,930 acre refuge is managed for 
waterfowl, shorebirds, neo-tropical migrant songbirds, and a variety of 
plant and animal species. The three-story Visitor Center and hiking 
trails are located here. Cedar Point NWR's 2,616 acres comprise the 
largest contiguous marsh on Lake Erie (US). Aside from a designated 
fishing and kayaking area, this refuge is closed to the public and 
provides excellent nesting habitat for waterfowl, shorebirds, and 
songbirds. West Sister Island National Wildlife Refuge is an 82-acre 
island is situated in Lake Erie, about 9 miles from shore. It is the 
largest Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, and Black-Crowned Night Heron 
rookery in the U.S. Great Lakes. It is also the only Federally 
Designated Wilderness Area in the State of Ohio.
                                history
    Before European settlers arrived, much of the area from the 
southwest shores of Lake Erie to Fort Wayne, Indiana was covered by 
dense, deep habitat called the Great Black Swamp. It was a foreboding 
place to the early settlers but home to many Native American Tribes. 
Bartering with early settlers for tobacco and corn, the largest of 
these Tribes came to be called ``Ottawas'', a name derived from the 
Algonquin word adawe, meaning ``to trade''. Much of Ottawa National 
Wildlife Refuge and the surrounding lands were once part of this swamp 
which included 1,500 sq miles of a vast network of forests, wetlands 
and grasslands. Farmers and farm fields replaced Native Americans and 
wetlands; blackbirds and livestock supplanted eagles and panthers. The 
Great Black Swamp was reduced from 300,000 acres of habitat to just 
15,000 acres--less than 5 percent of the Great Black Swamp remained by 
1900. Fortunately, in 1961 Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge was 
established under the authority of the Migratory Bird Conservation Act 
when several hunt clubs and farmsteads were purchased with Federal Duck 
Stamp funds. The refuge complex protects a network of wetlands, 
grasslands and forests to provide habitat for a variety of migratory 
birds, resident wildlife and threatened and endangered species. It has 
been recognized with global significance for its value to wildlife. The 
refuge has received the following designations: Globally Important Bird 
Area through the American Bird Conservancy, Important Bird Area through 
Audubon Ohio and Regionally Significant Site in the Western Hemisphere 
Shorebird Reserve Network.
                                 impact
    The refuge provides valuable habitat for a diversity of waterfowl 
and other migratory birds, resident wildlife and endangered and 
threatened species. It provides a place for people to enjoy wildlife-
dependent activities and learn about the complexities of the natural 
world through education and interpretive programming. The refuge adds 
to the richness of the community by holding in trust a portion of the 
natural heritage of the Great Lakes ecosystem for the continuing 
benefit of the American people.
    Our region has grown nature tourism as an economic sector as 
thousands come to visit ever year for outdoor recreation, specifically 
birding. In early May, 60,000--90,000 visitors descend upon the refuge 
and surrounding natural areas to view migratory warblers as they feed 
and refuel before crossing Lake Erie into Canada. These visitors bring 
thousands of dollars into the local community from Toledo to Sandusky. 
The refuge also has a huge impact on the health of Lake Erie. The 
refuge complex is located along the shores of the 11th largest lake in 
the world. The Great Lakes contain about 20 percent of the world's 
fresh water. The wetlands of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge play a 
critical role in the Lake Erie ecosystem, acting as the kidneys of the 
landscape; working to protect NW Ohio's drinking water, work and 
leisure. Through the support of special funding initiatives like the 
Great Lakes Restoration Fund, the refuge has been able to address 
failing infrastructure, reconnecting hydrology to filter pollutants 
from Lake Erie and work to combat harmful algal blooms.
               friends of ottawa national wildlife refuge
    Friends of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge was formed in 1997 by a 
group of passionate volunteers. They worked together with Federal 
partners to support the conservation mission of Ohio's only national 
wildlife refuge complex by acquiring and restoring land, engaging the 
community, and enhancing public access. The Friends of Ottawa National 
Wildlife Refuge exist to support the refuge through fundraising and 
volunteerism so that we can be the change that our wildlife and 
community deserve. Through the engagement of the NW Ohio community, the 
Friends are diligently working to fill the gaps of the Federal budget 
each year to support the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge Complex in 
three priority areas: Youth Development, Public Access Projects, and 
Land Acquisition and Restoration. In 2021 a total of $167,900 of 
Friends funding went directly towards these priorities, and an 
additional $100,000 purchased 16.5 acres of land. It's a drop in the 
bucket compared to what we need.
                          challenges and needs
    The Friends are dedicated to supporting the refuge's priorities--in 
part to create outdoor recreation opportunities on the refuge focused 
around the ``Big 6'' wildlife-dependent recreational uses--wildlife 
observation, photography, environmental education, interpretation, 
hunting and fishing. Along with such incredible habitat and 
opportunities for wildlife-dependent recreation, we are seeing record 
visitation. Visitation to the refuge has increased from 212,033 visits 
in 2016 to 360,000 visits in 2021, a 70 percent increase over 5 years. 
What hasn't increased enough is the refuge budget.
    Ottawa NWR is managed primarily for migratory and nesting bird 
habitat. A lot of that management involves manipulation of our greatest 
natural resource- water. The refuge biologist and maintenance teams 
manage 57 water control structures, 46 culverts, 18 electric pump 
stations, 18 flap gates, 9 portable pumps, and 7 fish passage 
structures. The refuge also has 70 miles of roads and dikes that it 
must maintain. Rising costs of doing business are having a profound 
impact on costs of materials for routine maintenance. Budgets need to 
reflect the rising costs of managing a refuge whether it's for large 
scale projects or just basic essentials. Fixed costs are increasing for 
electric, fuel, and vehicle maintenance but budgets are not keeping 
pace with inflation forcing the refuge to make hard decisions. Just 
recently the boardwalk had deteriorated so significantly yet instead of 
fixing it all at once the refuge is doing it in phases. That decision 
was driven by the lack of personnel, timing, resources to get it done. 
When refuge staff noticed that boards were rotting 3 years ago, they 
didn't have funds to fix it so they fixed the worst parts and came back 
to the others. There are still sections that have not been completed. 
The Visitor Center is another example of deferred maintenance due to a 
lack of funding. Without a facilities manager dedicated to the Visitor 
Center, water damage was unnoticed until a major rainstorm made the 
leak apparent. Mold mitigation and fixing leaks along the roof and 
balcony has taken up discretionary funds for fiscal Year 2022. We are 
set to reopen from the pandemic closure later this week and the project 
isn't completed. Drywall has not been installed on exposed walls in the 
stairwell because the refuge doesn't have funds to do so. Since 
discretionary funds have been spent on these unforeseen maintenance 
issues, when the refuge's batwing mower needed to be replaced there 
were no funds to do so. Do you maintain trails or maintain the 
building? Fix the trucks or the dikes? These are daily questions and 
stressors on our refuge staff.
    The refuge also has aging infrastructure that needs to be 
maintained. For example, the maintenance shop was built in the 1960s. 
Its septic system is outdated, and the building is not up to OSCA 
standards. Other outbuildings used to store equipment have outdated 
electric which is disconnected, while other buildings have poor 
drainage and other maintenance issues.
    Refuge staff are daily facing climate change-related impacts to 
infrastructure and outer dikes due to high water. In some areas entire 
dikes need to be rebuilt to effectively manage water. Invasive species 
are another huge challenge at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. 
Phragmites is everywhere. European frogbit is choking out ditches and 
wetlands. Purple loosestrife is thriving with climate change. Last year 
populations exploded because the plants had more moisture than normal 
during critical times. The plants produce a lot of seed, and it will 
now only continue to get worse without enough staff to address this 
issue.
    Staffing is one of the biggest challenges at Ottawa National 
Wildlife Refuge. We currently have 9 full time staff members for 10,800 
acres and 360,000 visitors. In order to manage the types of programs 
needed to effectively deliver our messaging to our constituency, we 
need at least another 4 full-time year-round staff members added to our 
roster. A full time bio-tech would assist the biologist in addressing 
water and habitat management. A full-time maintenance worker would help 
address the deferred maintenance backlog. The visitor services program 
in particular is struggling. It currently is a staff of one. In 
December 2020 our Visitor Services Manager accepted different job and 
this position still has not been advertised because there's no money to 
fill the position. With the increased visitation we need to fill the 
Visitor Services Manager position and add another full time Visitor 
Services staff person to promote and increase interpretive programs and 
administer the hunt program. Additionally, the law enforcement program 
at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge has one Federal wildlife officer for 
its 10,800 acres and three refuges. This position also serves as the 
wildlife officer for Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge in 
Monroe, Michigan, covering a combined total of 17,000 acres in two 
States.
    If refuge had full funding, it would have a staff of 20 people to 
manage this resource including additional law enforcement, biology, 
maintenance, visitor services, and managers. We could have a robust 
Urban Wildlife Conservation Program to broaden our reach to Toledo and 
address environmental and social justice in underserved communities. We 
could have enough staff to manage policy and planning, education 
programs on site and off site in addition to addressing deferred 
maintenance projects. Our current staff are doing the best they can 
with what they have, but what they have is not enough.
                            national funding
    We are working every day to protect, conserve, and enhance Ottawa 
National Wildlife Refuge to the best of our ability with limited 
resources. You can help us to protect Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge 
and refuges around the country. Overall, the National Wildlife Refuge 
System requires at least $1 billion in Operations and Maintenance 
Funding to be considered ``full funding'', which all refuges staffed, 
with adequate maintenance, biological, hunting, fishing, environmental 
education, and interpretation programs. Our testimony reflects our 
desire to reach this full funding goal over the next few years, and we 
ask that you work towards that overall goal of $712 million in annual 
funding.
    This subcommittee allocated $582 million in funding for Refuge 
System O&M in fiscal year 2022, and we are very grateful for the large 
increase, commensurate with the President's Budget Request that year. 
We don't anticipate a large increase in the President's Request for 
fiscal year 2023, but we request that this subcommittee continue the 
trend up and allocate $712 million in funding for the Refuge System 
Operations and Maintenance Fund.
    This request of $712 million reflects the loss of over 1,000 staff 
in the last decade from the System. In that time, hundreds of millions 
of new acres were added to the System, along with 13 new refuges. The 
urban program was created and the Service is tackling invasive species 
on almost all refuges. While this seems like a large increase, it is 
simply what the System needs in order to maintain healthy wildlife 
habitats on our refuges.
    I'm honored to have this opportunity to share the story of Ottawa 
National Wildlife Refuge with you today. As a 9th generation NW Ohioan, 
Ottawa Refuge is in my blood. My ancestors hunted and trapped these 
marshlands for survival. My grandfather, a descendant of Ottawa Chief 
Ottokee and early French-Canadian settler Peter Navarre, grew up on a 
family farm located on what is now the end of the Ottawa NWR Wildlife 
Drive. It means so much to me to be able to advocate and protect the 
very land that provides the soil for the roots of my family tree.
    Please help us to fund these natural areas to preserve their 
cultural, economic, and ecological value for generations to come. Thank 
you for your consideration.

    [This statement was submitted by Aimee Arent, Executive Director, 
Friends of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge.]
                                 ______
                                 
Prepared Statement of Friends of Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge
    Chair Merkley , Ranking Member Murkowski and Honorable Members of 
the subcommittee: I am Bill Durkin, President of The Friends of Rachel 
Carson National Wildlife Refuge, headquarters in Wells, Maine.
    I have been a member of the Friends of Rachel Carson NWR for the 
past 33 years. The group was founded in 1987, we are a small group 
supporting the mission of the refuge. The mission of the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service (FWS) is to work with others to conserve, protect, and 
enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing 
benefit of the American people. I have given numerous written 
statements over the years and we really appreciate the subcommittee's 
support in the past. With the passing of the Great American Outdoors 
Act , we no longer need to ask for ``re-authorization'' of the Land , 
Water and Conservation Fund at the $900M level--thanks to Congress, it 
is permanently authorized at that level and is now law. This year, our 
refuge, Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, is requesting $2M in 
appropriations for protection of critical wildlife habitat and we are 
asking for general funding of the National Wildlife Refuge System of 
$712M.
    The Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge is named in honor of one 
of the Nation's foremost and forward-thinking biologists. After 
arriving in Maine in 1946 as an aquatic biologist for the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, Rachel Carson became entranced with Maine's coastal 
habitat, leading her to write the international best-seller The Sea 
Around Us. This landmark study, in combination with her other writings, 
The Edge of the
    Sea and Silent Spring, led Rachel Carson to become an advocate on 
behalf of this nation's vast coastal habitat and the wildlife that 
depends on it. We recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of naming 
the refuge in honor of Rachel Carson. We had a year long program of 
various event and activities, including the Sense of Wonder Art 
Contest. This was a photography and essay/poem contest open to our 
community with the winners ultimately displayed in The Friends 2022 
calendar. We had ``Exploring Nature's Connections'', a educational 
series for school children and also reached out to the local business 
sector with `` Conservation Champions, Businesses for a Greener 
Future.''. With the refuge's acquisition of a new headquarters, we will 
have a new Visitor's Center and a Multi-purpose room that will aid in 
more continuous community engagement. The refuge administration has 
hired a new Visitor Service Specialists that will enhance future 
visitor's experience. People can use the refuge as a springboard to 
connect to nature by experiencing wildlife observation, environmental 
education, interpretation, wildlife photography, hunting and fishing. 
In addition, The Friends are very excited to have an office and a 
bookstore at the new location.
    The refuge was established in 1966 to preserve migratory bird 
habitat and waterfowl migration along southern Maine's coastal 
estuaries. It consists of 11 refuge divisions in 12 municipalities 
protecting approximately 5,600 acres within a 14,800 acre acquisition 
zone. Consisting of meandering tidal creeks, coastal upland, sandy 
dunes, salt ponds, marsh, and productive wetlands, the Rachel Carson 
NWR provides critical nesting and feeding habitat for the threatened 
piping plover and a variety of migratory waterfowl, and serves as a 
nursery for many shellfish and finfish. The salt marsh habitat found at 
Rachel Carson NWR is relatively rare in Maine, which is better known 
for its dramatic, rocky coastline. Upland portions of the landscape in 
and around the refuge host a unique, unusually dense concentration of 
vernal pools that provide habitat for several rare plant and animal 
species. Located along the Atlantic flyway, the refuge serves as an 
important stopover point for migratory birds, highlighted by shorebird 
migration in the spring and summer, waterfowl concentrations in the 
winter and early spring, and raptor migrations in the early fall. In 
fact, southern Maine contains a greater diversity of terrestrial 
vertebrates, threatened and endangered species, and woody plants than 
any other part of the state.
    Previous years' appropriations have allowed the USFWS to conserve 
several properties within the refuge at Biddeford Pool, Parson's Beach, 
the newly created York River Division and 11 years ago with the 
purchase of Timber Point, an iconic undeveloped parcel with a peninsula 
jutting out to the Atlantic Ocean. All of these purchases provide an 
important buffer between the intense development pressure along the 
southern Maine coast and its fragile coastal estuaries. With towns in 
the area growing rapidly--at rates ranging between 11 percent and 32 
percent over the next 10 years--development pressures continue to 
spiral upwards and additional coastal properties are under threat. It 
is said that Rachel Carson NWR has the most neighbors/abutters than any 
other refuge in the system, thus demand for available land is high and 
the market value expensive. The Timber Point parcel enhances the 
refuge's ability to protect water quality in the estuary and important 
wildlife habitat by linking it to already conserved refuge lands in the 
Little River Division of the refuge. Since then, we have built a 
National Recreational Trail (NRT) for public use. The refuge is working 
diligently to restore salt marsh habitats and to improve coastal 
resilience along the 50 miles of coastline in southern Maine. This 
provides great dividends for refuge trust resources such as shorebirds 
and waterfowl and life and safety for local communities. As well as 
delivery of ecosystem services such as clean water, air, economically 
important marine resources and coastal protection in the face of sea 
level rise and increased storm incidences fueled by global climate 
change. In FY23, Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge is requesting 
$2M for land acquisition. There are 2 parcels in the ``pipeline'', one 
a 110 acre piece abutting refuge land in the Little River Division and 
the other 50 acres of prime water front habitat in the newly created 
York River Division. We request your support.
    With 568 units, the National Wildlife Refuge System is a model for 
conservation around the world. More than 160 coastal refuges buffer 
communities from the increasing frequency and intensity of storms, and 
even more provide habitat for millions of migrating birds each year. 
All of the refuges are in dire need of staffing and upkeep. The 
National Wildlife Refuge System is responsible for 568 million acres of 
lands and waters, but currently receives less than a $1. per acre for 
management costs. The refuges cannot fulfill its obligation to the 
American public, our wildlife and 47 million annual visitors without 
adequate funding. Refuges provide unparalleled opportunities to hunt, 
fish, watch wildlife and educate children about the environment. An 
investment in the Nation's Refuge System is an excellent investment in 
the American economy, generating $2.4 billion and creating about 35,000 
jobs in local economies. Without increased funding for refuges, 
wildlife conservation and public recreation opportunities will be 
jeopardized.
    Overall, the National Wildlife Refuge System requires at least $1 
billion in Operations and Maintenance Funding to be considered ``full 
funding'', which all refuges staffed, with adequate maintenance, 
biological, hunting, fishing, environmental education, and 
interpretation programs. The Friend's testimony reflects our desire to 
reach this full funding goal over the next few years, and we ask that 
you work towards that overall goal of $712 million in annual funding 
for FY23.
    This past March, Congress released omnibus language allocating 
$519M for FY22 Refuge Operations and Maintenance. This amount is 
greatly appreciated but falls far below for full funding of the Refuge 
system. This subcommittee allocated $582 million in funding for Refuge 
System O&M in fiscal year 2022, and we are very grateful for the large 
increase, commensurate with the President's Budget Request that year. 
We don't anticipate a large increase in the President's Request for 
fiscal year 2023, but we request that this subcommittee continue the 
trend up and allocate $712 million in funding for the Refuge System 
Operations and Maintenance fund.
    Our request of $712 million reflects the loss of over 1,000 staff 
in the last decade from the System. In that time, hundreds of millions 
of new acres were added to the System, along with 13 new refuges. The 
urban program was created and the Service is tackling invasive species 
on almost all refuges. While this seems like a large increase, it is 
simply what the System needs in order to maintain healthy wildlife 
habitats on our refuges.
    I again extend our appreciation to the subcommittee for its ongoing 
commitment to our National Wildlife Refuge System and respectfully 
request the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations 
subcommittee allocate $2M to Rachel Carson NWR and $712M for the Refuge 
System's FY23 Operations & Maintenance Budget.
    Thank you again, Chair Merkley and Ranking Member Murkowski for the 
opportunity to present this testimony in support of protecting wildlife 
and it's habitat. Enjoy your next walk out on a National Wildlife 
Refuge.

    [This statement was submitted by Written Testimony of Bill Durkin, 
President, Friends of Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge.]
                                 ______
                                 
Prepared Statement of the Friends of Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge
    This testimony is being submitted on behalf of the Friends of 
Sherburne NWR, which was formed in 1993 to support the Sherburne 
National Wildlife Refuge.
    We appreciate the opportunity to offer comments on the fiscal Year 
2023 Interior Appropriations bill. We request that this subcommittee 
allocate $712 million in funding for the Refuge System Operations and 
Maintenance fund for fiscal Year 2023.
                               who we are
    Friends of Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge is a 501(c)(3) 
nonprofit organization that nurtures an appreciation for and the 
conservation of Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge through education, 
volunteerism, and philanthropy. With more than 450 members, we support 
the refuge in providing education for children in nature's classroom, 
furnishing information and facilities for refuge visitors, and ensuring 
family events like Wildlife Festival remain free and open to all. Our 
members are passionate about conserving wildlife and wild places, 
especially at Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge
                      importance of sherburne nwr
    Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge provides important resources and 
services to the community and beyond: 1) maintenance and conservation 
of environmental resources, services, and ecological processes; 2) 
protection of natural resources such as fish, wildlife, and plants; 3) 
protection of cultural and historical sites and objects; 4) provision 
of educational and research opportunities; and 5) outdoor and wildlife-
related recreation. Major ecological contributions of the refuge are 
watershed protection, maintenance and stabilization of ecological 
processes, and the enhancement of biodiversity.
                    overview of refuge and programs
    Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge is in central Minnesota and at 
30,700 acres is composed of oak savanna habitat, one of the rarest 
habitats in the Nation. Sherburne supports a wide variety of wildlife, 
including state threatened Blanding's turtles, and is a fall staging 
area for greater sandhill cranes, with a record number of over 11,000 
cranes estimated to be roosting on the refuge in recent years. The land 
is also managed to promote the health and well-being of migratory birds 
and their habitat.
    Oak savanna habitat, traditionally found in Minnesota and the 
Midwest, has largely disappeared from the landscape due to plowing and 
development. Only about 0.02 percent of this habitat remains. The 
refuge strives to maintain, enhance, and restore this landscape for the 
benefit of a wide variety of species, including the red-headed 
woodpecker.
    The refuge is an asset to local communities, providing recreational 
opportunities for residents and for those traveling through these 
communities. Many visitors enjoy the scenery and wildlife that can be 
spotted on the refuge's three hiking trails, the Prairie's Edge 
Wildlife Drive, or from a canoe or kayak on the designated canoe route 
along the St. Francis River.
    A hotspot for photographers and birders, Sherburne NWR draws many 
visitors from the Twin Cities (it is classified as an ``urban refuge'') 
and across the country. Among hunters, we are known for deer, small 
game, and migratory bird hunting. Anglers are commonly spotted at the 
various fishing access points spread across the refuge.
    The refuge hosts environmental education programs throughout the 
year for local elementary and intermediate schools, both on and off 
site. The refuge has a partnership with two schools that receive 
volunteer or staff-led programming and also offers self-led 
opportunities for other neighboring school districts. Further, it 
provides a variety of interpretive programs and events throughout the 
calendar year. The refuge has an active volunteer program, with more 
than 200 passionate and dedicated individuals donating their time and 
expertise, some for more than two decades.
      national funding and the sherburne national wildlife refuge
    Overall, the National Wildlife Refuge System requires at least $1 
billion in Operations and Maintenance Funding to be considered ``full 
funding,'' meaning all refuges staffed, with adequate maintenance, and 
support for biological, hunting, fishing, environmental education, and 
interpretation programs. We ask that you work towards that overall 
goal.
    We request that this subcommittee allocate $712 million in funding 
for the Refuge System Operations and Maintenance fund for fiscal Year 
2023.
    This request of $712 million benefits our refuge. With adequate 
funding, Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge would be better able to 
hire the staff and cover expenses to:

  --Restore and maintain oak savanna critical for support of species 
        dependent on the habitat

  --Provide maintenance of wetlands to support migrating waterfowl

  --Provide increased capacity for biological research, surveys, and 
        monitoring

  --Control invasive species to benefit a diversity of fish and 
        wildlife

  --Have an adequate level of law enforcement for natural resource 
        protection and public safety

  --Further build out our environmental education programs

  --Increase capacity to reach communities of diverse backgrounds

  --Construct and operate the long-awaited Visitor Center

    Just as Sherburne NWR is the face of public lands for people from 
the north metro of the Twin Cities to St Cloud, Minnesota, all national 
wildlife refuges are there for communities across the country. We need 
full funding to ensure that they stay protected, accessible, and 
stewarded for the generations to come.
    Thank you for your consideration.

    [This statement was submitted by Steven Chesney, President, Friends 
of Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge.]
                                 ______
                                 
Prepared Statement of the Friends of Tampa Bay National Wildlife Refuge
    This testimony is being submitted on behalf of the Friends of Tampa 
Bay National Wildlife Refuge, which was formed in 2008 as a 501c3 to 
support the Egmont Key, Passage Key, and Pinellas National Wildlife 
Refuges.
    We appreciate the opportunity to offer comments on the fiscal Year 
2023 Interior Appropriations bill.
    We respectfully request that you allocate $712 million for the 
National Wildlife Refuge System in fiscal Year 2023 for Operations and 
Maintenance.
    The Tampa Bay National Wildlife Refuge islands are a part of the 
Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Complex located in west central 
Florida. The offices are located about 90 miles north of Tampa Bay. Our 
Friends group has over 250 members who spend many hours volunteering 
and raising funds. Many of the members have been with us since the 
beginning. They are passionate about the environment, the wildlife, the 
history of Egmont Key NWR, and the Tampa Bay Refuges.
    The Tampa Bay National Wildlife Refuge islands were set aside for 
nesting and resting birds as well as preserving the ruins of Ft. Dade 
on Egmont Key NWR. The refuge complex has lost much of its staff due to 
budgets. They are not even close to having enough personnel or funding 
to carry out their mandates. The Tampa Bay NWR's have one visitor 
services manager but he frequently has to fill in at the Refuge 
Headquarters in Crystal River. There is almost always a budget 
shortfall towards the end of the fiscal year causing staff to 
discontinue many of the activities they should be doing to fulfill the 
mandates for each refuge.
    Unbelievably, the Friends of the Tampa Bay NWR's is having to fund 
predator trapping on the Pinellas NWR or risk losing our very 
successful nesting colonies of water birds to rats and raccoons. These 
islands are close to St Petersburg, FL so the rats and raccoons swim to 
the island for an easy meal during nesting season. It is part of the 
mandate for the refuge to protect the wildlife and yet they don't have 
funds to do so! The Friends also fill the gap of environmental 
education for adults and kids. Friends also spend countless hours 
repairing boats to get to the islands, refurbishing informational 
kiosks, picking up trash, pulling invasive plants, posting and 
reposting signs to keep the birds safe, and this past year creating a 
film about the Tampa Bay NWR's for visitors to see. The film shows them 
why these refuges are important. You can view it at 
www.TampaBayRefuges.org.
    Egmont Key NWR has hundreds of thousands of visitors each year who 
come to enjoy the beaches, see the Ft. Dade ruins, and watch the birds 
in the areas open to the public. This gives people a feeling of 
relaxation and a way to unwind. Everyone needs to do that especially in 
these difficult times. It is important to protect Egmont as well as 
Passage Key and Pinellas Refuges which do not have visitors but supply 
the area with new generations of beautiful birds.
    Overall, the National Wildlife Refuge System requires at least $1 
billion in Operations and Maintenance Funding to be considered ``full 
funding'', with all refuges staffed, with adequate maintenance, 
biological, hunting, fishing, environmental education, and 
interpretation programs. Our testimony reflects our desire to reach 
this full funding goal over the next few years, and we ask that you 
work towards that overall goal by funding $712 million for fiscal Year 
2023.
    This subcommittee allocated $582 million in funding for Refuge 
System Operations and Maintenance in fiscal year 2022, and we are very 
grateful for the large increase, commensurate with the President's 
Budget Request that year. We don't anticipate a large increase in the 
President's Request for fiscal year 2023, but we request that this 
subcommittee continue the trend up and allocate $712 million in funding 
for the Refuge System Operations and Maintenance fund.
    This request of $712 million reflects the loss of over 1,000 staff 
in the last decade from the System. In that time, hundreds of millions 
of new acres were added to the System, along with 13 new refuges. The 
urban program was created and the Service is tackling invasive species 
on almost all refuges. While this seems like a large increase, it is 
simply what the System needs in order to maintain healthy wildlife 
habitats on our refuges.

    [This statement was submitted by Barbara Howard, President Friends 
of the Tampa Bay National Wildlife Refuges.]
                                 ______
                                 
       Prepared Statement of Tampa Bay National Wildlife Refuges
    First of all I would like to thank you for your support for the 
National Wildlife Refuge System, a uniquely American asset and the 
largest systems of lands set aside for wildlife in the world. As an 
active USFWS volunteer I am urging you to support an increase in 
funding for Refuge System Operations and Maintenance to $712 million in 
fiscal year 2023. Our Friends group works closely with Refuge System 
staff in our local and regional offices, and on refuges themselves. We 
talk to them about their projects, and what they need to do their jobs. 
And the overwhelming response is: we need more staff, and we need more 
funding. Wildlife refuges are economic engines for their communities, 
but, by far, the biggest challenge facing the NWR system today is a 
lack of funding. Refuge units are incredibly rich and diverse wildlife 
habitat, and each unit is unique and requires unique management. The 
lack of staff on refuge units (including ours) is stark. Since FY2010, 
when the budget was funded nearly the same ($503m) as it is today in 
fiscal year 2022 ($519 million as proposed in the omnibus bill released 
March 9, 2022), nearly 1,100 positions have been lost, an enormous 25 
percent loss in capacity. We as a community cannot continue to expect 
healthy lands and wildlife populations when we allow staffing levels to 
drop so low that maintenance is impossible, visitor services are 
curtailed, and planning and biological work is either eliminated or 
severely reduced. Over the last decade, flat or declining budgets have 
resulted in reduced station allocations and staffing across the Refuge 
System. We have seen this first hand on the three refuges in Tampa Bay, 
Florida; Egmont Key NWR, Passage Key NWR and Pinellas NWR. These 
refuges are some of the last wild areas remaining in Tampa Bay--they 
are important to wildlife. The Service has a responsibility to manage 
for the long-term sustainability of the System and to avoid reactive, 
ad hoc, and piecemeal actions in response to budgetary changes. These 
budget declines are now resulting in the inability of the NWR system to 
serve the public and protect natural resources.
    Given that the increase that was called for in fiscal year 2022 was 
not delivered, we ask that you go further this year, and allocate the 
money that the System actually needs-a jump to $712 million. This is 
the number the National Wildlife Refuge Association has calculated that 
is needed to keep up with the backlog of work and rising costs.
    We have seen this first hand. As a Friends group we have had to 
provide supplemental funding for accomplishing basic tasks on the 
refuges. This seems wrong that a volunteer based organization must 
supplement a Federal program in order to properly manage the refuges. 
Our three NWRs are continually short of funds and labor. To add to this 
we have a huge increase in visitation to all three refuges in the last 
2 years, but no increase in funding to help manage the visitation--this 
is a problem.
    The National Wildlife Refuge System is the largest system of public 
lands set aside for wildlife conservation in the entire world. Nothing 
like the System exists anywhere else. The United States has a 
professional workforce of biologists, wetlands managers, foresters, 
wildlife officers, and many others who are trained to manage these 
lands. We are squandering this opportunity to manage this System of 
biologically critical habitat and overwhelming staff, who care deeply 
about their jobs and the Refuge System.
    Again, I am urging you to support an increase in funding for Refuge 
System Operations and Maintenance to $712 million in fiscal year 2023. 
Thank you for allowing the opportunity to submit testimony.

    [This statement was submitted by Patrick Mundus, Vice President, 
Friends of the Tampa Bay National Wildlife Refuges.]
                                 ______
                                 
   Prepared Statement of Friends of Tualatin River National Wildlife 
                                 Refuge
    I appreciate the opportunity to provide written testimony on behalf 
of the Friends of Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge Complex, near 
Portland, Oregon. Friends of Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge is 
a 501 (C) (3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the 
conservation and welfare of the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge 
for all dependent species and to enrich the lives of citizens through 
education and experience. Our organization has approximately 300 
members. I am President of the Board of this organization. We thank you 
for your support for the National Wildlife Refuge System and for the 
opportunity to offer comments on the fiscal year 2023 Interior 
Appropriations bill, most importantly regarding funding for the Refuge 
System Operations and Maintenance Fund, which we respectfully request 
you fund at $712 million for fiscal year 2023.
    When the pandemic quickly shutdown most federal, State, and local 
parks, our beloved Oregon Coast beaches, and other public lands in the 
Portland area, there was one place where visitors could go and safely 
bask in nature while masked and socially distanced. That place was 
Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge. Located just 15 miles from the 
heart of Portland, OR, Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, founded 
in 1992 and opened to the public in 2006, is cradled in Portland's 
southwest suburbs and is easily accessible to this urban population 
including being accessible by public transportation with a bus stop at 
its main gate. The refuge has existed as a designated Urban Refuge 
since it was created. Although the Visitor Center and restrooms and 
even the parking lot were closed, we flocked there by the thousands to 
soak up our much-needed ration of the outdoors.
    As more and more people ``discovered'' the Refuge as a respite in a 
very stressful time, there has been a heightened public awareness of 
its value as a resource to our community. But, with increased awareness 
and usage comes increased need for upkeep and protection. Also, being 
in an urban area results in a higher level of required management to 
safeguard the wildlife and habitat.
    Our Fish and Wildlife Staff has done a stellar job of preserving 
the refuge, but they are working at a great handicap. In 2012, the 
refuge consisted of 1,384 acres under the management of a full-time 
staff of 6. In 2013, the 944-acre Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge, 
34 miles from refuge headquarters, was created and complexed with 
Tualatin River NWR with no additional staff. In 2020, an additional 20 
acres was added to the original refuge and in 2021 full-time staff was 
increased to 7. Managed acres increased by 70 percent and staff by 1.
    During the pandemic, two major changes have occurred at our refuge 
complex. Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge is being prepared to open 
to the public. This is extremely significant to the local community and 
to the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde who are the original 
caretakers of this land. But, without sufficient staff, the progress 
toward public access has been delayed and a date for opening to public 
access has still not been set.
    Historically, the Wapato lakebed filled and receded with the rise 
and fall of the Tualatin River. A pump system and earthen levees, 
designed to facilitate farming, were installed in the 1930s. Eighty 
years later, the economic and public health risks of this aging 
infrastructure had become evident.
    Challenges at Wapato Lake involved not only aging infrastructure, 
but also the significant level of collaboration, funding and expertise 
that would be needed to transform this expansive and critical site into 
a haven for wildlife and an asset to the surrounding communities. The 
completely inadequate budgets fail to cover the cost of maintaining the 
incredibly rich and diverse wildlife habitats that make up the Refuge 
System.
    Also, the past 2 years at Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, 
have been a time of exciting change. Chicken Creek that flows across 
the main unit of the refuge is being reoriented to a sinuous flow, 
replacing the straight channel that was created when the land was 
converted for agricultural use over a century ago. The project will 
create a 280-acre connected, naturally functioning wetland system on 
the Refuge's Atfalat'i Unit. A reconfigured pedestrian trail will allow 
visitors to access the new natural wetland and creek area.
    Both projects have been accomplished with the help of numerous 
community partners making the refuge more meaningful to even more 
members of our communities.
    The number of annual Refuge System visitors jumped by 13 million 
over the last 6 years. More people are looking to recreate on wildlife 
refuges, yet understaffed refuges struggle to provide those 
opportunities. Reductions in visitor services can be extremely limiting 
for constituencies who want to visit. Equally troubling is a 15 percent 
drop in the number of volunteers since FY2011. At a time when record 
numbers of Americans are retiring and have the capability and desire to 
give back, the Service's ability to oversee their efforts has been 
curtailed. Volunteers provide an additional 20 percent of work on our 
National wildlife refuges, yet they are being turned away when the 
System needs them the most.
    The Refuge System is bare bones right now and increased growth in 
urban spaces and outdoor recreation, and the impacts of climate change, 
place additional stress on the System. Every year, more and more 
refuges are closed to the public, habitat degrades, and visitors are 
turned away.
    The funding gap that has arisen due to low budget allocations over 
the last decade has resulted in the degradation of critical wildlife 
habitat and imperiled important species. Although the FY2020 
appropriations bill injected a much needed additional $14 million to 
the budget, funding levels remain below the high of $503 million in 
FY2010, with the shortfall becoming more acute every year. We must 
change this trajectory.
    National Wildlife Refuges are currently funded at 59 per acre per 
year compared to funding for National Park Service at $30 per acre per 
year.
    This subcommittee allocated $582 million in funding for Refuge 
System O&M in fiscal year 2022, and we are very grateful for the large 
increase, commensurate with the President's Budget Request that year. 
We don't anticipate a large increase in the President's Request for 
fiscal year 2023, but we request that this subcommittee continue the 
trend up and allocate $712 million in funding for the Refuge System 
Operations and Maintenance fund.
    The Refuge System cannot fulfill its obligation to the American 
public, our wildlife, and 59 million annual visitors (in FY2019) 
without increases in maintenance and operation funds. Even with the 
gains in fiscal Year 2020, overall funding for the Refuge System has 
declined substantially over the last 10 years. Funding in FY2010 was 
$503 million--$598 million in today's dollars with inflation and salary 
increases. This difference of $95 million has forced the Service to cut 
back on programs and create efficiencies whenever possible--
efficiencies that are sometimes harmful or even dangerous. For example, 
many refuges, such as Tualatin River, have been placed into complexes, 
where staff travel sometimes large distances to juggle duties on 
multiple refuges.
    Overall, the National Wildlife Refuge System requires at least $900 
million in Operations and Maintenance Funding to be considered ``full 
funding'', with all refuges staffed, with adequate maintenance, 
biological, hunting, fishing, environmental education, and 
interpretation programs. Our testimony reflects our desire to reach 
this full funding goal over the next few years, and we ask that you 
work towards that overall goal of $712 million in annual funding.
    This request of $712 million reflects the loss of over 1,000 staff 
in the last decade from the System. In that time, hundreds of millions 
of new acres were added to the System, along with 13 new refuges. The 
urban program was created, and the Service is tackling invasive species 
on almost all refuges. While this seems like a large increase, it is 
simply what the System needs to maintain healthy wildlife habitats on 
our refuges.
    The Friends of Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge Complex 
appreciates the subcommittee's consideration of our request of $712 mil 
for the refuge system operations and maintenance budget for fiscal year 
2023 We look forward to working with Congress to accomplish this goal 
and appreciate your consideration of our requests. Please let me know 
if you have any questions.

    [This statement was submitted by Cheryl Turoczy Hart, Board 
President of Friends of Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge.]
                                 ______
                                 
               Prepared Statement of Friends of Wertheim
    This testimony is being submitter on behalf of the Friends of 
Wertheim, which was formed in 1998 to support the Wertheim Refuge which 
is the Headquarters of the Long Island National Wildlife Refuge 
complex.
    We appreciate the opportunity to offer comments on the fiscal Year 
2023 Interior Appropriations bill.
    Our Friends organization was founded in 1998 and is committed to 
the conservation and protection of the natural and cultural resources 
of the Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge. We are committed to fostering 
community education, outreach and advocacy, in pursuit of enhanced 
awareness ,appreciation and respectful stewardship of our wildlife and 
its habitat, in partnership activities that enrich and support the 
objectives of the Service.
    In 2011 a formal Visitor Center was opened at Wertheim with nature 
exhibits and an educational classroom that allows us to offer more 
varied programs. We welcome School groups, Scouting activities and 
Birding enthusiasts , as well as a summer camp program. An outreach 
effort to acquaint local Latino residents to the benefits of visiting a 
Refuge has been successful. We also advocate on behalf of the Refuge 
and surrounding communities on environmental issue that would be 
detrimental to the health and welfare of both.
    The Refuge provides the community a peaceful place to walk nature 
trails available on either side of the Carmans River, which intersects 
the length of the Refuge. Many canoe and kayaking enthusiasts enjoy the 
scenic vistas. Migrating birds have a safe haven and are greatly 
appreciated by skilled and novice birders. Regulated hunting and 
fishing is offered within Federal and State guidelines. We are also 
home to a pair of Eagles, one of many that have returned to making 
their homes on Long Island.
    As the name implies, L.I. National Wildlife Refuge complex, 
Wertheim is one of 10 Refuge sites on the Island that U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife staff oversee. Two other sites, Target Rock in Huntington and 
Elizabeth A. Morton in Sag Harbor, are also open to the public. The 
other areas encompass sites that are home to protected Flora and/or 
Fauna. If you look at a map of Long Island, you will see that a lot of 
milage is involved with getting to the different sites. When the 
Visitor Center was opened, it includes offices and work areas for 
staff, we had a full compliment of U.S. Fish and Wildlife employees to 
easily handle the work. The work force has been steadily eroded since 
2012, although the work needed to be done is the same. A very big loss 
is lack of a Federal Law Enforcer, we have been without one again for 
over a year. We have experienced increased vandalism, including thefts 
of Catalytic Converters from Federal Vehicles parked in fenced locked 
areas. Because of Covid the Visitor Center was closed to the public, 
but the grounds experienced increased foot traffic. some of whom 
weren't very respectful and adhering to rules governing what is and is 
not allowed on a Refuge. While we appreciated people discovering this 
lovely place, we were without an Officer to enforce the rules. Pleas 
note that the one Officer also oversees any problems that arise at all 
of the sites.
    Yes, we need a hefty increase in funding throughout the whole of 
the many Refuges across the country.
    As more of the general public turn to them for nature experiences 
and activities, the upkeep needed to maintain them is crucial. Many of 
these Refuge sites were donations from families who originally owned 
and maintained them, as a way of preserving the nature contained within 
them as many of these sites were not heavily disturbed.
    We fully support the $712 million being asked for fiscal year 2023. 
Spread out over the many Refuges in dire need it is not too much to 
ask. Our Wildlife Refuges have become a lifeline for many of our fellow 
countrymen, who seek peaceful places to commune with Nature and enjoy 
healthy outdoor activities.
    Thank you for your consideration.
    Respectfully submitted on behalf of the Long Island National 
Wildlife Refuge Complex, of which the Wertheim Refuge is the 
headquarters.

    [This statement was submitted by Friends of Wertheim National 
Wildlife Refuge, Long Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex.]
                                 ______
                                 
          Prepared Statement of Geological Society of America
    The Geological Society of America (GSA) recommends that Congress 
provide $1.85 billion in annual appropriations for the U.S. Geological 
Survey (USGS) in Fiscal Year 2023. As one of our Nation's key science 
agencies, the USGS plays a vital role in understanding and documenting 
mineral and energy resources that underpin economic growth; researching 
and monitoring potential natural hazards that threaten U.S. and 
international security; informing communities about the impacts of a 
changing climate; determining and assessing water quality and 
availability; and assessing risk of COVID-19 spread to new species. 
Approximately two thirds of the USGS budget is allocated for research 
and development. In addition to supporting the science activities and 
decisions of the Department of the Interior and other Federal agencies, 
this research is used by communities across the Nation to make informed 
decisions in land-use planning, emergency response, natural resource 
management, engineering, and education. GSA believes that it is 
important to grow the USGS budget in order to address past shortfalls 
in staffing, facilities, and research, given the importance of its many 
activities that protect lives and property, contribute to national 
security, and enhance the quality of life.
    The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a scientific society 
with members from academia, government, and industry in more than 100 
countries. Through its meetings, publications, and programs, GSA 
enhances the professional growth of its members and promotes the 
geosciences in the service of humankind. GSA encourages cooperative 
research among earth, life, planetary, and social scientists, fosters 
public dialogue on geoscience issues, and supports all levels of earth 
science education.
    The Geological Society of America (GSA) thanks the Committee for 
recognizing the importance of the work of the U.S. Geological Society 
(USGS) to protect lives, property, and national security. GSA urges 
Congress to provide USGS $1.85 billion in Fiscal Year 2023. This 
increase will allow the USGS to implement new initiatives, maintain the 
base funding for critical research and monitoring, fill vacant 
positions, and address deferred maintenance on existing facilities. 
This investment will ensure that the USGS is able to respond to 21st- 
century challenges with 21st-century science and technology.
u.s. geological survey contributions to national security, health, and 
                                welfare
    The USGS is one of the Nation's premier science agencies, with a 
distinctive capacity to engage interdisciplinary teams of experts to 
gather data, conduct research, and develop integrated decision-support 
tools. USGS research is used by communities across the Nation to make 
informed decisions in land-use planning, emergency response, natural 
resource management, engineering, and education. USGS research 
addresses many of society's greatest challenges for national security, 
health, and welfare. Several are highlighted below.
                            natural hazards
    Natural hazards are a major cause of fatalities and economic 
losses. NOAA found that in 2021 alone, there were 20 weather/climate 
disaster events with losses greater than $1 billion. Additionally, 2021 
is the seventh consecutive year in which 10 or more billion-dollar 
weather/climate events impacted the U.S. An improved scientific 
understanding of geologic and atmospheric hazards will reduce future 
losses by informing effective planning and mitigation. GSA urges 
Congress to continue supporting efforts for USGS to modernize and 
upgrade its natural hazards monitoring and warning systems, including 
additional 3-D elevation mapping and earthquake early warning systems, 
while maintaining fundamental research and monitoring.
    Decision makers in many sectors rely upon USGS data to respond to 
natural hazards. For example, USGS volcano monitoring provides data to 
enable decisions to ensure aviation safety. Similarly, the USGS plays a 
key role in the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program by tracking 
tsunami sources using seismic data as part of a collaborative effort to 
increase preparedness, reduce impacts, and issue warnings.
    USGS is a key partner in obtaining data necessary to predict severe 
space weather events, which affect the electric power grid, satellite 
communications, and navigation systems. The Promoting Research and 
Observations of Space Weather to Improve the Forecasting of Tomorrow 
Act (PROSWIFT Act), which was signed into law in October of 2020, 
highlights a path forward for USGS research to meet these objectives. 
In addition, the new Space Weather Advisory Group established by the 
PROSWIFT Act will conduct a comprehensive survey to identify the 
research, observations, forecasting, and modeling advances required to 
improve space weather products.
    GSA recommends adequate funding to implement recently-enacted 
hazards-related legislation. For example, the National Landslide 
Preparedness Act, signed into law in January 2021, expanded the USGS 
Landslide Hazards Program and authorized a 3D elevation program to 
update and coordinate the collection of elevation data across the 
country using enhanced, high-resolution surveys. Directives to USGS 
include identifying, mapping, assessing, and researching landslide 
hazards, responding to landslide events, and developing landslide 
guidelines for geoscientists, emergency management personnel, and land-
use decision-makers.
                          energy and minerals
    As articulated in the Energy Policy Act of 2020, there is a vital 
need to understand the abundance and distribution of critical mineral 
resources, as well as the geologic processes that form them, both 
within the United States and globally. Achieving this goal will require 
continually expanding collection and analysis of geological, 
geochemical, and geophysical data. Specifically, GSA supports building 
upon the allocation of $167 million through the bipartisan 
Infrastructure bill to establish the Energy and Minerals Research 
Facility on the Colorado School of Mines campus, which will replace 
deteriorating laboratories across the U.S. used by the USGS to work on 
energy and critical minerals. The facility will also support the 
expansion of STEM talent and increase diversity through student 
engagement and workforce development.
    GSA supports increases in minerals science, research, information, 
data collection and analysis that will allow for more economic and 
environmental management and utilization of minerals. In addition, GSA 
supports increases in funding for research to better understand 
domestic sources of energy, including conventional and unconventional 
oil and gas and renewables. GSA appreciates congressional support for 
the EarthMRI program, which will provide new resources and leverage 
current data to accelerate geological and geophysical mapping, identify 
critical mineral sites for further scientific review, among other 
safety, security, scientific, and industrial uses. The mapping has a 
central focus on both minerals still in the ground and minerals that 
may be reprocessed from legacy mine waste, and will also provide 
important data for abandoned mine remediation and for understanding 
other natural resources. GSA appreciates investments made it in the 
bipartisan Infrastructure Bill that will accelerate the expansion of 
the program by providing an additional $64 million annually for 5 
years.
                            water resources
    Improved understanding of the quantity, quality, distribution, and 
use of water resources through monitoring, assessment, research, and 
delivery of actionable information by the USGS and associated partners 
is necessary to ensure adequate and safe water resources for the health 
and welfare of society. For example, the USGS national network of 
stream gages provides key data for the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor Maps 
and classifications. Improved representation of geological, biological, 
and ecological systems-including underlying physical and chemical 
processes and their interactions-is needed. In addition to maintaining 
current monitoring capabilities, new hydrologic data are required to 
improve the reliability and reduce the uncertainty of scientific 
analyses that support water resources management and policy decisions.
                             climate change
    USGS research on climate impacts is used by local policymakers and 
resource managers to make sound decisions based on the best possible 
science. In addition to fundamental, long-term climate change research, 
the USGS provides scientific information necessary to anticipate, 
monitor, and adapt to the effects of climate change at regional and 
local levels, allowing communities to make smart, cost-effective 
decisions. Much of this work operates through the network of nine 
regional Climate Adaptation Centers (CASC). For example, the Alaska 
CASC has conducted research on the relationship between wildfire and 
other ecological disturbances, such as drought, which will help 
resource managers plan for and adapt to the evolving threat that fire 
poses to humans, infrastructure, and ecosystems. Across the country, 
the Southeast CASC is using artificial intelligence to predict flood 
damage changes in response to rising sea levels, and the Northeast CASC 
recently conducted a study showing that small channels developed to 
facilitate drainage in salt marshes may help mitigate sea level rise 
and restore vegetation.
         core science systems, facilities, and science support
    Activities from hazard monitoring to mineral forecasts are 
supported by Core Science Systems, Facilities, and Science Support. 
These programs and services, such as geologic mapping, data 
preservation, and satellite observation, provide critical information, 
data, and infrastructure that underpin the research of the USGS. 
Stagnant funding has created backlogs in the hiring of new scientists; 
increased investment is needed to fill these critical roles. These 
investments will also allow for the recruitment and training of a 
diverse STEM pipeline, paving the way for increased diversity, equity, 
inclusion, and accessibility within the field of Earth sciences.
    GSA appreciates recent investments in Facilities, including the 
creation of the Energy and Mineral Research Facility, and encourages 
continued investment to address deferred maintenance issues. GSA also 
recommends long-term funding and support for the USGS library, which is 
used by both Federal scientists and external researchers. The Library 
houses more than 1.5 million volumes and more than three million maps, 
photographs and field records, with much of the information unique to 
the USGS.
    The Landsat satellites have amassed the largest archive of remotely 
sensed land data in the world, a tremendously important resource for 
natural resource exploration, land use planning, and assessing water 
resources, the impacts of natural disasters, and global agriculture 
production. On September 27, 2021, the NASA/USGS Landsat program 
launched its ninth satellite in its 50 year program that will operate 
in tandem with Landsat 8 and replace Landsat 7. GSA supports 
interagency efforts for future support of Landsat.
    Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony about the U.S. 
Geological Survey. For additional information or to learn more about 
the Geological Society of America--including GSA Position Statements on 
climate change, water resources, mineral and energy resources, natural 
hazards, and public investment in Earth science research--please visit 
www.geosociety.org or contact GSA's Director for Geoscience Policy 
Kasey White at [email protected].

    [This statement was submitted by Kasey White, Director for 
Geoscience Policy, Geological Society of America.]
                                 ______
                                 
      Prepared Statement of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
    I am Howard Learner, the Executive Director of the Environmental 
Law & Policy Center (ELPC), which is the Midwest's leading 
environmental legal advocacy and sustainability innovation 
organization. ELPC's staff has been engaged in robust and diverse ways 
to protect the Great Lakes. Since 2008, we have participated with 
policymakers and colleagues to build, effectively implement, and expand 
the successful Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI).
    Thank you Chair Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski and all members 
of the subcommittee for the opportunity to submit testimony in support 
of full funding of at least $400 million for the Great Lakes 
Restoration Initiative for fiscal Year 2023 as provided in the Great 
Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2019. GLRI funds have been 
effectively deployed to protect safe clean drinking water supplies, 
clean up toxic sites, protect wetlands and shorelines, hold off 
invasive species from entering the Great Lakes, and safeguard aquatic 
resources. Restoring the Great Lakes' vital natural resources creates 
very high leveraged value gained for environmental, public health and 
recreation benefits, and for overall economic growth. GLRI is a program 
that has worked very well and has demonstrated successes.
    The Great Lakes are a global gem. They contain 21 percent of the 
planet's fresh water supply, and 42 million people rely on the Great 
Lakes for safe drinking water supplies. They provide a rich aquatic 
habitat for many species. They support a $7 billion annual fishing 
industry, and Great Lakes recreation draws millions of tourists who 
boost the economies of shoreline communities. In short, the Great Lakes 
are where tens of millions of people live, work and play.
    ELPC strongly supported reauthorization of the GLRI and the ramp up 
of funding to $475 million in 2026, matching the funding that this 
successful program received in its initial year. We request that the 
Committee fully fund the GLRI program with at least the authorized $400 
million for fiscal Year 2023 and, hopefully, a higher amount will be 
considered.

    I'll make two points in support of full funding for the GLRI:

    First, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is vitally important 
and successful. This is a model Federal program providing great 
benefits, and it is working well.

    Second, the challenges to the Great Lakes from increases in harmful 
algal blooms and climate change merit full funding of at least the 
authorized $400 million for fiscal Year 2023 and, hopefully, a higher 
amount will be considered.

    1. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is vitally important and 
successful. This is a model Federal program providing great benefits, 
and it is working well.

    The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has been a breakthrough 
program, injecting critical funding and structure that had been missing 
in order to restore the Lakes. Over the past 13 years, the GLRI has 
achieved strong results with sustained funding. As the third GLRI 
Action Plan States: ``the GLRI has been a catalyst for unprecedented 
Federal agency coordination, which has in turn produced unprecedented 
results.'' The program supports shoreline and wetlands protection 
projects, keeping out invasive species, and reducing harmful algae 
blooms. Congress' recognition of the effectiveness of the Great Lakes 
Restoration Initiative is reflected in the bipartisan support of fully 
funding the program with increasing funding.

    The GLRI funds and supports thousands of projects across the Great 
Lakes States to:

  --Improve water quality for safe drinking water supplies, fisheries 
        and aquatic habitats.

  --Protect shorelines and restore wetlands.

  --Protect and restore native habitats and species.

  --Help prevent and control invasive species.

  --Clean up toxic sediments on lake bottoms.

  --Reduce agricultural and other nutrient runoff that causes harmful 
        algal blooms.

    The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative effectively creates a system 
of coordination among Federal agencies, State entities and local 
partners to achieve outcomes. Since its inception, the program has 
achieved strong results with sustained funding.
    There are countless examples of GLRI projects that deliver multiple 
benefits to the Great Lakes from watershed and natural area restoration 
projects to addressing and ultimately delisting of Areas of Concern. 
The Healing Our Waters Coalition provides numerous examples of projects 
across the region, including among many others:

  --Restoration of West Creek in Independence, Ohio, including 
        restoration of the Creek's floodplain, wetlands and stream 
        bank, that is helping to improve water quality in the Cuyahoga 
        River and Lake Erie.

  --Stabilization of the Flute Reed Riverbank in Northern Minnesota 
        that keeps nutrients out of Lake Superior, improves flood 
        plains and creates habitat for fish.

  --Improvement of the Burnham Wildlife Corridor in Chicago, which 
        restored natural areas with native species and wildlife 
        habitats, and reduced runoff into Lake Michigan by filtering 
        water before it enters the Lake.

    GLRI projects bring together a broad array of partners to work 
together to achieve the program's goals and create jobs. The third GLRI 
Action Plan details work to address Areas of Concern, including those 
that are now delisted: Presque Isle Bay in Pennsylvania, and Deer Lake 
and White Lake in Michigan. Significant work remains to be done, 
however, to fully address the 25 Areas of Concern across the Great 
Lakes basin. We greatly appreciate that the Infrastructure Investment 
and Jobs Act added $1 billion for the GLRI. In February, President 
Biden announced in Lorain, Ohio that this additional funding will 
accelerate clean up and restoration of these toxic Areas of Concern.
    GLRI has broad regional economic benefits. A University of Michigan 
study showed that every Federal dollar spent on GLRI projects between 
2010 and 2016 will produce $3.35 in additional economic activity in the 
Great Lakes region through 2036.

    2. The challenges to the Great Lakes from increases in harmful 
algal blooms and climate change merit full funding of at least the 
authorized $400 million for fiscal Year 2023 and, hopefully, a higher 
amount will be considered.

    While recognizing the GLRI's successes, the growing threats from 
climate change and recurring severe algal outbreaks are getting worse.
    ELPC commissioned 18 leading Midwest and Canadian scientists to 
write the state-of-the-science report An Assessment of the Impacts of 
Climate Change on the Great Lakes, which we released in 2019 along with 
recommended policy solutions. The scientists concluded that climate 
change is causing significant and far-reaching impacts on the Great 
Lakes region, including increasingly extreme water level fluctuations--
mostly higher, and occasionally lower--which wreak havoc on 
communities, homes, beaches, businesses and the overall shoreline's 
built environment. Annual precipitation in the region has increased at 
a higher percentage than the rest of the country, and more 
precipitation is coming in unusually large events such as derechos and 
intense storms. Lake Michigan had record-high water levels in 2021; 
especially when whipped by strong winds and large waves, this led to 
extensive flooding that damaged the shoreline and infrastructure. 
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
(NOAA), 2021 was the 6th hottest year on record and part of a nine-year 
period of record-breaking temperatures as climate change continues to 
impact the Great Lakes and region.
    ELPC is now preparing a report examining the impacts of rising lake 
levels and extreme weather events creating flood risks at several 
industrial facilities and contaminated sites along the Lake Michigan 
shoreline in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. Using NOAA's 
Digital Elevation Model data, this upcoming report visualizes the 
extent and severity of inundation at the sites and surrounding areas 
due to extreme weather events of the scale expected in the near future.
    Climate change impacts on the Great Lakes exacerbate the growing 
problem of agricultural runoff pollution--mostly fertilizers and 
manure--that is the principal cause of severe recurring toxic algae 
outbreaks in western Lake Erie and other Great Lakes shallow water 
bays. The Ohio EPA concluded that agricultural runoff pollution 
accounts for 90 percent of the phosphorus flowing into western Lake 
Erie.
    The Maumee River Basin, which flows into western Lake Erie, is 
among the priority watersheds included in the third GLRI Action Plan. 
Using satellite imagery to count and measure Concentrated Animal 
Feeding Operations (CAFOs) and to estimate the number of animals and 
amount of manure those facilities produce, ELPC concluded that, in 2018 
alone, CAFOs produced over 3.5 million tons of manure.
    The current GLRI Action Plan provides a detailed look at strategies 
to reduce this harmful agricultural runoff pollution, noting the GLRI 
projects have kept more than one million pounds of phosphorous out of 
the lakes. The nutrient pollution threats from CAFOs to the Great Lakes 
region continue, and are amplified with changing rainfall patterns. 
GLRI funds could be used to support wetlands restoration to more 
effectively capture phosphorous, and water testing and monitoring to 
identify effective approaches to reducing runoff. On April 7-9, 2021, 
ELPC hosted our 6th Science-Policy Confluence Conference bringing 
together scientific experts and policy makers to focus on the growing 
threat of CAFOs to the Great Lakes region. A more robust GLRI will 
continue to be an important source of solutions to address this 
pressing problem.
    In conclusion, the Environmental Law & Policy Center commends the 
Senate Appropriations Committee and this subcommittee's support for the 
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative with each year's budget. GLRI is a 
successful program and a model for federal, State and local 
cooperation. We urge that the program be fully funded with at least the 
authorized $400 million for fiscal Year 2023 and, hopefully, a higher 
amount will be considered.

    [This statement was submitted by Howard Learner, Executive 
Director, Environmental Law & Policy Center.]
                                 ______
                                 
             Prepared Statement of Healthy Schools Network
    We urge you to allocate $110 million to the US Environmental 
Protection Agency's (EPA) fiscal Year 23 budget, including $100 million 
for the Office of Air and Radiation/Indoor Environments Division to 
fulfill the Clean Air in Buildings Challenge outlined by the White 
House in March 2022, to help school buildings become healthier and to 
advance school pandemic and climate-resiliency; and, $10 million for 
EPA's Office of Children's Health Protection to increase environmental 
public health services for children in K-12 schools and child care 
facilities as well as research.
    Schools must be able to stay open and reopen quickly and safely. 
Education is a social determinant of health, for children's long-term 
health, development, and safety, and for the economy to stay open. Yet, 
with over 8 billion square feet of learning space nationwide, valued at 
over $3 trillion, schools are neither resilient to weather extremes, 
nor are they even fully pandemic-ready.

  --Children are not just little adults: they are uniquely vulnerable 
        to environmental health hazards (EPA, CDC, NIEHS); and,

  --Schools are not little offices: they are used more hours/day and 
        days per week than offices and more densely occupied than 
        nursing homes and 95 percent of the occupants are women and 
        children (NCES).

    Today, some 40 percent of school age children have existing chronic 
health issues (CDC). But despite facilities' clear impacts on the 
economy and on children, numerous studies have documented that school 
buildings are in poor condition and those conditions such as polluted 
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), molds, dust and debris, high heat, poor 
siting, proximity to hazards, and poor lighting and sanitation, can 
permanently damage children's ``health, thinking, and learning'' 
(Harvard SPH 2017; NRC 2006). Schools that institute good environmental 
control measures can decrease population exposures to allergens and 
irritants which can then lead to decreased allergy and asthma symptoms.
    There are no two States alike in addressing school buildings and 
grounds. But what is common is that local schools rely on local 
dollars, thus, the poorest communities with the highest proportions of 
at-risk children (poverty, COVID, extreme weather) have the schools in 
the poorest conditions and facility staff with the fewest professional 
credentials and resources, and no access to outside consultants. Rural-
remote schools also have big challenges in finding and affording 
outside consultants.
    EPA's proven guidance on school and child care facilities and two 
decades of work with the K-12 communities are key assets to expand on. 
Years of published research has shown that indoor environmental 
exposure to pollutants can be more intense than outdoor exposures and 
that school facilities have been neglected for decades. Poor indoor 
environment result in decreased seat time, attendance, and test scores, 
and increase asthma and other health events, and thus increase health 
costs. There is clearly a significant need to educate, train, and 
encourage schools and childcare facilities on child-safe and effective 
preventive management of facilities. EPA has the existing 
authorizations and programs to conduct this work.
    $110 Million in fiscal Year 23 for EPA's long leadership on IAQ and 
related work on indoor environments is authorized under several 
statutes cited below. We urge that over half of the $110 million for US 
EPA be allocated to national cooperative agreements and regional grants 
to States, Tribes, cities, universities, NGOs, to provide outreach, 
training, and technical assistance to assist school communities 
improve, monitor, and benchmark improvements to indoor environments in 
schools and child care facilities, consistent with the President's 
Clean Air in Buildings Challenge to combat the airborne pandemic. Some 
funds should also be used by EPA/OAR directly to establish a national 
Clean Air in School Buildings public information campaign.
    Authorizations. The primary statutory authorities EPA relies on for 
the indoor air program are: the Superfund Amendments and 
Reauthorization Act (SARA) Title IV--Radon Gas and Indoor Air Quality 
Research Act; the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Title III--Indoor 
Radon Abatement Act of 1988, and TSCA Title V, Healthy High Performance 
Schools Act; the Clean Air Act (CAA), Sec. 103(a, b, c); and additional 
statutes related to indoor air such as CERCLA and FIFRA.

Recommended funding for EPA in fiscal Year 23:

EPA/OAR/Indoor Environments Division ($100M) to include:

    --$65M to deliver Clean Air Programs on the ground: grants to 
            States/Tribes, cites, universities, and NGOs, via national 
            cooperative agreements and regional grants to advance 
            education, and training to schools/child cares, personnel, 
            parents, and communities; technical assistance and 
            monitoring/measuring of IAQ elements; annual conference for 
            grantees and other key stakeholders.

    --$5M for an EPA-led National Public Information Campaign to 
            activate the White House Clean Air Challenge, focused on 
            clean air in schools/childcare, congregate settings, and 
            other buildings: consultants for planning, materials, 
            video, paid/un paid placements.

    --$1M to host a Federal Advisory Committee to help EPA address the 
            complex state, Tribal and local issues of school Indoor Air 
            Quality (IAQ), and including ED, CDC, Energy, FEMA.

    --$3M for EPA Regional offices' stakeholder meetings and 
            conferences.

    --$1M to update EPA Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools (IAQTfS) 
            voluntary program including guidance on pandemic/epidemic 
            readiness and climate resiliency and mitigation, benchmarks 
            for the Clean Air Challenge and the detailed guidance on 
            Clean Air Master Plans.

    --$10M Research: Climate and Indoor Environments: how warming 
            climate is impacting indoor environments and human health, 
            including two pull out sections: 1- on impacts on children, 
            and 2- impacts on indoor learning environments, and 
            recommendations on steps to protect health and learning; 
            Legacy Toxics in Schools: research to assess scope and 
            measures of risks and exposures in schools to legacy toxics 
            such as lead, radon, asbestos, mercury, PCBs and 
            pesticides/disinfectants, as well as stores of 
            instructional laboratory, maintenance, and garage supplies, 
            and recommendations on reducing risks; School Design and 
            Construction: science-based recommendations for school and 
            child care facility design elements, construction, and 
            operations, with goals to promote student health, thinking, 
            and learning, ease of maintenance, pandemic readiness, and, 
            climate resiliency and mitigation.

    --$15M Federal EPA/CDC/ED Guidance to Assist States/Tribes/Cities/
            Districts: create and disseminate: Model Infection 
            Prevention and Control Policies for schools to adopt, in 
            cooperation with State and local health agencies, driving 
            clean air, clean water, and clean school buildings; model 
            State/Tribal tracking system on school facility 
            environmental conditions; model State/Tribal/City tracking 
            and reporting on children's environmental and physical 
            health and safety in schools and child care

    --$10M US EPA/OCHP: Office of Children's Health Protection to 
            restore investment in Centers of Excellence in Children's 
            Environmental Health (co-funded with NIEHS), research on 
            children's risks and exposures in school and child care 
            facilities, co-chair Task Force on children's environmental 
            health (EO 13045), expand pediatric environmental health 
            services.

    Thank you for your consideration. We recognize that there are many 
priorities facing your subcommittee, but none as crucial as enhancing 
the health, ability to learn, and safety of the Nation's children. We 
hope that you will fully support these small but nationally impactful 
programs that will result in healthier children and far better 
educational outcomes.

National Organizations:

    21st Century Schools Fund
    Allergy & Asthma Network
    American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
    American Federation of Teachers
    American School Health Association
    APHA Occupational Health Section
    Asian Pacific Islander Women's Forum
    Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America
    BlueGreen Alliance
    Center for Environmental Health
    Children's Environmental Health Network
    Coalition for Environmentally Safe Communities
    Collaborative for High Performance Schools
    Earth Day.org
    Environmental Working Group
    First Focus Campaign for Children
    Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, Inc
    Health Promotion Consultants
    Healthy Schools Network
    IPM Institute of North America
    MGH Innovative One Health Solutions
    National Association of School Nurses
    National Association of State Boards of Education
    National Center for Healthy Housing
    National Coalition for Healthier Schools
    National Environmental Health Association
    National Healthy Schools Caucus
    Pesticide Action Network
    Quality First EHS, Inc.
    Rachel Carson Council
    Responsible Purchasing Network
    Society of State Leaders of Health and Physical Education
    Until Justice Data Partners
    Women's Voices for the Earth
    State Organizations:
    Air Balancing Service Co, CT
    Alaska Community Action on Toxics, AK
    American Nurses Association- New York (ANA-NY), NY
    Center for Professional Academic Consulting, DC
    ConnectiCOSH, CT
    Connecticut Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Society, CT
    Connecticut AFL-CIO, CT
    Connecticut Education Association, CT
    Connecticut Nurses Association, CT
    ConnFESS, CT
    Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, TX
    Dr. Yolanda Whyte Pediatrics, GA
    Florida Clinicians for Climate Action, FL
    HARAMBEE House Inc., GA
    Healthy Schools Now- NJ WEC, NJ
    Informed Green Solutions Inc., VT
    LEW Environmental Services LLC, NJ
    Maryland Children's Environmental Health Coalition (MD CEHC), MD
    Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health, MA
    New Jersey Association of Designated Persons, NJ
    NJ Work Environment Council, NJ
    New York State Parent Teacher Association (NYS PTA), NY
    Quattrocchi Kwok Architects, CA
    Regional Asthma Management and Prevention, CA
    San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility, CA
    Selah Natural Medicine Portland, OR and Kalispell Mt., OR and MT
    South Texas Asthma Coalition, TX
    Take Care of Your Classroom Air, TX
    Women for a Healthy Environment, PA

    [This statement was submitted by Claire L. Barnett, MBA, Executive 
Director, Healthy Schools Network.]
                                 ______
                                 
      Prepared Statement of International Fund for Animal Welfare
    Chairman Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski, and Members of the 
subcommittee: Thank you for the opportunity to offer testimony on the 
FY23 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The 
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has 15 offices globally 
and works in more than 40 countries around the world. IFAW takes a 
holistic approach to innovating solutions for tough conservation 
challenges like conflicts between humans and wildlife, and illegal 
wildlife trafficking. Recognizing the unbreakable link between animals 
and human wellbeing, we support and empower communities to coexist with 
and value native wildlife and help those communities develop tools to 
protect their wild heritage. IFAW is grateful for this subcommittee's 
championship of strong conservation funding for the current fiscal year 
(FY22), and requests your continued support for these programs in FY23. 
Unfortunately, the final funding levels for the current fiscal year are 
insufficient to meet the increasingly critical need to conserve the 
imperiled natural systems on which we depend for humanity's very 
survival: the species and ecosystems that provide us with the air we 
breathe, drinkable water, and productive soil. We are therefore asking 
for significant increases to key programs within your jurisdiction. 
Specifically, we request $20 million for BOEM's office of environmental 
programs; $30 million for the Multinational Species Conservation Funds; 
$30 million for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Office of 
International Affairs; $152.5 million for the FWS Office of Law 
Enforcement; and $694.8 million for Endangered Species Act (ESA) 
implementation across five programs. IFAW also requests the 
subcommittee deny support for any projects that seek to circumvent the 
ESA or National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and exclude any riders 
aimed at undermining the ESA.
    The year 2021 was marked, as was the year before it, by ever-more 
disturbing news about the state of our natural world. It was the sixth 
hottest year on record, slightly behind 2020, which was the second 
hottest year in Earth's history.\1,\\2\ Changing climate conditions 
spurred storms and other natural disasters of increased frequency and 
severity: hurricanes, cyclones, flash floods, and wildfires wreaked 
havoc in communities around the world with deadly--and costly--
results.\3\ Trafficking in wildlife and wildlife parts remained the 
fourth most lucrative criminal enterprise worldwide with an estimated 
annual revenue of $20 billion-add in illegal logging and fishing, and 
that number skyrockets to $1 trillion or more.\4\ And we all continued 
to suffer as the effects of COVID-19, the deadly zoonotic pandemic 
caused by human interference with wildlife, forced the second year of 
world-wide lockdowns, and a mounting toll of illness and deaths around 
the globe.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ https://www.noaa.gov/news/2020-was-earth-s-2nd-hottest-year-
just-behind-2016
    \2\ https://www.noaa.gov/news/2021-was-worlds-6th-warmest-year-on-
record
    \3\ https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/beyond-data/2021-
us-billion-dollar-weather-and-climate-disasters-historical
    \4\ http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/482771571323560234/
WBGReport1017Digital.pdf
    \5\ https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/mapping-
spread-new-coronavirus/?itid=sf_coronavirus_sn_mapping-spread-new-
coronavirus_2
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The environmental, biodiversity, and pandemic crises we continue to 
face are not the product of bad luck; they are the direct results of 
human activities. On June 10, 2021, a report on Biodiversity and 
Climate Change was released on a workshop co-sponsored by the 
Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem 
Services (IPBES) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 
(IPCC)--the first ever collaborative workshop co-sponsored by the two 
organizations.\6\ This peer reviewed report warns that ``changes in 
climate and biodiversity, driven by human activities, have combined and 
increasingly threaten nature, human lives, livelihoods and well-being 
around the world. Biodiversity loss and climate change are both driven 
by human economic activities and mutually reinforce each other. Neither 
will be successfully resolved unless both are tackled together.'' \7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ https://ipbes.net/sites/default/files/2021-06/
20210609_workshop_report_embargo_3pm_CEST_10_june_0.pdf
    \7\ https://ipbes.net/sites/default/files/2021-06/20210606 
percent20Media percent20Release percent20EMBARGO percent203pm 
percent20CEST percent2010 percent20June.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Fortunately, as we have been the architects of our current crises, 
it is within our power to change our shared trajectory, and this 
subcommittee has jurisdiction over critical programs that can help to 
do just that. Given the severity of the challenges we face, IFAW 
respectfully asks the subcommittee to exert its leadership in order to 
reverse the alarming and interrelated climate and biodiversity 
emergencies by making substantial increases in funding for the 
important conservation programs within your purview. Doing so will help 
to protect biodiversity, and will in turn have significant protective 
effects against future wildlife-borne diseases entering the human 
population, promote healthy ecosystems, fight climate change, improve 
climate resilience, and safeguard human health and wellbeing.
    No NEPA or ESA Waivers: IFAW urges this subcommittee to consider 
the health of wildlife and the environment in all of its actions. At a 
minimum, no federally-supported construction projects, including 
disaster remediation projects, should be exempted from such fundamental 
laws as the ESA and NEPA. NEPA and ESA analyses protect against 
substantial social, environmental, and economic harm. These reviews 
allow construction projects to move forward while ensuring full 
disclosure of potentially harmful outcomes, informed decision-making, 
effective design, and risk mitigation. There has been a distressing 
trend toward exempting projects from NEPA, ESA, or other environmental 
reviews and we urge the subcommittee to reverse this trend by denying 
funding for any plan that does not include a commitment to bedrock 
conservation laws and environmental reviews.
    Bureau of Ocean Energy Management: BOEM is responsible for managing 
the development of U.S. Outer Continental Shelf energy and mineral 
resources in an environmentally and economically responsible way. In 
the face of increasing energy demands, development of new energy and 
existing energy technologies, and snowballing stress on ocean 
ecosystems caused by a changing climate, human activities, and a 
biodiversity crisis, that mission is more and more complicated. In 
order to accomplish its mission, BOEM will need to create a 
comprehensive ecosystem-based management. Importantly, the plan must 
take into special consideration the critically endangered right whale 
(NARW), whose population continues to fall, and now numbers well below 
400 individuals. But even before that plan can be developed, there are 
vital data gaps in our understanding that need to be filled through 
further study. Those gaps include NARW acoustic behavior as they move 
from southern calving grounds to northern latitude feeding, as well as 
environmental occupancy indicators--environmental markers that can be 
used to predict NARW presence in a given area. By investing in BOEM 
scientific studies on the acoustic ecology of whales and environmental 
occupancy indicators, we can protect the NARW population while still 
ensuring robust development of offshore energy. IFAW therefore requests 
$20 million for BOEM's office of environmental programs, environmental 
studies program in FY23.
             us fish and wildlife service priority programs
    Endangered Species Act: The biodiversity crisis represents an 
existential threat to humanity. Ecosystems require healthy biodiversity 
and wildlife in order to remain healthy. As native species decline, 
ecosystems weaken, and can even collapse, and may no longer have the 
capacity to provide the services upon which we all rely: among them 
drinking water, clean air, and productive soil.
    The Endangered Species Act, remains our Nation's most important 
conservation law, and has been successful in protecting 99 percent of 
listed species from becoming extinct. While the ESA is extremely 
popular among Americans regardless of political party, it continues to 
face attacks through spending riders. IFAW thanks this subcommittee for 
its efforts to fend off appropriations riders in past bills, and asks 
that any riders aimed at undermining the ESA-including legacy riders-be 
excluded from the FY23 Act.
    Despite these many successes, the United States must do more to 
stem the loss of our Nation's biodiversity and halt the global 
extinction crisis. In October 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
announced the removal of 22 animals and one plant from the endangered 
species list because of extinction. This was the largest set of 
delistings in the agency's history, ad these 23 species will now join 
the list of 650 species in the United States that have likely been lost 
to extinction.
    These extinctions are due, at least in part, to the fact that as 
species face ever-mounting pressures from climate change, habitat loss, 
and other factors, funding for the ESA has not kept pace with the need. 
Furthermore, there remains a backlog of species awaiting consideration 
for protections under the act, as well as listed species in need of 
additional resources to promote recovery. IFAW requests $694.8 million 
across the following five programs to make up for lost ground and put 
species on the path to recovery:

  --Recovery Program: $283.6 million

  --Planning and Consultation Programs: $157.4 million

  --Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund: $161.7 million

  --Listing Program: $77.3 million

  --Conservation and Restoration Program: $14.8 million

    FWS International Affairs: The FWS International Affairs (IA) 
program is tasked with coordinating domestic and international efforts 
to protect and restore wildlife and ecosystems. By overseeing domestic 
conservation laws and international conservation treaties, including 
the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild 
Fauna and Flora (CITES), the IA program has become a keystone of U.S. 
leadership on the international stage. Importantly, the IA program 
supports transboundary regional projects as well as those that focus on 
target species, promoting habitat conservation and restoration in areas 
where wildlife is most at risk from habitat loss or wildlife 
trafficking. For instance, the jaguar--the largest feline native to the 
Americas--faces growing threats from poaching for the illicit trade in 
their skins, fangs, and other body parts; increased funding for IA 
could help to support work in Latin America and the Caribbean to 
protect these magnificent cats.
    The IA program also brings a critical perspective to interagency 
work around preventing the spread of zoonotic diseases and adapting to 
climate change by providing expertise on the fundamental importance of 
wildlife and conservation to those efforts. IFAW requests $30 million 
for this important program in FY23.
    Multinational Species Conservation Fund (MSCF): MSCF funds protect 
tigers, rhinos, African and Asian elephants, great apes, and marine and 
freshwater turtles and tortoises, all of which are in constant danger 
from illegal poaching and wildlife trafficking, habitat destruction, 
climate change, and other pressures. These programs have helped to 
sustain wildlife populations by funding groundbreaking projects that 
combat poaching, reduce human-wildlife conflict and protect the vital 
habitat of priority species. By promoting community engagement and 
combatting trafficking, the MSCF programs also promote the rule of law 
abroad and contribute to our domestic security. These programs are 
highly efficient, with low administrative costs ensuring that around 95 
percent of appropriated funds are distributed through grants. 
Furthermore, in 2019, the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, 
Management, and Recreation Act (Public Law 116-9), reauthorized the 
individual conservation acts that constitute the MSCF through 2023 with 
strong bipartisan support. The MSCF is authorized at $30 million, but 
it has never been fully funded. Meanwhile, pressures on these species 
continue to increase around the globe. IFAW requests that $30 million 
be appropriated for the MSCF for FY23.
    Office of Law Enforcement: The Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) 
within the FWS is on the front lines of wildlife crime, inspecting 
wildlife shipments, conducting investigations, and enforcing Federal 
wildlife laws to protect fish, wildlife, plants, and ecosystems. The 
OLE combats poaching and wildlife trafficking, breaking up 
international criminal rings that not only harm wildlife, but may also 
engage in other illicit activities.
    Among other things, the small but mighty force at OLE sends 
experienced FWS attaches to strategic regions where they combat 
wildlife trafficking by supporting and advising foreign partners. In 
early February, the House passed H.R. 4521, the America COMPETES Act, 
which included in its base text language authorizing a significant 
expansion of the attache program and an additional $150 million 
annually for that purpose. IFAW requests a significant increase for OLE 
with the intention that $37.5 million, or one quarter of the newly 
appropriated funds, should be used to allow FWS to begin the expansion 
of the attache program. Of those funds, we request at least $1million 
be made available to USFWS law enforcement attaches to carry out 
operations abroad, as these operations are essential to identifying key 
actors along the illegal trade chain and dismantling criminal networks.
    As the world continues to battle a novel coronavirus with origins 
in wildlife, the OLE's inspection and enforcement responsibilities take 
on even greater import. This program is critical both to domestic and 
international conservation efforts and to national health and security. 
IFAW requests $152.5 million in FY23 for OLE.
                               conclusion
    In closing, thank you for the opportunity to share IFAW's funding 
priorities to promote conservation in the fiscal year 2023 Interior, 
Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. Wildlife and their 
habitats are more than our National heritage; they are essential to 
human health and welfare, and to domestic and international security. 
We appreciate the continued leadership of this subcommittee on 
conservation efforts globally and within the United States. With your 
support, we can reverse the tide of extinction, protect human health, 
and promote a better future for generations of wildlife lovers and 
Americans yet to come.

    [This statement was submitted by Kate Wall, Senior Legislative 
Manager, International Fund for Animal Welfare.]
                                 ______
                                 
     Prepared Statement of the Interstate Mining Compact Commission
    Compact Commission (IMCC). My address is 435 Carlisle Drive, 
Herndon, VA 20190. My phone number is 703 709 8654. My email is 
[email protected]. We request that $69.7 million be provided in the 
budget of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement 
(OSMRE) of the Department of the Interior for State and Tribal 
regulatory grants under Title V of the Surface Mine Control and 
Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) for Fiscal Year 2023.
    I appreciate the opportunity to present this statement conveying 
the views of IMCC's 26 member States on the fiscal Year 2023 budget for 
OSMRE. The Compact is comprised of 26 States that together produce over 
98 percent of the Nation's coal, as well as other important minerals. 
Among the Compact's purposes are to advance the protection and 
restoration of land, water and other resources affected by mining 
through the encouragement of programs in each of the party States that 
will achieve comparable results in protecting, conserving and improving 
the usefulness of natural resources.
    States are given exclusive regulatory jurisdiction over the 
environmental impacts of coal mining under Title V of SMCRA. This means 
that the core regulatory functions under this Federal law are being 
carried out at the state level by IMCC member States. Primacy States 
perform all the duties mandated by SMCRA, including inspection and 
enforcement, ensuring that timely reclamation occurs following mining, 
designating lands as unsuitable for mining and permitting. In addition 
to performing the regulatory work Congress required in SMCRA, States 
pay a significant portion of the cost of meeting this mandate. Half of 
the cost of regulation on non-federal lands is borne by the States. In 
the aggregate, the States are paying approximately 46 percent of the 
total cost of SMCRA regulation (all of the cost of regulation on 
Federal lands is borne by the Federal Government). In addition to the 
fact that States bear a large part of the cost of regulation, another 
feature of state regulation that makes it cost-effective is lower 
personnel cost. The biggest single category of program expense is 
payroll and state pay scales are, for the most part, lower than those 
of the Federal Government. Accordingly, fulfilling the Federal mandate 
for effective environmental regulation of coal mining impacts comes at 
a bargain to the Federal Government.
    It is no secret that coal production in America has declined. 
Instead of simplifying the regulatory challenge for States, the effect 
of this decline has been the opposite. The challenge of effectively 
regulating the environmental impacts of an industry in decline is much 
greater than when its markets were robust. Not only do States have the 
challenge of gaining compliance from mine operators who face declining 
cash flow, they also have the challenge of navigating their way through 
complex, high-stakes bankruptcies. Meanwhile, the number of permits 
that States must inspect has not declined at anywhere close to the 
falling rate of coal production. Adequate funding for protection of 
people and the environment from the adverse impacts of coal mining is 
more important than ever. Continued appropriation of adequate funding 
for State regulatory programs is essential if these programs are to 
achieve the objectives Congress established for them.
    Congress has appropriated $68.59 million in Federal funding for 
State and Tribal SMCRA Title V regulatory programs in six of the last 
seven fiscal years.\1\ This has been done in the face of administration 
budgets over the last 4 years that would have gutted appropriations for 
State regulatory programs, cutting them by as much as $25 million per 
year (proposed budget fiscal Year 2021). Congress has wisely rejected 
these proposed reductions and continued a much-needed trend of 
appropriating an amount for State regulatory grants that aligns closely 
with the States demonstrated needs. The States are grateful for this. 
Against this amount, consider that the total grant requests for all 
State and Tribal Title V regulatory programs combined have consistently 
exceeded $70 million. See, Grants Resources (osmre.gov). For the last 
five fiscal years, the total of State and Tribal Title V budget 
requests has ranged from $70 to $76 million. In Fiscal Year 2021, State 
and Tribal grant requests totaled $72.75 million. These requests 
represent the amounts the States believe they will need from the 
Federal Government to operate their regulatory programs for the year.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Grant funding for the Tribes' regulatory effort also comes from 
this appropriation. As appropriate in context, references herein to 
``States'' should be read to include the Tribes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The amount the States have been able to actually spend for 
operation of these regulatory programs has averaged $63 million per 
year. Importantly, the gap between actual expenditures and the States' 
projected funding needs has been closing. The State's actual 
expenditures are on an upward trend. A variety of factors have 
prevented the States from spending all of their budgeted funds. These 
generally include the time it takes to fill vacancies under state 
personnel procedures, State-wide hiring and/or spending freezes imposed 
when States face budgetary issues and state revenue shortages that 
affect a State's ability to match Federal dollars for program 
operation. State primacy under the SMCRA regulatory program dates to 
the early 1980's. As this regulatory program reached maturity in recent 
years, employees who began their employment when the State programs 
began have reached retirement age and moved on. When these senior 
employees have retired, they have often been replaced from within by a 
less senior employee. Less senior employees have often been replaced by 
junior employees, who have been replaced by new hires. It is not 
unusual for a State to go through the hiring process three times to 
eliminate the vacancy caused by a single retirement. During the time 
such vacancies persist, the money budgeted for the positions 
necessarily is not being spent. Because personnel costs are the biggest 
single cost driver for most State programs, vacancies are among the 
biggest of the challenges that a State program faces in operating 
according to budget. As the declining gap between budget needs and 
actual expenditures may demonstrate, the States are nearly past this 
wave of retirements and the multiple vacancies that can result from 
them. Multiple vacancies should pose less of a budgetary challenge in 
the future, so the States' future needs from the Federal Government 
should be closer to what they have budgeted.
    With many States now in a position to utilize more of their full 
grant amount, it is imperative that funding be maintained at a level 
that meets the estimates of program needs the States made in their 
budget requests. Those requests reflect the ongoing work associated 
with state program implementation including permit reviews, inspections 
and enforcement at all inspectable units. Even with reduced coal 
production, the States' workload has not correspondingly decreased--and 
in many cases has increased given the tenuous financial condition of 
some coal companies. Higher levels of vigilance are necessary to ensure 
contemporaneous reclamation and abatement of violations.
    This calls for vigilance by Congress. Inflation and other costs 
beyond the control of the States cannot be allowed to undermine State 
efforts to realize needed program improvements and enhancements or, 
more importantly, to jeopardize their efforts to minimize the potential 
adverse impacts of coal extraction operations on people and the 
environment. Our analysis of state program funding needs for fiscal 
Year 2023 based on recent estimates indicate that a full Federal 
appropriation of $68.6 million will be required for the existing State 
and Tribal programs. This represents a good middle ground figure that 
balances the need to assure that adequate funds will be available to 
enable the States to perform this vital work with the recognition that 
factors beyond state control may continue to have some effect on 
States' ability to spend the entirety of their projected regulatory 
budgets. In addition, sufficient funds need to be provided for the new 
state program in Tennessee. It will be seeking a program development 
grant of $1.1 million in fiscal Year 2023. Tennessee will need $1.3 
million in fiscal Year 2024, when it is expected to attain primacy.\2\ 
Therefore, we urge appropriation of $69.69 million for State Title V 
grants.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ While money for the Tennessee program might be an increase in 
the appropriation for State grants under SMCRA, it should be noted that 
it is merely a shift in existing SMCRA funding. OSMRE currently bears 
the entire cost of operating the Tennessee program from funds it 
receives for operation of Federal regulatory programs. When Tennessee 
attains primacy, the State will begin to bear half of the cost of the 
program there, with the other half coming from OSMRE's funds for state 
program grants. We urge you to consult OSMRE regarding the fiscal 
impact of Tennessee primacy on OSMRE.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    We acknowledge that over the course of many years, the gap between 
States' actual program expenditures and the amount of their budget 
requests for regulatory grants caused a balance of approximately $30 
million in unspent funds to accumulate. This was primarily the result 
of two factors: 1) the fact that appropriations for State regulatory 
grants are treated as 2-year money, thereby providing flexibility for 
the use of these moneys and 2) a few tough years where States faced 
particular challenges in obtaining state share match moneys and/or 
expending grant funding before the end of the Federal fiscal year. Now, 
however, this accumulated balance has been all but eliminated. As 
adopted, the Fiscal Year 2021 funding bill (H.R. 133) rescinded $25 
million of this balance. Having a small cushion of available carryover 
funding provides the certainty and confidence that both OSMRE and the 
States require in managing funding for these critical programs. 
Congress should specifically mandate through report language that all 
carryover funds from past fiscal years can only be used to fund State 
regulatory program needs. It would also be beneficial to state program 
implementation if OSMRE was authorized to utilize these carryover funds 
for state program enhancement activities (without matching 
requirements) for such critical program topics as electronic 
permitting, mine mapping, and benchmarking workshops.
    Clear indications from Congress that reliable, consistent funding 
will continue into the future has done much to stimulate support for 
these programs by State legislatures and budget officers who, in the 
face of difficult fiscal climates and constraints, have had to deal 
with the challenge of matching Federal grant dollars with state funds. 
This is particularly true for those States whose match is partially 
based on fees from the mining industry, where significant reductions in 
mining and permitting activity translate to lower revenue, but not 
necessarily a corresponding reduction in the volume of regulatory work 
for State agencies. Be aware that any cut in Federal funding generally 
translates to an additional cut of an equal amount for overall program 
funding for States, especially those without Federal lands, because, as 
a general matter, these States can only match the grant funds they 
receive from the Federal Government.
    For all the above reasons, we urge Congress to approve not less 
than $69.7 million for State and Tribal Title V regulatory grants in 
fiscal Year 2023, the same amount enacted by Congress in most of the 
recent fiscal years, plus an additional $1.1 million to cover the grant 
needs of the State of Tennessee in its efforts to attain primacy. In 
doing so, Congress will continue its commitment to ensuring the States 
have the resources they need to continue their work on the forefront of 
environmental protection and preservation of public health and safety.
    In addition to State regulatory grants, the States have a great 
degree of interest in the appropriations for OSMRE's National Technical 
Training Program (NTTP) and Technical Information and Professional 
Service (TIPS). The States rely heavily on the NTTP and TIPS training 
classes for their new employees and for refresher courses for more 
seasoned employees. These training programs are especially important as 
States find themselves at a point where many of their employees are 
finishing careers and must be replaced with less experienced people. 
Any adjustments to these two programs should involve the States working 
through the NTTP/TIPS Steering Committee.
    With regard to funding for State Title IV Abandoned Mine Land (AML) 
program grants, the States and Tribes should receive the mandatory 
appropriation million (before sequestration) in fiscal Year 2023. We 
also strongly support clarification of the Infrastructure Investment 
and Jobs Act (IIJA) to allow States to dedicate a portion of the grant 
funds they are already slated to receive under the IIJA to interest 
bearing state accounts to pay for the long-term costs of addressing 
acid mine drainage, as they have done in the past under the fee-based 
AML program, as well as appropriation of $115 million for the AML 
economic revitalization (AMLER) program for economic and community 
development goals. IMCC also supports a continuation of funding for the 
watershed cooperative agreements at $1.5 million. Much valuable work 
has been accomplished through this program, especially given the 
matching funds that come from other sources besides OSMRE's share for 
these worthwhile projects.
    A forward-looking observation that should be made concerns the 
potential impact of actions to eliminate emissions of greenhouse 
gasses. A foreseeable collateral impact of greenhouse gas regulation 
may be reduction or elimination of the revenue from the coal industry 
many States have been using to pay for their share of the cost of their 
SMCRA regulatory programs. If this happens, the States are likely to 
need a significant increase in the Federal Government's share of 
regulatory program funding to make up the difference. In aftermath of 
any significant new regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, well-funded 
State regulatory programs will be essential to the effort to 
effectively address the environmental impacts of existing mines.
    We appreciate the opportunity to submit this statement on OSMRE's 
budget for fiscal Year 2023. We also endorse the statement of the 
National Association of Abandoned Mine Land Programs (NAAMLP), which 
goes into greater detail regarding the implications of OSMRE's funding 
for the States and Tribes related to the AML program. We would be happy 
to answer any questions.

    [This statement was submitted by Thomas L. Clarke, Executive 
Director of the Interstate Mining Compact Commission.]
                                 ______
                                 
            Prepared Statement of Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe
    On behalf of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, I am pleased to submit 
this written testimony on our funding priorities and requests for the 
Fiscal Year 2023 Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and Indian Health 
Service (IHS) budgets. Ensuring Tribal Nations have the tools and 
resources for effective and efficient governmental operations is 
critical to achieving Tribal self-sufficiency and fulfilling the 
promises in the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act 
(ISDEAA). Tribal Nations have developed comprehensive approaches to 
implementing programs and services at the local level that address our 
Tribal citizens and community's critical needs and align with our 
unique cultures, traditions, values, and institutions.
    The success we have attained through the implementation of Self-
Governance demonstrates that continued Federal support is invaluable to 
growing sustainable Tribal economies that will enable us to attain our 
goal of self-sufficiency. We commend Congress and the Biden/Harris 
Administration for the historic levels of health and economic relief 
funding that enabled Tribes to stabilize their government operations 
and begin to re-build their economies following the devastating 
aftermath of the pandemic that disproportionately impacted American 
Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN). However, as documented in the U.S. 
Commission on Civil Rights Reports ``A Quiet Crisis'' (2003) and 
``Broken Promises'' (2018), Tribal programs have been chronically 
underfunded and, at times, inefficiently structured for decades leaving 
Tribes unable to address their community's basic needs and leaving our 
citizens vulnerable to disease and financial devastation.
    As we continue to urge Congress to provide robust investments in 
Tribal programs and services, the structural deficiencies across the 
Federal system also need to be addressed. Funding silos, restrictions 
on the use of funds, bureaucratic impediments in the form of outdated 
and paternalistic regulatory requirements and processes, and the 
inability to utilize a single funding mechanism, such as, our Self-
Governance compacts to combine resources and address critical needs 
creates programmatic inefficiencies and stifles Tribal Self-Governance 
and self-sufficiency. Congress has already created a solution to these 
issues--Tribal Self-Governance. The ISDEAA empowers Tribes to employ 
holistic techniques, develop innovative solutions, and enter successful 
partnerships that leverage the Federal dollar and allow us to realize a 
greater return on the Federal investment.
    Congress can further Tribal Self-Governance and support strong 
Tribal governments, economies, and communities through the following 
actions: enact the Build Back Better Act, allow funding from all 
Federal departments and agencies to be allocated through ISDEAA Funding 
Agreements, empower Tribes with maximum funding flexibility to improve 
programmatic outcomes, provide direct funding to Tribes rather than 
funneling funding through States, and require the Executive Branch to 
submit an annual estimate of the total cost to fully fund Tribal trust 
and treaty obligations.

Tribal Top Three Priorities and Recommendations for the BIA/BIE and 
IHS:

    1. Advanced Appropriations for Tribal Programs and Services

    2. Mandatory Appropriations for Section 105(l) Leases and Contract 
Support Costs

    3. Increase Funding for Tribal Base Budgets

    Advance Appropriations for Tribal Programs and Services-- Providing 
appropriations 1 year in advance for the BIA, BIE and IHS will mitigate 
the adverse financial effects of Federal budgetary uncertainties and 
allow Tribes to engage in more effective strategic planning, spend 
funds more efficiently, grow our Tribal economies and businesses and 
increase the quality of care and well-being of our Tribal citizens and 
community. Tribal Nations are resilient but the continuous delays and/
or lapse in Federal appropriations continues to disrupt the execution 
of Tribal government operations. The Federal Government has a legal and 
moral obligation to make sure that funding for trust and treaty 
obligations is not delayed. Time is of the essence when it comes to the 
survival of our people, our language, our culture, our homelands and 
resources and our sovereignty. Advance appropriations is a budgetary 
solution that does not impact spending caps and allows Tribes to 
continue to provide critical services.
    Reclassify Discretionary Spending for Section 105(l) Leases and 
Contract Support Costs to Mandatory-- The agencies are legally required 
to compensate Tribes for Section 105(l) lease obligations and contract 
support costs (CSC) in accordance with the ISDEAA, but these 
obligations have grown tremendously since their inception. As far back 
as 2014, Congress acknowledged that obligations of this nature are 
typically addressed under mandatory appropriations because they have 
the potential to impact other programs. Separate, indefinite accounts 
were established to support Section105(l) leases and CSC but have 
resulted in the unintended reduction of funding for critical Tribal 
programs. Reclassifying mandatory funding for CSC and 105(l) leases is 
needed to prevent programmatic decreases. In addition, many Tribes are 
the only healthcare providers in their rural communities and the only 
ones who will accept Medicare and Medicaid patients. Tribes generate 
third party revenue by serving these individuals as authorized under 
Section 813 of the IHCIA and this money in turn is used to provide 
healthcare to their own citizens. The IHS, however, has adopted a 
policy that denies compensation to Tribes for the portion of their 
healthcare facility that the agency decides serves non-beneficiaries 
even though Congress authorized such services under Section 813 of the 
IHCIA. One may venture to ask where Tribes are supposed to provide 
these individuals healthcare if not in their own facilities and why the 
IHS is making it harder for Tribes to raise revenue to supplement their 
underfunded healthcare services? We urge Congress to take legislative 
action to clarify its intent that space used to provide services within 
the scope of the ISDEAA to any patient is compensable under 105(l).
    Increase Funding for Tribal Base Budgets-- Tribal Priority 
Allocations (TPA) and Recurring Programs are consistently identified as 
funding priorities by the Tribal Interior Budget Council (TIBC) because 
they provide core funding that supports critical government programs 
and services. Flexibility in the use of funds to support local needs is 
an important aspect of this funding. TPA and Recurring Program funding 
provides security and certainty for Tribes rather than funding provided 
through grant dollars. There has been a growing trend among agencies to 
fund Tribal programs and services with grant dollars rather than 
providing base and recurring funding. Grant funding is incongruent with 
the trust and treaty obligations.

Tribal Priorities, National & Regional Requests and Recommendations for 
the BIA:

    1. Trust Natural Resources/Treaty Rights/Habitat Restoration/
Climate Resiliency

  --$60 million BIA Rights Protection Implementation

  --$17.1 million Western Washington Fisheries Management

  --$10 million Wildlife & Parks Program TPA

  --$35 million BIA Climate Resilience

    2. Human Services

  --$70 million Social Services

  --$100 million Welfare Assistance

  --$30 million Indian Child Welfare Act

    $60 million--BIA Rights Protection Implementation-- Rights 
Protection implementation is essential to preserve our Tribal treaty 
rights through resource management activities. The Federal investment 
in our trust natural resources serves two primary purposes. It allows 
us to fulfill our environmental stewardship responsibilities through 
the protection and restoration of the ecosystems and habitats of our 
Tribal homelands and waters through sustainable conservation policies 
and practices. These funds also foster Tribal self-sufficiency and 
support our economy by allowing us to cultivate partnerships with State 
and local governments and other entities, create jobs for our Tribal 
citizens and community members, and promote and advance trade of our 
marine resources in local, regional, national, and international 
markets.
    $17.1 million--Western Washington Fisheries Management-- This 
critical funding supports Tribal co-management activities of our treaty 
resources with the state of Washington. This funding is critical to 
support day to day activities and monitoring of endangered habitat and 
fish stocks. Increased commercial and recreational activities coupled 
with the severe consequences of climate change has increased the 
urgency and costs associated with protecting our treaty resources. The 
vitality and sustainability of our natural resources is integral to the 
health and welfare of our Tribal citizens, communities, culture and 
religious practices and economies.
    $15 million Wildlife and Parks-- Aquaculture allows us to 
demonstrate best practices in restoring our waterways, producing more 
seafood to alleviate food insecurity, combining our Tribal ecological 
knowledge with advanced technology in marine science to address 
endangered species concerns, and create economic opportunities while at 
the same time protecting the environment and preserving our cultural 
heritage and traditional practices. This funding supports our hatchery 
operations that harvest salmon, oysters and other fish and shellfish 
stocks. Our Tribal culture and traditions, ceremonies and subsistence 
are dependent on the survival of these species.
    $35 million BIA Climate Resilience-- Climate resilience funding is 
essential to restore ecological functions, healthy habitats, and 
protect our resources. Our Tribal Treaty Rights are at risk. Climate 
change is having a profound impact on Tribal communities, lands, 
resources and infrastructure and degradation of our natural environment 
is happening faster than we can restore it in the Northwest.
    $200 million Human Services/Social Services/Welfare Assistance/
ICWA-- Funding for our social service programs is an investment in our 
most important resources, our elders, our children, and our Tribal 
families. AI/AN children have a unique legal status as citizens of 
Tribal governments and the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) provides 
safeguards to maintain Tribal and family connections and relationships. 
We lead our citizens down the path of self-sufficiency by developing 
their leadership skills, educational skills, job skills, and fostering 
their health and well-being in a culturally appropriate way. The return 
on this investment is measured by the increased number of Tribal 
citizens and descendants entering higher education and earning degrees, 
the composition of our growing workforce with over 80 percent comprised 
of Tribal citizens, descendants, and other Natives, participation in 
cultural preservation classes that instill a sense of pride in our 
people to create marketable products that are sold through the Tribe's 
retail outlet. Our history remains embedded throughout the community 
and among the generations through flourishing language, traditional 
foods, and culture programs.

    Tribal Priorities, National and Regional Requests and 
Recommendations for the IHS:

    1. $2.9 billion to Support Current Services

    2. $1 billion for Purchased and Referred Care

    3. $82 million Behavioral Health Mental and Alcohol and Substance 
Abuse

    $2.9 billion to Support Current Services-- The Federal trust 
obligation requires significant investment in Tribal healthcare 
systems. To maintain current services, factors such as the inflationary 
rate, pay costs, contract support costs, population growth and staffing 
needs for recently constructed facilities all need to be fully funded. 
When these mandatory factors are not funded, Tribes must supplement 
programs with their own limited revenue, or chose between limiting 
services or shutting down services completely.
    $1 billion Purchased and Referred Care (PRC)-- PRC funds are used 
to purchase essential health care services, including inpatient and 
outpatient care, routine emergency ambulatory care, transportation, and 
medical support services, such as diagnostic imaging, physical therapy, 
laboratory, nutrition, and pharmacy services. PRC funds are extremely 
important to the Portland Area Tribes because the Portland Area lacks 
hospitals and specialty care centers, so Tribes in the Northwest are 
forced to turn to the private sector to fulfill this need.
    $82 million Behavioral Health Mental and Alcohol and Substance 
Abuse--The Jamestown Healing Clinic will provide a holistic approach to 
treatment for those who suffer from opioid use disorder through the 
provision of wrap-around services, to include, primary care, dental 
services, transportation to and from the clinic, employment, housing, 
and other associated needs.

    [This statement was submitted by W. Ron Allen, Tribal Chairman/CEO, 
Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe.]
                                 ______
                                 
 Prepared Statement of Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa 
                                Indians
    On behalf of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa 
Indians, I am pleased to submit testimony concerning the Tribe's fiscal 
Year 2023 funding needs in the Indian Health Service (IHS) account. For 
fiscal Year 2023, the Tribe urges the subcommittee to provide advance 
appropriations for the IHS; to prioritize funding increases to the 
Service's Clinical Services programs, including Alcohol and Substance 
Abuse, Mental Health, and Purchased/Referred Care (P/RC) programs; and 
to increase appropriations for IHS Facilities construction funds so 
that we can renovate or expand health facility space. The COVID-19 
pandemic drove home to us our need for greater facility space and 
health professionals. Due to the need to sanitize exam rooms and tables 
between patient visits, health staff saw fewer patients each day. As a 
rural Indian Tribe, healthcare staff retention is also one of our 
biggest challenges. The loss of our health professionals to better 
paying competitors reduces our ability to provide the continuum of care 
our Tribal members require to lead healthy lives and for others to 
overcome addictions and return to their families and jobs as healthy 
individuals.
    As one Tribal health official stated, COVID-19 was the 
``earthquake'' and the Tribe is now dealing with the ``Tsunami'' that 
follows. The movement to telework is accelerating and the Tribe must 
change our manner of doing business if we are to retain the valued 
health and other essential staff we employ on our rural Reservation.
    The Tribe continues to face opioid, alcohol, and other drug misuse 
among our members. We are also finding that we are competing with 
larger health care facilities/conglomerates which offer higher salaries 
and signing/retention bonuses for many of our healthcare service 
providers. These competitors effectively price the Tribe out of the 
hiring market for these essential workers. Long drive times from Wausau 
and Merrill, WI to Lac du Flambeau, coupled with rising gas prices and 
limited housing on our reservation or off-reservation towns, also 
restrict our ability to recruit and retain professional healthcare 
staff. With additional Federal funding, and flexibility as to how we 
use those funds, we are better positioned to offer more competitive 
salaries and other work incentives, including flex-time work hours/
telecommuting (where possible) for the health care professionals, 
administrative staff, and other employees we require to staff our 
programs and meet the health and other needs of our members.
    The Tribe greatly appreciates the bipartisan work of the 
subcommittee on behalf of the Indian nations. The funds the 
subcommittee appropriated through the fiscal Year 2021 Consolidated 
Appropriations Act, CARES Act, and ARPA helped sustain the Tribe 
through the worst of the pandemic. These funds gave us the resources to 
actively combat and mitigate the spread of the Coronavirus on our 
Reservation. We were able to help Tribal businesses and families, and 
ensure that essential governmental services continued. Through our 
health programs and with Federal and State funding, we were able to 
provide:

  --contact tracing/COVID follow-up;

  --vaccinations;

  --COVID-19 testing;

  --COVID-19 education;

  --coordinated response with IHS, State and local neighboring clinics 
        to increase vaccinations among community members;

  --two additional negative pressure rooms (bringing total to 3) to see 
        a greater number of patients experiencing COVID-like symptoms 
        (ARPA-funded);

  --installation of a specialized fume hood in the laboratory that 
        trapped and exhausts gases and nanoparticles;

  --point-of-care PCR testing units that produced COVID tests in one 
        hour;

  --guidance to Incident Command Team/Community/and the Tribal Council.

    We were also able to coordinate with Wisconsin State authorities 
and initially obtained COVID-19 testing with the State National Guard. 
Subsequently, we began testing using our own staff and utilized support 
services from the State such as the State Laboratory of Hygiene.
                     indian health service programs
    The Tribe greatly appreciates the subcommittee's bipartisan 
commitment to increase funding for the Service. The Tribe provides 
comprehensive health services through the Peter Christensen Health 
Center, Dental Program, the Family Resource Center, and our in-patient 
Treatment Center (Gookomis Endaad). The health programs we provide are 
vital to ensuring the support and preservation of family life and 
wellbeing by providing such services as outpatient mental health, 
inpatient & outpatient alcohol and other drug abuse, and psychological 
consults. The Health Center provides quality health care and offers a 
full range of family medical services by Board Certified family 
physicians, advanced practice nurse practitioner and physician-
assistants serving more than 5,500 patients.
    I would like to illustrate our program challenges by discussing the 
Tribe's alcohol and drug treatment program, Gookomis Endaad, ``Your 
Grandmother's House.'' This 18-bed in-patient treatment program was 
impacted by COVID-19 as well as by our challenges to staff full-time 
health counselors. The facility offers in-patient and out-patient 
behavioral health treatment for Alcohol and/or Drugs (AODA) with co-
occurring disorders. It is a Commission on Accreditation of 
Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) accredited drug treatment facility 
licensed by the State of Wisconsin. Treatment programs are 90-days with 
a 90-day extension or more, if required.
    Staff at Gookomis Endaad include a Mental Health and AODA 
Counselor, Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, Licensed Nurse, Clinical 
Social Worker, and a Cultural Liaison. Recovery Coaches also assist 
clients daily as they move through the program schedule and chaperone 
outside activities. Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT), a cognitive 
behavioral treatment and behavioral modification model, is taught and 
used in every aspect of the program. Clients move through not only MRT 
levels but through a second level system that allows clients to earn 
increased privileges as they practice and demonstrate positive behavior 
and attitudes in individual and group therapies and activities of daily 
living. The Tribe funds the Gookomis Endaad with Service funds from the 
Alcohol and Substance Abuse and Mental Health programs within the 
Service's Clinical Services account, Substance Abuse and Mental Health 
Services Administration (SAMHSA) awards, and Tribal discretionary 
program funds.
    COVID-19 and the loss of our Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse (AODA) 
counselors shuttered our program for over a year. The Program 
temporarily shut down in spring 2020 along with the rest of the Tribe 
to mitigate the spread of infection. When reopened, we resumed services 
under strict COVID protocols in compliance with CDC recommendations and 
the recommendations from our Medical Director. When the facility 
reopened in July 2020, we operated at one-half capacity (with only male 
clients) so that the female wing was available for COVID quarantine 
which we could not accommodate at our other health facilities. We had a 
contracted mental health counselor and a full- time AODA counselor.
    We suffered another blow to our program when our founding AODA 
counselor passed away in late November 2020. This individual 
established our treatment model at Gookomis Endaad. Following his 
death, we utilized available counselors to keep Gookomis Endaad open, 
but with the loss of additional counselors working long hours with 
increased caseloads, we suspended services at Gookomis Endaad in May 
2021. The program has been closed for over a year. We have five Tribal 
members in off-reservation drug or alcohol treatment facility programs 
in Wisconsin and Michigan that average 30-45 day stays at a cost to the 
Tribe $45,000/month. Every week, we receive calls from Tribal members 
whose loved ones require long-term alcohol and/or drug treatment 
rehabilitation counseling and services. Yesterday, a worried mother 
tearfully asked that I find space for a loved one struggling with 
addiction. When we can reopen Gookomis Endaad, which we hope to do this 
spring, we are certain that we will be at full capacity for men and 
women.
    The Tribe greatly prefers to operate our culturally-appropriate 
drug and alcohol treatment programs. Providing local treatment also 
ensures that our patients receive the continuum of care they require, 
including dental, primary care, and diabetes treatment. Off-reservation 
programs are costly and serve short-term needs, but they are no 
substitute for the quality of care and support services our members 
should receive to ensure that all their healthcare needs are addressed. 
This better ensures their successful treatment and integration back 
into the Tribal community.
    With the rise of telehealth therapy, Gookomis Endaad is forced to 
compete with many telehealth companies such as Aspirus and Marshfield 
which were offering the ability to work from home along with large 
signing bonus that the Tribe cannot compete with. The Tribe lost 
several AODA applicants due to competing offers. Other communities near 
us and around the State are also losing clinicians to telehealth. This 
results in fierce competition for clinicians. With the rising cost of 
fuel, we worry that health staff commuting from Wausau and Merrill may 
take jobs closer to their homes rather than travel the 160-mile or 120-
mile roundtrip to the Reservation.
    Housing shortages also prevent our ability to successfully recruit 
and retain health and other professionals. There is little housing 
available on our Reservation and rental housing in adjoining 
communities is limited. This serves as a limitation on recruiting 
health professionals to fill our advertised positions. Young 
professionals with families prefer to rent rather than purchase homes 
when taking new positions and moving families and children into new 
communities. Only after working for a period of time do such 
professionals consider purchasing a home.
    The Tribe also appreciates the subcommittee's careful attention to 
the issue of 105(l) leases. We strongly support keeping such costs an 
``indefinite appropriation,'' but with the goal of making these costs 
mandatory (along with contract support costs) so that such costs do not 
continue to stress the limited funding allocation the subcommittee 
receives.

    The pandemic period highlighted critical infrastructure needs for 
the Tribe:

  --Additional Services funding is required to provide expanded 
        telehealth services (mental health, alcohol and other drug 
        abuse and primary care), and to ensure that our facilities can 
        properly bill for those services, as a response to the COVID 
        pandemic. Alternative work arrangements can help the Tribe 
        retain qualified professionals;

  --Additional Services funding is also needed to support our Tribe's 
        efforts to be more competitive in the recruitment, hiring, and 
        retention of qualified health professionals across Tribal 
        departments/programs that serve the Tribal population. During 
        the height of the COVID pandemic, work-from-home technology and 
        policies were put into place, and we learned that many of these 
        changes actually increased productivity and services for some 
        departments/programs. Unfortunately, once we began to implement 
        our ``in-person'' return-to-work policies, we have seen a 
        dramatic down-turn in employee retention. We are seeing an 
        expansion in local employers who have begun to offer modified 
        work (i.e., ``flex'') schedules, hybrid (blend of in-person, 
        work-from-home) schedules, or full work-from-home schedule. 
        These are post-effects of the COVID pandemic, and our Tribe 
        should be able to utilize increased Federal monies to respond 
        to those hiring challenges;

  --Increased Services funding is required to expand the Peter 
        Christensen Health Center's efforts to provide a formalized 
        continuum of care, among each element (Health Center, PC-
        Dental, Family Resource Center-outpatient mental health and 
        AODA counseling center, and Gookomis Endaad) of health care and 
        wellness. This should also include an expansion of funding 
        solely dedicated to formalized after-care services for 
        community members struggling with addiction and overall health 
        and wellness;

  --Increased Services Facilities construction funds (including 
        discretionary and competitive grant opportunities for Tribes) 
        to permit the Tribe to plan, design, and expand our existing 
        facility space, such as for an urgent care wing with separate 
        waiting area to support patients presenting COVID-like 
        symptoms, and funds to renovate or relocate our pharmacy to 
        allow drive-thru services where pharmacists can safely see and 
        interact with far more patients and dispense prescription 
        medications. During the pandemic, Tribal members parked in the 
        pharmacy parking lot and pharmacy technicians delivered 
        prescriptions to them after pharmacists completed verification 
        checks by phone.

    We encourage the subcommittee to provide flexibility to Tribes in 
the fiscal Year 2023 appropriation for IHS so that we can address 
staffing shortages, staff housing, tele-work, and other incentive 
measures to keep the dedicated health professionals, administrators and 
other essential workers who deliver 110 percent every day. When Tribes 
have the ability to compete successfully for the talented professionals 
who are motivated to work in rural Tribal communities, we can create a 
more stable and healthy community. Recognizing infrastructure and 
staffing limitations in Tribal communities and providing Tribes with 
the resources that allow us to implement innovative solutions ensures 
that rural Tribal communities can thrive in the 21st Century and remain 
vibrant centers of Tribal culture and community.

    [This statement was submitted by John Johnson, Sr., President, Lac 
du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.]
                                 ______
                                 
          Prepared Statement of League of American Orchestras
    The League of American Orchestras urges the Senate Interior, 
Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations subcommittee to 
support for fiscal year 2023 a funding level of $203.55 million for the 
National Endowment for the Arts, as recommended by President Biden. 
Like many artists and arts organizations throughout the country, we 
have been very encouraged to see the agency receive ongoing bipartisan 
support from the subcommittee and Congress over the last several years. 
As we collectively enter the next phase of resuming a more 
interconnected and interactive life, it is essential for the arts to 
continue receiving strong Federal support that helps communities across 
the country to celebrate life, mourn those we have lost, process our 
angst over troubling global conflicts, and so much more. The arts have 
always provided a productive, creative way to express the full range of 
what makes us human, and the past few years truly necessitate that 
children and adults have every opportunity to come together and share 
in the life-changing and life-affirming experience of engaging with the 
arts.
    The NEA is strongly valued because of the leadership it provides 
through direct and indirect grantmaking, cross-cutting research, and 
convenings that bring together arts organizations and practitioners for 
shared learning. A direct grant awarded by the National Endowment for 
the Arts is a significant honor and designation that conveys an 
organization, regardless of its size or geographic location, has passed 
a rigorous panel review and offers an artistic engagement worthy of 
limited Federal dollars.
    Orchestras undertake countless projects and continually innovate to 
enhance the experience of live music for people of all ages. Being 
responsive to community needs is at the heart of every nonprofit 
organization's mission, and orchestras have been no exception to 
learning new ways of engaging audiences when traditional ways of 
gathering were so suddenly disrupted. The arts are a vital part of 
every community's ecology, and orchestras large and small provide 
solace, gathering, renewal, and hope for its audiences, who are more 
than mere listeners but increasingly serve as co-curators of the kind 
of art they most wish to experience. Grants from the National Endowment 
for the Arts are an essential form of Federal support, and in some 
cases a lifeline during very precarious times. Moreover, the Federal 
support pays dividends in the other forms of support it leverages, and 
it inspires others who seek to innovate and draw inspiration from 
colleagues near and far.
    The following orchestral examples illustrate the range of activity 
and community engagement the NEA helps make possible.
    The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra received an NEA Grants for Arts 
Project award to support its Sandbox composer residency project, a 
pilot initiative driven by the orchestra's artistic vision committee. 
The annual residency will place the composer in the center of the 
orchestra's programs, working directly with musicians through regular 
rehearsals to try out works in progress, encouraging deeper 
collaboration and transparency in the artistic development process and 
grounding new works in the here and now. The community will have 
opportunities to connect with the composer and orchestra musicians 
through panel discussions, interviews, open rehearsals, talk-back 
sessions, social media and blog content, and gatherings. Performances 
and related activities will take place at the Ordway Concert Hall and 
in numerous neighborhood venues throughout the Twin Cities, serving 
many Minneapolis/St. Paul audiences.
    The curation of engaging, illuminating programming is at the heart 
of The Cleveland Orchestra's (TCO) ``Outsiders in Opera and Music'' 
program, featuring Giuseppe Verdi's opera ``Otello,'' based on 
Shakespeare's tragedy centered on a Moorish character who was treated 
as an outsider. Continuing this theme, TCO will present several 
education concerts for elementary and middle grade students. For Grades 
3-5 students, ``Music's Many Voices'' will include repertoire by 
composers of many cultures, races, and genders such as Gioachino 
Rossini, William Grant Still, Carlos Chavez, Reena Esmail, Huang Ruo, 
Alejandro Garcia Caturla, and John Williams. For Grades 6-8 students, 
performances will feature the music of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de 
Saint-Georges, a Black composer who was a contemporary of Mozart. In 
addition, TCO will present an ensemble program, Honoring Black 
Composers, at Karamu House Theatre and in Reinberger Chamber Hall this 
May as preludes to non-operatic concerts that continue to explore the 
'outsiders' composers festival theme.
    Another orchestra exploring a mixture of genres is the Pensacola 
Symphony Orchestra, which in January of this year presented an open 
dress rehearsal and a concert performance pairing symphonic music with 
the works of local poets. ``Lyric for Strings,'' written by Pulitzer 
Prize-winning Black American composer George Walker to commemorate the 
loss of his grandmother, a formerly enslaved person, was presented as a 
companion piece to a poem by Pensacola poet Charles McCaskill, Jr. 
titled, ``If These Bricks Could Breathe.'' The poem shared the feeling 
of loss in the Pensacola community following the razing of the home of 
John Sunday, a member of the Union Army, a community leader, and one of 
the first Black men to serve in the Florida House of Representatives 
and also the Pensacola City Council. Northwest Florida Poet Laureate, 
Jamey Jones helped to curate the concert and was also a participant in 
the project with his poem ``Nine River Ways,'' which paired with the 
flowing melodies of ``Old and Lost Rivers'' by composer Tobias Picker. 
Jones' poem contemplates the literal and ethereal ways in which human 
existence is like flowing water, powerful and serene, poignant and 
mundane. Both local poets participated alongside current city 
councilwoman and John Sunday Society President, Teniade Broughton in a 
panel discussion about the legacy of Sunday and the Black community in 
Pensacola. Attendees of the forum were given free tickets to the dress 
rehearsal and the poets joined Pensacola Symphony's Music Director 
Peter Rubardt for a pre-concert discussion sharing greater context for 
the project. The symphony was delighted to have descendants of John 
Sunday join for the performance as guests of Councilwoman Broughton, 
and area creative writing students were given free tickets to the 
performance.
    Creating new opportunities for young people to experience is a 
priority many grantees share. With a Challenge America grant, the Boise 
Phil has been able to greatly expand its reach and service to local 
educators. This modest but impactful grant allowed the orchestra to 
increase free access by creating an education resource library for 
schools across Southern Idaho. This resource simultaneously supported 
classroom teachers while also safely engaging participants amid the 
COVID-19 pandemic through a virtual format. Additionally, the Challenge 
America grant provided valuable funds that gave the orchestra space to 
rethink and reimagine its approaches to serving the local community. 
One example of a new approach Boise Phil is undertaking is to pilot a 
new school program, which involved the development of a 10-week 
sequential curriculum aligned with national core arts standards. This 
new programming would not have been possible without the support of the 
National Endowment for the Arts, and at a time that has been especially 
critical not only for the arts, but for teachers and students.
    With funding from the NEA's American Rescue Plan Act grant, 
Symphony Tacoma is able to move forward with its commitment to 
community during unpredictable times. This includes ensuring consistent 
employment for its staff of six and part-time professional orchestra 
comprising 84 musicians. The Rescue Plan grant covers a wide range of 
performances in and around Tacoma-this includes performances at farmers 
markets, presenting a family series, providing high school orchestra 
coaching, as well as offering masterclasses with guest artists. Like 
countless orchestras and arts organizations across the country, 
Symphony Tacoma's finances were uncertain during the pandemic, but 
providing music for its community was considered something that must 
continue-particularly during a time when the power of music has been 
needed most.
    The Reno Chamber Orchestra (RCO) also received an American Rescue 
Plan grant, which will help offset the costs of additional venue rental 
and new artistic personnel positions. Expanding its performance 
offerings to include new venues can greatly alter the live experience 
an orchestra provides. For example, venues such as Acro Enso, which the 
RCO utilized during the last year in addition to its traditional 
concert space, are highly valuable because they allow audiences to be 
seated closer to the orchestra and thus provide a more creative and 
immersive concert experience. RCO's grant will support a new associate 
conductor program under the leadership of its new music director, Kelly 
Kuo. Maestro Kuo brings a traditional chamber orchestra repertoire 
vision along with the desire to feature composers that have 
historically been overlooked-like 19th century French composer Louise 
Farrenc-as well as composers writing music that addresses our current 
world. Part of Kuo's artistic vision focuses on the next generation of 
artistic leaders, specifically conductors. An associate conductor 
program under Kuo's leadership will recruit conductors who identify as 
female or BIPOC (black, indigenous, or people of color), which are 
underrepresented groups in classical music. The RCO will select one 
conductor per season to work with Maestro Kuo and the orchestra, and 
the associate conductor will have the opportunity to conduct at least 
one RCO concert per season.
    While many orchestras are expanding the repertoire of the music 
they share with audiences, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra (NHSO), 
like Reno, is promoting opportunities for musicians from traditionally 
underrepresented backgrounds. In addition to receiving an American 
Rescue Plan grant, which supported wages for musicians and key staff, 
the NHSO also received Grants for Arts Projects support for its Harmony 
Fellowship, which provides professional development across musical, 
administrative, and board levels of the classical music industry for 
emerging professionals from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. 
Fellows are paid members of the orchestra who receive mentoring from 
leadership and staff. The program supports the development of 
individual projects to advance their career goals and provides 
opportunities to engage in community and educational programming. In 
addition, Harmony Quartets, consisting of Instrumental Fellows and 
rostered NHSO musicians, present free Conflict Resolution Workshops 
which teach communication through a string quartet model, and Song 
Writing programs in New Haven Public Schools. The importance of this 
fellowship is evident by one cello fellow who commutes from Indiana to 
Connecticut. To date, six emerging professionals of color have 
completed their Fellowships, four are currently working with the NHSO, 
and three more fellowships will take place during the grant period.
    Thank you for this opportunity to share a sampling of ways in which 
the National Endowment for the Arts supports orchestras' engagement 
with their communities and the renewal of opportunities for the public 
to experience live music. These grants have made a tremendous 
difference, allowing orchestras to continue providing much-needed 
employment to musicians and staff as they deliver on their missions. We 
applaud the NEA for its consistent strong leadership in promoting 
public engagement with high-quality artistry and for the great empathy 
and understanding it has shown for the urgent needs of arts 
organizations and artists throughout this pandemic and beyond. It is 
our hope that Congress will support an annual appropriations for the 
National Endowment for the Arts of at minimum $201 million for fiscal 
year 2023 so that communities throughout our Nation can look forward to 
deeper engagement with and increased access to the arts.
    The League of American Orchestras leads, supports, and champions 
America's orchestras and the vitality of the music they perform. Its 
diverse membership of more than 1,800 organizations and individuals 
across North America runs the gamut from world-renowned orchestras to 
community groups, from summer festivals to student and youth ensembles, 
from conservatories to libraries, from businesses serving orchestras to 
individuals who love symphonic music. The national organization 
dedicated solely to the orchestral experience, the League is a nexus of 
knowledge and innovation, advocacy, and leadership advancement. Its 
conferences and events, award-winning Symphony magazine, website, and 
other publications inform people around the world about orchestral 
activity and developments. Founded in 1942 and chartered by Congress in 
1962, the League links a national network of thousands of 
instrumentalists, conductors, managers and administrators, board 
members, volunteers, and business partners.

    [This statement was submitted by Simon Woods, President and CEO, 
League of American Orchestras.]
                                 ______
                                 
          Prepared Statement of League of Conservation Voters
    On behalf of Chispa, a grassroots organizing program of the League 
of Conservation Voters (LCV) that engages primarily Latinx communities 
and communities of color, I am pleased to submit this written testimony 
on our funding priorities and requests for Fiscal Year 2023 for the 
Department of Interior (DOI), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 
and related agency budgets. We are extremely thankful for the members' 
continued support of Federal environmental agencies and programs, and 
for recognizing the need for increased funding in your initial fiscal 
Year 2022 budget proposal. We are also very grateful that the 
subcommittee's fiscal Year 2022 budget proposal did not retain long 
standing anti-environmental riders. We were disappointed that the final 
omnibus bill contained these riders, but we thank the subcommittee for 
its strong efforts to oppose them.
    Chispa strongly supports the $44.63 billion topline spending number 
in the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and 
Related Agencies' strong fiscal Year 2022 proposal. Robust funding for 
EPA and DOI ensures these agencies have the capacity to implement the 
programs that are critical to tackling the climate crisis, protecting 
public health, and advancing environmental justice in our communities. 
We urge the subcommittee to push for these funding levels again in 
fiscal Year 2023. We also urge the subcommittee to include the $287 
million from the President's fiscal Year 2022 budget request for 
environmental justice programs at EPA, which support its abilities to 
integrate environmental justice principles across its entire mission 
including clean air, clean water, toxic chemicals, and waste 
management.
    Below are a series of transportation-related programs in your 
subcommittee's jurisdiction that Chispa urges you to support:

  --Zero-Emission School Buses

    --Chispa's Clean Buses for Healthy Ninos program's organizing has 
            found that Latinx communities and other communities of 
            color believe that reducing pollution from school buses 
            should be a top priority. Electrifying school bus fleets is 
            the most practical way to do this, and we urge Congress to 
            fund at least $1.5 billion for the EPA's Clean School Bus 
            Program in fiscal Year 2023, with no less than 40 percent 
            of funding to be used to replace school buses serving low-
            income communities of color, with priority given to zero-
            emission technologies.

  --National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory

    --It is critical that cars and trucks are complying with emissions 
            regulations to protect the health of communities across the 
            country. NVFEL does critical testing and spot checks to 
            ensure that all vehicles sold domestically are meeting 
            current clean air standards. As such, we request the 
            following language for fiscal Year 2023:

      -- ``The Committee strongly supports increased funding for the 
            Federal Vehicle and Fuels Standards and Certification line 
            in the Science and Technology Clean air budget. Additional 
            funding should go to vehicle R&D and enforcement, including 
            increasing the spot testing capabilities of the National 
            Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory.''

  --State and Tribal Assistance Grants (STAG), Categorical Grants

    --Communities living near highways and other busy corridors are 
            disproportionately exposed to air pollution from vehicles. 
            STAG program grants (under Clean Air Act Sections 103 and 
            105) can give members of these communities the tools to 
            monitor and address such air pollution. We request the 
            following language for fiscal Year 2023:

      -- ``The Committee provides $500 million for State and local air 
            quality management grants and at least $33 million for 
            Tribal air quality management grants to allow communities 
            to better monitor and address local air pollution 
            concerns.''

  --EPA Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement

    --Air quality monitoring is central to the EPA's mission, and 
            related programs must be adequately funded to protect the 
            air that we breathe. Therefore, we request that EPA's 
            Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards receive at 
            least $132.35 million in funding for fiscal Year 2023. In 
            order to uphold these standards, we request that the EPA's 
            Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance be funded at 
            $272.71 million, and an additional $132.35 million be 
            funded for environmental justice enforcement.

  --Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) Program

    --Harmful pollution from diesel trucks can lead to a number of 
            breathing and developmental problems. Low-income 
            communities and communities of color are disproportionately 
            exposed to such pollution, and we urge Congress to fund the 
            DERA program at $150 million in fiscal Year 2023 to reduce 
            these impacts.

    [This statement was submitted by Alejandra Ramirez-Zarate, Chispa 
National Campaigns Manager, League of Conservation Voters.]
                                 ______
                                 
    Prepared Statement of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians
Summary of Budget Requests:

    I. Bureau of Indian Affairs--Increase funding for ``New Tribes''
    II. Indian Health Service--Increase funding for Purchased/Referred 
Care
    III. Indian Health Service--Support for Accreditation Emergencies 
Funding

    Greetings Chair Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski, and Honorable 
Members of the subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related 
Agencies. My name is Gerald Gray and I am honored to serve as Chairman 
of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Thank you for the 
opportunity to provide written testimony regarding the Tribe's fiscal 
Year 2023 funding priorities within the subcommittee's jurisdiction.
    Little Shell Tribal members became eligible for services provided 
by the Indian Health Service (``IHS'') and the Bureau of Indian Affairs 
(``BIA'') after enactment of the Little Shell Restoration Act in 
December 2019. Following recognition, these two Federal agencies 
requested specific funding to support Little Shell--essentially setting 
base funding for any future inflationary or appropriated increases. 
Therefore, it is critical to ensure that the initial allocations will 
meet the needs of the newly recognized tribe.
          i. bureau of indian affairs--``new tribes'' funding
    When a Tribe is recognized or restored to Federal recognition, the 
BIA requests additional funding for the newly recognized tribe--``New 
Tribes'' funding. The amount requested customarily becomes the base 
funding for the newly recognized tribe-essentially the amount the Tribe 
will receive every year going forward. ``New Tribes'' funding was 
designed to provide newly acknowledged Tribes with funding and 
assistance in initiating federally funded operations by strengthening 
Tribal government systems. New Tribes \1\ receive assistance under the 
program for 3 years, then funding for those Tribes is transferred to 
the Other Aid to Tribal Government program so that they may begin to 
establish program and funding priorities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The term ``new Tribes'' is meant only to reflect Tribes that 
are in the New Tribes funding line. Tribes cannot be new or created, 
only acknowledged. They have existed since time immemorial.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Prior to Fiscal Year 1997, the amount of ``New Tribes'' funding 
received by newly recognized Tribes varied greatly. New Tribes would 
assess their needs, design or propose operational programs to meet 
their needs, and submit proposed budgets to implement the proposed 
programs. In Fiscal Year 1996 alone, this led to newly recognized 
Tribes receiving amounts as small as $127,000 and as large as $1.492 
million in ``New Tribes'' funding. In fiscal Year 1997, the ``New 
Tribes'' funding methodology was simplified by providing $160,000 in 
base funding for new Tribes with less than 1,500 members and $320,000 
to Tribes with a population of 1,501 to 3,000 members. The funding 
level for new Tribes with more than 3,000 members was to be determined 
on a case- by-case basis.
    In fiscal Year 2011, the population component of the methodology 
was slightly changed moving from 1,500 to 1,700 members for the 
$160,000 base level funding and 1,701 to 3,000 for the $320,000 funding 
level. The funding level for Tribes with over 3,000 members would still 
be determined on a case-by-case basis. This policy appears to have 
remained in place for the six Virginia Tribes recognized by Congress in 
January 2018.
    The Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians, with a Tribal 
membership of approximately 6,200 members, qualifies for the ``case-by-
case'' determination under the BIA's longstanding policy. If the 
funding level for Tribes with 1,701 to 3,000 members is $320,000, that 
equals to a range of $106.66 to $188.12 per Tribal member. According to 
this methodology, the Little Shell Tribe's ``New Tribes'' allocation 
should be in the range of $661,000 to $1.16 million annually. This 
range is well above the $480,000 in ``New Tribes'' funding requested in 
the President's fiscal Year 2023 Budget Request. Even this allocation 
would be smaller than the $1.492 million received by a similarly sized 
new Tribe in 1996--this doesn't even take into account inflation since 
1997.
    It is critically important to provide the Little Shell Tribe with 
adequate ``New Tribes'' funding as it is the Tribe's third and final 
year in the program. The Bureau of Indian Affairs Budget Justifications 
and Performance Information for Fiscal Year 2023 notes that ``Once a 
Tribe has been acknowledged as a federally recognized Tribe, its 
designated funding remains in the New Tribes line item for three fiscal 
years at which time the funding is then base transferred for the Tribe 
to the Aid to Tribal Government line item.''
    Failing to right-size ``New Tribes'' funding in fiscal Year 2023 to 
meet the Little Shell Tribe's population needs creates inequity and 
establishes precedent for future funding allocations. The Little Shell 
Tribal population is more than double that of the second-tier base, yet 
the funding request falls short. More importantly, this is the only 
funding request the BIA made for Little Shell government operations. 
Other Tribes receive additional Tribal Priority Allocation (TPA) 
funding to operate programs such as Human Services, Trust Services, and 
Community and Economic Development. A combination of funding from other 
TPA funding lines represents the full base, or recurring, budget for 
Tribes. However, Little Shell will not receive funding for these 
programs unless there is an increase in the future and only on a 
proportional basis compared to other historic funding values. Little 
Shell's government needs are comparable to other Tribes by population 
and service area, however the BIA's request does not fully evaluate the 
needs of the Tribe or the agency's responsibility.
    The Little Shell Tribe requests that the subcommittee provide, at a 
minimum, $1.16 million in New Tribes funding for fiscal Year 2023.
       ii. indian health service--purchased/referred care funding
    Similar to the BIA, IHS also requests funding specific to newly 
recognized Tribes. In fiscal Year 2021, IHS requested $2.560 million in 
Purchased/Referred Care funding ``to fund direct health care services'' 
for the Little Shell Tribe. IHS received the requested amount in fiscal 
Year 2021 and in fiscal Year 2022 for Little Shell.
    Typically Purchased/Referred Care (``PRC'') is used to purchase 
private care in areas where IHS does not provide services directly or 
when IHS provided care is not sufficient to meet patient needs. 
However, in fiscal Year 2021 the Little Shell Tribe asked and the IHS 
agreed to provide direct service care using the Tribe's PRC allocation, 
as allowed under the PRC regulations. The Little Shell Tribe acquired, 
renovated, and equipped a new health clinic for IHS to provide direct 
care in the four-county service area in late 2021.
    The President's fiscal Year 2023 budget requests $1.2 billion for 
Purchased/Referred Care, which is an increase of $233 million above the 
fiscal Year 2022 enacted level. The President also requested an 
increase of $1 million in ``New Tribes'' funding to support newly 
federally recognized Tribes. The IHS fiscal Year 2023 Congressional 
Justification of Estimates for the Appropriations Committees notes that 
``funding for New Tribes is currently reflected in Purchased/Referred 
Care.'' It further notes that ``final funding will need to be reflected 
in the appropriate Program, Project, or Activity (PPA or budget line) 
when these numbers are identified.''
    It is critical that Congress provide the $233 million increase 
requested for Purchased/Referred Care in the President's fiscal Year 
2023 Budget Request to meet the needs of American Indian and Alaska 
Native patients, including Little Shell patients. Little Shell, like 
other Tribal communities, is still assessing the care needed to treat 
patients recovering from COVID-19 and long-term complications 
associated with the virus.
    IHS has been a good partner in establishing appropriate direct care 
services within the service area in collaboration with Little Shell. 
However, IHS has limited authority to budget appropriated PRC funds to 
reflect common IHS operating lines, such as Hospital and Health Clinic, 
Dental Health, Mental Health, etc. This makes it challenging for 
Congress and Little Shell Tribal leadership to track how and if health 
priorities of the community are met. More importantly, it does not 
accurately capture the Service Unit operational status. The Little 
Shell Tribe also requests that IHS be given the flexibility to create 
operational budgets within the PRC line item that accurately reflect 
day-to-day operations of those facilities like to those of the Little 
Shell Service Unit.
     iii. indian health service--accreditation emergencies funding
    Finally, Little Shell requests support for the Accreditation 
Emergencies Funding. While Little Shell Service Unit is in operation, 
it has not yet gone through the accreditation process. There are no 
existing concerns for patient safety or operational concerns, however 
Little Shell acknowledges that accreditation ensures that regular 
safety protocol and standard operating procedures are observed by all 
staff. Access to these funds would ensure that the Little Shell Service 
Unit provides the highest standard of care.

    [This statement was submitted by Gerald Gray, Chairman, Little 
Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians.]
                                 ______
                                 
                  Prepared Statement of Methane Action
    In this testimony, Methane Action, a not for profit organization, 
summarizes its detailed recommendations \1\ for removing methane and 
other major greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and beginning the 
governance of these methods. These recommendations are from scientists, 
lawyers, economists and engineers with expertise in the rapidly 
evolving science and policy of methane removal.\2\ The world must 
rapidly reduce emissions, of potent short-lived climate pollutants 
(SLCPs)\3\ such as methane, which is over 80 times more powerful than 
CO2 in its impact period of 20 years. Methane is now at twice its 
preindustrial levels in the atmosphere and rising every year, and a 
burst of methane could erupt at any time from the melting permafrost 
and shallow waters off Siberia. Therefore, we must develop and deploy 
methods of converting or removing methane and other ``SLCPs'' 
responsibly and soon.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Which we have provided to your staff under the title ``Catalog 
of Research Needs''.
    \2\ (See, E.g., scientists' letter of April 2021 at 
MethaneAction.org).
    \3\ Mitigating climate disruption in time: A self-consistent 
approach for avoiding both near-term and long-term global warming. 
Dreyfus, G. B., Xu, Y., Shindell, D. T., Zaelke, D., & Ramanathan, V. 
(2022). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(22), 
e2123536119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2123536119
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    This subcommittee has the power to take the lead. We recommend that 
you include in your FY23 bill the language below to create a Climate 
Restoration Program and that your Committee Report include descriptions 
of the removal methods below to guide the EPA, though the agency could 
adjust the details. To come within your Sec. 302(b) allocation, you 
could reduce the amounts appropriated for grazing on public lands and 
for harvesting mature forests on public lands by an amount equal to the 
budget enhancement for the Climate Restoration Program.

Suggested Bill Language:
                    environmental protection agency
                         science and technology
    After adding $34,800,000 to the section total, insert: ``Of the 
funds included under this heading, no less than $34,800,000 shall be 
allocated for the establishment of a Climate Restoration Program 
beginning with the research, development and assessment of methods of 
removing and oxidizing or otherwise destroying methane, including the 
co-removal of methane and other greenhouse gases by filters, oxidation, 
photocatalysis and bacterial action from both near sources and the 
ambient atmosphere as further described in the report accompanying this 
act.''
    Suggested Committee Report Language: Several of the following 
Climate Restoration research programs could cover more than 1 year with 
contracts or grants committed or obligated in FY23. These examples are 
illustrative and not meant to be definitive or exhaustive. All are 
expected to be cost-effective. For comparing the cost of removing 
methane and other climate-forcing gases, the term ``CO2 equivalent'' 
(CO2-eq) refers to removing an amount of the gas that has global 
warming potential equivalent to an equal amount of CO2.
    1. Zeolite surfaces. Zeolites are porous, high surface area 
alumina-silicate minerals whose ability to adsorb CO2 is known. The 
methane-oxidizing catalysts copper (Cu)- and iron (Fe)-zeolites have 
recently been shown to oxidize methane.\4\ Scientists have screened 
almost 100,000 zeolite structures as potential methane sorbents. 
Relatively low-temperature methane oxidation has already been shown in 
zeolites such as Cu-ZSM-5 (copper) and Fe-ZSM-5 (iron), with iron 
zeolites able to oxidize methane at room temperature. Higher 
temperatures and pressures generally lead to greater conversion 
efficiencies. Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology (MIT) are both developing versions. (MIT's research is 
partially funded to date by DOE/ARPA-E). Cost effectiveness: Target of 
$50-100 per metric ton of CO2-eq.                                        
            Funds needed: $1,000,000
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ Methane removal and atmospheric restoration. Jackson, R. B., 
Solomon, E. I., Canadell, J. G., Cargnello, M., & Field, C. B. (2019). 
Nature Sustainability, 2(6), 436-438. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-
019-0299-x; Atmospheric- and Low-Level Methane Abatement via an Earth-
Abundant Catalyst. Rebecca J. Brenneis, Eric P. Johnson, Wenbo Shi, and 
Desiree L. Plata, 29 December 2021, ACS Environment Au. https://
doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.1c00034
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    2. Photocatalytic surfaces (small scale urban solar chimneys). 
Photocatalysts are metal oxide minerals which, when activated by 
sunlight or by artificial UV-light, are able to oxidize organic 
pollutants and greenhouse gases at room temperature.\5\ The smaller the 
size of the nanoparticles, and the larger the surface area and 
porosity, the faster the oxidation rate. Several are proven to fully 
oxidize methane, such as modified zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. 
Trials would be conducted on the ventilation system of an agricultural 
facility for cattle. Then a prototype would be tested on a landfill. 
Cost effectiveness: Estimate of $166 per metric ton of CO2-eq by 2030 
with a target of $100 by 2040.                              Funds 
needed: $5,500,000
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ The comprehensive performance analysis on a novel high-
performance air-purification-sterilization type PV-Trombe wall. Yu, B., 
Li, N., Yan, C., et al. (2022). Renewable Energy, 182, 1201-1218. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2021.11.029; A new double-skin facade 
system integrated with TiO2 plates for decomposing BTEX. Building and 
Environment, 180, 107037. Li, H., Zhong, K., & Zhai, Z. J. (2020). 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.107037
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    3. Photocatalytic large-scale solar chimneys and solar chimney 
power plants. Large solar chimneys can be built to cause heated air to 
updraft, which provides flowing air that can generate electricity 
through a turbine, comparable to a wind turbine.\6\ The structure and 
coatings on the solar chimney allow flowing air to be cleansed of 
methane and other GHGs via photocatalytic coatings or other methods. 
Cost effectiveness, as in 2 above.                                      
          $3,000,000
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ Removal of non-CO2 greenhouse gases by large-scale atmospheric 
solar photocatalysis. De Richter, R., Ming, T., Davies, P., Liu, W., & 
Caillol, S. (2017). Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 60, 68-
96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pecs.2017.01.001; Ming, Tingzhen, et al. 
``Solar chimney power plant integrated with a photocatalytic reactor to 
remove atmospheric methane: A numerical analysis.'' Solar Energy 226 
(2021): 101-111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2021.08.024
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    4. Iron salt aerosols demonstration phase. Many ships burn low-cost 
bunker fuels that contain metals including iron that may have the 
favorable side effect of enhancing the naturally occurring chlorine 
atom oxidation of methane.\7\ The mix of particle-phase iron, sunshine, 
and sea spray (containing natural chloride) generates chlorine atoms 
that oxidize methane in the ship's plume. University researchers are 
prepared to demonstrate this mechanism using a combination of 
laboratory experiment, reaction system modeling, large scale prototype, 
and field observations. After appropriate assessment, consultation, 
permitting and governance, practitioners could potentially harness its 
power to control methane at scale, in order to substantially reduce 
global atmospheric methane concentrations. This approach would take 
advantage of shipping traffic and the large volumes of air that are in 
contact with diluted ship plumes. Cost-effectiveness: Potentially below 
$9 per metric ton of CO2-eq. Full environmental impact assessment 
should be completed. Methane Action has had a template for such 
assessments prepared by an independent consultant. 
                                                      Funds needed: 
$3,500,000
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\ A nature-based negative emissions technology able to remove 
atmospheric methane and other greenhouse gases. Ming, T., de Richter, 
R., Oeste, F. D., Tulip, R., & Caillol, S. (2021). Atmospheric 
Pollution Research, 12(5), 101035. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.apr.2021.02.017; Wittmer, J., & Zetzsch, C. (2017). Photochemical 
activation of chlorine by iron-oxide aerosol. Journal of Atmospheric 
Chemistry, 74(2), 187-204. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10874-016-9336-6
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    5. Chlorine based photochemical removal at point sources. This 
method generates methane-oxidizing chlorine atoms using low-cost light 
sources and recycles the chlorine within a closed reactor. Cost-
effectiveness: Modeling based on power requirement results in a price 
of $9 per ton of CO2-eq. Funding needed: $2 million for a prototype to 
test at livestock barns and a coal mine vent. Funds needed: $2,000,000

    (See detailed Catalog of Research Needs sent to subcommittee staff 
for items 6-10 and 16.)

    11. Surface-based Photocatalytic Enhanced Methane Oxidation 
(SPEMO). Given the environmental justice and public health co-benefits 
of this approach that would reduce ground level ozone pollution as 
well, the Committee expects the EPA, in cooperation with the 
Secretaries of Interior and State, and USAID, to contract for research 
and development of SPEMO to lower methane emissions from coal mines, 
oil wells and animal farms, and apply photocatalytic coating to 
buildings, windows, rooftops, and photovoltaic panels, or in a 
ventilated conduit to reduce methane in the atmosphere as a complement 
to commercial photocatalytic coatings already being used because of 
their self-cleaning property and ability to reduce urban pollution such 
as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.                      
                                                                         
       Funds needed: $3,000,000
    12. Capturing methane at Arctic seeps-Field Test. The U.S. start-up 
Frost Methane is successfully using recycled parachutes to capture and 
flare methane from seeps in Arctic lakes. Through collaboration with a 
large dredging company, develop and test a low-cost structure made of 
stones and sand that can capture methane seeps in the Arctic Ocean 
(especially in the shallow parts of the Siberian Sea). A typical 
project covers a circular field of 200-meter diameter, guiding the 
methane to an exit point where the gas is captured and flared. Cost-
range: Using seep emission of 176 g/m2/day, estimate of cost: $6.7-$25/
ton CO2-eq. To furhter test the concept at a reserach facility and 
create a plan for additional field testing:                              
                                                                         
        Funds needed: $100,000
    13. Agricultural and silvicultural methane removal while enhancing 
production and nutrition. In cooperation with USDA, the Committee 
expects the EPA to contract for an evaluation of methane and other 
greenhouse gases sequestration, uptake, oxidation and other long-term 
removal methods in agricultural and forestry, including, but not 
limited to, the methods described below: a) Rice-With a goal of cutting 
methane emissions from rice cultivation in half and enhancing plant 
growth, contract in fiscal Year 2023 for a test of the methane removal 
impact of various additives to rice, including iron sulfates, already 
approved for organic farming to enhance yields, fight plant chlorosis, 
and improve the nutritional value of rice by enhancing iron levels in 
conjunction with other changes in rice farming practice such as 
targeting the flooding of fields more efficiently. The production of 
rice, a basic staple for nearly half the world population, produces 
about 8 percent of global methane emissions and 2.5 percent of 
radiative forcing, and these are expected to double by 2100. b) 
Livestock-Methods of reducing the emissions of methane from cows, sheep 
and other livestock range from adding food supplements made of red 
seaweed (U.S.) to planting native plants that reduce methane generation 
in sheep that graze on those plants (France). Active methane removal 
from livestock barns and coalmines is to be tested in Denmark. We 
expect the EPA to conduct a broad livestock methane reduction and 
removal research and demonstration program in cooperation with relevant 
agencies.                       Funds needed: $7,000,000
    14. Methane mitigation via wetlands management. Wetlands are 31 
percent of total methane emissions. In cooperation with USDA and the 
Army Corps of Engineers, the EPA is expected to contract for an 
investigation of relative wetland emissions of methane, through field 
surveys and laboratory experiments, to determine how alternative 
management practices could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and restore 
natural ecosystems.                                           
$1,500,000
    15. Comprehensive assessment of atmospheric methane sources, sinks 
and solutions. The Committee expects the EPA, in consultation with the 
Secretary of State, to report to the Committees of authorizing, 
appropriations, and oversight jurisdiction by July 1, 2024, (1) an 
assessment of the size and changes in global emissions and sinks of 
methane; (2) an analysis of the likely impact of atmospheric methane on 
climate change and other problems; (3) a review of each major source 
and sink to determine what options are available to affect their 
impact; (4) a review of promising, and currently practicable, 
technologies, programs, policy and regulatory changes to reduce 
atmospheric methane levels, by emissions reduction or removal, and for 
each proposed technology or policy change, their readiness, likelihood 
of success, barriers, cost-effectiveness, and co-benefit analysis; and 
(5) national and global plans for atmospheric reduction and removal 
with goals and recommendations, and regulatory and land management 
options.               Funds needed: $2,000,000
    17. Establish Governance of GHG removal methods. The Committee 
expects the Administrator of the EPA, in cooperation with the Secretary 
of State and the U.S. Trade Representative, to pursue a Methane 
Declaration to support the assessment, deployment and governance of 
methods of restoring the climate by reducing atmospheric methane and 
other climate forcing agents to historically healthy levels. The 
Declaration should be implemented in support of, but not necessarily 
under, the UNFCCC and its protocols and accords, other conservation and 
trade agreements, and United Nations' offices.                          
  Funds needed: $5,000,000

    [This statement was submitted by John Fitzgerald, Methane Action.]
                                 ______
                                 
    Prepared Statement of Methane Action and Remineralize the Earth
    In this testimony, Methane Action and Remineralize the Earth, not 
for profit organizations, summarize our detailed recommendations \1\ 
for removing methane and other major greenhouse gases from the 
atmosphere and beginning the governance of these methods. These 
recommendations are from scientists, lawyers, economists and engineers 
with expertise in the rapidly evolving science and policy of methane 
removal.\2\ The world must rapidly reduce emissions, of potent short-
lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) \3\ such as methane, which is over 80 
times more powerful than CO2 in its impact period of 20 years. Methane 
is now at twice its preindustrial levels in the atmosphere and rising 
every year, and a burst of methane could erupt at any time from the 
melting permafrost and shallow waters off Siberia. Therefore, we must 
develop and deploy methods of converting or removing methane and other 
``SLCPs'' responsibly and soon.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ We have provided, e.g., a memo to your staff under the title 
``Catalog of Research Needs''.
    \2\ (See, E.g., scientists' letter of April 2021 at 
MethaneAction.org).
    \3\ Mitigating climate disruption in time: A self-consistent 
approach for avoiding both near-term and long-term global warming. 
Dreyfus, G. B., Xu, Y., Shindell, D. T., Zaelke, D., & Ramanathan, V. 
(2022). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(22), 
e2123536119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2123536119
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    This subcommittee has the power to take the lead. We recommend that 
you include in your FY23 bill the language below to create a Climate 
Restoration Program and that your Committee Report include descriptions 
of the removal methods below to guide the EPA, though the agency could 
adjust the details. To come within your Sec. 302(b) allocation, you 
could reduce the amounts appropriated for grazing on public lands and 
for harvesting mature forests on public lands by an amount equal to the 
budget enhancement for the Climate Restoration Program.

Suggested Bill Language:

                    environmental protection agency
                         science and technology
    After adding $34,800,000 to the section total, insert: ``Of the 
funds included under this heading, no less than $34,800,000 shall be 
allocated for the establishment of a Climate Restoration Program 
beginning with the research, development, assessment and deployment of 
methods for the long term removal, oxidizing or destroying methane and 
other greenhouse gases both near and far from their sources, including 
but not limited to, filters, oxidation, photocatalysis, bacterial 
action, enhanced rock weathering, and regenerative agriculture to 
improve soil health and carbon drawdown, as further described in the 
report accompanying this act.''
    Suggested Committee Report Language: Several of the following 
Climate Restoration research programs could cover more than 1 year with 
contracts or grants committed or obligated in FY23. These examples are 
illustrative and not meant to be definitive or exhaustive. All are 
expected to be cost-effective. For comparing the cost of removing 
methane and other climate-forcing gases, the term ``CO2 equivalent'' 
(CO2-eq) refers to removing an amount of the gas that has global 
warming potential equivalent to an equal amount of CO2.
    1. Zeolite surfaces. Zeolites are porous, high surface area 
alumina-silicate minerals whose ability to adsorb CO2 is known. The 
methane-oxidizing catalysts copper (Cu)- and iron (Fe)-zeolites have 
recently been shown to oxidize methane.\4\ Scientists have screened 
almost 100,000 zeolite structures as potential methane sorbents. 
Relatively low-temperature methane oxidation has already been shown in 
zeolites such as Cu-ZSM-5 (copper) and Fe-ZSM-5 (iron), with iron 
zeolites able to oxidize methane at room temperature. Higher 
temperatures and pressures generally lead to greater conversion 
efficiencies. Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology (MIT) are both developing versions. (MIT's research is 
partially funded to date by DOE/ARPA-E). Cost effectiveness: Target of 
$50-100 per metric ton of CO2-eq.                                       
              Funds needed: $1,000,000
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ Methane removal and atmospheric restoration. Jackson, R. B., 
Solomon, E. I., Canadell, J. G., Cargnello, M., & Field, C. B. (2019). 
Nature Sustainability, 2(6), 436-438. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-
019-0299-x; Atmospheric- and Low-Level Methane Abatement via an Earth-
Abundant Catalyst. Rebecca J. Brenneis, Eric P. Johnson, Wenbo Shi, and 
Desiree L. Plata, 29 December 2021, ACS Environment Au. https://
doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.1c00034
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    2. Photocatalytic surfaces (small scale urban solar chimneys). 
Photocatalysts are metal oxide minerals which, when activated by 
sunlight or by artificial UV-light, are able to oxidize organic 
pollutants and greenhouse gases at room temperature.\5\ The smaller the 
size of the nanoparticles, and the larger the surface area and 
porosity, the faster the oxidation rate. Several are proven to fully 
oxidize methane, such as modified zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. 
Trials would be conducted on the ventilation system of an agricultural 
facility for cattle. Then a prototype would be tested on a landfill. 
Cost effectiveness: Estimate of $166 per metric ton of CO2-eq by 2030 
with a target of $100 by 2040.                               Funds 
needed: $5,500,000
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ The comprehensive performance analysis on a novel high-
performance air-purification-sterilization type PV-Trombe wall. Yu, B., 
Li, N., Yan, C., et al. (2022). Renewable Energy, 182, 1201-1218. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2021.11.029; A new double-skin facade 
system integrated with TiO2 plates for decomposing BTEX. Building and 
Environment, 180, 107037. Li, H., Zhong, K., & Zhai, Z. J. (2020). 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.107037
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    3. Photocatalytic large-scale solar chimneys and solar chimney 
power plants. Large solar chimneys can be built to cause heated air to 
updraft, which provides flowing air that can generate electricity 
through a turbine, comparable to a wind turbine.\6\ The structure and 
coatings on the solar chimney allow flowing air to be cleansed of 
methane and other GHGs via photocatalytic coatings or other methods. 
Cost effectiveness, as in 2 above.                                       
          $3,000,000
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ Removal of non-CO2 greenhouse gases by large-scale atmospheric 
solar photocatalysis. De Richter, R., Ming, T., Davies, P., Liu, W., & 
Caillol, S. (2017). Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 60, 68-
96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pecs.2017.01.001; Ming, Tingzhen, et al. 
``Solar chimney power plant integrated with a photocatalytic reactor to 
remove atmospheric methane: A numerical analysis.'' Solar Energy 226 
(2021): 101-111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2021.08.024
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    4. Iron salt aerosols demonstration phase. Many ships burn low-cost 
bunker fuels that contain metals including iron that may have the 
favorable side effect of enhancing the naturally occurring chlorine 
atom oxidation of methane.\7\ The mix of particle-phase iron, sunshine, 
and sea spray (containing natural chloride) generates chlorine atoms 
that oxidize methane in the ship's plume. University researchers are 
prepared to demonstrate this mechanism using a combination of 
laboratory experiment, reaction system modeling, large scale prototype, 
and field observations. After appropriate assessment, consultation, 
permitting and governance, practitioners could potentially harness its 
power to control methane at scale, in order to substantially reduce 
global atmospheric methane concentrations. This approach would take 
advantage of shipping traffic and the large volumes of air that are in 
contact with diluted ship plumes. Cost-effectiveness: Potentially below 
$9 per metric ton of CO2-eq. Full environmental impact assessment 
should be completed. Methane Action has had a template for such 
assessments prepared by an independent consultant.
                                                                         
                                                     Funds needed: 
                                                $3,500,000
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\ A nature-based negative emissions technology able to remove 
atmospheric methane and other greenhouse gases. Ming, T., de Richter, 
R., Oeste, F. D., Tulip, R., & Caillol, S. (2021). Atmospheric 
Pollution Research, 12(5), 101035. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.apr.2021.02.017; Wittmer, J., & Zetzsch, C. (2017). Photochemical 
activation of chlorine by iron-oxide aerosol. Journal of Atmospheric 
Chemistry, 74(2), 187-204. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10874-016-9336-6
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    5. Chlorine based photochemical removal at point sources. This 
method generates methane-oxidizing chlorine atoms using low-cost light 
sources and recycles the chlorine within a closed reactor. Cost-
effectiveness: Modeling based on power requirement results in a price 
of $9 per ton of CO2-eq. Funding needed: $2 million for a prototype to 
test at livestock barns and a coal mine vent. Funds needed: $2,000,000

(See detailed Catalog of Research Needs sent to subcommittee staff for 
        items 6-10 and 16.)

    11. Surface-based Photocatalytic Enhanced Methane Oxidation 
(SPEMO). Given the environmental justice and public health co-benefits 
of this approach that would reduce ground level ozone pollution as 
well, the Committee expects the EPA, in cooperation with the 
Secretaries of Interior and State, and USAID, to contract for research 
and development of SPEMO to lower methane emissions from coal mines, 
oil wells and animal farms, and apply photocatalytic coating to 
buildings, windows, rooftops, and photovoltaic panels, or in a 
ventilated conduit to reduce methane in the atmosphere as a complement 
to commercial photocatalytic coatings already being used because of 
their self-cleaning property and ability to reduce urban pollution such 
as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.
                                                      Funds needed: 
$3,000,000
    12. Capturing methane at Arctic seeps-Field Test. The U.S. start-up 
Frost Methane is successfully using recycled parachutes to capture and 
flare methane from seeps in Arctic lakes. Through collaboration with a 
large dredging company, develop and test a low-cost structure made of 
stones and sand that can capture methane seeps in the Arctic Ocean 
(especially in the shallow parts of the Siberian Sea). A typical 
project covers a circular field of 200-meter diameter, guiding the 
methane to an exit point where the gas is captured and flared. Cost-
range: Using seep emission of 176 g/m2/day, estimate of cost: $6.7-$25/
ton CO2-eq. Broad field-testing would require a larger budget but this 
step would measure the results at a research facility and plan the 
broader field tests.                               Funds needed: 
$100,000
    13. Agricultural and silvicultural methane removal while enhancing 
production and nutrition. In cooperation with USDA, the Committee 
expects the EPA to contract for an evaluation of methane and other 
greenhouse gases sequestration, uptake, oxidation and other long-term 
removal methods in agricultural and forestry, including, but not 
limited to, the methods described below: a) Rice-With a goal of cutting 
methane emissions from rice cultivation in half and enhancing plant 
growth, contract in fiscal Year 2023 for a test of the methane removal 
impact of various additives to rice, including iron sulfates, already 
approved for organic farming to enhance yields, fight plant chlorosis, 
and improve the nutritional value of rice by enhancing iron levels in 
conjunction with other changes in rice farming practice such as 
targeting the flooding of fields more efficiently. The production of 
rice, a basic staple for nearly half the world population, produces 
about 8 percent of global methane emissions and 2.5 percent of 
radiative forcing, and these are expected to double by 2100. b) 
Livestock-Methods of reducing the emissions of methane from cows, sheep 
and other livestock range from adding food supplements made of red 
seaweed (U.S.) to planting native plants that reduce methane generation 
in sheep that graze on those plants (France). Active methane removal 
from livestock barns and coalmines is to be tested in Denmark. We 
expect the EPA to conduct a broad livestock methane reduction and 
removal research and demonstration program in cooperation with relevant 
agencies.                        Funds needed: $7,000,000
    14. Methane mitigation via wetlands management. Wetlands are 31 
percent of total methane emissions. In cooperation with USDA and the 
Army Corps of Engineers, the EPA is expected to contract for an 
investigation of relative wetland emissions of methane, through field 
surveys and laboratory experiments, to determine how alternative 
management practices could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and restore 
natural ecosystems.                                           
$1,500,000
    15. Comprehensive assessment of atmospheric methane sources, sinks 
and solutions. The Committee expects the EPA, in consultation with the 
Secretary of State, to report to the Committees of jurisdiction by July 
1, 2024, (1) an assessment of the size and changes in global emissions 
and sinks of methane; (2) an analysis of the likely impact of 
atmospheric methane on climate change and other problems; (3) a review 
of each major source and sink to determine options to affect their 
impact; (4) a review of promising, and currently practicable, 
technologies, programs, policy and regulatory changes to reduce 
atmospheric methane levels, by emissions reduction or removal, and for 
each proposed technology or policy change, their readiness, likelihood 
of success, barriers, cost-effectiveness, and co-benefit analysis; and 
(5) national and global plans for atmospheric reduction and removal 
with goals, recommendations, and regulatory and land management 
options.          $2,000,000
    17. Establish Governance of GHG removal methods. The Committee 
expects the Administrator of the EPA, in cooperation with the Secretary 
of State and the U.S. Trade Representative, to pursue a Methane 
Declaration to support the assessment, deployment and governance of 
methods of restoring the climate by reducing atmospheric methane and 
other climate forcing agents to historically healthy levels. The 
Declaration should be implemented in support of, but not necessarily 
under, the UNFCCC and its protocols and accords, other conservation and 
trade agreements, and United Nations' offices.                           
  Funds needed: $5,000,000

    [This statement was submitted by John Fitzgerald, Methane Action.]
                                 ______
                                 
           Prepared Statement of Metlakatla Indian Community
Recommendations:

    1. Support increased overall funding for the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs (BIA)

    2. Provide full funding and advance appropriations for the Indian 
Health Service (IHS)

    3. Ensure that mandatory funding for Contract Support Costs and 
105(l) lease payments

    4. Amend Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act 
(ISDEAA) to Clarify CSC provisions

    5. Fund Critical Infrastructure investments for the Indian health 
system (IHS)

    6. Increase funding and authorize a self-governance funding 
mechanism option for the Special Diabetes Program for Indians (IHS)

    7. Support for Tribal Hatcheries at the Bureau of Indian Affairs 
(BIA)

    8. Support for U.S. Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty (BIA)

    9. Support for Tribal Court Assistance for Tribes Subject to PL 83-
280 (BIA)

    10. Support Funding to Address the Impacts of Climate Change (BIA)

    11. Reduce dependence on competitive grants for Indian Country (all 
agencies)

    Introduction. Thank you Chairperson Merkley, Ranking Member 
Murkowski, and Members of the subcommittee for the opportunity to share 
our funding priorities for the fiscal Year 2023 Federal budget. The 
Metlakatla Indian Community (MIC) is located on the Annette Islands 
Reserve in southeast Alaska, a land base of 87,000 acres which includes 
significant fish and forestry resources. Through our Annette Island 
Service Unit we provide primary health services at our outpatient 
facility through funding from the IHS as a co-signer to the Alaska 
Tribal Health Compact under ISDEAA. The following testimony provides 
recommendations on fiscal Year 2023 BIA and IHS priorities.
                     increased funding for the bia
    Operation of Indian Programs. In fiscal Year 2023, we recommend a 
substantial increase for the Operation of Indian Programs at BIA. This 
base funding is critical in the functioning of our government and our 
survival as a Tribal Nation. As noted by the National Congress of 
American Indians ``Tribal nations are resilient and have demonstrated 
their resolve and dedication since time immemorial, yet are uniquely 
reliant on their Federal partner to fulfill the promises made in 
exchange for the land that created the foundation of the United 
States.'' \1\ These funds are essential as they provide for social 
services, law enforcement, court services, child care services, public 
health and safety, and other essential government functions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ National Congress of American Indians. ``Restoring Promises; 
Indian Country fiscal Year 2022 Budget Request,'' p. 25. Accessed at: 
https://www.ncai.org/resources/ncai-publications/
NCAI_IndianCountry_Fiscal year 2022_BudgetRequest.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Unfortunately, year after year, we experience large funding 
shortfalls across all BIA-funded programs, causing government services 
in our community to constantly depend on an inconsistent patchwork of 
Federal funding. For example, we have been forced to choose between 
meeting water quality standards or providing scholarships to our 
students. In some cases, these shortfalls force us to cut services 
altogether. The programs that have been impacted are realty, higher 
education, Tribal scholarships, social services, and limiting services 
from the fire department. What has been made clearly evident from the 
additional funding made available from the COVID-19 pandemic, is that 
these programs remain critically underfunded, even with the increased 
funding. We appreciate the Biden Administration's request to fund the 
BIA at $2.8 billion in fiscal Year 2023, which is $1 billion above the 
fiscal Year 2022 enacted level. We urge you to support this important 
funding as you craft your fiscal Year 2023 appropriations bill.
    Additionally, we request, that BIA appropriations be funded on an 
advance appropriations cycle. It has sadly become the norm that the 
Tribe does not receive its full yearly appropriation until several 
months (sometimes longer) after the start of the fiscal year. These 
funding delays make it impossible for the Tribe to plan and manage 
their annual budgets. Congress recognized these challenges when it 
provided the Veterans Administration with advance appropriations over a 
decade ago. The practical implication of this, is that the Tribe does 
not have the ability to plan our finances even weeks ahead due to the 
uncertainty as to the level of funding. It is nearly impossible to 
Tribes to plan, grow or achieve self-sufficiency. Full advance 
appropriations for the BIA would lead to better stability for Tribal 
self-governance, reduce dependence on uncertain grant funding, and 
improve practices over all.
                   improving the indian health system
    We have been grateful that IHS has received significant 
supplementary appropriations to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Those 
dollars have been critical in ensuring that we had the means to serve 
our patients and fight this deadly disease. Annual appropriations are 
essential to this effort and in fulfilling the Federal Government's 
trust and treaty obligations by ensuring critical programs and services 
receive adequate funding to fulfill their intended purpose. To further 
these goals, we support the IHS Tribal Budget Formulation Workgroup 
calculated the need $49.8 billion for full funding in fiscal Year 2023.
    Support for Mandatory and Advance Appropriations for IHS: We 
appreciate the Biden Administration's proposal to provide mandatory 
funding for IHS and increase funding over 10 years. Reclassifying the 
IHS budget as mandatory spending not only reflects the nature of the 
trust and treaty obligations to Tribal Nations, but also will allow IHS 
to be funded at a level that is necessary for providing health care to 
AI/ANs. As noted in the President's budget request, ``Mandatory funding 
for the IHS provides the opportunity for significant funding increases 
that could not be achieved under discretionary funding caps.'' \\\2\ 
The proposal outlined in the President's Budget request is a good 
start, but must be developed in partnership with Tribal Nations. We 
stand ready to work with you and IHS to further develop this proposal 
so that it provides adequate funding for IHS and fully honors Tribal 
self-determination and self-governance.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ Department of Health and Human Services, Fiscal Year 2023, 
Indian Health Service, Justification of Estimates for Appropriations 
Committees, p. CJ-3.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    However, if full mandatory appropriations cannot be achieved for 
fiscal Year 2023, we continue to support IHS advance appropriations for 
the short term. For many years, Tribes have requested that IHS 
appropriations be funded on an advance appropriations cycle. It has 
unfortunately become the norm that IHS does not receive its full yearly 
appropriation until several months (sometimes longer) after the start 
of the fiscal year. These funding delays make it impossible for IHS and 
Tribal health programs to plan and manage their annual budgets. Yet, 
IHS still waits for parity. fiscal Year 2022 was almost halfway over 
before we received the full appropriation. The practical implication of 
this is that our health systems do not have the ability to plan our 
finances even weeks ahead, as we do not know what our funding level 
will be. At a time when we are desperate for medical professionals and 
when the health system is in crisis due to the global pandemic, this is 
just unacceptable. Full advance appropriations for the IHS would lead 
to better stability for our health system, improve provider recruitment 
and retention, and improve practices over all.
    We urge the Committee to take the necessary steps in the fiscal 
Year 2023 appropriations bill to move/continue IHS to an advance 
appropriation for fiscal Year 2023 and beyond if full mandatory funding 
for IHS cannot be achieved.
    Fully fund critical infrastructure investments: As Congress 
considers making dramatic investments in the country's infrastructure, 
it is critical that the Indian health system not get left behind. 
Therefore, we request that the subcommittee allocate funding for full 
implementation of interoperable Electronic Health Records (EHR) and 
tele-health. For Tribes and Tribal health organizations who have 
committed their own resources to move away from RPMS and making their 
systems functional, IHS should take this into consideration with any 
new resources and ensure these programs are not only interoperable, but 
compensated accordingly. It is critical that Congress make significant 
investments in Tribal health facilities construction. IHS and Tribal 
facilities are some of the oldest in the Nation. Therefore, consistent 
with the Budget Formulation Workgroup's request, we recommend $10.6 
billion for facilities in fiscal Year 2023.
    Mandatory Funding for Contract Support Costs and 105(l) lease 
payments: If Congress is not able to enact full mandatory funding for 
IHS this year, we continue to support mandatory funding for Contract 
Support Costs (CSC) and 105(l) leases at both IHS and BIA. We 
appreciate the subcommittee's commitment to ensuring that CSC and 
105(l) lease costs are fully funded by including an indefinite 
discretionary appropriation in recent years for both of these accounts. 
However, changing these accounts to mandatory appropriations in fiscal 
Year 2023 would bring appropriations process into line with the clear 
legal requirements of the authorizing statute. CSC and 105(l) lease 
funds are already an entitlement under substantive law for the ISDEAA 
to function as intended by Congress. It is contradictory and 
problematic to appropriate funding for CSC on a discretionary basis. A 
simple amendment to a permanent appropriations statute could solve this 
challenge.
    Amend Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act to 
Clarify CSC provisions: We also request that the committee consider 
amending the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act 
(ISDEAA) to clarify that when agency funding paid to a Tribe for 
program operations is insufficient for contract and compact 
administration, contract support costs will remain available to cover 
the difference. In the recent court decision Cook Inlet Tribal Council, 
Inc. v. Dotomain,\3\ a Federal appeals court held that costs for 
activities normally carried out by IHS are ineligible for payment as 
CSC-even if IHS transfers insufficient, or even no, funding for these 
activities in the Secretarial amount. Under this new ruling, if 
facility costs are higher for a Tribe than for IHS, the Tribe is forced 
to cover the difference by diverting scarce program dollars. Recently, 
this serious misinterpretation of the ISDEAA that has been applied to 
one Tribal organization resulting in a 90 percent reduction of contract 
support costs reimbursement threatens Tribal self-governance and self-
determination. Therefore, we call upon Congress to provide a 
legislative fix to clarify the intent on Congress for this matter, and 
ensure consistency with precedent.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc. v. Dotomain, 10 F.4th 892 (D.C. 
Cir. 2021).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Extend Self-Governance Funding Options to the Special Diabetes 
Program for Indians (SDPI) and increase funding to $250 million/year. 
SDPI's success rests in the flexibility of its program structure that 
allows for the incorporation of culture and local needs into its 
services. Congress should authorize SDPI participants the option of 
receiving their Federal funds through either a grant (as currently 
used) or self-governance funding mechanisms under ISDEAA. Additionally, 
SDPI has not had an increase in funding since fiscal Year 2004. We 
recommend permanent reauthorization for SDPI at a minimum of $250 
million per year with annual adjustments for inflationary increases. 
Therefore, we urge you to work with your Congressional colleagues to 
ensure that SDPI receives a funding increase of at least $250 million 
per year.
    Tribal Hatcheries. We deeply appreciate the increase for the Fish, 
Wildlife, and Parks sub-activity within the BIA Trust-Natural Resources 
Management budget in fiscal Year 2022 and are asking the subcommittees 
to continue increased funding levels fiscal Year 2023. We appreciate 
the increase proposed by the Biden Administration and the $4 million 
proposed for support for associated hatching, rearing and stocking 
programs.
                           other bia funding
    U.S./Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty. The Pacific Salmon Treaty was 
negotiated between the U.S. and Canada in 1985 to prevent overfishing 
and provide optimum production and fair sharing of the salmon harvest. 
In the Department of Interior's budget, this funding is appropriated 
through the BIA Trust-Natural Resources Rights Protection 
Implementation sub-activity and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's 
Pacific Marine Fisheries Commission. We thank you for the 
subcommittee's continued support for this program in fiscal Year 2022, 
and encourage further investments to in fiscal Year 2023. The Biden 
Administration has requested $6.5 million for this activity in fiscal 
Year 2023.
    Tribal Court Assistance for Tribes Subject to Public Law 83-280. We 
deeply appreciate the much-needed support for Tribes who are affected 
by Public Law 83-280. We are grateful for both the increased 
appropriations directed to the BIA Public Safety and Justice Law 
Enforcement-Tribal Justice Support program element and the helpful 
report language provided in fiscal Year 2021 Senate Appropriations 
Committee report 116-123. We appreciate the $4 million increase for 
this program in fiscal Year 2022 and ask that the subcommittees 
continue to include PL 280-specific funding under this program element 
and continue to direct the BIA in fiscal Year 2023.
    Increased Funding to Address the Impacts of Climate Change. Like 
many Tribal communities we continue to be impacted by the growing 
challenge of climate change. We thank the Committee Committee's for $32 
million for Tribal Climate Resilience in fiscal Year 2022 
appropriations, but request significantly more investment in this 
account, specifically to implement mitigation actions identified 
through Climate Resilience plans. We appreciate the $29 million 
increase proposed by the Biden Administration in fiscal Year 2023, and 
hope that the committee will build upon that request.
    Reduce Dependence on Federal Grants. We also support moving away 
from competitive grants for Federal funding mechanisms across all 
departments. The Federal trust responsibility does not require that we 
jump through a myriad of hoops and onerous applications to see that 
services are provided to our people. Grants also unfairly pit Tribes 
against Tribes, when all are deserving of critical resources. Too 
often, Tribes are under resourced to apply for Federal grants, and to 
comply with the associated burdensome reporting requirements which vary 
from grant to grant. Tribes must also be granted the flexibility needed 
to respond to the specific needs of their own communities, including 
being able to utilize cultural practices and traditional healing, not 
those prescribed by Federal grants. This also means providing enough 
resources so funds are provided in meaningful amounts across all 
Tribes.

    [This statement was submitted by Albert Smith, Mayor of the 
Metlakatla Indian Community.]
                                 ______
                                 
           Prepared Statement of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe
Summary of Budget Requests:

    I. Bureau of Indian Affairs--Increase Funding for Fish Hatchery 
Programs
    II. Bureau of Indian Affairs--Increase Funding for Tribal Climate 
Resilience Program
    III. Bureau of Indian Education--Increase Funding for Education 
Program Enhancements
    IV. Environmental Protection Agency--Increase Funding for Puget 
Sound Program
                       introduction & background
    Greetings Chair Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski and Honorable 
Members of the subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related 
Agencies. My name is Jaison Elkins and I have the privilege of serving 
as Chairman of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe. Thanks for the opportunity 
to share the Tribe's funding priorities for Fiscal Year 2023.
    The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe (``Tribe'') is a successor in interest 
to Tribes and bands that were parties to the Treaty of Point Elliot and 
the Treaty of Medicine Creek. Through these treaties, the Tribe has 
reserved treaty fishing, hunting, and gathering rights, including the 
right to take fish at our usual and accustomed fishing grounds and 
stations. Despite these assurances, our right to fish is threatened by 
a changing climate and the lack of Federal investment in Tribal fish 
hatcheries.
          i. bureau of indian affairs--fish, wildlife & parks
Fish Hatchery Operations Program & Fish Hatchery Maintenance Program
    The Fish Hatchery Operations Program (``FHOP'') and the Fish 
Hatchery Maintenance Program (``FHMP'') provide critical resources that 
help Tribes, like Muckleshoot, maintain our salmon fisheries and treaty 
fishing rights. The FHOP provides Tribes with support for hatching, 
rearing, and stocking programs, while the FHMP helps supplement 
facility maintenance for Tribal hatcheries. Tribal hatchery funding is 
critical to ensure the continued success of the White River Hatchery, 
as well as other Tribal hatcheries across the Nation. Without Tribal 
hatcheries, our ability to exercise treaty fishing rights is 
diminished.
    The Tribe's White River Hatchery (``Hatchery'') was opened in 1989 
to help restore the declining White River spring chinook. The Hatchery 
has produced positive results for the last 30 years, but 
infrastructural upgrades are desperately needed. Our master plan for 
the Hatchery calls for $25.8 million in infrastructural upgrades, 
including $14 million for circular tanks and related infrastructure, $5 
million for a Partial Reus Aquaculture System, and $3.9 million for 
building upgrades.
    The Tribe appreciates the subcommittee's $6.6 million increase in 
funding for the Fish, Wildlife, and Parks account last year and 
encourages the subcommittee to include a similar increase for fiscal 
Year 2023. The President's fiscal Year 2023 budget request also 
proposes a $4 million increase to enable Tribes to modify and engage 
efforts measured to emerging micro and macro climate issues, and ensure 
resilience in planning, development, and operations with climate 
management considerations. The Tribe urges the subcommittee to provide 
substantial funding increases for these crucial hatchery programs.
        ii. bureau of indian affairs--tribal climate resilience
    Climate change is having a profound impact on the Muckleshoot's 
treaty-protected resources and activities, such as fishing, gathering, 
and hunting. Declining salmon runs, changing migration patterns, and 
declining shellfish populations are among the many changes we are 
witnessing firsthand. The Tribal Climate Resilience Program seeks to 
address these and related issues by supporting Tribal efforts to build 
climate resilient communities and sustain Tribal ecosystems and natural 
and cultural resources, economies, infrastructure, human health, and 
safety.
    The subcommittee included $60.9 million for Tribal Climate 
Resilience in last year's bill, which was an increase of $44 million 
above the previously enacted level. The Tribe urges the subcommittee to 
include such a similar increase in funding for the Tribal Climate 
Resilience in fiscal Year 2023. This increase is in line with the 
President's fiscal Year 2023 request of $60.9 million for the program.
    iii. bureau of indian education--education program enhancements
    The Muckleshoot Tribe is committed to the success of our children 
through culturally appropriate education that will prepare them for the 
future. The Tribe operates the Muckleshoot Tribal School (``MTS''), 
which is a comprehensive Tribally Controlled School that works in 
conjunction with the Bureau of Indian Education (``BIE'') and the State 
of Washington as a Tribal Compact School to serve the needs of our 
community. The school provides K-12 instruction for Native American 
students focusing on Common Core Standards while infusing Muckleshoot 
culture, practices, and history in our future generations. This 
intersection of modern learning and culture will ensure that our 
children can compete in the modern economy while not losing their 
identities.
    Education Program Enhancements enables BIE to provide critical 
services and necessary resources to meet the unique needs and 
priorities of individual Tribes and their schools. The BIE's Immersion 
Demonstration Grant program provides funding that supports immersion 
efforts that increase language proficiency and protect against language 
loss. Last year, the subcommittee included $4 million within Education 
Program Enhancements for Native language immersion grants. The 
President is requesting an increase of $6.7 million for Education 
Program Enhancements in fiscal Year 2023. The Tribe urges the 
subcommittee to provide additional funding so that these sorts of 
demonstration projects can be expanded, made permanent, and allow for 
more Tribes to access the benefits.
        iv. environmental protection agency--puget sound program
    EPA's Geographic Programs support the restoration and protection of 
important water bodies, such as the Puget Sound. According to the 
fiscal Year 2023 budget justification, activities for EPA's Puget Sound 
Program include funding assistance agreements with the 19 federally 
recognized Tribes in Puget Sound, three Tribal consortia, and the 
Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (NWIFC).
    The Tribe appreciates the subcommittees inclusion of $50 million in 
last year's bill, which was an increase of $16 million above the 
previously enacted level. The Tribe encourages the subcommittee to 
include a similar increase in its fiscal Year 2023 bill.
    The Muckleshoot Tribe appreciates the opportunity to share its 
priorities for fiscal Year 2023.

    [This statement was submitted by Jaison Elkins, Chairman, 
Muckleshoot Indian Tribe.]
                                 ______
                                 
   Prepared Statement of National Association of Abandoned Mine Land 
                                Programs
    My name is Jeff Graves and I serve as the Director of the Inactive 
Mine Reclamation Program within the Colorado Department of Natural 
Resources. I am providing this statement on behalf of the National 
Association of Abandoned Mine Land Programs (NAAMLP), for which I 
currently serve as President. NAAMLP represents 32 States and Tribes, 
of which twenty-nine implement federally approved abandoned mine land 
reclamation (AML) programs authorized under Title IV of the Surface 
Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), and many implement state 
level programs for hardrock AML. My office's address is 1313 Sherman 
Street #215, Denver CO 80203. My office phone number is (303) 866-3567 
x8122. My email is [email protected].
    The infusion of much-needed funding for coal AML in the 
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) has ushered in a new era 
for the SMCRA Title IV AML programs and the benefits they bring to 
communities all over the country. We thank Congress for recognizing the 
critical role this AML work plays in contributing to health and safety, 
environmental restoration, access to clean water, and the creation of 
jobs and opportunities for economic growth, especially in places like 
Appalachia that are affected by the energy transition.
    We have been working closely with our sister organization the 
Interstate Mining Compact Commission (IMCC) as well as our Federal 
partners at the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement 
(OSMRE) on implementing the new AML funding. Our efforts so far make us 
confident that the AML programs will be successful in delivering the 
many benefits that Congress envisions. However, there are also 
challenges emerging in implementing the IIJA funding. They are 
surmountable, but Congressional attention at this critical time when 
the AML program of the future is being established is very appropriate.
    SMCRA has been successful largely as a result of the cooperative 
federalism model that it employs. While the States and Tribes 
understand and appreciate OSMRE's role in the AML program under SMCRA, 
we caution against using limited OSMRE funding for unproductive ends, 
for example oversight that second-guesses state/Tribal assessments or 
requires unnecessary levels of supplemental information that does not 
advance program purposes. Rather than having OSMRE engage in additional 
oversight, the States and Tribes would benefit from a more 
collaborative relationship. We encourage Congress to maintain funding 
that serves that purpose.
    For example, we believe that funding for technical assistance and 
applied science projects related to AML work is particularly important. 
We also urge the subcommittee to maintain necessary funding for OSMRE's 
training program and TIPS, including moneys for state/Tribal travel. 
These initiatives are central to the effective implementation of State 
and Tribal AML programs as they provide necessary training and 
continuing education for state/Tribal agency personnel, as well as 
critical technical assistance. We believe funding for Watershed 
Cooperative Agreements should also be maintained in the amount of $1.5 
million. This funding serves an important role in facilitating State 
and local partnerships, thereby helping to leverage outside sources of 
funding and preserve precious reclamation grant funding. OSMRE's 
proposed budget generally includes a discretionary appropriation 
request of approximately $23 million to fund the agency's own AML work, 
its administration of the AML Fund, and other activities in support of 
the AML program, which is important to continue. Most importantly, the 
States and Tribes should receive the mandatory appropriation of fee-
based AML funding of $161 million (before sequestration) in fiscal Year 
2023.
    For the AML program to be successful, OSMRE must accept state input 
on program design. This is especially important for the new $11.3B in 
IIJA treasury-sourced AML funding, which NAAMLP is working to ensure is 
implemented efficiently and effectively so that AML work has its 
maximum impact. The States and Tribes have serious concerns about DOI's 
implementation plans for the IIJA AML funding, draft guidance for which 
was released last week.
    The host of substantial changes proposed by the draft guidance 
present serious danger of undermining the program's core functioning. 
As currently drafted, we fear that DOI's implementation plans will be a 
detriment to the AML program's fundamental reclamation goals, the 
administration's socio-economic goals, and ultimately, the well-being 
of the coalfield citizens that rely on AML work. There are many 
provisions of the Guidance that the States simply do not have the 
ability to implement due to practical and legal obstacles. More detail 
is available in IMCC/NAAMLP's comments on the draft IIJA guidance, but 
in summary, we believe it would confuse the AML program's priorities 
and dilute its focus on health, safety, and the environment, complicate 
processes for conducting projects and managing AML funding, and add 
tremendous amounts of unnecessary additional administrative work.
    We urge Congress to work with DOI to ensure that they integrate 
state and Tribal input into IIJA implementation in order to preserve 
the AML program's effectiveness. This program has been one of DOI's 
most successful over its now more than forty-year history. It has well-
developed, reasonably efficient processes already in place and has 
benefited the citizens of coalfields immensely as currently 
constituted. We believe the sponsors of this legislation intended to 
build on the successes of the mature, pre-existing program instead of 
reinventing the wheel.
    Another IIJA-related issue requiring Congressional attention is the 
AML programs' ability to address legacy water pollution. Abandoned mine 
drainage (AMD, aka acid mine drainage) is a persistent scourge on human 
and environmental health. It is also an impediment to economic growth 
in many States, especially those in the historic coalfields of 
Appalachia and the Midwest. Congress clearly intended to expand the 
States' ability to treat polluted water through the IIJA. However, a 
key element of the authority the States need to be effective at this, 
the use of AMD ``set aside'' accounts, has been interpreted by 
Department of the Interior as absent from the IIJA. The purpose of set 
aside accounts is to fund the long-term costs of AMD treatment systems. 
Eleven States have used the set aside authority under the pre-existing 
AML program and as States begin to expand their AML work with IIJA 
funds, several more States may also need set aside accounts. Without 
them, the States' ability to make further progress in eliminating AMD--
restoring the life and productive use of orange-tinted, metal-laden 
streams--will be severely impaired.
    A bi-partisan bill, the STREAM Act (H.R. 7283/S. 3957) has been 
developed to fix this situation. It would clarify that IIJA treasury-
sourced funds can be placed in AMD set aside trust fund accounts as has 
been done under the pre-existing fee-based AML program. This does not 
represent a new outlay of funds, but rather a clarification about how 
funds already appropriated by the IIJA can be spent that would ensure 
its established purposes are fulfilled. NAAMLP and IMCC assisted with 
the bill's development. We thank its authors and sponsors, particularly 
Representatives Cartwright and McKinley as well as Senators Casey and 
Braun, for their attention to this important issue and commitment to 
helping communities impacted by AMD.
    The States have also become increasingly concerned with 
administration of an existing portion of the AML program, the AML 
Economic Revitalization (AMLER) program. The States and Tribes are very 
proud of the projects they have conducted through AMLER, which look for 
creative opportunities to turn AML sites into opportunities for 
economic development. We request that funding in the amount of $115 
million continue. However, Congress should be aware that the AMLER 
program has become more and more impeded by untenable administrative 
processes and lack of respect for state expertise and primacy.
    The most immediate problems in the AMLER program are substandard 
communication, opaque administrative process, and the paralyzing 
uncertainty that results therefrom. The States have no way of knowing 
when they can expect a response on a project application, which 
sometimes take a very long time (one such project in Virginia has been 
caught up in the OSMRE vetting process for over 1,000 days). They also 
have insufficient information on the standards for vetting projects at 
OSMRE headquarters such that they are frequently rejected and/or having 
to be substantially re-worked without the explanation needed to avoid 
the same issues in the future. This vetting process is not required by 
law, but has evolved into a time-consuming, nearly complete preplanning 
of almost every element of a project. The lack of clarity that results 
from the problems above creates substantial, unnecessary administrative 
burden, which has resulted in the AMLER program taking up a 
disproportionate amount of AML staff time. Worse, the lack of clarity 
in the AMLER program creates an untenable situation for project 
partners, whose cooperation is essential to the program working as 
intended. The local NGOs and businesses that would otherwise 
collaborate with States on these projects are finding it increasingly 
difficult to navigate the process or to receive reasonable assurance 
that their projects will succeed if they follow the program guidelines, 
which prompts partners to spend their time and money elsewhere. Last 
but not least, OSMRE tends to substitute its own opinions on the 
economic development prospects of projects for the States' expertise, 
second guessing state decisions where the issues at hand are probably 
beyond OSMRE's legitimate ability to judge.
    This situation would best be resolved by simply returning primary 
responsibility for selecting and developing AMLER projects to the state 
AML programs, which we believe was always how the AMLER program was 
intended to work. The State programs have the best ability to exercise 
their state-specific knowledge and expertise and work with local 
partners to determine what reclamation and economic development 
projects will best serve their communities. This would be accomplished 
by Appropriations report language proposed by Representative Rogers, 
which would direct OSMRE to transfer AMLER funds to State programs 60 
days after they have been received by the agency. Appropriate oversight 
of state AMLER implementation would be conducted by OSMRE and Congress. 
OSMRE would collect information on State efforts in its ordinary 
oversight role and provide a report to Congress. We urge Congress to 
adopt this approach. We believe it is the best way to unleash the 
creative, collaborative energies available through cooperation between 
States and their local NGO and private industry partners, which are 
currently being held at bay by an untenable bureaucratic tangle of an 
approval process.
    NAAMLP represents many States with significant hardrock AML 
problems within their borders. In the absence of a hardrock AML funding 
source comparable to Title IV funding for coal AML, state and Tribal 
hardrock AML programs struggle to maintain adequate funding and make 
consistent progress. There is no comprehensive account of the scale of 
the hardrock AML problem, but it is often cited as being in the tens of 
billions of dollars. Hardrock AML comes with the same pernicious 
effects as coal AML on the health and safety, environment, and economic 
vitality of the communities throughout the country, and especially in 
the West, that live near them.
    The $3B funding authorization for hardrock AML in the IIJA is a 
very exciting development, despite the fact that the funding has not 
yet been appropriated. Since then, NAAMLP and IMCC have been working 
closely with DOI's Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance 
(OEPC), the group tasked with developing the new hardrock AML state/
Tribal grants program authorized by the IIJA.
    We have been very pleased with OEPC's willingness to integrate 
state/Tribal input into their plans. NAAMLP and IMCC have been 
convening a large group of States and Tribes with interest in hardrock 
AML for many years. We have recently re-doubled our efforts to outline 
the best way for hardrock AML state/Tribal grants to operate. We 
gathered a group of both our members and non-member States and Tribes, 
conducted a survey of current circumstances regarding hardrock AML work 
in each State/Tribe, and then summarized those surveys and created 
recommendations based on their insights. For example, we have developed 
recommendations for how to work toward a national level inventory of 
hardrock AML sites in the medium/long term while also enabling States 
and Tribes that already have inventories to make progress with 
reclamation work in the meantime. All this to say, the States, Tribes, 
and our Federal partners are ready to put hardrock AML money to very 
productive use. The $1.6M in funding for States and Tribes provided in 
the 2022 Omnibus for the energy community revitalization program is an 
encouraging start but is not enough to meaningfully further progress 
with reclamation. We urge Congress to include more funding for hardrock 
AML grants to States and Tribes in the 2023 appropriations.
    In closing, the States and Tribes represented by NAAMLP again 
express our gratitude to Congress for the recognition of the value of 
the AML programs, both coal and hardrock, and the investment in their 
future represented by the IIJA. We look forward to beginning this new 
chapter for coal AML and are thrilled to be moving toward a national-
scale hardrock AML grants program as well. We are ready to assist with 
these and other Congressional efforts to further AML work, such as 
through the pilot hardrock Good Samaritan bill, which is much needed. 
With Congress' continuing attentiveness to AML implementation issues, 
we feel confident that continued success of the State and Tribal AML 
programs can be assured.

    [This statement was submitted by Jeff Graves, Director, Inactive 
Mine Reclamation Program.]
                                 ______
                                 
    Prepared Statement of National Association of Clean Air Agencies
    On behalf of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies 
(NACAA), thank you for this opportunity to provide testimony on the 
fiscal Year 2023 budget for the United States Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA), particularly grants to State and local air pollution 
control agencies under Sections 103 and 105 of the Clean Air Act (CAA), 
which are part of the State and Tribal Assistance Grant (STAG) program. 
NACAA has four recommendations with respect to fiscal Year 2023 
appropriations. The association urges Congress to 1) provide $500 
million in grants to State and local air quality agencies, which is 
$178 million above the President's proposed budget for fiscal Year 
2023; 2) provide flexibility to State and local air quality agencies to 
use any additional grants to address the highest priority programs in 
their areas; 3) retain grants for monitoring fine particulate matter 
(PM2.5) under the authority of Section 103 of the Clean Air Act, rather 
than shifting it to Section 105; and 4) provide grant increases under 
authorities of the CAA that do not require matching funds (e.g., 
Section 103) as much as possible to allow agencies that do not have 
sufficient matching funds to still obtain the additional grants.
    NACAA is the National, non-partisan, non-profit association of air 
pollution control agencies in 40 States, including 115 local air 
agencies, the District of Columbia and four territories. NACAA exists 
to advance the equitable protection of clean air and public health for 
all, and to improve the capability and effectiveness of State and local 
air agencies. These agencies have the ``primary responsibility'' under 
the CAA for implementing our Nation's clean air programs. As such, they 
conduct an array of critical activities intended to improve and 
maintain air quality and protect public health.
           air pollution poses serious public health problems
    Federal, State and local air quality programs under the CAA have 
been highly successful in reducing air pollution, during a time that 
the country has continued to experience strong economic growth. 
However, air pollution continues to be a significant problem, 
threatening public health and welfare, especially in overburdened 
environmental justice communities that disproportionately suffer 
adverse human health and environmental impacts.
    Every year tens of thousands of Americans die prematurely from air 
pollution and millions are exposed to unhealthful levels of air 
contaminants, resulting in cancer, damage to respiratory, 
cardiovascular, neurological and reproductive systems and other health 
problems.\1\ In 2020, approximately 30 percent of the U.S. population--
about 97 million people--lived in areas that exceeded one or more 
Federal health-based air pollution standards.\2\ Additionally, EPA's 
most recent hazardous air pollution data show that ``millions of people 
live in areas where air toxics pose potential health concerns.'' \3\ 
Environmental justice communities are particularly at risk.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/air-pollution-
current-and-future-challenges
    \2\ Our Nation's Air Trends through 2020, https://www.epa.gov/air-
trends
    \3\ https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2022-03/
airtoxscreen_2017tsd.pdf (page 123)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    With respect to climate change, some of our Nation's strongest 
programs are led by State and local governments, which have instituted 
programs to make meaningful progress towards reducing greenhouse gases. 
However, there is still much to be done to address increasing 
greenhouse gas emissions that result in more and worse wildfires, 
longer ozone seasons and upward trending global temperatures.
    Overall, few problems in this subcommittee's jurisdiction pose 
greater threats to public health than air pollution and climate change. 
In terms of the National budget, the amount appropriated for Federal 
grants to State and local air quality agencies is relatively small. Yet 
the return on investment is among the highest when considering the 
benefits of protecting public health and the environment against the 
serious threats posed by air pollution and climate change.
        state and local air agencies continue to be underfunded
    The CAA places the responsibility for implementing the Federal air 
pollution program squarely on State and local clean air agencies. This 
is an enormous undertaking that calls for monitoring, issuing permits, 
planning, developing strategies for reducing emissions, enforcing 
requirements, educating the public, training staff and a host of other 
activities that grow more complex and sophisticated each year. 
Increasingly, these agencies are tasked with new and high-priority 
responsibilities to reduce air pollution, address the disproportionate 
harm faced by overburdened communities and tackle climate change. 
Unfortunately, this simply cannot be accomplished with current levels 
of funding.
    State and local air agencies have been underfunded for many years. 
Federal grants to State and local air quality agencies (under Sections 
103 and 105 of the CAA) were approximately the same in fiscal Year 2022 
as they were in fiscal Year 2004--nearly 20 years ago. This represents 
a substantial decrease in purchasing power when inflation is factored 
in, during a time when air quality issues have become ever more 
complicated and costly to address. Furthermore, while Federal grants 
were originally intended to cover 60 percent of the cost of 
implementing the CAA, they cover less than a quarter of that today, 
with the remainder coming largely from State and local programs 
themselves.
    Major source fees under Title V of the CAA are not the answer to 
this shortfall since they are required to be used to support the 
operating permit program only and cannot be spent on other activities. 
Moreover, as State and local agencies reduce air pollution, the amount 
of funding available from fees that are paid by regulated entities is 
decreasing.
    The funds recently appropriated under the ``Infrastructure 
Investment and Jobs Act'' (November 15, 2021) are not the solution 
either, as most of those resources are directed to water and 
infrastructure projects. While those are worthwhile efforts, they do 
not sustain the day-to-day work of State and local air quality 
agencies. Additionally, some newly available funds are tied to specific 
new work, rather than existing responsibilities, which does not help to 
address the current funding deficit.
                 how would additional funding be used?
    NACAA surveyed State and local air agencies about the funding that 
will be needed to meet their current and expected obligations. Based 
upon the responses, NACAA is recommending that Federal grants under 
Sections 103 and 105 be increased to $500 million annually, beginning 
in fiscal Year 2023. This is $178 million above the President's 
proposed budget for fiscal Year 2023 and an increase of $269 million 
over the fiscal Year 2022 appropriation of $231 million.
    In NACAA's survey, many agencies reported inadequate funding for 
basic responsibilities that are the very foundations of their programs. 
These include monitoring, permitting, enforcement, wildfire response, 
staffing, training, planning, regulatory development, public outreach 
and community support. Increases in funding would provide for 
continuation of these essential tasks. Additionally, the following are 
just a few of the things that increased Federal grants would support:

  --advancing new programs and expanding existing clean air efforts 
        that protect all Americans, especially vulnerable communities 
        that continue to bear the greatest pollution burdens;

  --strengthening pollution detection and visualization efforts through 
        air monitors, sensors, and airborne and mobile detection 
        equipment for criteria pollutants, air toxics and emerging 
        contaminants;

  --supporting small business programs and emission reductions from 
        smaller sources, including inspections, compliance assistance 
        and technical support;

  --addressing climate change with emission reduction programs that 
        include planning, monitoring, permitting and enforcement; 
        energy-transition assistance for communities dependent on 
        fossil fuels; and adaptation and resilience for frontline 
        communities that face extreme weather and other climate 
        impacts;

  --preparing and empowering State and local agencies to take on the 
        additional air quality responsibilities in new Federal clean 
        energy and clean transportation programs; and

  --tackling the ever-increasing threats posed by wildfires, including 
        mitigating adverse health impacts and communicating with the 
        public.

    Additionally, if Congress adopts significant climate legislation, 
it is essential that adequate funds beyond regular fiscal Year 2023 
appropriations be provided to State and local agencies and 
municipalities to allow them to carry out the law's requirements, even 
if those agencies and municipalities do not currently receive Section 
103 and Section 105 grants directly.
             agencies need flexibility in the use of grants
    Air pollution problems around the country vary by area and each 
State or local air quality agency must tailor its approach to address 
its unique set of circumstances and the issues facing its community. 
While one locale's greatest concern may be the impacts from wildfires, 
another may find local hazardous air pollution sources or ozone to be 
greater challenges. A one-size-fits-all strategy for grants that is 
applied nationally may not recognize the need to focus resources 
effectively. Therefore, NACAA recommends that Congress provide State 
and local air agencies with the flexibility to use increased grant 
funds on the highest priority programs in their areas.
           allow agencies that cannot match to receive grants
    While Section 105 of the Clean Air Act requires grant recipients to 
provide matching funds, Section 103 does not. Providing certain grants 
under Section 103 authority, therefore, is very helpful for those State 
or local agencies that are unable to raise additional matching funds.
    In the past, EPA proposed shifting the PM2.5 monitoring 
grant program from Section 103 authority to Section 105. NACAA has 
asked Congress in previous years to retain PM2.5 monitoring 
grants under Section 103 so that no agencies would be forced to refuse 
critical monitoring grants due to their inability to afford the 
required match. We are very grateful that Congress has previously been 
agreeable to this request, and we ask that these funds once again 
remain under Section 103 authority in fiscal Year 2023.
    This concern goes beyond just the PM2.5 monitoring grant 
program, however. While some agencies have adequate matching funds, 
others do not. These are often the very same agencies in dire need of 
the additional grants we are seeking. So that no agency would be 
ineligible for additional grants, we request that Congress provide as 
much of the grant increase as possible under authorities that do not 
require matching funds (e.g., Section 103). In this way, those agencies 
that do not have sufficient matching funds could still obtain the 
additional resources.
                               conclusion
    State and local air quality agencies' efforts to protect and 
improve air quality are critically important both for public health and 
a sound economy. NACAA recommends that Congress 1) provide $500 million 
in grants to State and local air quality agencies, which is $178 
million above the President's proposed budget for fiscal Year 2023; 2) 
provide flexibility to State and local air quality agencies to use any 
additional grants to address the highest priority programs in their 
areas; 3) retain grants for monitoring PM2.5 under the 
authority of Section 103 of the Clean Air Act, rather than shifting it 
to Section 105; and 4) provide grant increases under authorities of the 
CAA that do not require matching funds (e.g., Section 103) as much as 
possible to allow agencies that do not have sufficient matching funds 
to still obtain the additional grants.
    Thank you very much for this opportunity to provide testimony. If 
you require additional information, please contact Miles Keogh 
([email protected]) or Mary Sullivan Douglas 
([email protected]) of NACAA.

    [This statement was submitted by National Association of Clean Air 
Agencies.]
                                 ______
                                 
   Prepared Statement of National Association of Clean Water Agencies
    The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) represents 
350 public wastewater and stormwater utilities nationwide, both large 
and small, that collectively provide clean water services to more than 
150 million Americans daily. These essential public services protect 
public health and the environment and are vital for local economic 
growth.
    Our nation's water infrastructure is at a key juncture, with costs 
rising both for traditional investment needs like maintaining aging 
infrastructure and meeting compliance obligations, as well as for newer 
challenges, such as addressing emerging contaminants, managing 
increasingly complex water quality issues, meeting the needs of 
disadvantaged communities, and ensuring system resilience in the face 
of climate change and cyber risks.
    NACWA greatly appreciates the support for clean water provided by 
Congress under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act/Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Law (BIL). The BIL reflects a strong recommitment by the 
Federal Government as a funding partner in water infrastructure 
investment and begins to address the disparity whereby 95 percent of 
drinking water and wastewater infrastructure investment comes from 
local ratepayers and States.
    NACWA has engaged with EPA, to offer the public utility perspective 
and recommendations to support efficient, equitable implementation of 
this landmark legislation. We are grateful to EPA for providing 
opportunities for this important input and dialogue, and we look 
forward to partnering with Congress to ensure appropriate oversight of 
BIL implementation.
    However, the funds provided by the BIL are simply a down payment on 
the additional Federal funding needed to help address the Nation's 
water infrastructure challenges. EPA has estimated that nearly $750 
billion in capital investment in wastewater and drinking water must be 
made by local, State, and Federal partners over 20 years to meet 
Federal water quality and health objectives. Even with BIL investments, 
clean water still ranks behind other infrastructure sectors like 
surface transportation, mass transit, and rail in the amount of Federal 
assistance it receives. It is critical that many of the water programs 
that were authorized, but not appropriated in the BIL, receive full 
funding for FY23.
    Below are NACWA's FY23 Appropriations requests. As always, NACWA 
appreciates the subcommittee's strong engagement and collaboration with 
the Association and our members, and your consideration of these clean 
water priorities.
                clean water state revolving fund (cwsrf)
    The CWSRF is the primary Federal clean water financing tool that 
communities and public clean water utilities utilize to help meet their 
Clean Water Act (CWA) obligations and infrastructure needs. The CWSRF 
has been instrumental to communities' successes in advancing water 
quality and public health protection. While the BIL provided a 5-year 
infusion of additional funds into the CWSRF, we appreciate that it was 
clearly the intent of Congress for the BIL funds to supplement--not 
supplant--continued robust annual CWSRF appropriations. NACWA supports 
CWSRF funding at the full BIL authorized level of $2.75 billion for 
FY23 in the annual spending bill.
    NACWA also supports dedicated FY23 appropriations for EPA to 
complete an updated Clean Water Infrastructure Needs Survey to provide 
a more accurate, updated, and complete understanding of clean water 
needs across the country.
    Additionally, NACWA members who benefited from Congressionally 
Directed Spending greatly appreciate the direct funding provided 
through the FY22 Omnibus Appropriations. These funds will help 
utilities undertake important work in the communities they serve. 
However, as the Committee considers future spending levels, NACWA 
requests that funding for these projects not be taken from the CWSRF 
but rather as a separate inclusion within the State and Tribal 
Assistance Grant Program. This will help ensure that communities who 
secured Congressionally Directed spending for their projects are funded 
without reducing access to CWSRF financing by all eligible communities 
long-term, as well as protect its long-term viability.
    Technological innovation also has an important role in managing 
water quality challenges and potentially reducing costs for utilities 
in the long-term. NACWA requests that the Committee provide language 
encouraging EPA, States, and local communities support the use of new 
technologies under the CWSRF.
                      low-income water assistance
    NACWA has long supported the creation of a Federal low-income water 
assistance program at EPA to assist households in maintaining access to 
affordable and reliable public clean and drinking water services. 
Similar Federal programs exist to help low-income households with food 
and energy costs, as the time has come for water to be treated equally. 
A robust and permanent Federal water assistance program is key to 
helping communities and public utilities provide service to all 
customers while also being able to charge the rates necessary to 
maintain safe, reliable water and wastewater systems.
    NACWA is grateful for the steps Congress has taken to advance this 
critical need, including the BIL's authorizing a national assessment by 
EPA of the water and sewer affordability challenges low-income 
households face, and authorizing an EPA pilot program to provide 
Federal low-income water customer assistance. However, funding is 
necessary to get this program off the ground, and NACWA requests a 
minimum of $225 million in FY23 to initiate it.
    Existing emergency water assistance provided for low-income 
households during the pandemic is quickly being spent down by the 
States, suggesting a drop-off in support is near. NACWA stands ready to 
help EPA and Congress with this effort and is coordinating a project 
with leading water sector associations to develop recommendations for a 
successful low-income water assistance program.
          sewer overflow and stormwater reuse municipal grants
    Reducing sewer overflows can be very costly and over the years has 
been a key driver of financial strain on many communities and their 
ratepayers. This is especially clear in communities under Federal 
consent decrees, dealing with aging infrastructure, and/or adjusting to 
population and economic shifts. Meanwhile, improved stormwater 
management and greater water reuse practices present some of the most 
significant opportunities for continued improvement in water quality, 
but also come with extremely high costs for communities around the 
country.
    For these reasons, NACWA strongly supports growing this program, 
which not only focuses funds on these investments but also provides a 
rare source of full grant (as opposed to loan) funding. The program was 
reauthorized at higher levels but not directly appropriated in the BIL. 
NACWA supports full funding of the reauthorized level of $280 million 
in FY23.
                          integrated planning
    Integrated Planning (IP) is a tool that allows communities the 
ability to sequence and prioritize how they meet local clean water 
obligations and long-term infrastructure needs. The approach maintains 
water quality requirements but allows the local community greater 
agency over their investments and ability to manage costs over time.
    It takes significant work by a community to develop an integrated 
plan, along with considerable resources from the State regulatory 
agency and EPA to review and approve. Dedicated financial resources for 
IP will help EPA work with communities to develop integrated plans and 
provide technical assistance to States so they can work with local 
communities to better incorporate integrated planning concepts into 
their CWA permits.
    NACWA strongly requests $2 million in FY23 appropriations to 
support EPA's integrated planning activities that advance water quality 
in a holistic approach driven by local priorities.
             water workforce infrastructure grants program
    The public water sector provides good career paths with competitive 
wages where workers can take pride in serving their community. However, 
the water utility workforce is retiring rapidly, and public utilities 
struggle to compete with other sectors for skilled workers.
    NACWA has strongly supported EPA's Water Workforce Infrastructure 
Development Grant Program and supports the fully authorized funding 
level of $5 million in FY23. This funding will support innovative 
efforts to develop tomorrow's utility workforce and ensure long-term 
stability in the sector. NACWA also requests that the Committee clarify 
that utilities are given direct consideration as a potential recipient 
of funding under the program regardless of how they are locally 
structured, in line with provisions under the BIL directing the Agency 
to do so.
    water infrastructure finance and innovation act (wifia) program
    The WIFIA program is a complement to the SRFs, accelerating 
significant water infrastructure investments and leveraging limited 
Federal resources. NACWA supports funding equal to the FY22 
appropriated amount of $69.5 million in FY23. NACWA also supports an 
additional $5 million for the SWIFIA program, which allows state 
financing authorities that administer the SRFs to apply for WIFIA loans 
directly through EPA. This ability of a State to bundle multiple 
projects on its approved intended use plan can increase participation 
in smaller, rural, and lesser-resourced communities.
    Clean Water Infrastructure Resilience and Sustainability Program
    NACWA was strongly supportive of this new program that was 
established under the BIL. These program grants will be helpful to 
utilities who are on the front lines of mitigating the impacts of 
climate change and ensuring resilience services--through building 
resilient infrastructure, managing wet weather, and piloting integrated 
and adaptive. NACWA requests the fully authorized amount of $25 million 
in FY23 to jumpstart this program.
                                  pfas
    Clean water utilities are very concerned about the presence of 
emerging contaminants in their influent, the impacts these chemicals 
have on their treated effluent and biosolids, and the potential costs 
that may accrue to public ratepayers.
    NACWA urges funding for EPA to advance its work to better develop 
our scientific understanding of PFAS in the environment--particularly 
exposure pathways, toxicity levels, and treatment technologies--to 
guide the development of appropriate risk-based standards that protect 
public health and the environment. This work can also help advance 
source control and the transition from PFAS in products and supply 
chains to alternative materials.
    As a key part of this, NACWA urges Congress to provide dedicated 
funding to bolster EPA's Biosolids Program, which regulates the 
beneficial reuse of wastewater treatment residuals. Their ongoing work 
on a problem formulation for biosolids is critical to providing 
certainty for wastewater treatment and residuals management.
    NACWA strongly supported the $1 billion in appropriations under the 
BIL for clean water utilities to address emerging contaminants such as 
per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
    We are concerned, however, that since these funds are flowing 
through the CWSRF, they may be limited to existing SRF eligibilities, 
which focus on capital investment, to the potential exclusion of near-
term utility PFAS costs. These critical funds can be put to work 
immediately on sampling, monitoring, studies, and expanding 
pretreatment programs with local industry to better understand at a 
local level how the contaminants enter the wastewater system, their 
fate, and how to reduce concerning sources of PFAS in anticipation of 
EPA or state standards. NACWA requests that the Committee consider 
clarifying the use of these appropriated funds moving forward.
                        additional key programs
    NACWA also supports increased funding for EPA's Geographic 
Programs, which support critical watershed-based investments; Section 
319 Nonpoint Source grants that support watershed solutions to 
pollution driven by nonpoint sources, which remain the largest 
outstanding driver of water quality impairments; and $20 million for 
EPA's National Priorities Water Research grant program which supports 
work on timely national water research priorities.

    [This statement was submitted by Jason Isakovic, Director of 
Legislative Affairs, National Association of Clean Water Agencies.]
                                 ______
                                 
  Prepared Statement of National Association of State Energy Officials
    Chairman Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski, and members of the 
subcommittee, I am David Terry, Executive Director of the National 
Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO), which represents the 56 
State and Territory Energy Directors and their Offices. NASEO submits 
this testimony in support of funding for the Energy Star program 
(within the Climate Protection Partnership Division of the Office of 
Air and Radiation) at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 
NASEO supports funding of at least $80 million in FY'23, including 
specific report language directing that the funds be utilized only for 
the Energy Star program. The program received $54 million a decade ago 
and is now down to $38 million. The Energy Star program is successful, 
voluntary, and cost-effective. The program has a proven track record--
it makes sense, it saves energy and money, and Americans embrace it. 
Energy Star helps consumers and businesses control expenditures over 
the long term. The program is strongly supported by product 
manufacturers, utilities, and homebuilders, and Energy Star leverages 
the States' voluntary efficiency actions. Voluntary Energy Star 
activities are occurring in public buildings, such as schools, in 
conjunction with State Energy Offices, in virtually every State, 
including Oregon and Alaska. The States and the public utilize Energy 
Star because it is seen as unbiased and delivers cost-saving benefits 
to businesses, consumers and State and local governments.
    The Energy Star program is focused on voluntary efforts that reduce 
energy waste, promotes energy efficiency and renewable energy, and 
works with States, local governments, communities and business to 
achieve these goals in a cooperative, public-private manner.
    NASEO has worked closely with EPA and approximately 40 States are 
Energy Star Partners. With very limited funding, EPA's Energy Star 
program coordinates with the State Energy Offices to give consumers and 
businesses the opportunity and technical assistance tools to make 
better energy decisions and catalyzes product efficiency improvements 
by manufacturers without regulation or mandates. The program is 
voluntary.
    ENERGY STAR focuses on energy-efficient products as well as 
buildings (e.g., residential, commercial, and industrial). Over 300 
million Energy Star qualified products were sold in 2019 alone, not 
including another 300 million Energy Star certified light bulbs. The 
Energy Star label is recognized across the United States. Approximately 
90 percent of households recognize the Energy Star label and a majority 
of surveyed U.S. households reported having purchased an Energy Star 
product. The manufacturing, installation, design, wholesale 
distribution, and provision of professional services related to Energy 
Star products employed almost 827,000 American workers in 2019. It 
makes the work of the State Energy Offices much easier, by engaging the 
public on easily-recognized products, services, and targets. In order 
to obtain the Energy Star label, a product has to meet established 
guidelines. Energy Star's voluntary partnership programs include Energy 
Star Buildings, Energy Star Homes, Energy Star Small Business, and 
Energy Star Labeled Products. We are also encouraged by the new Energy 
Star Home Upgrades Program. We are also pleased with the final 
residential update for Energy Star Version 3.2, which was just 
announced.
    Marketplace barriers are also eradicated through the Energy Star 
program's collaborative approach to consumer education. State Energy 
Offices are working with EPA to promote Energy Star products, Energy 
Star for new construction, Energy Star for public housing, etc. Another 
Energy Star success is in the manufactured housing sector. Some States 
and utilities offer modest rebates for Energy Star manufactured homes 
in order to deliver both energy cost savings to homeowners and lower 
overall electric grid operation costs for all customers.
    In 2021, millions of consumers and thousands of voluntary partners, 
including manufacturers, builders, businesses, communities, and 
utilities, tapped the value of Energy Star and achieved impressive 
financial and environmental results.
    An estimated 70,000 energy efficiency home improvement projects 
were undertaken through the whole house retrofit program, Home 
Performance with Energy Star, in 2020.
    More than 840 utilities, State, and local governments and non-
profits utilize Energy Star in their energy efficiency programs, as do 
1,800 manufacturers.
    The State Energy Offices are very encouraged by progress made at 
EPA, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, and in our 
States to promote programs to make schools more energy-efficient while 
improving indoor air quality and comfort. In fact, there are over 150 
Energy Star-rated schools in States from Arizona to Maine. In addition, 
many States' private sector partners voluntarily utilize Energy Star to 
promote energy efficiency and lower operating costs.
    EPA provides technical assistance to the State Energy Offices in 
such areas as Energy Star Portfolio Manager (how to rate the 
performance of buildings), setting an energy target, and financing 
options for building improvements and building upgrade strategies. 
Energy Star Portfolio Manager is used extensively by State Energy 
Offices to benchmark performance of State and municipal buildings, 
saving taxpayer dollars. Portfolio Manager is the industry-leading 
benchmarking tool which has been used voluntarily in approximately 50 
percent of the commercial buildings in the United States. Portfolio 
Manager is used to measure, track, assess, and report energy and water 
consumption.
    Additionally, the industrial sector embraces Energy Star at job-
creating companies such as GM, Eastman Chemical, Nissan, Raytheon, and 
Boeing. Recent Energy Star certified manufacturers include such 
companies as J.R. Simplot, Flowers Foods, Ardagh Glass, and Marathon 
Petroleum Refining. At the close of 2021, more than 750 U.S. industrial 
sites had committed to the Energy Star Challenge for Industry
    The State Energy Offices are working cooperatively with our peers 
in the state environmental agencies and state public utilities 
commissions to ensure that programs, regulations, projects and policies 
are developed recognizing both energy and environmental concerns. We 
have worked closely with this program at EPA to address these issues. 
We encourage these continued efforts.
    For example, in Oregon, the State is focused on decarbonization 
efforts, and Energy Star is a useful tool to promote sustained 
investments in energy efficiency. In Alaska, the State has worked with 
partners to promote the Village Energy Efficiency Program, and Energy 
Star has been critical.
    Moreover, Oregon and Alaska have significant Energy Star activities 
underway:

  --Oregon is home to more than 180 businesses and organizations 
        participating in U.S. EPA's Energy Star program: 9 
        manufacturers of Energy Star certified products; and 10 
        companies supporting independent certification of Energy Star 
        products and homes 49 companies building Energy Star certified 
        homes. Energy Star Partner Activity in Oregon includes 1.9 
        million customers served by Energy Star utility partners in 
        2020; 3,607 buildings (255 million square feet) benchmarked 
        using EPA's Energy Star Portfolio Manager; 26,522 homes earned 
        the Energy Star to-date; 437 buildings earned the Energy Star 
        to-date, including 107 schools, 3 hotels, 6 hospitals, 142 
        office buildings and 5 industrial plants.

  --Alaska is home to more than 20 businesses and organizations 
        participating in U.S. EPA's Energy Star program; has 153 
        thousand customers being served by Energy Star utility 
        partners; 437 buildings that have been benchmarked using EPA's 
        Energy Star Portfolio Manager; 11,891 homes have earned the 
        Energy Star label; 31 schools, and 4 hospitals.
                               conclusion
    The Energy Star program saves consumers billions of dollars every 
year. The payback and job creation benefits are enormous. NASEO 
supports robust program funding of at least $80 million in FY'23. 
Funding for the Energy Star program is justified. It is a solid public-
private relationship that leverages resources, time and talent to 
produce tangible results by saving energy and money and, in light of 
Administrator Michael Regan's commitment to environmental justice, can 
provide immense benefits to high-need and underserved communities. 
NASEO endorses these activities as well as the constructive 
partnerships that the State Energy Offices have with EPA to 
cooperatively implement a variety of critical national programs without 
mandates.

    [This statement was submitted by David Terry, Executive Director.]
                                 ______
                                 
     Prepared Statement of National Association of State Foresters
    The National Association of State Foresters (NASF) appreciates the 
opportunity to submit written public testimony to the House Committee 
on Appropriations, subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related 
Agencies regarding our fiscal year 2023 appropriations recommendations. 
Our priorities focus primarily on appropriations for the USDA Forest 
Service (Forest Service) State and Private Forestry (S&PF) programs, as 
well as the Research and Development (R&D) Forest Inventory and 
Analysis Program.
    State foresters deliver technical and financial assistance, along 
with forest health, water, and wildfire protection for more than two-
thirds of the Nation's 751 million acres of forests. The Forest Service 
S&PF mission area provides vital support to deliver these services, 
which contribute to the socioeconomic and environmental health of rural 
and urban areas. The comprehensive process for delivering these 
services is articulated in each State's Forest Resource Assessment and 
Strategy (Forest Action Plan), authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill and 
continued in the 2018 Farm Bill. State Forest Action Plans-completed in 
2010, updated in 2015, and comprehensively revised in 2020 by all 59 
States, U.S. territories, freely associated States, and the District of 
Columbia-offer practical and comprehensive roadmaps for investing 
federal, State, local, and private resources where they can be most 
effective in achieving national conservation goals. S&PF programs 
provide a significant return on the Federal investment by leveraging 
the boots-on-the-ground and financial resources of State agencies to 
deliver assistance to forest landowners, Tribes, and communities. As 
Federal and State governments continue to face financial challenges, 
state foresters, in partnership with the S&PF mission area of the 
Forest Service, are best positioned to maximize effectiveness of 
available resources by focusing work on priority forest issues where 
resources are needed most.
    FY21 marked the first year that Congress appropriated the Forest 
Service budget under a modernized structure. To transition to this new 
structure, the historical budget for each program account was broken 
out into three parts: operations (aka cost pools), salaries & expenses, 
and program dollars. Congress determined its fiscal year 2021 
appropriations levels based in part on an historical analysis performed 
by the Forest Service that described how fiscal year 2021 program 
budgets would have broken out under the previous budget structure. 
While the modernized budget structure has resulted in unprecedented 
levels of transparency-as the fiscal year 2021 budget was implemented, 
it became clear that elements of Forest Service analysis were 
incorrectly estimated.
    Your support of the following programs is critical to helping 
States address the many and varied challenges outlined in Forest Action 
Plans.
      state fire capacity (sfc) and volunteer fire capacity (vfc)
    More people living in fire-prone landscapes, high fuel loads, 
drought, and deteriorating forest health are among the factors that led 
most state foresters to identify wildland fire as a priority issue in 
their Forest Action Plans. We now grapple with increasingly expensive 
and complex wildland fires--fires that frequently threaten human life 
and property. In 2021, roughly 59,000 wildland fires burned more than 
7.1 million acres.\1\ State and local agencies respond to the majority 
of wildfires across the country; in 2021 State and local agencies were 
responsible for responding to 45,186 (77 percent) of the 58,985 
reported wildfires across all jurisdictions.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ National Interagency Fire Center, Historical Wildland Fire 
Summaries, Last accessed March 10, 2022 athttps://www.nifc.gov/fire-
information/statistics/wildfires
    \2\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    SFC and VFC are the fundamental Federal mechanism for assisting 
States and local fire departments in responding to wildland fires and 
in conducting management activities that mitigate fire risk on non-
federal lands. SFC also helps train and equip local first responders 
who are often first to arrive at a wildland fire incident and who play 
a crucial role in keeping fires and their costs as minimal as possible. 
Attacking fires when they are small is the key to reducing fatalities, 
injuries, loss of homes, and cutting Federal fire-fighting costs. The 
need for increased funding for fire suppression on Federal lands has 
broad support. The need to increase fire suppression funding for state 
and private lands, where roughly 80 percent of wildfires occur, and 
where many Federal fires begin, is just as urgent. NASF supports 
funding the State Fire Capacity Program at $79 million, and Volunteer 
Fire Capacity Program at $21 million in fiscal Year 2023.
                    forest pests and invasive plants
    Also among the greatest threats identified in the Forest Action 
Plans are native and non-native pests and diseases which have the 
potential to displace native trees, shrubs, and other vegetation types 
in forests; the Forest Service estimates that hundreds of native and 
non-native insects and diseases damage the Nation's forests each year. 
The growing number of damaging pests and diseases are often introduced 
and spread by way of wooden shipping materials, movement of firewood, 
and through various types of recreation. There is an estimated 81 
million acres at risk of attack by insects and disease.\3\ These 
extensive areas of high insect or disease mortality can set the stage 
for large-scale, catastrophic wildfire.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ Tkacz, Bory, et al. 2014. NIDRM 2012 Report Files: Executive 
Summary. 2013-2027 National Insect and Disease Forest Risk Assessment. 
Last accessed on March, 5, 2019 at: http://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/
technology/pdfs/2012_RiskMap_Exec_summary.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Cooperative Forest Health Management program supports 
activities related to prevention, monitoring, suppression, and 
eradication of insects, diseases, and plants through provision of 
technical and financial assistance to States and territories to 
maintain healthy, productive forest ecosystems on non-federal forest 
lands. The Cooperative Forest Health Management program plays a 
critical part in protecting communities already facing outbreaks and in 
preventing exposure of more forests and trees to the devastating and 
costly effects of damaging pests and pathogens. NASF supports funding 
the Forest Health-Cooperative Lands Program at $39.43 million in fiscal 
Year 2023.
     assisting landowners and maintaining healthy forests--forest 
             stewardship program and forest legacy program
    Actively managed healthy forest landscapes are a vital part of 
rural America, providing an estimated 900,000 jobs, clean water, wood 
products, and other essential services to millions of Americans. Over 
50 percent of U.S. forestland is privately owned and supports an 
average of eight jobs per 1,000 acres.\4\ However, the Forest Service 
estimates that 57 million acres of private forests in the U.S. are at 
risk of conversion to urban development over the next two decades. 
Programs like the Forest Stewardship Program (FSP) and the Forest 
Legacy Program (FLP) are key tools identified in the Forest Action 
Plans for keeping working forests intact and for providing a full suite 
of benefits to society. With the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) 
signed into law, the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) will 
receive permanent annual funding at the full authorized level, nearly 
doubling historical appropriations for the LWCF. FLP should receive 
significant increased funding levels commensurate with the increased 
funding provided to the LWCF by the GAOA.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ Forest2Market. The Economic Impact of Privately-Owned Forests. 
2009.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    FSP is the most extensive family forest-owner assistance program in 
the country and is delivered in partnership with state forestry 
agencies, cooperative extension services, certified foresters, 
conservation districts, and other partners. FSP equips private forest 
landowners with the unbiased, science-based information they need to 
sustainably manage their forests now and into the future, helping to 
keep forests as forests. In addition to delivering technical assistance 
directly to forestland owners, the Forest Stewardship Program often 
serves as a gateway to other landowner cost-share assistance 
programming, like the USDA Environmental Quality Incentives Program, 
State programs, and partner programs, that can help landowners keep 
their forests working and intact. In fiscal year 2021, the Forest 
Stewardship Program added 1.45 million acres of new or revised plans 
for a total of 20.4 million acres currently enrolled in the program. 
Forest landowners that have management plans are almost three times 
more likely to meet their management objectives compared to those 
without management plans. The FSP leads landowners to reach their 
management objectives while tying those objectives to the State's 
Forest Action Plan. Increased Federal funding for FSP will allow state 
forestry agencies to ramp up outreach efforts and provide additional 
technical assistance to landowners to ensure that private forestland 
acres are maintained. Forest Stewardship plans provide guidance for 
family forest landowners to keep their land healthy and productive and 
often serve as management roadmaps for several generations.
    Following congressional direction, NASF has worked closely with the 
Forest Service to modernize the funding allocation formula to State 
agencies for FSP, focused on improving program delivery with greater 
emphasis on performance-based outcomes. Under the new allocation 
formula, priority areas and priority resource concerns have been 
designated in each State and greater emphasis has been placed on 
providing technical assistance and implementing land management plans 
in those priority areas. NASF supports funding for the Forest 
Stewardship Program at $22 million, and the Forest Legacy Program at 
$128 million in fiscal Year 2023.
            urban and community forest management challenges
    Urban forests are important to achieving energy savings, improved 
air quality, neighborhood stability, aesthetic value, reduced noise, 
and improved quality of life in municipalities and communities around 
the country. Urban trees and forests provide a wide array of social, 
economic, and environmental benefits to people living in urban areas; 
today, more than 83 percent of the Nation's population lives in urban 
areas. Yet, urban and community forests face serious threats, such as 
development and urbanization, invasive pests and diseases, and fire in 
the wildland urban interface (WUI).
    The program is delivered in close partnership with state foresters 
and leverages existing local efforts that have helped thousands of 
communities and towns manage, maintain, and improve their tree cover 
and green spaces. In fiscal Year 2021, the U&CF program delivered 
technical, financial, educational, and research assistance to 7,100 
communities across all 50 States, U.S. territories, three nations in 
compacts of free association with the U.S., and the District of 
Columbia. NASF supports funding the Urban and Community Forestry 
Program at $38 million in fiscal Year 2023.
    importance of forest inventory data in monitoring forest issues
    The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program, managed by Forest 
Service, Forest and Rangeland Research, is the only comprehensive 
inventory system in the United States for assessing the health and 
sustainability of the Nation's forests across all ownerships. FIA 
provides essential data related to forest species composition, forest 
growth rates, and forest health data, and it delivers baseline 
inventory estimates used in Forest Action Plans. Further, this data is 
used by academics, researchers, industry, and others to understand 
forest trends and support investments in forest products facilities 
that provide jobs and products to society. The program provides 
unbiased information used in monitoring of wildlife habitat, wildfire 
risk, insect and disease threats, invasive species spread, and response 
to priorities identified in the Forest Action Plans.
    As the key partner in FIA program delivery via State contribution 
of matching funds, state foresters look forward to continued work with 
the Forest Service to improve efficiency in delivery of the program to 
meet the needs of the diverse user groups for FIA data. This will 
ensure that, at a minimum, the historical level of base program 
delivery is accomplished, which should include funding the collection 
of data on a 7-year cycle in the east and 10-year cycle in the west. 
NASF supports funding the Forest Inventory and Analysis Program at 
$32.4 million in fiscal Year 2023. However, we request that this 
increase not be realized at the expense of other critical Forest 
Service Research & Development or S&PF programs. We request you to work 
with the Forest Service to establish a budget line item for FIA for 
salaries and expenses.
                   landscape scale restoration (lsr)
    The Landscape Scale Restoration (LSR) program is an important way 
that States, in collaboration with the Forest Service and other 
partners, address critical forest priorities across the landscape. LSR 
projects focus on the most critical priorities identified in each 
State's Forest Action Plan and on achieving resource objectives 
outlined in the 2018 Farm Bill. The program prioritizes funding 
projects that reduce the risk of uncharacteristic wildfires, improve 
fish and wildlife habitats, maintain or improve water quality and 
watershed function, mitigate invasive species, insect infestation and 
disease, improve important forest ecosystems, and measure ecological 
and economic benefits including air and soil quality and productivity. 
As a result, LSR contributes to achieving results across the landscape 
and to making meaningful local, regional, and national impacts. NASF 
supports funding the Landscape Scale Restoration Program at $20 million 
in fiscal Year 2023.
    NASF appreciates the opportunity to share our fiscal Year 2023 
appropriations recommendations for the Forest Service with the 
subcommittee.

    [This statement was submitted by Christopher Martin, Connecticut 
State Forester, and President.]
                                 ______
                                 
     Prepared Statement of National Association of Tribal Historic 
                         Preservation Officers
    Chair Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski, and Members of the 
subcommittee, I appreciate this opportunity to present the National 
Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers' (NATHPO)'s 
recommendations for Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations. My name is Valerie 
Grussing and I am the Executive Director.
    We were grateful that the subcommittee included $24 million in the 
Tribal line item of the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) in the Fiscal 
Year 2022 Interior Appropriations bill. That was $1 million more than 
both the Biden Administration's budget request and House appropriators' 
funding level. Unfortunately, the Fiscal Year 2022 Omnibus bill only 
included $16 million in the Tribal line item of the HPF, $8 million 
less than this subcommittee had included in its bill. The 
subcommittee's $24 million funding level would have taken a significant 
step toward enabling Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs) to 
protect and preserve Tribal Nations' cultural resources and sacred 
sites. It also would have expedited important infrastructure and energy 
projects that require Tribal Nation consultation. While the funding of 
THPOs is a national issue, it also has serious ramifications for the 
States represented by members of this subcommittee. Eighty of the 208 
THPOs are located in subcommittee members' States.
    It is imperative that the final Fiscal Year 2023 funding level 
reflects this subcommittee's clear understanding of the important role 
that THPOs play. We urge the subcommittee to provide a funding level 
for Fiscal Year 2023 that provides THPOs with the resources they need 
to do the work that is delegated to them in the National Historic 
Preservation Act. Specifically, we urge the subcommittee to support 
these funding levels:

  1. National Park Service, Historic Preservation Fund, Tribal line 
        item ($34 million)

  2. National Park Service, National NAGPRA Program:

      a. Exclusively for NAGPRA Grants ($10 million)

      b. Program administration ($1 million for Program Use)

    What are Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs)? THPOs are 
an exercise of Tribal sovereignty, appointed by federally recognized 
Tribal governments that have an agreement with the Department of the 
Interior to assume the Federal compliance role of the State HPO, per 
the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). Tribal historic 
preservation plans are grounded in self-determination, traditional 
knowledge, and cultural values, and may involve projects to improve 
Indian schools, roads, health clinics, and housing. THPOs are the first 
responders when a sacred site is threatened or when Native ancestors 
are disturbed by development. THPOs are often responsible for their 
Tribe's oral history programs, operating museums and cultural centers, 
leading revitalization of Native traditions and languages, and many 
more related functions.
    What is the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation 
Officers? NATHPO is a national non-profit membership association of 
Tribal government officials committed to protecting culturally 
important places that perpetuate Native identity, resilience, and 
cultural endurance. NATHPO assists Tribes in protecting their historic 
properties, whether they are naturally occurring in the landscape or 
are manmade structures.

    1. Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), administered by the National 
Park Service--Tribal line item ($34 million)

    As of December 31, 2021, there were 208 National Park Service 
(NPS)-recognized Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs). Each 
THPO represents an affirmative step by an Indian Tribe to assume the 
responsibilities of the State Historic Preservation Officers for their 
respective Tribal lands, as authorized by Congress in the 1992 
amendments to the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). 
Collectively, these Tribes exercise responsibilities over a land base 
exceeding 50 million acres in 30 States. The HPF is the sole source of 
Federal funding for THPOs and the main source of funding to implement 
the Nation's historic preservation programs. HPF revenue is generated 
from oil and gas development on the Outer Continental Shelf. We 
recommend $34 million to carry out the requirements of the NHPA. This 
would provide the 208 federally recognized THPOs an average of $164,000 
each to run their programs. Funding THPOs and staff creates jobs, 
generates economic development, and spurs community revitalization. It 
also facilitates required environmental and historic review processes, 
including for energy and infrastructure permitting. Tribes don't want 
to stop this development--they need it more than anyone. But they also 
need to reap the benefits rather than just continue to incur the costs. 
If these review processes are ever to be ``streamlined,'' THPOs must be 
able to do the required work.
    What is at stake? As the number of Indian Tribes with THPO programs 
increases, the amount of HPF funding appropriated to THPOs must catch 
up. Native American cultural properties on millions of acres of Tribal 
lands are at risk. For the past several years, each THPO program has 
been asked to conduct important Federal compliance work with fewer 
financial resources. In the first year of congressional funding support 
for THPOs (Fiscal Year 1996), the original 12 THPOs each received an 
average of $80,000, while in Fiscal Year 2021, 200 THPOs received an 
average of $75,000. This funding was inadequate for THPOs to handle 
their current workloads and those workloads have increased 
exponentially with the enactment of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. 
Additionally, the number of Tribes with a THPO continues to grow; 
around 10 Tribes successfully establish a THPO program each year. The 
epidemics we see rampant in Indian Country are the symptoms of 
historical trauma--of people systematically cut off from their 
families, languages, practices, and lands. Reconnecting Native peoples 
to their cultural heritage, traditions, and places has the power to 
help heal deep generational wounds. Treating the cause: that is the 
work THPOs do. To continue this work in Indian Country, it is essential 
that THPO programs receive increased funding to meet the increasing 
need. The chart below demonstrates the program growth and funding need.

Additional HPF programs administered by the National Park Service:

    NATHPO appreciates the strong HPF funding levels the Committee has 
provided in recent years. We support the request of the National Trust 
for Historic Preservation that Congress provide a total fiscal Year 
2023 HPF appropriation of $200 million. Within that funding we 
recommend:

  --$65 million for State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPOs);

  --$34 million for Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs);

  --$24 million for competitive grants to preserve the sites and 
        stories of efforts to advance African American Civil Rights;

  --$5 million for the History of Equal Rights Grants program to 
        preserve the sites and stories associated with securing civil 
        rights for All Americans, including women, American Latino, 
        Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and LGBTQ 
        Americans;

  --$12 million for grants to Historically Black Colleges and 
        Universities;

  --$35 million for Save America's Treasures grants;

  --$12 million for Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization grants;

  --$3 million for grants related to communities underrepresented on 
        the National Register of Historic Places and National Historic 
        Landmarks.

    We also recommend the Committee encourage the NPS to work with 
States and Tribes to improve what has become a burdensome apportionment 
process so that SHPOs and THPOs can more readily and efficiently access 
funding Congress has allocated for their work.


    2. National Park Service, National NAGPRA Program

    The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) 
provides for the disposition of Native American cultural items \1\ 
removed from Federal or Tribal lands, or in the possession or control 
of museums or Federal agencies, to lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, 
or Native Hawaiian organizations based on descent or cultural or 
geographic affiliation. NAGPRA prohibits trafficking of Native American 
cultural items and created a grants program exclusively for Indian 
Tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations, and public museums.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Cultural items include human remains, funerary or sacred 
objects, and objects of cultural patrimony.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAGPRA Grants Program:

  c. $10 million to be used exclusively for NAGPRA Grants to Indian 
        Tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations, and museums.

Administration of National NAGPRA Program:

  d. $1 million, additionally, for NAGPRA program administration, 
        including the publication of Federal Register notices, grant 
        administration, civil penalty investigations, and Review 
        Committee costs.

    3. Bureau of Indian Affairs--Create line items and support the 
following divisions:

    The BIA has federally mandated responsibilities to work with Indian 
Tribes and comply with the NHPA, the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA), NAGPRA, and the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA). 
Currently the BIA does not have any budget line items devoted to 
complying with these Federal laws. Funds are not only needed for the 
BIA to comply with their internal development efforts, such as roads 
and forestry, but also to conduct project reviews of outside 
development projects, such as oil and gas development. ARPA crime on 
Indian reservations continues to be a major problem, as looters and 
traffickers continue to steal valuable cultural resources from Tribal 
and Federal lands. The BIA does not have any special agents or law 
enforcement forces to combat this uniquely destructive crime in Indian 
Country and we urge the creation of a dedicated line item within the 
BIA.

NATHPO recommends the BIA create line items and support the following 
divisions:

      a. Cultural Resource compliance at the 12 Regional BIA Offices 
        ($3 million);

      b. Central Office cultural resource efforts throughout the bureau 
        ($200,000);

      c. NAGPRA compliance work ($765,000);

      d. To fight ARPA crimes on Indian reservations ($200,000).

    4. Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of the American Indian 
and the National Museum of Natural History Repatriation Programs

    NATHPO requests that the Smithsonian Institution receive $1.25 
million for its repatriation activities, including operation costs of 
the Review Committee and repatriation office.
    Thank you for considering our testimony. I would be pleased to 
answer any questions you have.

    [This statement was submitted by Valerie J. Grussing, PhD, 
Executive Director.]
                                 ______
                                 
      Prepared Statement of National Conference of State Historic 
                         Preservation Officers
           fiscal year 2023 historic preservation fund (hpf)
Apportionment Total Request:

  $65 million for State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs)
  $35 million for the Save America's Treasures grant program
  $34 million for Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (THPOs)
  $24 million for the African American Civil Rights grant program
  $12 million Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) 
        grant program
  $12 million for the Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization grant program
  $10 million for the Semiquincentennial grant program
  $5 million for the History of Equal Rights grant program
  $3 million for the Underrepresented Community grant program

    Funded through withdrawals from the Historic Preservation Fund (16 
USC 470h), U. S. Department of the Interior's National Park Service.
            unique and successful federal-state partnership
    Understanding the importance of our National heritage, in 1966 
Congress passed the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA, Title 54 
U.S.C. 300101 et seq), which established historic preservation as a 
national priority, particularly in the face of widespread loss of 
historic buildings and places that represent the American identity in 
communities throughout the country. Recognizing that State officials 
have local expertise and knowledge with the ability to work most 
directly with and for constituents, the act's authors directed Federal 
entities charged with its implementation--the Department of the 
Interior and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation--to partner 
with the States to fulfill this vital national priority through a 
remarkably successful exercise in federalism.
    Federal NHPA duties delegated to the SHPOs include: 1) locating and 
recording historic resources; 2) nominating significant historic 
resources to the National Register of Historic Places; 3) cultivating 
historic preservation programs at the local government level; 4) 
providing funds for preservation activities; 5) commenting on Federal 
rehabilitation tax credit projects; 6) review of all Federal projects 
for their impact on historic properties; and 7) providing technical 
assistance to Federal agencies, State and local governments and the 
private sector.
    Ten years later in 1976, Congress established the Historic 
Preservation Fund (HPF) to assist the States in accomplishing this 
federally delegated work. Congress at that time opted to fund the HPF 
from outer-continental shelf lease revenues (rather than tax dollars), 
based on an initial premise that the depletion of one non-renewable 
resource could be used to help preserve another non-renewable 
resource--our heritage. The States also contribute to the current 
funding mechanism, matching at least 40 percent of the Federal HPF 
funding they receive.
                       saving america's heritage
    The foundational step in preserving and protecting America's 
heritage is to identify it--through the survey, documentation, 
stewardship and sharing of historic place data. Adequate funding is 
essential for SHPOs to do this work in a way that takes advantage of 
and reflects advances in technology. Recent shortfalls in funding mean 
that many States must continue to rely upon outdated paper records and 
inefficient manual processes. Having accurate, up-to-date, and 
digitally accessible information about our Nation's historic resources 
dramatically increases the efficiency of project consultation as well 
as builds a permanent record of our Nation's physical heritage. From 
decisions on the design of local infill development, to state 
transportation planning projects, to Federal large-scale energy 
projects and disaster recovery efforts--every single project that could 
impact historic places, and by extension, the American people, benefit 
from enhanced and accessible historic resource maps and databases.
    Once identified and documented, America's historic resources are 
primarily recognized at the local, State, and national levels by 
listing on both the National Register as well as State and local 
historic registers with varying degrees of protection, consideration, 
and recognition. SHPOs, through the authority of the NHPA assist, 
support, and encourage communities with their preservation efforts and 
are the gateway to listing on the National Register of Historic Places. 
National Register recognition by the Secretary of the Interior confirms 
citizens' belief in the significance of their communities' historic 
places as well as provides incentives for the further preservation of 
these irreplaceable places, often through public-private partnerships.

    The National Historic Preservation program is primarily one of 
assistance, not acquisition. The Federal Government does not own, 
manage, or maintain responsibility for the vast majority of the 
historic assets aided by the National Historic Preservation program. 
Instead, the citizen-oriented national program working through the 
SHPOs provides individual Americans and communities, together with the 
local, State, and Federal Governments that serve them, with the tools 
needed to identify, preserve, and utilize the historic assets of 
importance to them. SHPOs are fundamentally constituent-oriented and 
work closely and cooperatively with individual Americans to preserve 
historic places across the Nation.

    Directing $65 million for fiscal Year 2023 to SHPO offices will 
provide much needed operational funding to aid in increased capacity 
and efficiency to maximize constituent assistance and responsiveness. 
Specifically, with the recent $500 billion in new Federal 
infrastructure spending, SHPOs are in dire need of resources to operate 
programs as they continue to fulfill responsibilities to review and 
comment on increasing numbers of Federal undertakings under NHPA. 
Likewise, Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (THPOs) assume many of 
the responsibilities of the SHPO on their respective Tribal lands. The 
number of THPOs continues to increase annually, requiring funding to 
keep pace with expanding needs. With over 200 THPOs in place, funding 
of $34 million for THPO offices is necessary to prevent a decrease in 
the average THPO grant.
    HPF funds also support competitive grant programs aimed at 
protecting and promoting the Nation's historic and cultural resources, 
while furthering efforts to tell the full scope of America's history 
through recognition and preservation of our irreplaceable historic 
places. As such, NCSHPO encourages HPF funding of $35 million for the 
Save America's Treasures grant program; $24 million for the African 
American Civil Rights grant program; $12 million to assist in the 
preservation and rehabilitation of buildings on the campuses of 
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs); $12 million for 
the Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization grant program to support 
historic preservation in rural communities; $10 million to support the 
Semiquincentennial grant program to commemorate the Nation's 250th 
anniversary; $5 million for the History of Equal Rights grant program; 
and $3 million for competitive grants to identify, recognize and 
preserve the sites and stories related to Underrepresented Communities.
    In fiscal Year 2022, the importance of having appropriate funds to 
protect and promote our historic and cultural assets was reflected in 
the amount authorized under the final omnibus spending bill for the 
HPF. A record $173 million was appropriated under the fund including 
$55.675 million for SHPOs, $16 million for THPOs, and the remainder 
going towards competitive grant programs that support historic 
preservation efforts. While this is trending in the right direction, 
there are additional citizen-oriented needs that must be met and more 
work to be done.
         jobs, economic development & community revitalization
    Historic preservation has stimulated economic growth, promoted 
community education and pride, and rescued and rehabilitated 
significant historic resources throughout the country. By positively 
combatting the effects of blight and vacancy through respectful 
repurposing of existing historic building stock, historic preservation 
is frequently a catalyst for positive community change--resulting in 
dynamic destinations for visitors and residents alike. Further, 
preservation incentives and programs foster affordable housing and 
solutions to the challenge of climate change.
    The Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit (HTC) program, administered 
by the State Historic Preservation Offices in cooperation with the 
National Park Service, is an important driver for economic development. 
Throughout the program's history, the HTC has enabled the 
rehabilitation of more than 47,000 buildings \1\, generated more than 
2.9 million jobs and leveraged $181 billion in private investment 
nationwide.\2\ On average, the HTC leverages $5 dollars in private 
investment for every $1 dollar in Federal funding, cultivating highly 
effective public-private partnerships and community focused re-
investment. 39 States currently offer a historic tax credit program 
\3\, including my own state of North Carolina. State tax credit 
programs complement the Federal HTC program incentives and provide 
additional opportunities for community revitalization and saving 
historic places for the use and enjoyment of future generations of 
Americans.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ 2022. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 
Technical Preservation Services. Federal Tax Incentives for 
Rehabilitating Historic Buildings--Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2021.
    \2\ 2021. Rutgers Edward J Bloustein School of Planning & Policy & 
National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Technical 
Preservation Services. Annual Report on the Economic Impact of the 
Federal Historic Tax Credits for Fiscal Year 2020.
    \3\ 2022. National Trust for Historic Preservation. Preservation & 
State Historic Tax Credits.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As an example of return on the Federal HPF investment in my own 
state of North Carolina, the modest Federal funding provided to our 
office of less than $2 million in the last fiscal year helped our 
professional staff to facilitate in that 1 year approximately $200 
million of historic tax credit-fueled private investment in historic 
buildings, which employs local workers at the construction and post-
rehab stage, brought about local construction material spending, 
generated new sources of local, State, and Federal tax revenue, and 
enhanced community pride through the renewal of historic building stock 
for a new generation of productive use.
    Historic preservation also stimulates economic development through 
heritage tourism. SHPOs are essential local partners in identifying and 
interpreting the historic places that attract visitors. A modest 
increase in SHPO funding would allow SHPOs to expand their public 
outreach and assistance efforts, enabling communities to take greater 
advantage of heritage tourism opportunities which likewise lead to job 
creation, new business development and strong community identity.
          state historic preservation offices' accomplishments
    The HPF has facilitated nearly 100,000 listings to the National 
Register, with over 1.9 million contributing resources, and the survey 
of millions of acres for cultural resources. The HPF has also provided 
SHPOs with the administrative capacity for constituent access to the 
Federal Historic Preservation Tax Credit program, which has generated 
more than $39.4 billion in Federal tax revenue from historic 
rehabilitation projects from inception through fiscal Year 20202. In 
fiscal Year 2021, HPF funding also enabled SHPOs to review 124,300 
Federal undertakings, and in so doing, aid in a conscientious public 
consideration of how to balance two fundamental needs--public 
investments for the future and preservation of America's historic 
places.
    Many SHPOs have also made extensive use of HPF grant programs that 
are intended to make sure that a wide variety of historic places are 
preserved. In North Carolina, over the last several years, we have 
applied for and received grants under several of these grant programs. 
A 2015 Underrepresented Communities grant yielded National Register 
nominations and listings for eight Rosenwald School nominations, two 
historic African American cemeteries, and the College Heights Historic 
District, which is associated with the HBCU North Carolina Central 
University; a 2022 award through this program will survey and nominate 
to the National Register extant Green Book properties, as examples of 
Black entrepreneurship during the difficult segregation era. A 2020 
Civil Rights grant is currently underway with a study to gather and 
document oral histories, background research, and places associated 
with the Civil Right Movement in northeastern North Carolina. The North 
Carolina Division of State Historic Sites has also recently received a 
Civil Rights grant to rehabilitate the home of Civil Rights leader 
Golden Frinks in Edenton and update the existing National Register 
listing for the home to capture its Civil Rights significance. A 
current American Battlefield Protection Program planning grant is 
providing needed funding to study the combat role of US Colored Troops 
in North Carolina with an eye to strategizing battlefield preservation 
priorities in the future.
                               conclusion
    Historic preservation recognizes that what was common and ordinary 
in the past is often rare and precious today, and what is common and 
ordinary today may be extraordinary, whether it is fifty, one hundred 
or five hundred years from now. The national network of State Historic 
Preservation Offices, employing public history professionals in service 
to American citizens, helps to ensure that the places associated with 
the history of all Americans are recognized and preserved. To that end, 
I would like to thank the committee sincerely for its commitment to 
historic preservation. The Federal Government plays an invaluable role 
in preserving our Nation's history and our collective sense of place. 
Through our federalism partnership, SHPOs remain committed to working 
together to identify, protect, and maintain our Nation's heritage and 
in doing so, provide Americans with a strong sense of orientation 
towards our common history.
    On behalf of all 59 SHPOs, I'd like to thank you, Chairman Merkley, 
Ranking Member Murkowski, and members of the U.S. Senate Committee on 
Appropriations, subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related 
Agencies for the opportunity to submit testimony.

    [This statement was submitted by Ramona Bartos, President.]
                                 ______
                                 
      Prepared Statement of National Congress of American Indians
    On behalf of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), 
thank you for this opportunity to provide testimony on fiscal Year 2023 
funding for the Department of the Interior (DOI), the Indian Health 
Service (IHS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. 
Forest Service, involving our recommendation of $55.54 billion in 
funding. The spending within this subcommittee's jurisdiction include 
some of the most critical funding for Indian Country. Unfortunately, 
chronically underfunded and sometimes inefficiently structured Federal 
programs have left many basic obligations of the United States to 
Tribal Nations and their people unmet for centuries, which contribute 
to the inequities observed in Native American communities.
    The President's fiscal Year 2023 Budget Request to Congress calls 
for a historic shift in the paradigm of Nation-to-Nation relations that 
seeks to restore the promises made between our ancestors and the United 
States in several key programs. It includes requesting mandatory 
funding for: IHS, DOI Contract Support Costs, and Section 105(l) Tribal 
Leases; along with a myriad of investments in Indian healthcare, 
education, public safety, natural resource management, and 
infrastructure. The Biden-Harris proposal represents the most 
revolutionary presidential budget and policy proposals for Tribal 
programs, which Tribal leaders have long advocated for, are long 
overdue, and are prepaid for by our ancestors.
    After the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the Federal Government listened 
to Tribal Nations' collective voice and provided the largest single 
infusion of Federal funding for Native Americans in U.S. history.\1\ 
Funding from the American Rescue Plan Act embodied a simple and 
effective strategy to maximize the investment: empowering Tribal 
Nations to design their own solutions. While this funding is historic, 
necessary, and essential, Tribal Nations began the pandemic on unequal 
footing compared to State and local governments. This historic 
inclusion in Federal spending for Indian Country must be the norm, and 
not the exception.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Eric C. Henso et. al, ``Assessing the U.S. Treasury 
Department's Allocations of Funding for Tribal Governments under the 
American Rescue Plan act of 2021'', Harvard Project on American Indian 
Economic Development & Native Nations Institute, Policy Brief No. 7 
November 3, 2021), accessed at: https://ash.harvard.edu/files/ash/
files/assessing_the_u.s.--
treasury_departments_allocations_of_funding_for_tribal_governments.pdf?m
=1635972521
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The subcommittee can do this by: working with the Budget Committee 
to account for mandatory obligations as mandatory spending; providing 
funding for programs that far outpaces the appropriations status quo 
that has left Tribal communities less safe, less prosperous, and 
inhibits economic potential; empowering Tribal Nations to address 
climate change and restore their homelands, including funding for 
taking land into trust and a Carcieri fix;\2\ providing resources to 
further DOI's commitment to improve the protection of, and Tribal 
access to, Indigenous sacred sites; and by providing advance 
appropriations until such time that all trust and treaty obligations to 
Tribal Nations are accounted for and provided as mandatory spending.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ See NCAI Resolutions RAP-10-058c, MSP-15-044, and DEN-18-055.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                    u.s. department of the interior
    The government-to-government relationship between the United States 
and Tribal Nations extends to all agencies of the Federal Government 
and is not singularly housed within Tribal affairs bureaus or offices. 
The long history of Federal Indian policies of removal, assimilation, 
reorganization, and termination have placed many Tribal lands in the 
hands of Federal land management agencies with the duty to conserve and 
protect them. Tribal Nations are assuming greater roles of stewardship 
and co-management of public lands, waters, and wildlife that 
demonstrate the creative management solutions that tribal/federal 
partnerships bring to Federal land management. Additionally, Tribal 
Nations play a unique role in the mitigation of wildland fires, a joint 
responsibility of Federal land management agencies and Tribal Nations 
over more than 535 million acres.
    Tribal Nations are fighting battles to protect and retain access to 
their homelands, ensuring their freedom to continue practicing their 
religious and cultural customs. Every week, it seems, NCAI hears a new 
story of our sacred lands under threat, either from nonconsensual 
development, environmental harm, or restriction of treaty guaranteed 
access for the original stewards of these places. Infringements on 
Native American cultural and religious rights and protections are not 
limited to Federal lands. Private landowners continue to till some of 
the last natural habitats for Peyote in the United States, affecting 
biodiversity in the ecosystem and destroying religious practices that 
have existed for millennia. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 
Partners for Fish and Wildlife program allows for partnerships with 
Tribal Nations and private landowners for the conservation and 
protection of working landscapes such as forests, farms, and ranches. 
This subcommittee must leverage these and other existing authorities to 
provide grants to Tribal Nations and Tribal organizations for 
partnerships with private landowners for the conservation and 
protection of Peyote.
    In November 2021, the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture 
signed a joint secretarial order to facilitate agreements with Tribes 
to collaborate in the co-stewardship of Federal lands and waters.\3\ 
This subcommittee must provide and direct resources into the protection 
and Tribal co-management of Federal lands for the conservation and 
protection of natural resources, historical and sacred areas, and 
subsistence rights for all Tribal Nations.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ Joint Secretarial Order on Fulfilling the Trust Responsibility 
to Indian Tribes in theStewardship of Federal Lands and Waters, Order 
No. 3403, accessed at: https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/elips/
documents/so-3403-joint-secretarial-order-on-fulfilling-the-trust-
responsibility-to-indian-Tribes-in-the-stewardship-of-federal-lands-
and-waters.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             indian affairs
    NCAI recommends $5.36 billion for Indian Affairs programs in fiscal 
Year 2023, consistent with the official fiscal Year 2023 recommendation 
of the Tribal/Interior Budget Council (TIBC).\4\ Within TIBC's fiscal 
Year 2023 recommendations are robust increases for all base-funded 
programs, and additional funding to address public safety and justice 
in Tribal communities; the economic and social wellbeing of our 
citizens and all those who visit or do business there; the backlog of 
school, community, and government infrastructure construction and 
maintenance; taking land into trust; and addressing climate resiliency 
in Tribal communities and on Indian and Federal lands.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ TIBC Tribal Representatives' fiscal Year 2023 Budget Submission 
to the Department of the Interior, June 14, 2021, accessed at: https://
res.cloudinary.com/ncai/image/upload/v1632171603/tibc-documents/
FY_2023_Tribal_Budget_Submission_qs1dgw.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    NCAI supports the TIBC recommendation for an additional $15 million 
for the expansion of the Tiwahe Initiative to, at least, 10 new pilot 
sites. The Tiwahe Initiative promotes a comprehensive and integrated 
approach to supporting family stability and strengthening Tribal 
communities by addressing interrelated issues associated with child 
welfare, domestic violence, substance abuse, poverty, and 
incarceration. Lasting and efficient community solutions lie in 
addressing the interrelated problems of poverty, violence, and 
substance abuse through a comprehensive, culturally appropriate 
approach to help improve the lives and opportunities of Indian 
families.
    NCAI also recommends funding for the establishment of an Economic 
Development Pilot Initiative, similar to the Tiwahe Initiative, that 
provides base funding increases directly to Tribal governments to 
develop and operate comprehensive and integrated economic and community 
development. Tribal Nations are diverse in their geographic and 
cultural representation, making targeted and limited Indian Affairs 
funding opportunities for economic and community development too 
restrictive, too costly, and less efficient. The June 2021 TIBC meeting 
discussed diverse community needs from tourism, to farming/ranching, to 
advancing Tribal timber industries (e.g., saw mills), to fish 
hatcheries; but this conversation was not new to the TIBC discussion or 
limited to these topics. The common theme between them is that they are 
each unique but their development must be integrated, which underscores 
the value of policy solutions that empower Tribal governments to 
develop solutions specifically tailored to their communities. This 
Economic Development Pilot Initiative should include, at least, funding 
for: the development of Tribal government codes to promote economic 
development (e.g., tourism, timber, zoning, and building codes, etc.); 
business infrastructure development; feasibility studies; and 
investment capacity.
    NCAI strongly supports accounting for Contract Support Costs and 
Payments for Tribal Leases as mandatory spending. This shift in 
scorekeeping can occur by an agreement between Appropriators, the 
Office of Management and Budget, and the Budget Committees. This 
subcommittee has consistently published report language citing the 
mandatory nature of these obligations, which are typically addressed 
through mandatory spending. NCAI urges this subcommittee to work with 
the Senate Budget Committee to achieve this goal.
                         indian health service
    NCAI recommends $49.83 billion for the Indian Health Service (IHS) 
in fiscal Year 2023, consistent with the official fiscal Year 2023 
recommendation of the IHS National Tribal Budget Formulation 
Workgroup.\5\ NCAI also strongly urges you to ensure IHS funding is 
provided as mandatory spending, with a mechanism to automatically 
adjust spending to keep pace with population growth, inflation, and 
healthcare costs. This will ensure that the funding Congress provides 
for Indian healthcare can be used efficiently and strategically, 
without leaving IHS wondering if, or when, funding will halt.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ IHS National Tribal Budget Formulation Workgroup fiscal Year 
2023 Budget, May 2021, accessed at: https://www.nihb.org/docs/02072022/
FY percent202023 percent20Tribal percent20Budget percent20Formulation 
percent20Workgroup percent20Recommendations percent20Vol 
percent201.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Mandatory spending for IHS is a simple promise. A promise that the 
United States honors and upholds its treaty and trust obligations. A 
promise that Congress will enact solutions that cease the undue and 
unnecessary suffering of our people. A promise of certainty and 
security for our communities and most vulnerable populations. We urge 
you to help fulfill this promise made to our ancestors, by your 
ancestors, for our shared future.
                    environmental protection agency
    As place-based peoples, Tribal Nations have sacred histories and 
maintain cultural practices that tie them to their current land bases 
and ancestral territories. As a result, Tribal peoples directly, and 
often disproportionately, suffer from the impacts of environmental 
degradation. Federal funding to support environmental protection for 
Tribal lands was not forthcoming until more than 20 years after the 
passage of the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts.\6\ Almost 40 years after 
the passage of the Clean Water Act, only 46 of 77 eligible Tribal 
Nations have Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved water 
quality standards,\7\ which are a cornerstone of the Clean Water Act. 
Given the disparate access of Tribal communities to safe and clean 
water, NCAI recommends a 5 percent Tribal set-aside for each the 
National Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) and the 
National Clean Water Act State Revolving Fund (SRF), with $71.97 
million to be appropriated to the DWSRF and $99.1 million to be 
appropriated to the SRF.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ United States Federal Register, Indian Tribes: Air Quality 
Planning and Management, 63 Fed. Reg. 7254, 1998, accessed at: https://
www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-1998-02-12/pdf/98-3451.pdf.
    \7\ Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Actions on Tribal Water 
Quality Standards and Contacts, accessed at: https://www.epa.gov/wqs-
tech/epa-actions-tribal-water-quality-standards-and-contacts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Additionally, NCAI recommends $100 million be appropriated for the 
EPA Tribal General Assistance Program, $30 million for the Tribal Air 
Quality Management Program, and $46.8 million for EPA's Land and 
Emergency Management programs for the benefit of Tribal Nations.
                          u.s. forest service
    Tribal Nations that engage in timber harvesting are working to 
expand their participation in the management of neighboring at-risk 
Federal forest through accelerated implementation of the Tribal Forest 
Protection Act (TFPA). TFPA authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture and 
the Secretary of the Interior to enter into contracts or agreements 
with Tribal Nations to carry out tribally proposed projects on Forest 
Service or Bureau of Land Management-managed lands. Additionally, the 
2018 Farm Bill contains an important expansion of the Public Law 93-638 
contracting authority to the U.S. Forest Service, allowing the 
Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to enter 
into agreements whereby Tribal Nations or Tribal organizations may 
perform administrative, management, and other functions of TFPA 
programs through Public Law 93-638 contracts. The President's fiscal 
Year 2023 Budget Request includes a request for $11 million to expand 
the time-tested principles of self-determination and self-governance 
and empower Tribal Nations to reclaim what they have known for 
millennia--how to manage and conserve the landscape for sustainable 
economies and cultural practices.
                               conclusion
    Tribal Nations are resilient and have demonstrated their resolve 
and dedication since time immemorial. However, Tribal Nations are 
uniquely reliant on the Federal Government to fulfill the promises made 
in exchange for the land that created the foundation of the bounty and 
wealth of the United States. Our people have paid for every penny 
obligated to Indian Country hundreds of times over by providing this 
nation with our land. In order to uphold this Nation's promises to its 
people, it must first uphold its promise to this land's First People. 
We expect to continue to be treated as sovereign nations and with 
governmental parity. When we work together we can achieve so much. We 
must now continue down that path of Nation-to-Nation growth, and only 
then will all of our people be able to fully flourish.

    [This statement was submitted by Dante Desiderio, Chief Executive 
Officer of the National Congress of American Indians.]
                                 ______
                                 
     Prepared Statement of National Council of Urban Indian Health
    My name is Francys Crevier, I am Algonquin and the Chief Executive 
Officer of the National Council of Urban Indian Health (NCUIH). On 
behalf of NCUIH, the National advocate for health care for the over 70 
percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) living off-
reservation and the 41 Urban Indian Organizations (UIOs) that serve 
these populations, I would like to thank Chairman Jeff Merkley, Ranking 
Member Lisa Murkowski, and Members of the subcommittee for your 
leadership to improve health outcomes for urban Indians, especially in 
the COVID-19 response. We respectfully request the following:

  --$49.8 billion for the Indian Health Service (IHS) and $949.9 
        million for Urban Indian Health for FY23 (as requested by the 
        Tribal Budget Formulation Workgroup)

  --Advance appropriations for IHS until mandatory funding is enacted
              current status of covid-19 in indian country
    UIOs provide a range of services and are primarily funded by a 
single line item in the annual Indian health budget, constituting less 
than 1 percent of the total IHS annual budget before fiscal Year 2020. 
There have been vast improvements from where we were 2 years ago 
regarding the availability of supplies, tests, and vaccines, but 
despite advances, the situation facing Natives has not relented. AI/ANs 
are 3.2 times more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 and 2.2 times 
more likely to die from the virus.\1\ Due to the disproportionate 
impacts of the pandemic, we are asking Congress to prioritize Indian 
Country and for the government to truly honor its trust obligation 
through the full funding of IHS and UIOs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/
investigations-discovery/hospitalization-death-by-race-ethnicity.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    With the funding and resources from Congress, UIOs have been highly 
successful at their vaccine rollouts. As of February 2022, AI/ANs have 
some of the highest vaccination administration rates in the U.S, with 
70.6 percent of AI/ANs having received at least one dose of the COVID-
19 vaccine, according to CDC Vaccine Administration Data.\2\ UIOs have 
played a critical role in achieving these high vaccination rates; 
however, in order to fully provide health care for the over 70 percent 
of AI/ANs residing in urban areas, UIOs need a consistent baseline of 
regular funding.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-
demographics-trends
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    With COVID relief funding, UIOs have also been able to purchase PPE 
and medical supplies, hire behavioral health staff, upgrade electronic 
health records to accurately and effectively enter vaccine and testing 
data, install a new HVAC system, provide new training for staff, 
purchase a new building, lease mobile units to expand their services, 
and expand behavioral health and victim services. With increased 
funding, UIOs will be better equipped to respond to future pandemics 
immediately.
request: $49.8 billion for the indian health service and $949.9 million 
                        for urban indian health
    While your leadership was instrumental in providing the most 
significant investments ever for Indian health and urban Indian health, 
we must continue in this direction to build on our successes. The 
national average for health care spending is around $12,000 per person; 
however, Tribal and IHS facilities receive only about $4,000 per 
patient. Furthermore, UIOs receive just $672 per IHS patient--that is 
only 6 percent of the National average per capita amount. That's what 
our organizations must work with to provide health care for urban 
Indian patients.
    The Federal trust obligation to provide health care to Natives is 
not optional, and we thus request Congress honor the Tribal Budget 
Formulation Workgroup (TBFWG) FY23 recommendations of $49.8 billion for 
IHS and $949.9 million for urban Indian health. In a letter to the 
Committee, 12 Senators requested the same amount for urban Indian 
health, support for the President's proposal for mandatory funding for 
IHS, and support for advance appropriations for IHS in the fiscal Year 
2023 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.\3\ 
That number is much greater than the FY22 enacted amount of $73.4 
million, demonstrating how far we have to go to reach the level of need 
for urban Indian health. In fact, at an IHS Area Report meeting where 
Tribal leaders presented their budget requests, one Oklahoma Tribal 
leader stated, ``There are inadequate levels of funding to address the 
rising urban Indian population.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/
review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:81e70647-16f0-3112-ba67-
d70489fe053a#pageNum=1
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Currently, the entire Eastern seaboard lacks full-ambulatory UIOs 
due to a lack of funding. The IHS has deemed the two remaining UIOs on 
the East Coast to be outreach and referral only, with a combined less 
than two-million-dollar budget. Unfortunately, the pandemic has shown 
that two outreach and referral UIOs to serve all urban Indians on the 
entire East Coast of the country is a failure to uphold the Federal 
trust obligation. It is evident the UIO line item is insufficient to 
allow IHS to authorize our East Coast UIOs to open fully operational 
clinics. Native American Lifelines is two programs run in both Boston 
and Baltimore with an annual budget for both cities of $1.6 million. 
During the height of the pandemic, Native people living in urban areas 
on the East Coast had to go back to reservations to get their vaccine 
to take advantage of the IHS authority that would give them the vaccine 
early and hopefully not become a mortality statistic.
    During a May 11, 2022, Senate Appropriations subcommittee on 
Interior hearing to review the fiscal Year 2023 President's Budget for 
IHS, Senator Jeff Merkley asked IHS Acting Director Elizabeth Fowler if 
more grants went out to UIOs due to the increase in funding. Ms. Fowler 
informed that the funding will allow some referral-only programs to 
initiate clinical services to provide their patients. NCUIH requests 
the Committee seek information on which referral-only programs are 
being provided with additional funding to initiate clinical services, 
and how IHS is overseeing this process.
    In 2018 the Government Accountability Office (GAO-19-74R) reported 
that from 2013 to 2017, IHS annual spending increased by roughly 18 
percent overall and approximately 12 percent per capita. In comparison, 
annual spending at the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), which has 
a similar charge to IHS, increased by 32 percent overall, with a 25 
percent per capita increase during the same period. Similarly, spending 
under Medicare and Medicaid increased by 22 percent and 31 percent, 
respectively. In fact, even though the VHA service population is only 
three times that of IHS, their annual appropriations are roughly 13 
times higher. Despite the trust and treaty obligation of the Federal 
Government to provide health care to AI/ANs, IHS has been historically 
underfunded in comparison to other major Federal health agencies.
    The Federal Government owes a trust responsibility to Tribes and 
AI/ANs that is not restricted to the borders of reservations. Funding 
for Indian health must be significantly increased if the Federal 
Government is, to finally, and faithfully, fulfill its trust 
responsibility.
   update on allowability of urban indian health funds for facilities
    Last year, we requested language to allow the use of UIO funding 
for facilities--to enable UIOs to make long-needed upgrades to address 
gaps that were exacerbated by COVID-19. With the help of your 
leadership, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (BIF) included the 
Padilla-Moran-Lankford Amendment to allow UIOs to utilize their 
existing contracts to upgrade their aging facilities. We want to thank 
the committee for your support in enabling UIOs to use their funding to 
upgrade their facilities.
    However, because UIOs do not receive facilities funding, unlike the 
rest of the IHS system, and must use their line item for this purpose, 
the committee must increase the funding for the urban Indian health 
line item. In a recent IHS Area Report meeting, the Phoenix Area 
prioritized urban Indian health in the IHS budget while highlighting 
the need for increased funding for urban Indian health facility 
renovation. UIOs report needing at least $200 million to fund 
construction and renovation projects.\4\ These examples further support 
the need to increase the UIO line-item budget to the Tribal request of 
$949.9 million.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ https://ncuih.org/wp-content/uploads/UIO-Facilities-Needs-
2021_NCUIH_D169_V3-FINAL.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
  request: advance appropriations for ihs until mandatory funding is 
                                enacted
    The Indian health system, including IHS, Tribal facilities, and 
UIOs, is the only major Federal health care provider funded through 
annual appropriations. For example, the VHA at the Department of 
Veterans Affairs receives most of its funding through advance 
appropriations. If IHS were to receive mandatory funding, or at the 
least, advance appropriations, it would not be subject to government 
shutdowns, automatic sequestration cuts, and continuing resolutions 
(CRs) as its funding for the next year would already be in place. 
According to the Congressional Research Service, since FY1997, IHS has 
only once (in FY2006) received full-year appropriations by the start of 
the fiscal year.
    The lack of consistent and clear funding creates significant 
barriers for the already underfunded Indian health system. Congress 
enacted three CRs to maintain the fiscal year 2021 budget, which costs 
time and resources from IHS that could have been directed to pandemic 
response. When funding occurs during a CR, the IHS can only expend 
funds for the duration of a CR, which prohibits longer-term, 
potentially cost-saving purchases. In addition, as most of the Indian 
health services provided by Indian Tribes and UIOs are under contracts 
with the Federal Government, there must be a new contract re-issued by 
IHS for every CR. IHS was forced to allocate resources to contract 
logistics twice in the height of the pandemic when the resources could 
have been better spent equipping the Indian health system for pandemic 
response. In addition, lapses in Federal funding quite literally put 
lives at risk. During the most recent 35-day government shutdown at the 
start of fiscal Year 2019--the Indian health system was the only 
Federal healthcare entity that shut down. UIOs are so chronically 
underfunded that several UIOs had to reduce services, lose staff, or 
close their doors entirely, forcing them to leave their patients 
without adequate care. In a UIO shutdown survey, 5 out of 13 UIOs 
indicated that they could only maintain normal operations for 30 days 
without funding. Advance appropriations are imperative to provide 
certainty to the IHS system and ensure unrelated budget disagreements 
do not risk lives. For instance, Native American Lifelines of Baltimore 
is a small clinic that received seven overdose patients during the last 
shutdown, five of which were fatal.
    NCUIH supports the President's proposal in the fiscal Year 2023 
Budget to fund the IHS through mandatory appropriations and to exempt 
IHS from proposed law sequestration. The 10 years of appropriated 
mandatory funding in the fiscal Year 2023 Budget will ensure 
predictability, allowing the I/T/U system to engage in long-term and 
strategic planning. Until authorizers act to move IHS to mandatory 
funding, we request that Congress provide advance appropriations to the 
Indian health system to improve certainty and stability.
                               conclusion
    These requests are essential to ensure that urban Indians are 
appropriately cared for, both during this crisis and in the critical 
times following. The United States government must provide these 
resources for AI/AN people residing in urban areas. This obligation 
does not disappear amid a pandemic; instead, it should be strengthened, 
as the need in Indian Country is more significant than ever. We urge 
Congress to take this obligation seriously and provide UIOs with all 
the resources necessary to protect the lives of the entirety of the AI/
AN population, regardless of where they live.

    [This statement was submitted by Francys Crevier, (Algonquin), CEO, 
National Council of Urban Indian Health.]
                                 ______
                                 
         Prepared Statement of National Endowment for the Arts
    As the only trade association in Washington representing all music 
creators--songwriters, performers, and studio professionals-the 
Recording Academy is pleased to offer testimony to the Senate Committee 
on Appropriations subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related 
Agencies in support of a substantial funding increase for the National 
Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in Fiscal Year 2023 of no less than the 
$203.55 million. The Recording Academy is proud to support the NEA and 
its initiatives to enrich American music and culture.
    The NEA brings music and the arts to communities across the 
country, and its mission has never been more important. The agency has 
been an indispensable part of the creative economy's recovery from the 
COVID-19 pandemic, and it remains poised to help revitalize local arts 
sectors in all 50 States. As such, the Recording Academy supports 
increasing funding of the NEA for the coming fiscal year to align with 
the budget request submitted by President Biden.
    Through supporting music and the arts, the NEA empowers local 
communities, improves student development, and advances cultural 
achievements. Considering that NEA grants yield more than $500 million 
in matching support-leveraging outside funds at a ratio of 9:1-it is 
financially one of the smartest investments the government can commit 
to. In the music industry, the NEA supports more than $50 million in 
music related direct grants each year-bringing music, and matching 
investments, to your back yards. From the My Voice Music youth program 
in Portland, Oregon ($15,000, in 2022) to the Anchorage Symphony 
Orchestra in Alaska ($10,000, 2021); and from the Burlington Jazz 
Festival in Vermont ($30,000, 2022) to Magic City Smooth Jazz in 
Birmingham, Alabama ($10,000, 2020), the NEA has proven to support and 
foster local music communities and opportunities.
    The Recording Academy applauds Congress for demonstrating a 
willingness to strongly support the NEA during the recent 
appropriations process, but the Agency remains in need of additional 
funding to fulfill its mission of expanding access to and participation 
in the arts. Robust funding for the NEA will ensure the agency can 
provide grants across all 50 States, while promoting more equitable 
access and reaching more diverse audiences.
    As you finalize appropriations for FY23, please make a strong 
commitment to the arts and music with robust funding for the NEA.

    [This statement was submitted by Todd Dupler, Acting Chief Advocacy 
& Public Policy Officer.]
                                 ______
                                 
       Prepared Statement of National Fire Protection Association
    The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is a self-funded, 
global non-profit organization dedicated to ending losses from fire, 
electrical, and related life-safety hazards. As the toll of wildfires 
on communities and citizens continues to grow, NFPA urges Congress to 
fund mitigation and community protection programs at levels sufficient 
to turn the tide of destruction and loss.
    Millions of acres of Federal lands are at high or very high risk of 
fueling wildfires that will be difficult to contain, creating a 
pressing need to support hazardous fuel mitigation treatments. NFPA 
supports the Administration's fiscal Year 2023 total request of $625 
million for this activity ($321 million U.S. Forest Service; $304.3 
million Department of Interior). This funding should be applied on top 
of the money made available for fuel treatment in the Infrastructure 
Investment and Jobs Act for fiscal year 2023. NFPA is very encouraged 
by the Forest Service's recent announcement to treat an additional 50 
million acres over the next 10 years and to focus its efforts on high-
risk firesheds. With nearly two-thirds of National Forest System 
acreage prone to catastrophic wildfires, the scale of the funding must 
enable a treatment rate above the current pace. NFPA also supports the 
Administration's fiscal Year 2023 request for $80 million for the 
Collaborative Forest Restoration Program. This competitive grant 
program helps foster multi-jurisdictional engagement to develop and 
implement forest restoration projects that ultimately reduce risk of 
catastrophic wildfire and provide other benefits.
    State and local jurisdictions also need assistance addressing the 
risks wildfires pose to communities in the wildland urban interface. 
NFPA echoes the calls from some of the Nation's leading fire service 
organizations to fund the State Fire Capacity (SFC) program item at no 
less than $79 million and the Volunteer Fire Capacity (VFC) program at 
no less than $21 million for fiscal year 2023. The work carried out 
under these programs helps train and equip local first responders, 
educate residents on wildfire risks and mitigation measures, and plan 
and implement local mitigation programs. With nearly one-third of all 
homes in the U.S. located in wildfire-prone areas, there are hundreds 
of communities that need assistance to prepare and respond to 
wildfires. NFPA's Fifth Needs Assessment of the U.S. Fire Service finds 
significant and alarming gaps in wildfire-specific training and 
personal protective equipment for those departments that include 
wildfire response among their duties.\1\ The study also shows that 
departments serving smaller communities are the most likely to lack 
sufficient training and equipment to respond to wildfires. Assistance 
through SFC and VFC is an important means to help these fire 
departments safely protect their communities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ National Fire Protection Association (2021) Fifth National 
Needs Assessment, https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/Files/News-and-Research/
Fire-statistics-and-reports/Emergency-responders/Needs-Assessment/
OSFifthNeedsAssessment.ashx (Overall, 78 percent of departments who 
perform WUI/wildland firefighting operations have some need for 
training, and the need is more pronounced in smaller departments; Two-
thirds of departments who are responsible for WUI/wildland firefighting 
have unmet needs for wildland personal protective clothing for their 
firefighters. There is need even among the largest departments, with 35 
percent being unable to equip all of their responsible personnel.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    SFC also funds public education and engagement and community 
mitigation activities. This includes the Firewise USA(r) program, which 
is a grassroots, voluntary community-based wildfire preparedness 
program administered by NFPA. Since its inception in 2002, the program 
has expanded to now include over 1,800 active Firewise sites in 43 
States. To earn Firewise recognition and remain in good standing, 
residents must work together to create an organizational structure to 
oversee mitigation activities, obtain a formal wildfire risk 
assessment, develop a mitigation plan, and commit in-kind and/or 
financial resources to mitigation activities, among other requirements. 
The SFC program helps States promote more fire adapted communities and 
builds capacity for wildfire preparedness and mitigation.
    Finally, NFPA supports a robust budget for forestry research, 
including programs to better understand wildfire behavior and landscape 
treatment strategies, as well as programs to develop new wood products 
and markets to create more financial incentives for hazardous fuel 
treatment. As part of that funding, the Joint Fire Sciences Research 
program should receive $8 million each from the Forest Service and 
Department of the Interior.

    [This statement was submitted by L. Seth Statler, Director of 
Government Affairs, National Fire Protection Association]
                                 ______
                                 
      Prepared Statement of National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
    Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony regarding fiscal 
year 2023 funding and thank you for your years of steadfast support of 
the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's (NFWF) conservation work. 
NFWF's efforts sustain, restore and enhance the Nation's fish, 
wildlife, plants and habitats for current and future generations. Many 
NFWF programs also enhance nature-based infrastructure that protects 
communities across the Nation from the impacts of flooding, drought, 
wildfire, and other natural threats.
    NFWF will match fiscal Year 2023 funding provided to the Foundation 
at least dollar for dollar with non-federal funds to increase 
conservation benefits across the country through local partnerships. 
NFWF will accomplish this by applying 100 percent of the appropriated 
funding to on-the-ground conservation projects with ZERO administrative 
cost to the Federal Government as required by law.
    We believe that NFWF is a sound investment because of our proven 
track record of leveraging Federal funding with private contributions 
to maximize the impact Federal resources can achieve. We appreciate the 
subcommittee's past support and respectfully request your approval of 
funding at the following levels:

  --$3.0 million provided through the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) 
        Management of Lands and Resources appropriation and restoration 
        of legislative bill text directing BLM to provide this funding 
        for NFWF to administer in support of BLM's wildlife 
        conservation efforts.\1\;
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Prior to the FY18 spending bill, the appropriations language 
required BLM to provide NFWF the full amount of appropriated funds. The 
FY18 appropriation bill changed the law by making the provision of 
funds to NFWF the discretion of the Director of the BLM and removed the 
language from the bill. This created questions about BLM's legal 
authority to provide funding to NFWF and has hindered the two 
organizations' ability to partner in the most effective manner. We 
request that the FY17 bill language be restored in the FY23 bill.

  --$7.022 million provided through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
        Service's Resource Management appropriation and inclusion of 
        this legislative text in the legislation as opposed to the bill 
        report in past years.\2\ (same funding level as fiscal Year 
        2022); and
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ In the past, the FWS appropriation for NFWF was included in the 
report accompanying the appropriations bill. We respectfully request 
that it be included in bill language. This will make NFWF's direct 
appropriations in the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Bill 
consistent across all agencies in the bill and expedite the permitting 
of conservation projects. The exclusion of this provision from the bill 
text increases the time needed by FWS to approve permitting of 
conservation projects and significantly delays the implementation of 
urgent conservation efforts.

  --$3.0 million with the standard bill language through the Forest 
        Service's National Forest System appropriation (same funding 
        level as fiscal Year 2022).
                       bureau of land management
    The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has partnered with NFWF for 
many years to further conservation efforts on public lands throughout 
the United States. With $11.7 million of BLM funding received from 
fiscal Year 2017--FY 2021, NFWF leveraged $66.5 million in on-the-
ground conservation impact. NFWF continues to work closely with the 
BLM, other Department of the Interior agencies, and 11 western States 
to achieve significant conservation gains.
    For example, the Foundation and its partners are administering a 
corridors program that from 2019--present day has awarded $11.6 million 
across 53 projects, leveraging $57.5 million in matching contributions 
to generate a total conservation impact of more than $69.1 million. The 
projects collectively will remove or improve 421 miles of fencing to be 
more wildlife friendly; reconnect 307 miles of migration corridors for 
big game species; restore 65,838 acres of public and private land 
through efforts like invasive weed and conifer removal treatments; 
improve management on 695,000 acres of public and private land through 
efforts like grazing and wildlife management plans and; protect 111,060 
acres of private land from fragmentation through conservation easements 
due to our partnerships.
    The committee's support for continuing funding for NFWF from BLM 
appropriations would help continue this work and help drive other 
conservation outcomes. For FY21, NFWF worked with BLM's Wildlife 
Division to determine allocations and priorities for four NFWF program 
landscapes. These programs focus on outcomes including perennial 
grassland management through the Northern Great Plains Program; wet 
meadow and sagebrush restoration through the Rocky Mountain Rangeland 
Program; watershed and associated upland restoration to benefit 
declining species through the Pecos River, and emerging Gila River 
Initiatives. Other BLM partnership areas of interest include pollinator 
recovery through the Monarch Butterfly and Pollinators Conservation 
Fund and desert conservation through a new Mojave Desert Tortoise 
Initiative. Each of these programs provides opportunities to leverage 
BLM resources with corporate and foundation private sector partners.

    Requested restoration of FY17 BLM Bill Language for fiscal Year 
2023:

        ``; of which $3,000,000 shall be available in fiscal year 2023 
        subject to a match by at least an equal amount by the National 
        Fish and Wildlife Foundation for cost shared projects 
        supporting conservation of Bureau lands; and such funds shall 
        be advanced to the Foundation as a lump-sum without regard to 
        when expenses are incurred.''

                united states fish and wildlife service
    The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has been a 
trusted partner since NFWF was created by Congress in 1984 and signed 
into law by President Reagan. In the past 5-years (FY 2017--FY 2021), 
NFWF leveraged $34.3M in FWS appropriated funds across 378 projects 
into a total of $158.4 million in on-the-ground conservation impact. 
The funds appropriated to NFWF serve as a magnet to attract funds from 
the private sector to create public-private partnerships critical to 
restoring fish, wildlife, eco-system restoration, improving aquatic 
passage, addressing climate change, and increasing natural processes 
for immediate carbon sequestration.
    In the past, the FWS appropriation for NFWF was included in the 
report accompanying the appropriations bill. However, we respectfully 
request that the appropriation be included in bill language. This will 
make NFWF's direct appropriations in the Interior, Environment and 
Related Agencies Bill consistent across all agencies in the bill and 
expedite the permitting of conservation projects. The exclusion of the 
FWS appropriation for NFWF increases the time needed for FWS to approve 
permitting of conservation projects and significantly delays the 
implementation of urgent conservation efforts.

    Requested FWS Bill Language for fiscal Year 2023:

        ``; of which $7,022,000 shall be available in fiscal year 2023 
        subject to a match by at least an equal amount by the National 
        Fish and Wildlife Foundation for cost-shared projects 
        supporting conservation of wildlife and other natural 
        resources; and such funds shall be advanced to the Foundation 
        as a lump-sum grant without regard to when expenses are 
        incurred.''

    Additionally, because NFWF works with FWS on discretionary 
cooperative agreements for conservation programs, we respectfully 
support the highest possible funding levels for the Delaware River 
Basin Conservation Act, Klamath Basin Restoration, efforts to combat 
white-nosed syndrome in bats, and Recovery Challenge matching grants 
within the FWS, Resource Management appropriation.
                      united states forest service
    Congress has appropriated approximately $3 million in annual 
funding to NFWF for partnerships with the United States Forest Service 
(USFS) since fiscal Year 1998. From fiscal Year 2017 to fiscal Year 
2021, NFWF has leveraged $15.0 million of USFS funds to provide $110.3 
million in on-the-ground conservation investments.

    Retain US Forest Service Language for fiscal Year 2023 as it has 
been in past years:

        ``Pursuant to section 2(b)(2) of Public Law 98-244, up to 
        $3,000,000 of the funds available to the Forest Service may be 
        advanced to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in a lump 
        sum to aid cost-share conservation projects, without regard to 
        when expenses are incurred, on or benefitting National Forest 
        System lands or related to Forest Service programs: Provided, 
        That such funds shall be matched on at least a one-for-one 
        basis by the Foundation or its sub-recipients: Provided 
        further, That the Foundation may transfer Federal funds to a 
        Federal or non-Federal recipient for a project at the same rate 
        that the recipient has obtained the non-Federal matching 
        funds.''
                    environmental protection agency
    NFWF has partnered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
since fiscal Year 1997 and since fiscal Year 2000 has worked with EPA 
to make grants to States and other grantees within the Geographic 
Programs appropriation. Therefore, we respectfully support the highest 
possible funding levels for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, 
Chesapeake Bay, Gulf of Mexico, and Long Island Sound within the 
Environmental Protection Agency Geographic Programs. We also 
respectfully ask that the long-standing report language that delineates 
the amount of funding for nutrient and sediment removal grants and 
small watershed grants within the Chesapeake Bay program be continued 
(FY 2022 language is below).

        Chesapeake Bay.--The Committee recommends $90,500,000 for the 
        Chesapeake Bay program, $3,000,000 above the enacted level and 
        equal to the request. From within the amount provided, 
        $10,375,000 is for nutrient and sediment removal grants and 
        $10,375,000 is for small watershed grants to control polluted 
        runoff from urban, suburban and agricultural lands, and 
        $8,750,000 is for State-based implementation in the most 
        effective basins.

    An example of a project made possible with EPA Geographic Programs 
funding is the Restoring and Reconnecting Brook Trout Strongholds in 
the South Branch of the Potomac that funded work in West Virginia and 
Virginia. NFWF awarded $492,619 that leveraged an additional $602,460 
in matching funds to support a total conservation impact of over 
$1million. The implementation partner that received the award will 
mitigate a large barrier to fish migration on the North Fork of the 
South Branch of the Potomac River, reconnecting and restoring two of 
the largest brook trout strongholds in the Chesapeake Bay. The project 
will reconnect 150 miles of headwater sources, improve water quality 
and habitat through agricultural best-management practices, and help to 
create a 239-squaremile brook trout stronghold super patch.
                            nfwf background
    NFWF was established by Congress in 1984 to catalyze private 
investments to conserve fish, wildlife and their habitats. NFWF raises 
private funds not only to leverage appropriated dollars, but also to 
support the associated management costs of implementing the 
appropriated funds. Since its creation by Congress in 1984, NFWF and 
its grantees have invested $7.4 billion in to more than 20,400 projects 
while partnering with more than 6,000 organizations.
    NFWF remains fully transparent and is required by law to notify 
Congress 30 days in advance of every grant that exceeds $10,000 in 
Federal funds. Details of all projects awarded during fiscal Year 2021 
can be found in NFWF's annual investment guide and all NFWF's grants 
can be found on our website: https://www.nfwf.org/grants/grants-library
    In fiscal Year 2021, NFWF was audited by an independent accounting 
firm and they issued an unqualified report with no material weaknesses 
identified and no deficiencies identified. This is the THIRTEENTH 
consecutive year of unqualified audits. In addition, NFWF has 
continually qualified as a low-risk auditee under OMB guidelines.
    Chairman Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski and members of the 
subcommittee, we greatly appreciate your continued support and stand 
ready to answer any questions you or your staff might have.

    [This statement was submitted by Will Heaton, Director, External 
Relations, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.]
                                 ______
                                 
           Prepared Statement of National Humanities Alliance
    On behalf of the National Humanities Alliance (NHA), with our more 
than 200 member organizations, I write to express strong support for 
the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
                                overview
    For fiscal Year 2023, we respectfully urge the subcommittee to 
consider at least $204 million for the National Endowment for the 
Humanities.
    While we recognize the difficult choices that are before this 
subcommittee, we believe that expanding the capacity of the NEH is 
essential at this moment in the Nation's history when the humanities 
are so needed to 1) build strong communities and foster civic dialogue; 
2) preserve cultural heritage including indigenous languages; 3) 
cultivate knowledge of world histories and cultures; and 4) rebuild the 
economy and revitalize communities.
    The NEH has a clear track record of supporting programs that work 
towards these ends, and additional capacity is needed to ensure that 
these crucial goals are met around the country. The NEH does not have 
the capacity to fund many of the highly rated proposals it receives-in 
fiscal Year 2020, 1,605 applications with high ratings were not funded, 
amounting to a total of $184,789,512.
        building strong communities and fostering civic dialogue
    NEH funding builds strong, civically-engaged communities through 
its support of cultural organizations. The agency's grantmaking helps 
establish and sustain robust community institutions, providing 
opportunities for learning, empathy, and understanding. The 
International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Tennessee, regularly 
hosts programs that promote discussion and dialogue. Ninety-three 
percent of respondents to a survey done by NHA indicated that they were 
``motivated to listen to the stories of people whose background was 
different from their own'' after participating in a program featuring 
the stories of Black Appalachians. The NEH's Dialogues on the 
Experiences of War grants strengthen communities by offering veterans 
the chance to reflect upon their experiences, while building bonds with 
each other and with civilians. Ninety-nine percent of respondents 
across eight programs reported a desire to ``keep in touch with some of 
the people [they] met during the program.''
    NEH funding has an outsized role especially in small and rural 
communities, where it can build and support the infrastructure and 
programs that are vital to strong communities. The Seward Community 
Library and Museum, for example, which leveraged an NEH challenge grant 
to build a new facility, has averaged 60,000 more visitors per year 
than it received in its old space. In addition to hosting tourists, the 
organization provides space for nonprofits and other institutions to 
conduct their business. In rural Utah, the Entrada Institute developed 
programs to encourage meaningful connections between traditional local 
communities and newer arrivals. In partnership with the local 4-H club, 
organizers developed after-school programs centering around locally 
relevant themes-for example, Western Heritage Shooting Sports-that 
would culminate with community dinners featuring activities for all 
ages.
      preserving cultural heritage including indigenous languages
    Our cultural heritage lives in many forms, from presidential 
letters and great works of art to community archives and endangered 
languages. It is also vulnerable and requires protection from natural 
and man-made disasters as well as simple decay over time. NEH funding 
is indispensable to ensuring that our cultural heritage is both 
accessible now and preserved for future generations. In addition to 
funding projects that tell important presidential histories-like the 
publication of The Papers of John Adams and archaeological research at 
Andrew Jackson's The Hermitage-the NEH helps small and mid-size 
institutions invest in their own preservation needs. Institutions like 
Abilene Christian University in Texas and the Stillwater Public Library 
in Oklahoma have used NEH funds to help ensure their collections are 
protected for the future. NEH funds also help make these collections 
more widely accessible by funding digitization projects.
    Funding for documenting traditional cultures and endangered 
languages supports Indigenous people throughout the United States. 
Through the Dynamic Language Infrastructure-Documenting Endangered 
Languages program, a partnership with the National Science Foundation, 
NEH funding has preserved and made accessible languages spoken by 
Indigenous Tribes, having a profound impact on their way of life. DEL 
grants have helped produce dictionaries for languages like Klallam and 
Arapaho; they have also provided the funds for these resources to be 
online and freely available to Tribal members. NEH support for the 
Coeur d'Alene Online Language Resource Center helped create a single 
searchable repository for a wide range of language resources, from 
dictionaries to archival recordings of personal narratives and coyote 
stories. The NEH additionally supports the documentation and 
revitalization of Indigenous American languages through its regular 
grant programs.
          cultivating knowledge of world history and cultures
    Established in the midst of the Cold War, the NEH has always 
provided funding to support research and programs that help Americans 
understand and engage with timely world issues. From scholarly 
exchanges with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and language 
institutes in the 1970s, to international research support for American 
scholars and professional development for school teachers today, NEH 
funding supports efforts to understand other nations' languages, 
cultures, and geopolitical contexts. NEH funding has supported the 
research and publication of books such as Treason in Transit: Soviet 
Defectors and the Borders of the Cold War World (2022), by Erik R. 
Scott, and Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956 
(2013)-among many other works of history that shed light on current 
events. NEH-supported English translations of Ukrainian literature, 
including Words for War: New Poems from Ukraine (2017) and The White 
Chalk of Days: The Contemporary Ukrainian Literature Series Anthology 
(2017) bring Ukrainian literature to broader American audiences.
    NEH funding also provides high quality education on world affairs 
for school teachers and college educators. Kean University's 2021 two-
week seminar ``The Search for Humanity after Atrocity'' helped higher 
education faculty integrate atrocity studies into their research and 
curricula, using the Holocaust as a case study. A 2016 program for K-12 
educators, hosted by Ferris State University, explored U.S.-Russian/
Soviet relations from 1776 to the present. And from 2013-2018, a series 
of NEH grants helped community colleges throughout the U.S. integrate 
the study of world cultures into their curricula. These programs 
included content on Latin America, Asia, Russia, Eastern Europe, and 
the Middle East, among other topics.
          rebuilding the economy and revitalizing communities
    NEH funding catalyzes growth in local economies and connections 
within communities-exactly the work that is needed as we look to 
rebuild from the pandemic. Communities throughout the U.S. today 
benefit from NEH investments that have built strong community 
institutions and stimulated local economies. NEH pandemic relief 
provided a direct lifeline to struggling organizations, which they then 
used to support their communities both economically and culturally. 
Thomas Jefferson's Monticello used pandemic relief funds to retain 
staff and uphold the quality of its programs, thus ensuring the 
organization remains an important economic driver in the region-50 
percent of the site's 400,000 annual visitors stay in a hotel for at 
least one night, contributing no less than $13.1 million to the local 
economy.
    Humanities organizations are also important employers, particularly 
in small and rural communities. The Monhegan Museum in Monhegan Island, 
Maine (pop. 54) is the island's primary employer and major tourism 
attraction. By funding staff salaries over a period of several months 
in 2020, an NEH CARES grant helped families stay on the island, 
supporting the island community as a whole. Similarly, NEH funding to 
the Willa Cather Center in Red Cloud, Nebraska (pop. 1,000) supported 
staff salaries and public programming during 2020, helping stabilize an 
organization that is key to the town's survival. A CARES grant to the 
Enfield Shaker Museum in New Hampshire allowed them to support the 
local economy by pairing online talks about local specialties with food 
baskets, which were sourced from local vendors and available for 
purchase.
    Still, far more support is needed to ensure that these institutions 
survive and continue to bolster local economies. Both the CARES Act and 
ARP Act fell short of meeting the needs of the humanities sector. The 
NEH was only able to fund 14 percent of the applications it received 
for CARES grants, while on average the state councils were only able to 
fund 38 percent. Additionally, while state and jurisdictional 
humanities councils have quickly and effectively distributed $42 
million in SHARP grants, they were only able to fund 50 percent of the 
total requested, which was more than $84 million, underlining a 
significant unmet need.

    [This statement was submitted by Stephen Kidd, Executive Director, 
National Humanities Alliance.]
                                 ______
                                 
     Prepared Statement of National Parks Conservation Association
    Chairman Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski and members of the 
subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony on 
behalf of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA). Founded 
in 1919, NPCA is the leading national, independent voice for protecting 
and enhancing America's National Park System for present and future 
generations. We appreciate the opportunity to provide our views 
regarding the National Park Service (NPS) FY23 budget and comment on 
challenges facing NPS and its related agencies.
    Operation of the National Park System (ONPS): We again urge a 
robust increase for this account, NPCA's highest priority. We recognize 
the FY22 allocation was modest, so appreciate the committee meeting 
fixed costs and providing targeted investments to help parks and 
communities, including the African American Civil Rights Network and 
Everglades Restoration. However, more significant progress is needed 
because parks and supporting offices remain substantially understaffed. 
Between 2011 and 2021, NPS lost 15 percent of its staff while at the 
same time struggling to accommodate an 8 percent increase in 
visitation. The challenges posed by this visitation increase are among 
several contributors to declining staff morale that can be addressed in 
part with a robust ONPS increase. Increased inflation also challenges 
parks' ability to make operational ends meet.
    We encourage the committee to discuss with NPS the many challenges 
of widespread and significant understaffing, which has led to 
insufficient maintenance, law enforcement capacity, interpretation and 
education, scientific capacity and more. We urge support for the 
president's requested increase of $320 million for ONPS, which would 
bring back about half of the more than 3,000 FTEs that NPS has lost 
over the decade. NPS would make significant progress if the committee 
could then build on this investment in FY24 and beyond with sustained 
increases to gradually meet the goal of at least 23,000 FTEs, as urged 
by Sens. King and Daines.
    We support the administration's investments in the Natural 
Resources Conservation Initiative including its proposed $180 million 
investment in ONPS, which would provide needed science and resources to 
address climate change, including for wildlife migration corridors and 
climate resilience projects. We are particularly excited about the 
proposed $31 million for the Civilian Climate Corps and the proposed 
$16 million increase for inventory and monitoring, as we know this is a 
major challenge for both natural and cultural resources as parks deal 
with storm surges, wildfires, drought and other climate-related 
effects.
    At the same time, we must emphasize NPS' lack of cultural resource 
capacity and ask for resources to support a Cultural Resources 
Challenge, launched in 2013 but unfulfilled. At least $20 million 
should be added to the ONPS budget in FY23 to support this effort to 
provide parks with cultural resource experts, to improve cultural 
resource documentation, and stabilize cultural and historic structures 
and landscapes.
    Construction Account: We request support for the president's 
proposed $48 million increase for this account to support the 
Conservation Initiative with investments in climate adaptation, 
abandoned mineral lands projects, zero emissions vehicles, climate 
vulnerability assessments and environmental impact planning and 
compliance.
    Deferred Maintenance: We support NPS' recent improvements in 
measuring deferred maintenance, as it is a more transparent and 
complete assessment of repair needs. We are, however, dismayed by both 
the updated size of the backlog as well as the news that the backlog 
continues to grow despite the success of the Great American Outdoors 
Act. To help with repair needs, we ask the committee to consider 
increasing funding for the line-item construction account--in addition 
to the repair/rehab and cyclic maintenance subaccounts within ONPS. 
Additional investments are needed to help NPS meet the administration's 
efforts towards sustainability including procurement of sustainable 
materials. The need is heightened by significant inflation and 
increased materials and labor costs.
    Management Planning and Visitation Concerns: We are concerned that 
planning is not happening at the pace needed to guide park management, 
especially with the dual challenges of climate change and skyrocketing 
visitation at many parks. NPS must proactively address visitor 
experiences and impacts to resources include disturbance to vegetation 
and soils, wildlife, and aquatic systems; impacts to cultural 
resources; human waste impacts; introduction of non-native species; and 
impacts to natural sounds. Support is needed for utilizing social 
science to develop visitor carrying capacities that consider higher 
temperatures, fire, drought, flooding, and other climate change impacts 
that may compound visitation challenges. Increased funding is needed 
for research, preparation, and implementation of visitor use management 
plans.
    NPS should enhance NPS' capacity (staff, training, equipment) for 
conducting social science and using it to guide visitor use management 
planning and adaptive management (monitoring, analysis, adjustment); 
study the application of recreation ecology science in visitor use 
management planning; and support mechanisms for gateway communities and 
other public land management agencies to collaborate and conduct 
coordinated regional visitor use management planning.
    ONPS funding should support innovative strategies (i.e. parkwide 
reservation systems) that could result from visitation planning 
processes. NPS should have the capacity to ensure they provide fair and 
equitable access for people of all demographics, including those in 
underserved and/or underrepresented communities.
    NPS hiring challenges: We have several concerns. We urge a robust 
increase in ONPS in part because it is an opportunity to address the 
lack of diversity within NPS by filling new and lapsed positions with 
more diverse hires. However, this is only one step that is needed. We 
are dismayed not only by the considerable lack of diversity in the 
ranks of NPS personnel but also by what has been described in several 
agency reports by employees as a biased, white dominated culture. 
Employees of color feel they do not get the promotions and management 
opportunities of their white counterparts and are afraid to report 
discrimination for fear of retaliation. These are among many complaints 
supported by the 2018 Voices Tour report, the release of which was 
delayed for years. We encourage the committee to use its oversight 
authority to engage NPS on these disturbing problems to promptly 
identify solutions beyond diversity, equity and inclusion discussions 
that staff report to us are more window dressing than an avenue to 
authentic solutions.
    We also encourage the committee to examine several hiring 
authorities that are frustrating to NPS staff and are preventing the 
agency from making needed strides in hiring personnel to meet the 
agency's mission. NPS needs greater hiring flexibility, beginning with 
direct hiring authority, to build a diverse, experienced, professional 
and technical workforce. As parks face what increasingly becomes a 
year-long busy season, the requirement that seasonal staff be employed 
for fewer than 6 months (1,560 hours) prevents superintendents from 
having needed flexibility to address high visitation with seasonal 
staff; an extension to 9 months would be very helpful. NPS should also 
be given longer term authority of 10 years. A ten-year term authority, 
as was once provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, 
would allow the agency to more successfully hire term professionals in 
a competitive job market, more capably meeting the goals of the Great 
American Outdoors Act and Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act.
    Housing: NPCA is deeply concerned that the lack of sufficient 
affordable housing for NPS personnel has reached crisis levels. There 
are over 5,500 housing units throughout the system and on average the 
housing units are 60 years old; many of those units need attention. We 
support at least $8 million for the Housing Improvement Program as 
requested in the president's budget to begin to rebuild park employee 
housing. However, this is far from what is needed and only a first 
step. We encourage the committee to pursue detailed, strategic 
discussions with NPS about their housing needs to develop a 
comprehensive strategy in an expeditious manner. NPCA stands ready to 
support these efforts.
    Heritage Partnership Program: NPCA remains an enthusiastic 
supporter of the National Heritage Area program that protects our 
cultural heritage and supports dozens of communities throughout the 
country. They are effective public-private partnerships established in 
support of conservation and preservation values and allow local experts 
to better protect and interpret stories and resources that are both 
regionally distinct and nationally significant. We applaud the 
committee's increase of $3.2 million for this important program in FY22 
and encourage continuing increases.
    We are supporters as well of the many other deserving programs 
within the Natural Recreation and Preservation account, including the 
National Register of Historic Places; the Rivers, Trails, and 
Conservation Assistance program; and the Japanese American Confinement 
Sites program. We are also supporters of the Historic Preservation 
Fund.
    US Park Police (USPP): We commend the committee's FY22 investment 
of $4.1 million for body-worn cameras as this is the first of several 
reforms that are needed to ensure greater accountability to the public. 
However, we are disappointed in the USPP's continued lack of public 
transparency and responsiveness to congressional inquiries surrounding 
public incidents. We ask the committee to consider report language 
requesting documentation and reporting of USPP policies and procedures.
    Great American Outdoors Act: We appreciate the committee's support 
for the Legacy Restoration Fund and its ongoing interest in ensuring 
NPS successfully invests in priority projects. Given the revised 
backlog number, we hope members of the committee will support eventual 
reauthorization of this fund for at least five more years. We also 
applaud the committee's support for the Federal LWCF program and its 
support for and interest in the Appraisal and Valuation Services 
Office. In recognition of the many land acquisition needs that total 
more than the $900 million in dedicated funding provided by the Great 
American Outdoors Act, we would support appropriations to supplement 
those funds.
    Restoring the Borderlands: The construction of the border wall has 
caused incalculable damage to public lands and communities along the 
US-Mexico border. Sacred Tribal lands have been damaged and burial 
sites have been desecrated, ancient water sources have been depleted, 
and wildlife populations have been separated. To make meaningful 
progress on restoring and remediating the borderlands, we urge the 
committee to make funds available--either directly through your bill or 
as a transfer from Homeland Security--for national parks like Organ 
Pipe Cactus National Monument.
    Investments are also needed for related agencies that support the 
health of park resources. We commend the committee's work to better 
invest in the many agencies and programs that support the wildlife, 
clean air and water in our parks and help understand and address 
climate change. Park resource protection and restoration is a 
collaborative effort dependent on the support and partnership of the 
Environmental Protection Agency, US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), 
US Geological Survey, and others. We encourage the committee to support 
these agencies that benefit our park landscapes, resources, and the 
health of our communities with increases in FY23.
    We ask the committee to make significant investments in the 
protection and recovery of our most vulnerable species with increases 
for USFWS. To meet the current needs, the USFWS requires a budget of 
$704 million for Endangered Species Act programs starting in FY23. We 
recognize that addressing climate change also relies on accounts and 
agencies in which the committee invests. For example, USGS Climate 
Adaptation Science Centers are critical to support climate science that 
benefits our National parks and their ecosystems. We commend the 
committee's support in FY23 and recommend continuing added investments 
for this scientific support. Investments in EPA's environmental 
protection and public health mission are critical to our communities 
and the restoration of park landscapes. We support the administration's 
$11.88 billion request for EPA, within which we urge the subcommittee 
fully fund EPA's Geographic Programs that are critical for restoring 
and maintaining the health of the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay and other 
waterways and ecosystems in and surrounding units of the National Park 
System.
    On behalf of NPCA and our millions of members and supporters, thank 
you again for your consideration of the needs facing the National Park 
Service and related agencies and programs that protect and support our 
Nation's cultural and natural treasures.

    [This statement was submitted by John Garder, Senior Director of 
Budget and Appropriations, National Parks Conservation Association.]
                                 ______
                                 
              Prepared Statement of National Park Service
    This is prepared for the subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and 
Related Agencies; and the testimony is addressing the National Park 
Service (NPS).
    I request the subcommittee to accept NPS fiscal Year 2023 
Environmental Management Program Budget request (see Fiscal Year 2023 
Budget Justifications) of $14.113M so NPS can further restore 
contaminated lands for public use.
    I see in the Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Justification, NPS requested 
$14.113M for the Environmental Management Program, which is an $8M 
increase over the fiscal year 2021 enacted amount of $6.113M. NPS 
States in the fiscal Year 2022 Budget Request ``With 500 contaminated 
sites in its inventory, EMP funding supported a prioritization 
initiative designed to obtain the greatest return on investment for the 
bureau and the public. The goal of this initiative is to develop the 
plan, subject to funding, to reopen all blighted NPS sites by the end 
of the decade. NPS estimates remaining cleanup cost of $1.5 billion 
dollars (current dollars not including indirect costs) needed to reopen 
the blighted sites. By fiscal Year 2027, the program hopes to have 
completed studies that will define the actual dollar amount needed to 
complete cleanup actions at all NPS contaminated sites, using the 
authorities of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, 
and Liability Act (CERCLA) -often referred to as the Superfund 
statute.''
    In addition, I see that NPS Fiscal Year 2022 request for an $8M 
increase for the Environmental Management Program was not accepted 
either by the Senate or House. Given that NPS estimates remaining 
cleanup cost of $1.5 billion dollars, I would like to know why the $8M 
was not accepted.
    Lastly, I request the subcommittee to accept NPS Fiscal Year 2023 
Environmental Management Program Budget request of $14.113M so NPS 
mover quicker to restore contaminated lands for public use.

    [This statement was submitted by Stephen Mitchell.]
                                 ______
                                 
              Prepared Statement of National Park Service
    This is prepared for the subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and 
Related Agencies; and the testimony is addressing the National Park 
Service (NPS).
    I request the subcommittee to accept NPS fiscal Year 2023 
Environmental Management Program Budget Request of $14.113M so NPS can 
further restore contaminated lands for public use.
    I see in the fiscal Year 2022 Budget Request, NPS requested 
$14.113M for the Environmental Management Program, which is an $8M 
increase over the fiscal year 2021 enacted amount of $6.113M.
    NPS States in the fiscal Year 2022 Budget Request ``With 500 
contaminated sites in its inventory, EMP funding supported a 
prioritization initiative designed to obtain the greatest return on 
investment for the bureau and the public. The goal of this initiative 
is to develop the plan, subject to funding, to reopen all blighted NPS 
sites by the end of the decade. NPS estimates remaining cleanup cost of 
$1.5 billion dollars (current dollars not including indirect costs) 
needed to reopen the blighted sites. By fiscal Year 2027, the program 
hopes to have completed studies that will define the actual dollar 
amount needed to complete cleanup actions at all NPS contaminated 
sites, using the authorities of the Comprehensive Environmental 
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) -often referred to 
as the Superfund statute.''
    In addition, I see that the FY22 request for an $8M increase was 
not accepted. Given that NPS estimates remaining cleanup cost of $1.5 
billion dollars, I would like to know why the $8M was not accepted.
    Lastly, I request the subcommittee to accept NPS fiscal Year 2023 
Environmental Management Program Budget Request of $14.113M so NPS can 
further restore contaminated lands for public use.

    [This statement was submitted by Nguyet Huynh.]
                                 ______
                                 
     Prepared Statement of National Trust for Historic Preservation
    I appreciate the opportunity to present the National Trust for 
Historic Preservation's recommendations for fiscal Year 2023 
appropriations. My name is Shaw Sprague, and I am the Vice President of 
Government Relations. The National Trust is a privately funded 
nonprofit chartered by Congress in 1949. We work to save America's 
historic places to enrich our future.
    We offer our deep gratitude for the robust funding this 
subcommittee provided for all historic preservation priorities during 
the fiscal Year 2022 cycle. Thank you for considering recommendations 
made by the National Trust. We look forward to continuing our work with 
this subcommittee as you address the ongoing need for investments to 
sustain our Nation's rich heritage of cultural and historic resources 
that also generate lasting economic and civic vitality for communities 
throughout the Nation.
    For the fourth year in a row, we have also produced ``The 
Preservation Budget: Select Preservation Priorities for fiscal Year 
2023 Appropriations,'' \1\ which includes more information on the 
programs identified below, including funding levels over time and 
multiple examples of program success stories.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ https://bit.ly/3GGzENs
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    National Park Service: Historic Preservation Fund. The Historic 
Preservation Fund (HPF) is the principal source of funding to implement 
the Nation's preservation programs. The National Trust is enormously 
appreciative of the six successive historic funding levels the 
subcommittee has provided to the HPF, including the fiscal Year 2022 
enacted level of $173.072 million, a significant $29 million increase 
from enacted fiscal Year 2021 levels. While this recent increased 
investment in the HPF has facilitated innovative and impactful historic 
preservation work across the country, additional appropriations are 
needed to effectively tell and preserve the full American story for 
generations to come.
    HPF funding supports fundamental preservation activities such as 
survey, nomination of properties to the National Register of Historic 
Places, public education, and project reviews required for Federal 
Historic Tax Credit (HTC) projects. Among many highlights, we would 
like to emphasize the subcommittee's sustained support for the African 
American Civil Rights grants program and for the second year its 
expansion to preserve and highlight sites and stories associated with 
securing civil rights for All Americans, including women, American 
Latino, Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and LGBTQ 
Americans. The competitive grant programs within the HPF are having a 
transformative impact in communities throughout the country and these 
investments are helping preserve a broader historic narrative while 
revitalizing communities and creating local jobs. State and Tribal 
historic preservation offices are at the forefront of protecting our 
Nation's historic and cultural resources and are consistently asked to 
do more with less funding. The National Trust strongly supports 
addressing this unmet financial need.

    We respectfully request that Congress provide a total fiscal Year 
2023 HPF appropriation of $200 million. Within that funding we 
recommend:

  --$65 million for State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPOs)

  --$34 million for Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs)

  --$24 million for competitive grants to preserve the sites and 
        stories of efforts to advance African American Civil Rights

  --$5 million for the History of Equal Rights Grants program to 
        preserve the sites and stories associated with securing civil 
        rights for All Americans, including women, American Latino, 
        Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and LGBTQ 
        Americans

  --$12 million for grants to Historically Black Colleges and 
        Universities to preserve and rehabilitate historic buildings

  --$35 million for Save America's Treasures grants

  --$12 million for Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization grants

  --$3 million for competitive grants for the survey and nomination of 
        properties associated with communities currently 
        underrepresented on the National Register of Historic Places 
        and National Historic Landmarks

    National Park Service: Operation of the National Park System. Over 
the past 25 years, more than 50 parks have been added to the System, 
many of which preserve historic places and themes that have been 
previously underrepresented. We encourage the Committee to provide 
funding of $3.26 billion to maintain NPS operations, ensure stewardship 
of historic and cultural resources and prevent reductions in visitor 
services at a time when our National parks are more popular than ever. 
Within this funding, we recommend robust funding for Resource 
Stewardship, the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, the 
African American Civil Rights Network, the Reconstruction Era National 
Historic Network, and the Japanese American World War II History 
Network.
    National Park Service: Deferred Maintenance. The NPS is responsible 
for maintaining a system comprised of more than 85 million acres that 
tell stories of remarkable people and events in our country's history. 
Unfortunately, after over 100 years of operation and inconsistent 
public funding, the NPS faces a multi-million dollar deferred 
maintenance backlog. Deferred maintenance in our National parks puts 
historic and cultural sites at risk of permanent damage or loss, and in 
the absence of funding, the condition of these assets will continue to 
deteriorate and become more expensive to repair and preserve in the 
future. We also recommend sustained increases for specific line items 
to ensure the maintenance backlog continues to decrease.
  --Construction. We recommend sustained robust funding for Line-Item 
        Construction projects that address the deferred maintenance for 
        the NPS' highest priority non- transportation assets with 
        project costs greater than $1 million.
  --Repair and Rehabilitation; Cyclic Maintenance. We are enormously 
        appreciative of the Committee's commitment to enhancing these 
        accounts with significant investments since fiscal Year 2016. 
        We recommend additional increases for Repair and Rehabilitation 
        at $135.989 million and maintaining $188.184 million for Cyclic 
        Maintenance to ensure routine and emerging needs.
    National Park Service: Cultural Programs. Within its cultural 
programs, the NPS manages the National Register of Historic Places and 
National Historic Landmarks, certifies Federal HTC projects, 
coordinates Federal archaeology programs, and provides funding through 
the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act Grants, 
Japanese American Confinement Sites Grants, and American Battlefield 
Protection Program Assistance Grants.
    The National Trust appreciates the increases Congress provided in 
the past three cycles for these programs and recommends $35 million for 
fiscal Year 2023. Additional increases in this account will enhance 
modernization of the National Register and support sustained demands to 
review and approve Federal HTC projects.
    National Park Service: International Park Affairs, Office of 
International Affairs. The National Trust recommends $2.250 million for 
the Office of International Affairs to ensure engagement in the World 
Heritage Program and support the dozens of communities and sites across 
the country seeking nomination to the World Heritage List. This office 
is responsible for selecting sites for the World Heritage Tentative 
List and shepherding them through the detailed nomination process. 
Examples of pending sites include Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks (Ohio) 
and Civil Rights Movement Sites (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, 
Mississippi).
    National Park Service: National Heritage Areas. We recommend $32 
million for the Heritage Partnership Program and National Heritage 
Areas (NHAs). This funding would provide $500,000 for each of the 55 
individual NHAs in 34 States, as well as NPS administrative support for 
coordination, guidance, assistance, and training.
    Bureau of Land Management: Cultural Resources Management. The 
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) oversees the largest, most diverse, and 
scientifically important collection of historic and cultural resources 
on our Nation's public lands, as well as the museum collections and 
data associated with them. The National Trust remains concerned with 
the impact of the agency reorganization in 2019 and loss of staff 
within the Cultural Resources Division. We recommend $23.6 million to 
bolster this program.
    The cultural resources program also supports Section 106 review of 
land-use proposals, Section 110 inventory and protection of cultural 
resources, compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act, and consultation with Tribes and Alaska Native 
Governments. Moving forward, we recommend $1 million in dedicated funds 
for the agency to enhance its National Cultural Resources Information 
Management System (NCRIMS). This collaboration with state historic 
preservation offices is one of the Nation's most innovative programs to 
support predictive modeling and data analysis to enhance planning for 
large-scale, cross-jurisdictional land-use projects.
    Bureau of Land Management: National Landscape Conservation System. 
The BLM's National Landscape Conservation System (National Conservation 
Lands) includes approximately 37 million acres of congressionally and 
presidentially designated lands, including National Monuments, National 
Conservation Areas, Wilderness, Wilderness Study Areas, National Scenic 
and Historic Trails, and Wild and Scenic Rivers.
    We encourage the Committee to provide $78.145 million to the base 
program for the National Landscape Conservation System. An increase in 
funding will allow for greater inventory and monitoring of cultural 
resources in this growing system, prevent damage to the resources found 
in these areas, ensure proper management, and provide for a quality 
visitor experience.
    Department-Wide: Land and Water Conservation Fund. The National 
Trust has long supported robust funding for the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund (LWCF), and we look forward to the Committee's role 
in implementing full dedicated funding for the LWCF. Many of the 
Nation's most significant historic and cultural places have been 
permanently protected through LWCF investments. In total, more than 
$550 million has been invested to acquire historic sites and 137,000 
acres of historically significant landscapes within 162 NPS units.
    Within LWCF funding, we encourage the Committee to provide $20 
million for the American Battlefield Protection Program.
    Independent Agencies: National Endowments for the Arts and for the 
Humanities. We urge the Committee to provide at least $201 million each 
for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment 
for the Humanities (NEH). NEA and NEH funding is critical to 
communities around the country. It has also supported efforts by the 
National Trust's Historic Sites and others to tell a fuller American 
story and engage visitors in compelling ways.
    Independent Agencies: Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. We 
recommend $10.5 million for the Advisory Council on Historic 
Preservation (ACHP). The increase would enhance the ACHP's performance 
of its essential roles in ensuring that the Nation's historic and 
cultural resources are protected while also advancing timely delivery 
of major infrastructure projects and improving consultation with Indian 
Tribes. The increase would also support the ACHPs efforts to promote 
enhanced mapping and digitization of cultural resources.
    We stand ready to assist the Committee in support of our 
recommendations.

    [This statement was submitted by Shaw Sprague, Vice President of 
Government Relations, National Trust for Historic Preservation.]
                                 ______
                                 
            Prepared Statement of National Wildlife Refuges
    This testimony is being submitted by Marie Springer on behalf of 
The Blue Goose Alliance organized in support of National Wildlife 
Refuges. The Blue Goose Alliance is a national 501 (C) 3 non-profit 
organization, registered in New Mexico. I appreciate the opportunity to 
express our strong support for our National Wildlife Refuges and the 
United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and for the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund (LWCF).
    Our 587 National Wildlife Refuges are our greatest national 
treasures. Not only do they serve important conservation purposes, and 
mitigation of contamination sites, but they were a great source of 
recreation during the COVID shutdowns, our National Wildlife Refuges 
were not closed to the public when a great many State and local public 
lands were closed to the public. The National Wildlife Refuges have 
served our public well in this time of great need.
    We request funding at least at the level of $720 million, with the 
additional amounts discussed below, for Refuge Operations and 
maintenance for the fiscal Year 2023 funding. This request of $720 
million, an increase of $138 million over fiscal Year 2022 
appropriations, would impact our refuges with substantial and positive 
benefits to the natural resources involved and for public users. There 
is a need to provide attention and added staffing for refuge complexes 
that include unstaffed NWRs. Over half of all National Wildlife Refuges 
are currently unmanned. Funding for active management and possible 
staffing for these units should receive priority with special language 
in the House Appropriations Bill. This funding would contribute to the 
needed personnel, operations activities and maintenance needs.
    The added eight million should be directed to the enormous Marine 
National Monuments for which the NWRS has been given management 
responsibilities. Essentially, the FWS has not requested additional 
funding for its responsibilities, even those which are currently 
managed under NWRS direct authority. In addition, to those areas, over 
19 million acres of Marine National Monuments are NWRS responsibility 
using other authorities and in cooperation with several other agencies. 
Those areas should be provided basic funding for inventory, monitoring 
and to facilitate collection of basic data needed for responsible 
issuance of permits for fishing and other uses of those important 
areas. The added funds would ensure oversight of issued permits 
including compliance with provisions and impacts on the natural fish, 
wildlife and habitat resources affected by that usage.
    The NWRS should be given incentive to bring all of its grazing 
programs and agricultural practices up to ``Best Management Practices'' 
level to ameliorate Climate Change. Refuge habitat areas, particularly 
native grasslands and old-growth forest habitats should receive 
priority attention in order to maximize carbon sequestration 
capabilities and to provide vital nesting, migrating and wintering 
habitats for dependent migratory bird species.
    Overall, the National Wildlife Refuge System requires at least $900 
million in Operations and Maintenance Funding to be considered at 
``full funding'', with all refuges staffed, with adequate maintenance, 
biological programs, hunting and fishing programs, environmental 
education and interpretation programs. We ask that you work towards the 
overall goal of $900 million in annual funding. Currently, there are 
problems with infrastructure and maintenance on all refuges. The longer 
maintenance and infrastructure needs go unaddressed, the more costly 
the remedies in the long run. The remedy requires increased staffing to 
actually update maintenance and to keep maintenance current. Far too 
much maintenance has not been carried out and has fallen farther behind 
because of inadequate staffing. There is a great need for increased law 
enforcement staffing, not reduced Federal refuge law enforcement, which 
has been the practice for many years.
    We urge the subcommittee to include ample funding for LWCF in the 
fiscal Year 2023 Interior Appropriations Bill. The Great American 
Outdoors Act allows for $900 million for the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund: it is right and wise to reinvest proceeds from 
offshore drilling receipts in the protection of natural resources and 
recreational access for all Americans. The fund has only been fully 
funded at $900 million once, in 1998, since 1965. We ask that the LWCF 
be fully funded at $900 million for fiscal year 2023.
    Recognizing the many demands this committee faces, we want to thank 
the committee for its recent effort to restore much-needed funding to 
the LWCF program. This wise investment in the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund is one that will permanently pay dividends to the 
American people and to our great natural and historical heritage. We 
want to thank the Chairman and the members of the subcommittee for this 
opportunity to testify on behalf of our National Wildlife Refuges.

    [This statement was submitted by Marie Springer PhD., on behalf of 
the Blue Goose Alliance.]
                                 ______
                                 
         Prepared Statement of National Wildlife Refuge System
    We deeply appreciate the tremendous efforts of the Committee to 
support our Nation's natural resources and public lands. We were happy 
to see the increased budget for the National Wildlife Refuge System 
(System) for Fiscal Year 2022, thanks to your hard work.
    Today we want to speak to the pressing needs for the System as you 
work on the fiscal Year 2023 appropriations bill. As your subcommittee 
develops budget items for the Interior, Environment, and Related 
Agencies for fiscal Year 2023, we urge you to consider increasing the 
budget for the System from its current $518 million to $712 million. 
While visitors to the System have increased 38 percent since 2010 and 
the effects of a changing climate are becoming more apparent, the 
System's budget has remained largely stagnant. To properly fulfill its 
conservation mission, hire staff to keep up with demand, and ensure 
safe recreation opportunities for generations to come, the budget for 
the System must grow.
    Wildlife refuges are the only Federal public land that operates 
with a dominant use order for conservation. All additional uses must 
comply with individual refuge conservation efforts. In addition, 
refuges, where compliant, support wildlife-dependent recreation 
(fishing, hunting, wildlife observation and photography, and/or 
environmental education and interpretation). They are also one of the 
most accessible public land systems, with at least one wildlife refuge 
in every State and 101 urban wildlife refuges. As such, the System is 
our Nation's best path to protecting prized biodiversity, enhancing 
vital habitats, including wildlife corridors, and offering nationwide 
recreational opportunities.
    Current funding levels have resulted in a loss of over 800 staff 
positions within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the past 
decade. This has impeded the ability to advance the mission of the 
System and, more specifically, keep wildlife refuge Comprehensive 
Conservation Plans current (around 40 percent are out of date), 
maintain adequate law enforcement to ensure visitor safety and 
protection of physical and natural resources, and apply up-to-date 
science to refuge management policies. In some places, wildlife refuges 
do not even have regular, on-site staff. These management needs extend 
to recreation as well, including the need for regularly updated fishing 
and hunting rules that enhance sporting opportunities.
    As longtime supporters of the System and lifelong stewards of the 
natural world, fishing and hunting organizations were glad to see the 
President's fiscal Year 2023 budget request of $597 million for the 
System. However, the System cannot perform its duties to its fullest 
extent without a more robust budget. To maintain operations at a level 
established 10 years ago (adjusted for inflation), keep up with visitor 
demands and climate change, and lead the Nation in long-term, 
responsible management of natural resources, the System's budget should 
be no less than $712 million.
    With a fully appropriated budget, the System can update outdated 
management plans, fill essential staff positions, like law enforcement, 
complete needed projects to meet conversation goals, better serve local 
communities, develop resilient habitats and species through restoration 
and responsible management, and ensure their 65 million annual visitors 
can recreate safely.
    Thank you for your consideration of this request and your ongoing 
work to improve our Nation's beloved public lands and natural spaces.

    [This statement was submitted by Grace Olscamp, National Campaign 
Director, Trout Unlimited, John Gale, Director, Policy and Government 
Relations, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Joel Webster, Vice 
President of Western Conservation, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation 
Partnership.]
                                 ______
                                 
         Prepared Statement of National Wildlife Refuge System
    The National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) plays a huge part in 
wildlife conservation. It is the only set of Federal lands dedicated to 
the conservation and management of America's native wildlife. The 
largest and most diverse network of conservation lands in the world. 
More than \1/3\ of wildlife & plant species protected under the 
Endangered Species Act live only in wetlands and \1/2\ of US federally 
threatened & endangered species use wetlands at some point in their 
lives.
    My point? A significant portion of important wetland areas are 
protected by the National Wildlife Refuge System along with rivers, 
coastlines, wetlands, deserts, forests, mountains, oceans. The NWRS 
contains 568 units across the United States which totals roughly 850 
million acres of land and marine habitat types.
    The National Wildlife Refuge System needs to be funded! $712 
million is a start.
    As an individual, conservationist, educator and wildlife/wildlands 
advocate, I embolden you to do better and approve this investment in 
our National Wildlife Refuge System. NOW is the time!
    We must invest in our National Wildlife Refuges now and in the 
future. An estimated 59 million people used the NWRS for recreational 
purposes in 2019 and unfortunately inadequate funding forces the Refuge 
System to defer a range of critical services including wildlife habitat 
management, conservation planning, maintenance and repairs, visitor 
services and law enforcement activities.
    Last month I visited five new National Wildlife Refuges across the 
Midwest. It makes me so proud to know our country values these diverse 
ecosystems. As a result, Chicks on a Grouse Trip, https://
chicksonagrousetrip.blogspot.com/, was created to share stories from 
the field and educate the public on wildlife species who inhabit our 
NWRS.
    However, all of the visitor centers at the five refuges I visited 
were Closed, there were NO restroom facilities open and the educational 
pamphlet holders were empty. A missed opportunity to gain my 
involvement and educate me on the area. Just a small face of the larger 
problem our NWRS is dealing with.

    [This statement was submitted by Sandy Zelasko.]
                                 ______
                                 
              Prepared Statement of Native Village of Eyak
Recommendations:

  1. Provide full funding and advance appropriations for the Indian 
        Health Service
  2. Increase funding and accepted applications for the Joint Venture 
        Program
  3. Ensure mandatory funding for Contract Support Costs and 105(l) 
        lease payments
  4. Amend Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act to 
        Clarify CSC provisions
  5. Fund Critical Infrastructure investments for the Indian health 
        system
  6. Increase funding and authorize a self-governance funding mechanism 
        option for SDPI
  7. Increase funding for Preventive Health programs.
  8. Reduce dependence on competitive grants for Indian Country

    Introduction. Thank you Chairman Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski, 
and Members of the subcommittee for the opportunity to share our 
funding priorities for the fiscal Year 2023 Federal budget. My name is 
Mark Hoover and I serve as the Chairman of the Native Village of Eyak. 
The Native Village of Eyak is a federally recognized Tribal government 
located in Cordova, Alaska, on the southeast shores of Prince William 
Sound in the North Gulf Coast. The Tribe is a co-signer to the Alaska 
Tribal Health Compact with the Indian Health Service (IHS) and operates 
a wide range of health care programs, including primary care services 
and behavioral health. The Tribe also has a self-governance compact 
under the ISDEAA with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Native Village 
of Eyak focuses on self-determination and self-governance as a means of 
improving the lives and health of our Tribal citizens. We are not only 
responsible for providing quality, available health care services, but 
also for promoting opportunities and partnerships for our citizens, 
protecting our traditional land and natural resources, and for 
strengthening our culture.
    We are grateful that IHS received over $9 billion supplementary 
appropriations to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Those resources have 
been critical to ensuring that we had the means to serve our patients 
and fight this terrible disease. The pandemic also gives us an 
opportunity to make real, sustained investments in the Indian health 
system. We believe now time to take the lessons learned from the COVID-
19 pandemic--both positive and negative--to renew the Indian health 
system. Annual appropriations are essential to fulfilling the Federal 
Government's trust and treaty obligations by ensuring critical programs 
and services receive adequate funding to fulfill their intended 
purpose. Therefore, I offer the following recommendations for your 
consideration for fiscal Year 2023 appropriations for the IHS:
    Provide Full Funding for the Indian Health Service. We with support 
from the IHS, we strive to provide Alaska Natives and American Indians 
(AI/AN) with access to high quality and comprehensive medical services, 
no more so than during the ongoing pandemic. The Indian health system 
has navigated unimaginable hardships related to supplies, staffing 
levels, infrastructure and facilities, and high rates of underlying 
conditions in serving our people at this time. We appreciate the work 
that this committee has undertaken--on a bipartisan basis--to provide 
funding increases for IHS year after year. However, more must be done 
for the United States to honor its trust and treaty obligations to 
Tribal Nations.
    The IHS Tribal Budget Formulation Workgroup has calculated the need 
at $49.8 billion for full funding. The Workgroup supports fully funding 
this amount in fiscal Year 2023. The top priorities for program 
expansion from the fiscal Year 2022 National Tribal Budget 
Recommendation Planning base of $12.8 billion as follows:1 1) Hospitals 
and Clinics: +$8.65 billion; 2) Purchased/Referred Care: +$5.22 
billion; 3)Mental Health: +$3.59 million; 4) Alcohol and substance 
Abuse: +$2.31 million; 5)Maintenance and Improvement: +$2.27 billion
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Full recommendations are available here: https://www.nihb.org/
docs/0207022/FY percent202023 percent20Tribal percent20Budget 
percent20Formulation percent20Workgroup percent20Recommendations 
percent20Vol percent201.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Support for Mandatory and Advance Appropriations for IHS: We 
appreciate the Biden Administration's proposal to provide mandatory 
funding for IHS and increase funding over 10 years. Reclassifying the 
IHS budget as mandatory spending not only reflects the nature of the 
trust and treaty obligations to Tribal Nations, but also will allow IHS 
to be funded at a level that is necessary for providing health care to 
AI/ANs. As noted in the President's budget request, ``Mandatory funding 
for the IHS provides the opportunity for significant funding increases 
that could not be achieved under discretionary funding caps.'' 2 The 
proposal outlined in the President's Budget request is a good start, 
but must be developed in partnership with Tribal Nations. We stand 
ready to work with you and IHS to fully develop this proposal so that 
it provides adequate funding for IHS and fully honors Tribal self-
determination and self-governance.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ Department of Health and Human Services, Fiscal Year 2023, 
Indian Health Service, Justification of Estimates for Appropriations 
Committees, p. CJ-3.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    However, if fully mandatory appropriations cannot be achieved for 
fiscal Year 2023, we continue to support IHS advance appropriations for 
the short term. For many years, Tribes have requested that IHS 
appropriations be funded on an advance appropriations cycle. It has 
unfortunately become the norm that IHS does not receive its full yearly 
appropriation until several months (sometimes longer) after the start 
of the fiscal year. These funding delays make it impossible for IHS and 
Tribal health programs to plan and manage their annual budgets. 
Congress recognized these challenges when it provided the Veterans 
Administration with advance appropriations over a decade ago. Yet, IHS 
still waits for parity. In fiscal Year 2022, we did not receive our 
full funding amount until almost halfway through the fiscal year. The 
practical implication of this is that our health systems do not have 
the ability to plan our finances even weeks ahead, as we do not know 
what our funding level will be. At a time when we are desperate for 
medical professionals and when the health system is in crisis due to 
the global pandemic, this is just unacceptable. Full advance 
appropriations for the IHS would lead to better stability for our 
health system, improve provider recruitment and retention, and improve 
practices over all.
    We appreciate President Biden's support for IHS advance 
appropriations in his fiscal Year 2022 budget request to Congress and 
the support of many members of this subcommittee on IHS advance 
appropriations. We urge the Committee to take the necessary steps in 
the fiscal Year 2023 appropriations bill to move/continue IHS to an 
advance appropriation for fiscal Year 2023 and beyond. The time is now 
to end the delay of health care for AI/ANs.
    Support Expansion of the IHS Joint Venture Program. The IHS Joint 
Venture (JV) program provides Tribes with a critical opportunity to 
build new facilities and to enhance health services for their patients. 
Under this project, Tribes and Tribal organizations build or acquire 
the facility with their own or other non-IHS funds, and IHS commits to 
fund the additional staffing and operations costs associated with the 
new or expanded facility. The program has been a major success, with 
close to 40 facilities built, acquired, or renovated since 1992. It has 
been a critical, cost-effective mechanism to address the health care 
facilities shortage, since funds continue to be limited for the IHS 
Facilities Construction Priority List. Yet, despite the remarkable 
success of this program, projects like ours remain unfunded by IHS. In 
the last round, Native Village of Eyak--along with two other Tribal 
health organizations in Alaska--received a high score and were on the 
top 10 list of projects, but were not funded, as IHS only funded the 
top 5. We request that the Committee direct IHS to fund all high-
scoring applicants for JV construction projects.
    Additionally, the JV program currently leaves Tribal facilities 
without necessary maintenance and replacement funds. The IHCIA requires 
that the Tribe lease the facility to IHS for 20 years at no cost. The 
JV facility is eligible to receive a share of IHS's perennially 
insufficient Maintenance and Improvement (M&I) funding, but is not 
eligible for a lease under section 105(l) of the Indian Self-
Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDEAA).\3\ This leads to 
the anomaly that non-JV facilities can be fully funded under 105(l), 
receiving either fair market rental or the cost elements set out in the 
regulations, while JV facilities are stuck with nothing but M&I. We 
request that Congress amend the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to 
correct this issue. We are happy to provide any technical assistance 
you may need.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ 25 U.S.C. Sec. 5324(l); 25 C.F.R. Part 900, Subpart H.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Mandatory Funding for Contract Support Costs and 105(l) lease 
payments: If Congress is not able to enact full mandatory funding for 
IHS this year, we continue to support mandatory funding for Contract 
Support Costs (CSC) and 105(l) leases. We appreciate the subcommittee's 
commitment to ensuring that CSC and 105(l) lease costs are fully funded 
by including an indefinite discretionary appropriation in recent years 
for both of these accounts. However, changing these accounts to 
mandatory appropriations in fiscal Year 2023 would bring appropriations 
process into line with the clear legal requirements of the authorizing 
statute. CSC and 105(l) lease funds are already an entitlement under 
substantive law for the ISDEAA to function as intended by Congress. It 
is contradictory and problematic to appropriate funding for CSC on a 
discretionary basis. A simple amendment to a permanent appropriations 
statute could solve this challenge.
    Amend Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act to 
Clarify CSC provisions: We also request that the committee consider 
amending the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act 
(ISDEAA) to clarify that when agency funding paid to a Tribe for 
program operations is insufficient for contract and compact 
administration, contract support costs will remain available to cover 
the difference. In the recent court decision Cook Inlet Tribal Council, 
Inc. v. Dotomain,\4\ a Federal appeals court held that costs for 
activities normally carried out by IHS are ineligible for payment as 
CSC-even if IHS transfers insufficient, or even no, funding for these 
activities in the Secretarial amount. Under this new ruling, if 
facility costs are higher for a Tribe than for IHS, the Tribe is forced 
to cover the difference by diverting scarce program dollars. Recently, 
this serious misinterpretation of the ISDEAA that has been applied to 
one Tribal organization resulting in a 90 percent reduction of contract 
support costs reimbursement threatens Tribal self-governance and self-
determination. Therefore, we call upon Congress to provide a 
legislative fix to clarify the intent on Congress for this matter, and 
ensure consistency with precedent.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc. v. Dotomain, 10 F.4th 892 (D.C. 
Cir. 2021).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Fully fund critical infrastructure investments: As Congress 
considers making dramatic investments in the country's infrastructure, 
it is critical that the Indian health system not be left behind. 
Therefore, we request that the subcommittee allocate funding for full 
implementation of interoperable Electronic Health Records (EHR) and 
tele-health. This will ensure that IHS can provide services that are 
similar to other health providers. Last year, IHS said before the 
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs that the current EHR ``created 
significant barriers to the rapid response needed for COVID-19.'' For 
Tribes and Tribal health organizations who have committed their own 
resources to move away from RPMS and make their systems functional, IHS 
should take this into consideration with any new resources and ensure 
these programs are not only interoperable, but compensated accordingly.
    We were thrilled to see that the Sanitation Facilities Construction 
program received $3.5 billion in appropriations in the Infrastructure 
Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58). These funds will be 
especially critical in Alaska, which has a deficit of almost $2 billion 
in unmet sanitation needs in Alaska Native communities. That said, it 
is critical that Congress make still significant investments in Tribal 
health facilities construction. IHS and Tribal facilities are some of 
the oldest in the Nation, meaning that facilities are out of date, or 
not appropriate for the size of the patient populations they serve. 
Therefore, consistent with the Budget Formulation Workgroup's request, 
we recommend $10.6 billion for facilities in fiscal Year 2023.
    Staff Housing Quarters: We continue to experience challenges 
finding adequate housing for staffing for health and other 
professionals to serve our community. As you know, health staffing 
shortages across the Indian health system are dire, and providing 
adequate living spaces for professionals are directly linked with our 
ability to recruit and retain staff.
    Extend Self-Governance Funding Options to the Special Diabetes 
Program for Indians (SDPI) and increase funding to $250 million/year. 
While we understand that SDPI is not under the jurisdiction of the 
subcommittee, we appreciate that Congress included a 3-year 
reauthorization of SDPI in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 
(Public Law 116-260). SDPI's success rests in the flexibility of its 
program structure that allows for the incorporation of culture and 
local needs into its services. Consistent with this model, Congress 
should authorize SDPI participants the option of receiving their 
Federal funds through either a grant (as currently used) or self-
governance funding mechanisms under the Indian Self-Determination and 
Education Assistance Act. This would be a natural and just extension of 
SDPI in respecting Tribal sovereignty. Additionally, SDPI has not had 
an increase in funding since fiscal Year 2004. Short term 
reauthorizations also destabilize this health program and make staffing 
and program continuity difficult. For this reason, we recommend 
permanent reauthorization for SDPI at a minimum base of $250 million 
per year with annual adjustments for inflationary increases. We urge 
you to work with your Congressional colleagues to ensure that SDPI 
receives a funding increase of at least $250 million per year.
    Plan for the Future with Dedicated Funding for Preventative Health 
Services. Among the many things we have learned from the COVID-19 
pandemic is that basic public health functions are critical to 
preserving life and overall health of Americans, yet public health 
systems in most Tribal communities lag far behind systems in other 
jurisdictions. Without robust public health systems in place, 
responding to public health threats means that Tribal communities will 
continue to be a challenge. Yet the Federal Government provides few 
resources to Tribal communities for this purpose. We support long-term, 
sustained, full investment in Tribal public health infrastructure so 
that Tribal communities have the resources available to respond quickly 
when the next crisis hits.
    Reduce Dependence on Federal Grants. In addition to the critical 
funding needs outlined above, we also support moving away from 
competitive grants for Federal funding mechanisms. The Federal trust 
responsibility does not require that we jump through a myriad of hoops 
and onerous applications to see that services are provided to our 
people. Grants also unfairly pit Tribes against Tribes, when all are 
deserving of critical resources. Applications and reporting 
requirements force our health system to divert staff time to apply and 
report thereby diluting the usefulness of the resources. Instead, we 
request wide-spread, formula-based funding across all programs and the 
flexibility needed to respond to the specific needs of their own 
communities, not those prescribed by Federal grants. A Tribal workgroup 
has developed draft legislation to reduce dependence on Federal grants 
by enacting Title VI of ISDEAA, which would allow for self-governance 
to be extended to non-IHS programs within the Department of Health and 
Human Services. We would appreciate the subcommittee's support of this 
legislation.

    [This statement was submitted by Mark Hoover, Chairman, Native 
Village of Eyak.]
                                 ______
                                 
       Prepared Statement of Natural Science Collections Alliance
    The Natural Science Collections Alliance appreciates the 
opportunity to provide testimony in support of fiscal year 2023 
appropriations for the Smithsonian Institution and the Department of 
the Interior. We encourage Congress to make new investments that 
address agency backlogs and secure future efforts for the preservation, 
curation, growth and study of scientific and cultural collections 
within the Department of the Interior and the Smithsonian Institution. 
We request that Congress provide the National Museum of Natural History 
with at least $60 million in fiscal Year 2023, with new funding to 
correct for a lack of adequate increases in recent years. Please 
provide the United States Geological Survey (USGS) with at least $1.85 
billion in fiscal Year 2023, with increased support for collections 
related activities.
    The Natural Science Collections Alliance is a non-profit 
association that supports natural science collections, their human 
resources, the institutions that house them, and their research 
activities for the benefit of science and society. Our membership 
consists of institutions that are part of an international network of 
museums, botanical gardens, herbaria, universities, and other 
institutions that contain natural science collections and use them in 
research, exhibitions, academic and informal science education, and 
outreach activities.
    Scientific collections, and the collections professionals and 
scientists who make, care for, and study these resources, are a vital 
component of our Nation's research infrastructure. These collections 
and their associated experts contribute to the expansion of our 
bioeconomy. Whether held at a museum, government managed laboratory or 
archive, or in a university science department, these scientific 
resources form a coordinated network of specimens, samples, and data 
(for example, genetic, tissue, organism, and environmental) that are a 
unique and irreplaceable foundation from which scientists are studying 
and explaining past and present life on earth.
    Preservation of specimens and the strategic growth of these 
collections are in the best interest of science and the best interest 
of taxpayers. Existing scientific collections that are properly cared 
for and accessible are a critical component of the US science 
infrastructure and are readily integrated into new research on 
significant questions. Specimens that were collected decades or 
centuries ago are now routinely used in research in diverse fields 
related to genomics, human health, biodiversity sciences, informatics, 
environmental quality, and agriculture.
    According to the U.S. Interagency Working Group on Scientific 
Collections (IWGSC), ``scientific collections are essential to 
supporting agency missions and are thus vital to supporting the global 
research enterprise.'' A 2020 report by the IWGSC, ``Economic Analyses 
of Federal Scientific Collections,'' highlights the long-term benefits 
of scientific collections and presents a framework for estimating and 
documenting these benefits, both monetary and non-monetary, generated 
by Federal institutional collections. Additional recent reports have 
highlighted the value of mobilizing biodiversity specimens and data in 
spurring new scientific discoveries that grow our economy, improve our 
public health and wellbeing, and increase our National security.
    In 2019, the Biodiversity Collections Network (BCoN) issued a 
community informed call for the development of an Extended Specimen 
Network. The report, Extending U.S. Biodiversity Collections to Promote 
Research and Education, outlined a national agenda that leverages 
digital data in biodiversity collections for new uses and called for 
building an Extended Specimen Network: ``Science and industry rely on 
physical specimens housed in U.S. biodiversity collections,'' the 
report suggests. ``Rapid advances in data generation and analysis have 
transformed understanding of biodiversity collections from singular 
physical specimens, to dynamic suites of interconnected resources 
enriched through study over time. The concept of the 'extended 
specimen' conveys the current perspective of the biodiversity specimen 
as extending beyond the singular physical object, to potentially 
limitless additional physical preparations and digital resources.'' 
This endeavor requires robust investments in our Nation's scientific 
collections, whether they are owned by a Federal or state agency or are 
part of an educational institution or free-standing natural history 
museum or other research centers.
    A 2020 report by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and 
Medicine (NASEM), Biological Collections: Ensuring Critical Research 
and Education for the 21st Century, provided guidance to the NSF 
regarding the sustainability of living stock and natural history 
collections. The report argued that collections are a critical part of 
our Nation's science and innovation infrastructure and a fundamental 
resource for understanding the natural world.
    The NASEM, BCoN, and IWGSC reports, articulate a common vision of 
the future of biological collections and define a need to broaden and 
deepen the collections and associated data to realize the potential for 
biodiversity collections to inform 21st century science. Collections 
are a critical resource for advancing the knowledge needed to address 
current global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, 
and pandemics. The COVID-19 crisis has illustrated how inextricably 
linked humans are to the natural world. Biological collections, their 
extended data, and the experts that build and study them are globally 
important for understanding where viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 exist in 
nature or when they cross from their current hosts to humans.
    The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History 
(NMNH) is the central Federal partner in the curation and research on 
scientific specimens. Scientists at the NMNH care for 146 million 
specimens and ensure that the institution remains a global leader in 
scientific research and public engagement. To increase the availability 
of these scientific resources to researchers, educators, other Federal 
agencies, and the public, NMNH is working on a multi-year effort to 
digitize its collections. Funding is required to ensure this work is 
completed.
    The National Museum of Natural History is also working to 
strengthen curatorial and research staffing and to backfill positions 
left open by retirements and budget constraints. The current staffing 
level is insufficient to provide optimal care for the collections. 
Future curatorial and collections management staffing levels may be 
further jeopardized given insufficient funding increases in recent 
years. This lack of funding for collections care jeopardizes our 
bioeconomy at a time when critical investments are needed to leverage 
our network of collections to address the myriad issues facing the 
country.
    Interior is an important caretaker of museum collections as well; 
the Department and its bureaus collectively manage an estimated 206 
million museum items. Although many of the department's collections are 
located in bureau facilities, numerous artifacts and specimens are 
cared for in non-governmental facilities, such as museums and 
universities. The Interior Museum Program supports these collections by 
providing oversight, policy development, advocacy, technical 
assistance, training, and data management support.
    In addition, the USGS furthers the preservation, inventory, and 
digitization of geological scientific collections, such as rock and ice 
cores, fossils, and samples of oil, gas, and water. The National 
Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation program helps States with 
collections management, improves accessibility of collections data, and 
expands digitization of specimens to ensure their broader use. One 
example of the returns from this program is the potash mineral deposit 
discovered in Michigan that is valued at an estimated $65 billion. Rock 
samples from Michigan were entered into a national database, where 
private companies discovered the deposit's existence and are now 
assessing the potential for mining.
    USGS supports the documentation and conservation of native 
pollinators through its Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab (BIML). 
Pollinators, such as bees, are critical components of ecosystems and 
play an integral role in wildlife and habitat management and 
restoration. Three-fourths of the world's flowering plants and about 35 
percent of the world's food crops rely on pollinators to reproduce. 
Given that pollinator populations are in decline globally, BIML's work 
in developing a nationwide method to inventory and monitor bee 
population trends on public lands is crucial.
    USGS has more than a million specimens of birds, mammals, 
amphibians, and reptiles that are housed at the Smithsonian's National 
Museum of Natural History. The Biological Survey Unit (BSU) consisted 
of USGS scientists stationed at the NMNH, where they conducted research 
on USGS-specimens of fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals that are 
curated at the NMNH. This arrangement went back to 1889. These 
specimens, data, and the research they enable are required to inform 
Department of the Interior land and natural resource management 
decisions, and often also support decision-making by State and Tribal 
governments. With the BSU now eliminated, it is our understanding that 
the Smithsonian has taken over care of these collections. The work that 
BSU supported and conducted at the NMNH was important and in the 
National interest. There is a lack of clarity and understanding about 
how this work is currently being sustained, given the Smithsonian's own 
shrinking staff.
    The Bureau of Land Management manages nearly 4 million museum 
objects and archives and has a large backlog of cultural resources to 
inventory on public lands. Currently, only about 11 percent of public 
lands have been assessed for heritage resources. Such assessments need 
to be conducted before unique resources are lost to looting, vandalism, 
fire, or environmental change.
    The National Park Service must continue its investments in 
scientific collections into the future, which means cataloging millions 
of museum objects and connecting the resulting databases to national 
and global data portals. The National Park Service curates a wide range 
of specimens and artifacts, from historical and cultural items to 
preserved tissues from protected species and living microorganisms 
collected in our National Parks. Several parks have made progress on 
addressing planning, environmental, storage, security, and fire 
protection deficiencies in museum collections, but much work remains, 
and present and future collections will be fundamental for effective 
management efforts.
                               conclusion
    Scientific collections are critical infrastructure for our Nation's 
research enterprise. They are a national treasure that help support the 
Nation's bioeconomy. Research specimens connect us to the past and are 
used to document and solve current problems. They allow us to predict 
threats to human health, find successful methods for ensuring food 
security, and address the impact of future environmental changes. 
Sustained investments in scientific collections are in our National 
interest. We also see these investments as critical for our efforts to 
grow diversity and inclusion in the scientific workforce.
    The budget for NMNH has not seen adequate increases in recent 
years. We urge Congress to provide NMNH with at least $60 million in 
fiscal Year 2023 to allow the museum to undertake critical collections 
care, make needed technology upgrades, and conduct cutting edge 
research. Please support adequate funding for programs within Interior 
bureaus that support the preservation and use of scientific 
collections--a truly irreplaceable resource. We encourage Congress to 
provide the USGS with at least $1.85 billion in fiscal Year 2023, with 
increased support for collections related activities.
    Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of this request.

    [This statement was submitted by Gil Nelson, Ph.D., President, 
Natural Science Collections Alliance.]
                                 ______
                                 
              Prepared Statement of the Nature Conservancy
    Chair Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski and members of the 
subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to submit recommendations 
for fiscal year 2023 (FY23) appropriations. The Nature Conservancy 
(TNC) is a nonprofit conservation organization working around the world 
to protect ecologically important lands and waters for people and 
nature. TNC appreciates Congress's work last year to pass the 
bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. These investments in 
our natural systems will help bolster resiliency and respond to climate 
change. These investments complement but do not supplant the need for 
ongoing program funding through the appropriations process. Indeed, a 
robust appropriations package will serve as the foundation for 
implementing the infrastructure bill and ensuring long-term successes 
for critical programs under the subcommittee's jurisdiction.
    Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). Passage of the Great 
American Outdoors Act and the dedicated funding of LWCF positions the 
program to provide more support for landscape-level conservation, 
working forests and ranchlands, access to the outdoors for underserved 
communities, climate resilience, conservation of historical and 
cultural sites, and advancing the America the Beautiful initiative. 
However, project demand in every State and county continues to far 
outstrip the $900 million a year in available funding for the program. 
We respectfully request an additional investment of $450 million in 
discretionary funds to address the numerous ready-to-go project 
opportunities across the country.
    We appreciate the increased funding provided in FY22 for the Park 
Service Historic Preservation Fund Tribal line item and request $34 
million for the Tribal work and $10 million for the Native American 
Graves Protection and Repatriation Act grant program in FY23.
    Endangered Species. TNC supports continuing funding of at least $60 
million for the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund. This 
funding supports critical matching grants to States and territories for 
conservation and species recovery efforts on non-federal lands. TNC 
requests the subcommittee's continued support for Habitat Conservation 
Plan (HCP) funding and HCP Land Acquisition Grants.
    State and Tribal Wildlife Grants. Strong Federal investments are 
essential to support strategic actions by State, Tribal and Federal 
agencies, as well as the conservation community, to protect wildlife 
and their habitats. TNC appreciates the continued support from members 
of this subcommittee to address these significant funding needs through 
passage of the Recovering America's Wildlife Act (S. 2372).
    Wildlife Conservation Programs. TNC urges the subcommittee to 
continue funding for North American Wetlands Conservation Act grants, 
the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Fund, Migratory Bird Joint 
Ventures, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Migratory Bird 
Management Program and FWS Coastal Program at no less than the FY22 
funding levels. Likewise, TNC supports continued strong funding for the 
Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, the Cooperative Landscape 
Conservation and Adaptive Science programs and the National Fish 
Habitat Initiative.
    International Programs. The international conservation programs 
appropriated annually within the Department of the Interior (DOI) and 
the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) encompass DOI's Office of International 
Affairs, FWS Multinational Species Conservation Funds, FWS Wildlife 
Without Borders regional and global programs, the National Park 
Service's International Program and the USFS International Program. TNC 
requests increases over FY22 funding levels for these programs, 
including $25 million for the USFS International Program, to manifest 
U.S. leadership in addressing the dual crises of biodiversity loss and 
climate change globally.
    National Wildlife Refuge System. Found in every State and 
territory, national wildlife refuges conserve the diversity of 
America's environmentally sensitive and economically vital ecosystems, 
including oceans, coasts, wetlands, deserts, tundra, prairies and 
forests. TNC supports increased funding for the system's operations and 
maintenance accounts and an overall funding level of $600 million for 
FY23.
    Sage Grouse Conservation. TNC requests $85 million to support the 
implementation of the Greater Sage-grouse Conservation Strategy (BLM: 
$75 million, FWS: $5 million, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS): $5 
million). These resources are needed to implement on-the-ground 
projects and monitor habitat treatments, address rangeland fire and 
noxious and invasive grasses, fund suppression and restoration efforts 
and facilitate the partnership and science necessary for effective 
conservation in western States. We continue to request the removal of 
language that would bar FWS from proposing a rule to list the Greater 
Sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act from the FY23 bill.
    BLM Land Management and Renewable Energy Development. TNC supports 
ongoing work to expedite renewable energy development, including 
funding to operationalize the Renewable Energy Coordination Offices and 
regional clean energy plans. TNC recommends robust funding to support 
BLM's smart planning and management of public lands. This includes the 
National Landscape Conservation System (no less than FY22 level of $50 
million), the Resource Management Planning (no less than FY22 level of 
$68 million), the consolidated Wildlife and Aquatic Habitat Management 
budget line ($150 million) and the Renewable Energy Development program 
($35 million).
    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Geographic Programs. 
TNC urges the subcommittee to continue strong funding for EPA's 
geographic programs, including the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative 
and the Chesapeake Bay, Puget Sound, Long Island Sound and Gulf of 
Mexico programs, to make significant contributions to protecting 
habitat, improving water quality and enhancing resilience in the large 
landscapes they encompass.
    Colorado River Basin Recovery Programs. The Upper Colorado River 
Endangered Fish Recovery Program and San Juan River Basin Recovery 
Implementation Program take a balanced approach to the recovery of four 
threatened and endangered fish species in the upper Colorado River 
basin. The FWS budget includes approximately $1.5 million to support 
these programs as well as fish hatchery needs associated with the 
recovery plans. TNC requests the subcommittee maintain this funding in 
FY23.
    Restoring Rivers and Streams. Removing problematic dams and 
upgrading culverts can improve public safety and provide environmental 
and social benefits. TNC recommends $30 million for the FWS National 
Fish Passage Program and robust funding to support the USFS restoration 
of streams by removing and restoring dam and culvert barriers through 
programs including the Legacy Roads and Trails program, State & Private 
Forestry programs and National Forest System programs such as 
Vegetation & Watershed Management.
    Federal Priority Streamgage (FPS) Network. USGS operates the FPS 
Network to provide continuous streamflow information at over 8,400 
locations across the country. TNC supports $30 million for the FPS 
Network to reinstate lost gages. TNC also requests $33 million in 
Cooperative Matching Funds to leverage USGS funding to expand this 
program to over 5,000 gages. Lastly, TNC supports $35 million for the 
Next Generation Water Observation System to expand this program and 
allow USGS to modernize water data delivery systems across the United 
States.
    3D Elevation Program (3DEP): 3DEP sponsors satellite topographical 
mapping that provides communities high-quality elevation mapping to 
better understand flood risks. Knowledge of flood risks can help 
prevent communities from developing in unsafe areas and allow risk 
mitigation in developed areas. TNC supports continued funding of $146 
million in FY23 for 3DEP to promote resilient communities and 
environments.
    Forest Restoration and Fire. TNC also recommends funding for USFS 
AND DOI programs that address catastrophic megafires, pests and 
drought--all impacts exacerbated by climate change--in our forests. We 
support substantial reinvestments in programs that increase forest 
resilience, specifically those that support collaboratively developed, 
science-based, climate-informed and ecologically focused activities 
across all forests. These programs not only contribute to forest 
resilience but also create jobs, support local economies and reduce 
wildfire risk to communities, among other benefits.
    Our funding recommendations for the USFS are based on the modern 
budgeting practices undertaken by USFS. We also recommend increased 
salaries and expenses proportional to any program increases. We would 
further recommend directing the USFS and DOI to identify and prioritize 
projects based on best-available climate vulnerability, watershed 
conditions and fire risk assessments.
    Investing in Wildfire Resilience. Congress took a major step toward 
stabilizing the USFS and DOI budgets with the 2018 ``fire fix,'' for 
which we continue to be thankful. We continue to urge Congress to 
ensure the fire fix remains durable and comprehensive. An estimated 50 
million acres are in critical need of wildfire resilience treatments 
across all forests due to the impacts of these challenges. A TNC report 
recommends an investment surge of $5-6 billion per year over the next 
10 years for the highest-priority work of increasing wildfire 
resilience and providing communities with much-needed resources for 
infrastructure and adaptation.
    TNC recommends investing in the USFS's Hazardous Fuels Program at 
$321 million and DOI's Fuels Management Program at $304 million. In 
addition, TNC urges the subcommittee to repeat its fiscal year 2021 
instructions for allocating funds to priority landscapes in both 
wildland-urban interface and wildland settings for prescribed burning. 
TNC also supports fully funding the Collaborative Forest Landscape 
Restoration Program at $80 million, Vegetation and Watershed Management 
at $68 million, Water Source Protection Program at $10 million, and 
State Fire Assistance at $79 million. We appreciate the critical 
investment in Burned Area Rehabilitation in the IIJA supporting forest 
recovery. This is a significant management need and has been 
historically overlooked. TNC supports an additional $30 million for 
post-fire restoration or Burned Area Rehabilitation activities in FY23 
and looks forward to USFS reporting as they develop this program, as 
directed in the fiscal year 2021 omnibus appropriations bill.
    Investing in Ecosystem Restoration, Reforestation and Planting. 
Additionally, TNC recommends funding for programs that enhance water 
quality, biodiversity, and forest health, including the Wildlife & 
Fisheries Habitat Management at $29 million, Legacy Road and Trail 
Remediation at $20 million, Federal Forest Health at $22 million, 
Cooperative Forest Health at $40 million and Landscape-Scale 
Restoration at $20 million.
    TNC additionally recommends funding the Urban and Community 
Forestry program at $40 million to support increase in tree cover in 
urban landscapes and improve air quality, reduce electricity and help 
cities mitigate stormwater and floodwater.
    Research and Planning. TNC recommends funding research programs to 
include the USFS Research and Development Program at $93.5 million 
(dedicating $42.5 million for climate research and climate hubs), $32.4 
million for Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA), and Joint Fire Science 
at $8 million each for USFS and DOI. The Research and Development 
Program offers a vital scientific basis for policies that improve the 
health and quality of urban and rural communities. Advances to FIA 
technology in measuring and monitoring are critical for public and 
private forest carbon management. Investments in the Joint Fire Science 
programs would provide competitive and focused applied science 
solutions to improve the management of forests and watersheds while 
protecting communities, water and air through interagency partnerships. 
TNC also recommends investing in Land Management Planning, Inventory 
and Monitoring at $22 million. USFS must update many outdated forest 
plans and increase its efforts to appropriately incorporate climate 
change into land management planning and project-level documentation 
under the National Environmental Policy Act.
    Thank you for the opportunity to submit TNC's recommendations for 
the FY23 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations 
Bill.

    [This statement was submitted by Brent Keith, Senior Policy 
Advisor, The Nature Conservancy.]
                                 ______
                                 
              Prepared Statement of Nisqually Indian Tribe
Summary of Budget Requests:

I. Bureau of Indian Affairs--Increase funding for Western Washington 
Program

II. Bureau of Indian Affairs--Increase funding for Tribal Climate 
Resilience Program

III. Bureau of Indian Affairs--Increase funding for Living Languages 
Grant Program

IV. Bureau of Indian Affairs--Increase funding for Missing & Murdered 
Unit

V. Environmental Protection Agency--Increase funding for Puget Sound 
Program

VI. Environmental Protection Agency--Funding to Address Impacts of 6PPD 
Quinone

    Greetings Chair Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski, and Honorable 
Members of the subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related 
Agencies. My name is William Frank III and I have the honor of serving 
as Chairman of the Nisqually Indian Tribe. Thank you for the 
opportunity to provide written testimony regarding the Tribe's funding 
priorities within the subcommittee's jurisdiction. It is also an honor 
to continue my father, Billy Frank, Jr's, lifetime commitment and fight 
to protect our salmon, water, and environment.
    The Nisqually Indian Tribe (``Tribe'') has treaty reserved rights 
enshrined in the Treaty of Medicine Creek of 1854 and upheld by Federal 
courts in U.S. vs Washington, also known as the Boldt Decision, in 1974 
and in numerous decisions in the intervening 48 years. These rights 
include, at their most fundamental of understanding, the ability to 
continue to exist as the Nisqually Indian Tribe in return for allowing 
the peaceful settlement of Americans in our region. The Tribal leaders 
that were signatory to the Treaty envisioned perpetual survival of our 
people, our traditions and cultures, our use of our homelands, and the 
access and use of the natural resources that have been central to our 
existence since time immemorial.
    Access and use of our treaty secured natural resources has been 
diminished significantly over time. Specifically, the salmon of the 
Nisqually River have decreased in numbers over the past 25 years to the 
point where there are two species listed as threatened under the 
Endangered Species Act (``ESA''), the Fall Chinook salmon and the 
steelhead trout; and there are two more candidates for future listing 
considerations, the unique Nisqually late chum and the coho salmon.
    As recently as the 1980's, and throughout time, Nisqually Tribal 
members regularly fished 8 months a year on the river that bears our 
name. By 2015, fishing time has been constrained to a mere 8 days to 
conserve the diminishing resource for future generations. Eight days is 
not using our homelands and waters as promised; 8 days is not 
practicing our cultures and traditions; and 8 days is not honoring the 
promises contained in the Treaty of Medicine Creek.
 i. bureau of indian affairs: rights protection implementation-western 
                      washington (boldt decision)
    The Boldt Decision reaffirmed our Tribe's right to co-manage 
fishery resources with the State of Washington. To honor this Federal 
decision and many other court decisions upholding Tribal rights, the 
Department of the Interior provides Tribal funding under the Rights 
Protection Implementation (``RPI'') Program. Particularly, the Western 
Washington Program provides specific Federal funding to meet its treaty 
obligations to Western Washington Tribes, including the Nisqually 
Indian Tribe.
    The Nisqually Indian Tribe has utilized this vital Federal funding 
to revive our precious fish resources and to build a strong and 
dedicated Natural Resources Program. The Tribe has over 40 staff in 
eight different programs that utilize science-based management of our 
fisheries. These eight different programs include shellfish management, 
environmental management, salmon hatchery operations, salmon recovery, 
Geographic and Information Services, and salmon restoration and 
research.
    Despite the effectiveness of RPI, the funding levels are simply 
insufficient. The Tribe is putting all its efforts into the survival of 
our fisheries and trust resources, stretching every dollar. Our 
obligations to manage under the Boldt Decision and the ESA are growing 
more complicated as our world continues to change. Unfortunately, the 
fiscal resources have failed to fully support the proper management of 
our trust resources and treaty protected rights.
    The Tribe appreciates the President requesting an increase of 
$370,000 for the Western Washington Program. However, we urge the 
subcommittee to provide a more substantial increase that will help 
ensure that the responsibilities outlined in the Boldt decision can be 
fulfilled.
    ii. bureau of indian affairs: tribal climate resilience program
    Climate change is real and is having dramatic and significant 
impacts on our people and the resources we depend upon. As a result of 
rising sea levels, we are seeing changes to the Nisqually Delta habitat 
in ways that are impacting salmon survival. The culturally important 
plant species that we use for our food, medicine, and crafts are 
becoming scarcer as their range is being reduced with rising 
temperatures and changes in the timing and magnitude of rainfall.
    We have invested a tremendous amount of time and resources to 
protect and restore our watershed while increasing resiliency, but the 
changes are occurring at a pace that is challenging to match with our 
efforts alone. We need to increase the pace and magnitude of our 
efforts while working on solutions to the climate change that imperils 
the very resources that we all care for and are dependent on for our 
very survival.
    With Western Washington Tribes being on the frontlines of climate 
change, we applaud the President's proposal to increase funding for the 
Tribal Climate Resilience Program (``TCRP'') by $44 million. The TCRP 
is instrumental in assisting Tribal governments with climate adaptation 
and preparedness, implementing strategies for resilient communities, 
and encouraging cooperative solutions. The Nisqually Indian Tribe 
requests that the subcommittee provides a substantial increase in 
funding for the TCRP.
     iii. bureau of indian affairs: living languages grant program
    Our language ties us to our ancestors, our history, and our sacred 
spaces. ``You don't know where you are going, if you don't know where 
you've been,'' Nisqually elders used to say. With language preservation 
being a top priority, the Tribe was pleased to see the development of 
the Living Languages Grant Program (``LLGP''). Administered by the 
Office of Indian Economic Development, the LLGP was designed to help 
Tribes document, preserve, and revitalize our language. LLGP funding is 
intended to focus on small or start-up programs whose objective is to 
document or build the capacity to preserve Native languages that are 
losing users, but whichstill have active users at the grandparent 
generation.
    The President's request provides for an increase of $21 million to 
support Native language revitalization. The funding will allow Indian 
Affairs to implement the Native American Languages Act of 1990, which 
aims to preserve, protect, and promote the rights and freedom of Native 
Americans to use, practice, and develop Native American languages. It 
will provide much needed funding to support non-BIE Tribal language 
immersion schools and programs.
    The Tribe urges the subcommittee to fund the Living Languages Grant 
Program, a vital program that is assisting Tribes in preserving their 
languages. As Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland 
stated, ``preserving Native languages is fundamental to preserving all 
aspects of Tribal cultures and traditions.''
        iv. bureau of indian affairs: missing and murdered unit
    According to the Urban Indian Health Institute (``Institute''), 
American Indian and Alaska Native women in Washington State go missing 
at a rate more than four times higher than the State's white residents. 
The Institute also found that Washington had the second highest number 
of missing and murdered Indigenous women cases among the 29 States 
surveyed. Therefore, the Tribe was pleased when Secretary Haaland 
formed the Missing & Murdered Unit (``MMU'') within BIA's Office of 
Justice Services. The MMU is to provide leadership and direction for 
cross-departmental and interagency work involving missing and murdered 
Indigenous Peoples (``MMIP'') cases. The MMU will also help put the 
full weight of the Federal Government into investigating MMIP cases and 
marshal law enforcement resources across Federal agencies and 
throughout Indian Country.
    The President's budget request includes $16.5 million to address 
the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People. The MMU falls 
under Law Enforcement Special Initiatives--Tribal Public Safety Missing 
& Murdered Unit, for which the President proposes an increase of $5.1 
million. The additional funding would add 20 investigative personnel to 
the MMU. The new personnel will double the current effort dedicated to 
addressing new and unsolved cases, responding to investigative 
challenges, and collection and management of data across jurisdictions. 
The Nisqually Indian Tribe requests the subcommittee provide 
significant funding for the Missing & Murdered Unit and related 
programs that seek to address the MMIP epidemic.
        v. environmental protection agency: puget sound program
    There are many issues challenging our salmon's very survival in the 
Nisqually River and throughout Puget Sound. The Puget Sound is our 
regional icon and it has been designated as an estuary of National 
Significance under the Clean Water Act. The Puget Sound represents the 
promise of a clean, healthy, and vital environment that is central to 
our lives in Western Washington. It is as important to our region as 
the Great Lakes and the Everglades are to those living in those 
watersheds.
    The plight of the salmon is also the plight of our people. Losing 
our promised and generational connection to the salmon and the river 
and our traditional practices has long lasting impacts on our 
communities. When we have salmon, when we have time on our river, when 
we eat our traditional foods and practice our culture, we are healthy. 
When these things are lacking, we too are at risk. Our physical, 
emotional, and spiritual health is directly and permanently connected 
to our river and our salmon. Saving salmon is saving our people.
    We are not alone feeling the impact of disappearing salmon runs. 
Our brothers the Orca of Puget Sound are also struggling. The Southern 
Resident Killer Whales, salmon eaters like us, are now listed as 
threatened under the ESA and are slowly slipping away into extinction. 
We all watched helplessly in shock and horror the vision of the mother 
Orca carrying her dead baby for 18 days in Puget Sound in 2018. As go 
the salmon, goes the Orca and the Nisqually People.
    Under the EPA's Puget Sound Program, the Nisqually Indian Tribe 
receives important funding to conduct research and implement programing 
to revitalize the salmon population. Compared to other nearby bodies of 
water, salmon in the Puget Sound have a much lower survival rate. 
Federal funding allows our researchers to understand why this is 
happening in the Puget Sound. Once we understand the cause, we can 
provide the best measures to protect the salmon.
    The President's budget request call for $35 million for the Puget 
Sound Program, an increase of $1.2 million over the previously enacted 
level. The Tribe requests that the subcommittee increase funding for 
EPA's Puget Sound Program to further assist us in tackling the 
complicated issues in the Puget Sound.
vi. environmental protection agency: funding to address impacts of 6ppd 
                           quinone on salmon
    The Nisqually Tribe has grave concerns regarding the deadly threat 
that 6PPD Quinone is having on our salmon and treaty protected 
resources. The Tribe needs the EPA to provide the critical leadership 
and sense of urgency needed to immediately solve this problem. This is 
a crucial issue for the Tribe and all Tribes that depend upon salmon. 
We have seen our salmon populations decline dramatically over the past 
30 years and the negative impacts that has had on our treaty rights, 
our culture and traditions, and the health of our communities. 6PPD is 
killing our fish every time it rains. The Tribe urges the subcommittee 
to provide funding that will address the deadly impacts that 6PPD 
Quinone is having on the salmon population.
    The Nisqually Indian Tribe thanks the subcommittee for the 
opportunity to share its funding priorities for Fiscal Year 2023.

    [This statement was submitted by William Frank III, Chairman of the 
Naisqually Indian Tribe.]
                                 ______
                                 
      Prepared Statement of Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission
    Chair Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski, and Honorable Members of 
the subcommittee, for the record my name is Ed Johnstone, and I am 
Chair of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (NWIFC). The NWIFC 
is composed of the 20 Tribes in western Washington that are party to 
United States v. Washington, which upheld the Tribes' treaty-reserved 
right to harvest and manage natural resources on and off-reservation, 
including salmon and shellfish. On behalf of the NWIFC, we are 
providing testimony for the record on our natural resource management 
and environmental program funding requests for the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs (BIA), Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) and Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations. These programs 
support Tribes to carry out their natural resource management 
responsibilities including the management of Pacific salmon fisheries, 
which contribute to a robust natural resource-based economy and the 
exercise of our treaty rights.
       summary of fiscal year 2023 (fy23) appropriations requests
Bureau of Indian Affairs

  --Provide $66.0 million for Rights Protection Implementation 
        (collective request)

    --Provide $17.146 million for Western Washington Fisheries 
            Management

    --Provide $3.557 million for Washington State Timber-Fish-Wildlife

    --Provide $6.495 million for U.S./Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty

    --Provide $2.4 million for Salmon Marking

  --Provide $15.0 million for Fish, Wildlife & Parks Projects (non-TPA)

  --Provide $953,000 for the Salmon and Steelhead Habitat Inventory and 
        Assessment Program within the Tribal Management/Development 
        Program Subactivity

  --Fully Fund Contract Support Costs

  --Provide $2.0 million for Western Washington Treaty Tribes' Wildlife 
        Management

  --Provide $60.991 million for Tribal Climate Resilience

Fish & Wildlife Service

  --Provide $8.0 million for Tribal Wildlife Grants

Environmental Protection Agency

  --Provide $96.4 million for General Assistance Program
  --Provide $50.0 million for Puget Sound Geographic Program
                       justification of requests
Bureau of Indian Affairs
  --Provide $66.0 million for BIA Rights Protection Implementation 
        Subactivity

    The 41 Tribes in the Great Lakes and Pacific Northwest with similar 
treaty-reserved rights have collectively identified that no less than 
$66.0 million for the Rights Protection Implementation (RPI) 
subactivity is necessary to support essential Tribal treaty-reserved 
resource management. This request is a $21.3 million increase over the 
FY23 President's Budget Request (PBR) of $44.7 million and a $20.313 
million increase over the FY22 enacted level of $45.687 million. The 
large disparity between our collective request and the enacted level 
demonstrates that the basic natural resource management functions of 
the treaty Tribes continue to be underfunded. Faced with the difficult 
combination of increasing natural resource scarcity and cumulative 
environmental stressors, Tribal natural resource management has become 
more complex and resource intensive. Considering this challenge, 
additional capacity is needed to manage treaty-reserved resources and 
protect Tribal rights. Unfortunately, most of the programs under RPI, 
such as Western Washington Fisheries Management, have not received a 
meaningful increase since FY18. A summary of the subaccounts of 
importance to us within RPI are identified below, however, please note 
that FY22 enacted funding levels are not yet available.

    --Provide $17.146 million for BIA Western Washington Fisheries 
            Management

    We respectfully request $17.146 million, an increase of $6.42 
million over the fiscal year 2021 enacted level of $10.726 million and 
an increase of $6.05 million over the FY23 PBR of $11.096 million. 
Funding for this program supports the Tribes to co-manage their treaty-
reserved resources with the state of Washington, and to continue to 
meet court mandates and legal responsibilities. For example, funding 
supports harvest planning, population assessments, data gathering for 
finfish, shellfish and groundfish, and other natural resource 
management needs. This funding is critical to support the day-to-day 
operations of essential fishery management. Reduced abundance and 
increased regulatory scrutiny of fisheries, coupled with ongoing salmon 
habitat loss, increased recreational pressures and climate change are 
greatly increasing the difficulty (and cost) of co-managing salmon and 
other resources.

    --Provide $3.557 million for BIA Washington State Timber-Fish-
            Wildlife (TFW)

    We respectfully request $3.557 million, an increase of $119,000 
above the fiscal year 2021 enacted level of $3.438 million and 
consistent with the FY23 PBR. Funding for this program is provided to 
improve forest practices on state and private lands, while providing 
protection for fish, wildlife and water quality. This funding supports 
the Tribes' participation in the TFW Agreement--a collaborative 
intergovernmental and stakeholder process between the state, industry 
and Tribes.

    --Provide $6.495 million for BIA U.S./Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty

    We respectfully request $6.495 million, an increase of $216,000 
above the fiscal year 2021 enacted level of $6.279 million and 
consistent with the FY23 PBR. This request is consistent with that of 
the Pacific Salmon Commission (PSC) and is necessary to implement the 
Annex chapters of the Pacific Salmon Treaty (PST). Tribes assist the 
U.S. government in meeting its obligations to implement the treaty by 
participating in fisheries management exercises, cooperative research 
and data gathering activities. This funding also supports participation 
in the PST process.

    --Provide 2.4 million for BIA Salmon Marking

    We respectfully request $2.4 million, an increase of $1.057 million 
over the fiscal year 2021 enacted level of $1.343 million and an 
increase of $ 1.011 million over the FY23 PBR of $1.389 million. This 
request would support ongoing coded wire tagging and adipose fin 
clipping (marking) operations at Tribal hatcheries. Marking is used to 
differentiate hatchery-origin salmon from natural spawning ones. Since 
2003, Congress has required that all salmon released from federally 
funded hatcheries are marked for conservation management purposes. 
Coded Wire Tags are used to provide a unique identifier to a particular 
hatchery stock, which is then used in salmonid abundance assessments 
and catch rates. The NWIFC uses automated trailers to provide efficient 
centralized tagging and marking services to our 20-member Tribes. This 
state-of-the-art equipment is very complex and requires expert 
technicians to operate and maintain. The operations and maintenance of 
the trailers, coupled with an increasing demand for these important 
services, continues to increase our costs to carry out this Federal 
directive.

  --Provide $15.0 million for BIA Fish, Wildlife & Parks Projects (Non-
        TPA) for Hatchery Operations and Maintenance

    We respectfully request $15.0 million for Hatchery Operations and 
Maintenance within the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Projects account, an 
increase of $32,000 above the FY23 PBR of $14.968 million and $3.055 
million above the FY22 enacted level of $11.945 million. More 
specifically, we request $8.0 million for Hatchery Operations and $7.0 
million for Hatchery Maintenance. This funding is provided to Tribal 
hatcheries to support the rearing and releasing of salmon and steelhead 
for harvest by Indian and non-Indian fisheries in the U.S. and Canada. 
Without hatcheries, Tribes would lose their most basic ceremonial and 
subsistence fisheries that are central to our Tribal culture. We 
currently estimate that more than 80 percent of the salmon harvested 
are hatchery-origin fish. Yet despite the central importance of these 
facilities, Tribes face millions of dollars in deferred maintenance 
costs and significant funding shortfalls in operations.

  --Provide $953,000 for BIA Salmon and Steelhead Habitat Inventory and 
        Assessment Program (SSHIAP) (within the Tribal Management/
        Development Program)

    We respectfully request $953,000 within the Tribal Management/
Development Program for SSHIAP, an increase of $123,000 above the 
fiscal year 2021 enacted level and an increase of $53,000 above the 
FY23 PBR of $900,000. SSHIAP is vital to the western Washington Tribes 
because it provides essential environmental data management, analysis, 
sharing and reporting to support Tribal natural resource management. It 
also supports our Tribes' ability to adequately participate in 
watershed resource assessments and salmon recovery work.

  --Fully Fund BIA Contract Support Costs

    We respectfully request that Congress fully fund Contract Support 
Costs (CSC) and reclassify CSC as mandatory. Funding for CSC ensures 
Tribes and Tribal organizations have the capacity to manage Federal 
programs under self-determination contracts and self-governance 
compacts.

  --Provide $2.0 million for Western Washington Treaty Tribes' Wildlife 
        Management

    We respectfully request $2.0 million for western Washington treaty 
Tribes' wildlife management programs from an account within the Bureau 
of Indian Affairs Trust--Natural Resources Management Activity. The 
member Tribes reserved the right to fish, hunt and gather natural 
resources throughout their ceded territories. Part and parcel with the 
Tribes' reserved right to hunt and gather outside of their reservation 
boundaries is the need to co-manage wildlife resources with the State 
of Washington. Requested funding will provide capacity to participate 
in state-Tribal co-management forums, develop wildlife management 
plans, develop and enhance Tribal hunting codes, and design and 
implement applied research projects. These capabilities are fundamental 
to the protection of our Tribes' treaty rights and there is currently 
no dedicated account or funding to directly support this critical work.

  --Provide $60.991 million for BIA Tribal Climate Resilience

    We request $60.991 million for Tribal Climate Resilience, 
consistent with the President's FY23 PBR and an increase of $29.02 
million over the FY22 enacted level. Climate change is one of the 
largest threats to Tribal rights and resources. Funding from this 
competitive grant program will support Tribal participation in critical 
issues that impact treaty-reserved resources, adaptation and promote 
climate resiliency.

Fish & Wildlife Service
  --Provide $8.0 million for FWS Tribal Wildlife Grants

    We respectfully request $8.0 million for the Nationwide Tribal 
Wildlife Grants program, consistent with the FY23 PBR and an increase 
of $2.0 million over the FY22 enacted level of $6.0 million. Funding 
from this competitive grant program supports the conservation of 
wildlife and their habitat, including species that are culturally or 
traditionally important to Tribes.
Environmental Protection Agency

  --Provide $96.4 million for EPA General Assistance Program (GAP)

    We request $96.4 million for the Nationwide GAP, an increase of 
$11.391 over the FY23 PBR of $85.009 million and $29.65 million over 
the FY22 enacted level of $66.75 million. We also respectfully request 
bill or report language that would improve flexibility in the GAP to 
ensure individual Tribal priorities and implementation activities would 
be eligible and that newly proposed allocations will not result in a 
decreased proportion of funds for EPA Region 10 Tribes and consortia. 
The GAP builds essential Tribal program capacity to address 
environmental issues that impact Tribes' health, safety and treaty-
reserved resources. The GAP also provides critical funding to Tribal 
consortia to support interTribal coordination on environmental issues.

  --Provide $50.0 million for EPA Puget Sound Geographic Program

    We request $50.0 million for Puget Sound consistent with the 
funding levels passed by the House for FY22, an increase of $15.75 
million over the FY22 enacted level and $14.984 million over the FY23 
PBR of $35.016 million. This Geographic Program provides essential 
funding that will help protect and restore Puget Sound--an estuary of 
national significance. Funding for this program supports Tribal 
participation in a broad range of collaborative Puget Sound recovery 
work, including scientific research, resource recovery planning and 
policy discussions that affect our treaty rights.
                               conclusion
    We respectfully request the subcommittee's support for these 
requests. We greatly appreciate your attention to these matters and 
thank you for your continued commitment to the Tribes.

    [This statement was submitted by Ed Johnstone, Chair of the 
Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission.]
                                 ______
                                 
   Prepared Statement of Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board
    Greetings Chairman Merkley and Ranking Member Murkowski, and 
Members of the subcommittee. My name is Nickolaus Lewis, and I serve as 
Secretary on the Lummi Indian Business Council, and as Chair of the 
Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB or Board). I thank 
the subcommittee for the opportunity to provide testimony on the fiscal 
Year 2023 Indian Health Service (IHS) budget and for their continual 
support for increased funding for IHS every year.
    NPAIHB was established in 1972 and is a Tribal organization under 
the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDEAA), 
Public Law 93-638, that advocates on behalf of the 43 federally-
recognized Indian Tribes in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington on specific 
health care issues. The Board's mission is to eliminate health 
disparities and improve the quality of life of American Indians and 
Alaska Natives (AI/AN) by supporting Northwest Tribes in the delivery 
of culturally appropriate, high quality health programs and services. 
``Wellness for the seventh generation'' is the Board's vision. In order 
to achieve this vision, I respectfully ask that this subcommittee 
consider Tribal sovereignty, traditional knowledge, and culture in all 
policy initiatives and funding opportunities.
    I provide the following testimony to address our long-standing 
needs in the Northwest:

    Health Equity. AI/ANs in the Northwest face high health disparities 
compared to non-Hispanic White (NHW). AI/AN people in the Northwest 
have a life expectancy that is about 7 years lower than that of NHW 
people in the region. Data from the Northwest show that AI/AN people 
experience disparities at all stages of life, and are particularly 
vulnerable to chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, 
injuries, substance misuse and overdoses, and violence. AI/AN people in 
the Northwest are less likely to have health care coverage and access 
compared to their NHW counterparts.
    These disparities are the consequence of centuries of neglect and 
broken promises by the Federal Government to adequately fund 
healthcare. IHS is chronically underfunded with the overall budget 
covering only a fraction of the healthcare needs of AI/AN people.\1\ 
Year after year, Northwest Tribes have unmet healthcare needs due to 
the chronic underfunding. The Tribes in our Area continue to face the 
unprecedented COVID-19 public health emergency, as well as the impacts 
of the climate crisis and opioid epidemic. Northwest Tribes lack the 
necessary resources and infrastructure to appropriately respond and 
provide the necessary healthcare to our people.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ U.S. COMM'N ON CIVIL RIGHTS, BROKEN PROMISES: CONTINUING 
FEDERAL FUNDING SHORTFALL FOR NATIVE AMERICANS AT 19 (2018) available 
at https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/2018/12-20-Broken-Promises.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Provide Advance Appropriations for IHS. We are disappointed that 
the House and Senate Appropriations Committees did not include advanced 
appropriations in the fiscal Year 2022 Omnibus Appropriations bill. 
Previous government shutdowns have caused undue hardship to Northwest 
Tribes--from Federal employees not receiving a paycheck to clinics 
cutting down their hours. Some Northwest Tribes even considered closing 
their clinics due to lack of funding. Our people's lives are impacted 
by the shut downs. This is unforgivable treatment and must be prevented 
in the future. For this reason, NPAIHB requests the subcommittee to 
support the President's request for advance appropriations in 
recognition of trust and treaty obligations to Tribes.
    Provide Mandatory Appropriation for ISDEAA Section 105(l) Leases 
and Contract Support Costs (CSC). Although we are appreciative of the 
subcommittee's support in securing an indefinite appropriation for 
105(l) leases and CSC, we need 105(l) leases and CSC to be moved to 
mandatory appropriations. This will ensure that these appropriations 
are funded year after year without impacting annual programmatic 
increases to IHS and Tribal health facilities.
    The Tribes in the Northwest have been relentless advocates for 
Tribal Self-Determination and Self-Governance which is one of the most 
successful programs funded by the Indian Health Service. However, the 
Cook Inlet decision is destabilizing on our Tribal health program 
operations and threaten our indirect cost recovery to support Northwest 
Tribal health program operations. We urgently request the subcommittee 
to support a legislative fix to the Indian Self-Determination and 
Education Assistance Act to restore the longstanding interpretation of 
the act.
    Full Funding for IHS. We are concerned on the minimal increase of 
$395 million to the IHS in the fiscal Year 2022 Omnibus Appropriations 
Act. This increase does not support President Biden's historic request 
for an increase of $2.2 billion, or 36 percent above fiscal Year 2021 
enacted, for the IHS in fiscal Year 2022. The Northwest Tribes will 
never be able to adequately address their chronic health disparities 
without significant increased funding for the IHS. The National Tribal 
Budget Formulation Workgroup recommended, and our Area supports, the 
request of $49.8 billion in fiscal Year 2023 to fully fund the IHS.\2\ 
Although we support the Biden Administration putting forward a 
historical request for mandatory funding, we request that the IHS and 
the subcommittee works and supports the Portland Area Tribes to develop 
a legislative proposal for mandatory funding for IHS.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ National Tribal Budget Formulation Workgroup Recommendation, 
Indian Health Service Fiscal Year 2023 Budget, FINAL_Fiscal year 2023 
Budget (nihb) (last visited Mar. 4, 2022).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Community Health Aide Program (CHAP) Expansion. Tribal Leaders in 
the Portland Area support long term sustainable solutions that build up 
our communities, create opportunities for our youth and Tribal 
citizens, educate our healers and train the next generation of work 
force. The CHAP is vital not only to expanding access to care in our 
Tribal communities but tackling important social determinants of 
health. CHAP builds an accessible education ladder into the health care 
professions, increases access to culturally relevant, trauma informed 
primary care, and creates professional wage jobs in our communities. 
However, the IHS has not provided adequate funding to expand CHAP in 
the Portland Area to support education programs and member Tribes to 
integrate CHAP providers into their health programs. For fiscal Year 
2023, we request $60 million for continuation of the National expansion 
of CHAP with $10 million for Portland Area. We request $5 million to 
build clinical classrooms to train community health aide providers in 
the Portland Area.
    In fiscal Year 2021 and 2022, $2 million was allocated for dental 
health therapy education programs educating students in Washington, 
Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska. But, the IHS has not provided any of this 
funding to the Portland Area and will not unless there is an 
appropriation increase. For fiscal Year 2023, we request $4.2 million 
for the Dental therapy education programs with a $1.7 million earmark 
to Portland Area and $2.5 million to support Alaska.
    Fund Purchased and Referred Care (PRC) at $5 billion. The fiscal 
Year 2022 Omnibus Appropriations Act includes less than 1 percent 
increase to PRC, which is even less of an increased than appropriated 
in fiscal Year 2021. Our Area has to purchase all specialty and 
inpatient care because there is no IHS hospital in the Portland Area. 
The PRC program makes up over one-third of the Portland Area budget. 
When there is no increase or consideration of population growth and 
medical inflation, Northwest Tribes are forced to cut health services. 
Areas with IHS hospitals can absorb these costs more easily because of 
their infrastructure and large staffing packages.
    When there are increases to the PRC budget, the Portland Area 
Tribes receive additional funding to account for the lack of an IHS/
Tribal hospital in the Area, often referred to as the access to care 
factor. However, the IHS has only ever funded this access to care 
factor three times in the past 12 years-in fiscal Year 2010, 2012, and 
2014. Without year to year increases to PRC to fund the access to care 
factor, inpatient care for Portland Area Tribes goes severely 
underfunded. For fiscal Year 2023, our Area requests a $4 billion 
increase for PRC above fiscal Year 2022 enacted.
    Fund Mental Health at $3 billion and Substance Abuse at $2 billion. 
In our Area and nationwide, there are high rates of depression, 
anxiety, and relapses because of isolation during the pandemic. Our 
Tribes need funds to support mental health provider shortages, 
expansion of services, and training. NPAIHB is particularly concerned 
about our AI/AN adolescents and young adults. Suicide is the second 
leading cause of death for AI/AN adolescents and young adults. AI/AN 
suicide mortality in this age group (10-29) is 2-3 greater, and in some 
communities 10 times greater, than that for non-Hispanic whites.
    Mental Health and Substance Use programs could be expanded by 
funding programs authorized but never funded under the Indian Health 
Care Improvement Act (IHCIA), including Sections 702, 704, 705 and 715. 
These programs would increase prevention and treatment services, 
community mental health workers and behavioral health research. In 
order to address anticipated needs and to fund much needed programs in 
fiscal Year 2023, NPAIHB recommends a $3.2 billion increase for mental 
health and $2.1 billion increase for substance use above fiscal Year 
2021 enacted.
    In addition, we recommend that all IHS Behavioral Health 
Initiatives provide an option for Tribes to receive funds through 
ISDEAA Title I and Title V compacts and contracts. These programs 
include the Tribes know how to manage and maximize funds to best meet 
the behavioral health needs of their patients. These programs include 
the Substance Abuse and Suicide Prevention Program, the Domestic 
Violence Prevention Program, the Zero Suicide Initiative, and may 
include the recently established Special Behavioral Health Program 
(opioid program).
    Increase Indian Health Professions Funding by $25 million. COVID-19 
has exacerbated the recruitment and retention issues our Northwest 
Tribal communities face with health care providers. In order to address 
these provider shortages, NPAIHB supports an increase for Indian Health 
Professions to fully fund scholarships for all qualified applicants to 
the IHS Scholarship Program and to support the Loan Repayment Program 
to fund all physicians, nurse practitioners, physician's assistants, 
nurses and other direct care practitioners.\3\ For fiscal Year 2023, we 
request the subcommittee to increase the Indian Health Professions 
program by $25 million.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ NPAIHB Resolution18-03-07.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Increase Funding for Small Ambulatory Program, Joint Venture 
Construction Project and New Innovative Approaches for Health Care 
Facilities Construction by $21 billion. No funds have been allocated to 
Portland Area Tribes for new facility construction for at least 20 
years. For this reason, Portland Area Tribes only support funding for 
specific construction programs and new innovative approaches for health 
care facility construction. We request a program increase of $21 
billion in fiscal Year 2023 to support the Small Ambulatory Program 
(SAP) with funding for staffing packages, the Joint Venture 
Construction Program (JVCP), and funding for innovative approaches to 
address unmet construction needs for health care facilities 
construction under 25 U.S.C. Sec. 1631(f).
    Portland Area Regional Specialty Referral Center. The fiscal Year 
2023 President's Budget Request includes $165 million in nonrecurring 
expense funds for the Portland Area's regional specialty referral 
center. This center is a priority of the Northwest Tribes to address 
the continual barriers AI/AN face in accessing specialty care in the 
Northwest. We support the $165 million in nonrecurring expense funds to 
construct the center and request this subcommittee to identify 
additional funding for a staffing package.
    Make Information Technology Modernization Funding Available to 
Tribes. Health IT modernization must be a priority of the IHS with an 
expedited implementation over the next three to 5 years. Resource and 
Patient Management System (RPMS) cannot meet the evolving healthcare 
delivery needs of our Tribes without substantial investment in IT 
infrastructure and software. Tribes in the Northwest have had to invest 
significant amount of their own funds to modernize their Health 
Information Technology. Yet, none of the funds appropriated for HIT 
modernization has been distributed to Tribes. We request that funding 
is provided to our Tribes to reimburse and provide on-going financial 
support for Tribal facilities that have purchased and implemented 
commercial off the shelf systems. For fiscal Year 2023, NPAIHB 
recommends funding at $356 million for planning and phased-in 
replacement of RPMS with $22 million for Portland Area Tribes for 
reimbursement of their health IT modernization efforts.
    Fund HIV at $60 million and HCV at $600 million. From 2013 through 
2017 rates of new diagnosis of HIV for AI/AN people increased to 7.8 
per 100,000--although rates of new HIV diagnosis decreased or stayed 
stable for all other racial and ethnic groups. We thank the Committee 
for the $5 million for HIV and Hepatitis C initiatives in fiscal Year 
2021. For fiscal Year 2023, NPAIHB requests funding of $60 million for 
HIV to support Ending the HIV Epidemic. According to the IHS National 
Data Warehouse, it is estimated that there are at least 40,000 AI/AN 
people with a current HCV infection being served by IHS, Tribal and 
urban Indian facilities. For fiscal Year 2023, $600 million is needed 
for IHS to provide the life-saving HCV treatment to the 40,000 AI/ANs 
with HCV.
    Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI). We request permanent 
reauthorization of SDPI at $250 million per year with medical inflation 
rate increases annually. We also request that an option be created for 
Tribes to receive SDPI funds through Title 1 or Title V compacts or 
contracts. Specifically, we recommend that 42. U.S.C. Sec. 254c-3(c) be 
amended with the addition of the following language: ''(2) 
APPROPRIATIONS.--On request from an Indian Tribe or Tribal 
organization, the Secretary shall award diabetes program funds made 
available to the requesting Tribe or Tribal organization under this 
section as amounts provided under Subsections 106(a)(1) and Subsection 
508(c) of the Indian Self-Determination Act, 25 U.S.C. Sec. 5325(a)(1) 
and Sec. 5388(c), as appropriate.''
    Thank you for this opportunity to provide recommendations on the 
fiscal Year 2023 IHS budget. I invite you to visit Portland Area Tribes 
to learn more about the utilization of IHS funding and health care 
needs in our Area. I look forward to working with the subcommittee on 
our requests.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ For more information, please contact Liz Coronado, NPAIHB, at 
[email protected] or (559) 289-9964.

    [This statement was submitted by Nickolaus Lewis, Chair, Northwest 
Portland Area Indian Health Board.]
                                 ______
                                 
         Prepared Statement of Norton Sound Health Corporation
    The requests of the Norton Sound Health Corporation (NSHC) for the 
fiscal Year 2023 Indian Health Service (IHS) budget are as follows:

  --Remove IHS Sanitation Deficiency System ``Cost Caps''. The 
        increased cost of doing business in Alaska, makes many projects 
        ineligible for IHS funding.

  --Recognize Alaska Native communities as Native communities in the 
        IHS Sanitation Deficiency System, eliminating the notion of 
        ineligible costs for saniation projects.

  --Increase funding for behavioral health social detoxification 
        programs through the Preventing Alcohol Related Deaths (PARD) 
        program under the Snyder Act or through the creation of a 
        Special Behavorial Health Program for Indians, similar to the 
        Special Diabetes Program for Indians
  --Amend the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to make newly 
        constructed behavioral health centers eligible for staffing 
        package funding and third-party billing authority
  --Allow behavioral health centers newly constructed during COVID-19, 
        to be eligible for reimbursement through the American Rescue 
        Plan
  --Direct IHS to use American Rescue Plan funds to designate funding 
        for a youth treatment facility in Alaska
  --Provide full, mandatory funding and advance appropriations for the 
        Indian Health Service
  --Ensure mandatory funding for Contract Support Costs and 105(l) 
        lease payments and clarify CSC provisions

    Headquartered in Nome, Alaska, Norton Sound Health Corporation is 
owned and managed by the 20 federally recognized Tribes of the Bering 
Strait region. Our Tribal system includes a regional hospital and 15 
village-based clinics, which we operate under an Indian Self-
Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDEAA) agreement\1\. Our 
rural and remote Arctic region remains unconnected by roads, and we are 
500 air miles from Alaska's economic hub of Anchorage. Our service area 
encompasses 44,000 square miles.

    \1\ We serve the communities of: Brevig Mission, Council, Diomede, 
Elim, Gambell, Golovin, King Island, Koyuk, Mary's Igloo, Nome, St. 
Michael, Savoonga, Shaktoolik, Shishmaref, Solomon, Stebbins, Teller, 
Unalakleet, Wales, and White Mountain.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Funding for Water & Sewer Projects.

  --Remove IHS Sanitation Deficiency System ``Cost Caps''. These 
        arbitrary caps determine a project's feasibility prevents a 
        path to service in unserved communities. The increased cost of 
        doing business in Alaska, makes many projects ineligible for 
        IHS funding.

  --Recognize Alaska Native communities as Native communities in the 
        IHS Sanitation Deficiency System, eliminating the notion of 
        ineligible costs for saniation projects.

    In the Bering Strait region we face a $261 million sanitation need. 
Five communities in our region, Diomede, Wales, Shishmaref, Stebbins, 
and Teller remain completely unconnected to running water and sewer. 
Gambell is 70 percent served, with 43 homes in the village of Gambell 
remaining unconnected to Water and Sewer. Ongoing sewer and water 
upgrades and maintenance backlogs remain concerns in seven communities. 
An estimated 520 homes in the Bering Strait region have no running 
water, nor flush toilets.
    In the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, Congress reaffirmed the 
IHS as the agency with ``primary responsibility and authority to 
provide necessary sanitation facilities'' and furthermore, ``it is in 
the interest of the United States and it is the policy of the United 
States, that all Indian communities and Indian homes, new and existing, 
be provided with safe and adequate water supply systems and sanitary 
sewage waste disposal systems as soon as possible'' (25 USC 1632).
    The health impacts of a lack of sanitation and clean water 
infrastructure, in combination with a shortage of housing in our 
communities remains an ongoing public health crisis. The CDC has noted 
that one in three infants from communities without running water are 
hospitalized for respiratory infections. The communities of Diomede, 
Unalakleet & Wales are on the Environmental Protection Agency's EET 
list of water systems out of compliance with Federal regulations for 
arsenic, uranium, and/or THMs (probable human carcinogen)- levels over 
what EPA has deemed to be safe for humans to drink in the long-term.
    We are opposed to the decision of the IHS to implement in the 
FY2018 Sanitation Facilities Construction appropriation using a 
methodology based on the premise that our Alaska Native villages are 
'non-Indian'. Our unserved communities average over 90 percent Alaska 
Native. The SDS policy places Indian communities in the same category 
as ``non-Indian'' communities requiring that Tribes find contributions 
for ineligible buildings such as public schools and teacher housing. 
All community buildings are for the benefit of the Native community, 
including schools which serve as in some cases the primary gathering 
place for healthy community activities. Schools and teacher homes are 
also often the only facilities connected to sewer and water, creating 
significant sanitation inequities in a community.
    We appreciate language in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs 
Act (Public Law 117-58) that recognized this challenge and reserved 
$2.2 billion of the $3.5 billion in IHS Sanitaition Facilities 
Construction funding for ``projects that exceed the economical unit 
cost.'' However, in order to fully address the sanitation crisis in our 
communities, we urge that Congress formally remove the regulatory 
barriers to our unserved communities, and encourage EPA and USDA Alaska 
Native Village grant programs to support SDS deficiencies.
    Recommend the IHS increase funding for behavioral health social 
detoxification programs through the Preventing Alcohol Related Deaths 
(PARD) program under the Snyder Act or through the creation of a 
Special Behavioral Health Program for Indians, similar to the Special 
Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI).
    As the alcohol and opioid abuse problem intensifies with the wider 
availability of heroin, oxycodone, and often-lethal synthetics such as 
fentanyl, the need for treatment services has grown exponentially. 
National and State entities and governments have openly recognized and 
called for the need to arm providers with more resources and funding; 
however, despite the evidence of rampant substance use concerns, back-
logged psychiatric facilities, and reimbursements inadequate to meet 
the expenses of providing services, there is an imbalance between the 
magnitude of the problem and appropriate funding.

    For the Bering Strait region, the substance abuse/misuse data for 
2021 is staggering:

  --918 unique individuals across 1,469 encounters presented at Norton 
        Sound Regional Hospital's emergency department under the 
        influence of substances. Of those, 565 had a primary diagnosis 
        of Alcohol Abuse; an additional 100 had a secondary substance 
        diagnosis, and 72 had a tertiary.

  --The Nome Volunteer Ambulance Department's 7 primary volunteers 
        responded to 424 substance-related calls accounting for an 
        astounding 68.8 percent of all calls totaling 27,984 hours of 
        response time.

  --The Nome Police Department were dispatched for 3,394 substance-
        related calls in 2021, 73 percent of all arrests were 
        substance-related. There were 10 officers available to respond 
        to these calls.

  --90 percent of inmates served time for substance-related crimes at 
        Nome's Community Residential Center (CRC) and Anvil Mountain 
        Correctional Center (AMCC). With 128 beds at AMCC at $168.74 
        per inmate per day, and 50 beds at the CRC at $117.00 a day, 
        the cost of substance-related incarceration was $9,004,587. 
        Imprisoning someone is far more expensive than funding 
        prevention, diversionary, and treatment services.

    Because our region is remote, resources with which to work are 
fewer than those in urban areas; this often results in sending our 
people to Anchorage or Fairbanks for higher levels of care.
    Amend the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to make newly 
constructed behavioral health centers eligible for staffing package 
funding and Allow behavioral health centers constructed during COVID-
19, to be eligible for reimbursement through the ARP
    In May 2021, NSHC opened a Wellness and Training Center for 
behavioral health services. The Center provides additional levels of 
care locally, addressing substance use and behavioral health treatment 
options in a culturally-sensitive manner. Services include Outpatient, 
Intensive Outpatient, and Partial Hospitalization, all with a social 
detox day shelter and access to cultural supports including carving and 
sewing rooms.
    Despite best efforts over several years to argue for inclusion as 
an eligible project under the Joint Venture Construction Program, 
standalone behavioral health facilities remain unsupported. As a 
result, NSHC funded 85 percent of this project without the benefit of 
receiving a staffing package to offset future operational costs. With a 
$5.6 million annual operating budget, NSHC will provide these vital 
services at a significant loss; however, support through designated 
funding from IHS will ensure these services are sustainable and 
patients thrive for years to come.
    Substance abuse and mental health concerns are healthcare crises; 
every opportunity for primary care projects supported through Joint 
Venture partnerships must be extended to these treatment facilities. 
NSHC will continue to ask for a staffing package and third-party 
billing authority for this facility, as is the case with facilities 
constructed under the IHS Health Facilities Construction Priority List 
and its Joint Venture program. NSHC would also benefit from the 
reimbursement of construction costs through the American Rescue Plan.
    Unfortunately, there are further gaps in the continuum of care, 
none more glaring than the dearth of youth psychiatric treatment 
facilities across the State. With increasing frequency, NSHC is 
admitting children and adolescents to its inpatient unit for psychoses, 
suicidal ideation, and other behavioral concerns. During CYs 2020 & 21, 
62 adolescents between ages 10 and 17 were admitted for suicide-related 
diagnoses. Alarmingly, those 62 were on the unit for a combined 1,019 
days. This accounts for 43 percent of the total length of stay among 
all age groups 0-89 years. These 62 youth also account for 23 percent 
of the inpatient census and only 347 days less than any other age group 
18 years and older combined. Unfortunately, NSHC currently does not 
have the capacity to provide the level of care many of these youth 
need. As a result, they languish on the unit while local staff members 
try to find a suitable placement out of region; however, there are only 
four Residential Psychiatric Treatment Centers (RPTC) with a combined 
86 beds in Alaska. Admissions to these RPTCs are compromised by bed 
waits of 30+ days at times, and because the escalating behaviors 
exhibited by some of these youth result in declined applications, local 
providers must search for placements out of state, an unfortunate 
circumstance. Additional appropriations to IHS can stand-up a new RPTC 
in Alaska for Alaska Native youth with staff members skilled in 
handling a variety of behaviors. This is a priority and a vital need 
that will increase the psychiatric bed census and keep youth home.
Support for Mandatory Funding for IHS

    We appreciate the Biden Administration's proposal to provide 
mandatory funding for IHS and increase funding over 10 years. 
Reclassifying the IHS budget as mandatory spending reflects the nature 
of the trust and treaty obligations to Tribal Nations, and also allows 
IHS to be funded at a level that is necessary for providing health 
care. We will work with you and IHS to fully develop this proposal so 
that it provides adequate funding for IHS and fully honors Tribal self-
determination and self-governance.
Support for Advance Appropriations for IHS

    However, if full mandatory appropriations cannot be achieved for 
fiscal Year 2023, we continue to support IHS advance appropriations for 
the short term. Funding delays make it impossible for IHS and Tribal 
health programs to plan and manage their annual budgets. We urge the 
Committee to take the necessary steps in the fiscal Year 2023 
appropriations bill to move/continue IHS to an advance appropriation 
starting in fiscal Year 2023.
Mandatory Funding for Contract Support Costs and 105(l) lease payments

    If Congress is not able to enact full mandatory funding for IHS 
this year, we continue to support mandatory funding for Contract 
Support Costs (CSC) and 105(l) leases. This change would bring 
appropriations process into line with the clear legal requirements of 
the authorizing statute.
Amend Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act to Clarify 
        CSC provisions

    We also request that the committee consider amending the ISDEAA to 
clarify that when agency funding paid to a Tribe for program operations 
is insufficient for contract and compact administration, contract 
support costs will remain available to cover the difference in response 
to a recent court decision.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc. v. Dotomain, 10 F.4th 892 (D.C. 
Cir. 2021).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Thank you for your consideration of the concerns and requests of 
the Norton Sound Health Corporation.

    [This statement was submitted by Angela Gorn, President/CEO.]
                                 ______
                                 
       Prepared Statement of the Oregon Water Resources Congress
    The Oregon Water Resources Congress (OWRC) is highly supportive of 
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Clean Water State 
Revolving Fund Loan Program (CWSRF). OWRC respectfully requests fiscal 
year 2023 appropriations for this program be increased to at least the 
$2.75 billion authorized in the bi-partisan Infrastructure and Jobs 
Investment Act (HB 3684). The CWSRF is an effective loan program that 
addresses critical water infrastructure needs while benefitting the 
environment, local communities, and the economy. As an existing and 
proven program, it is a perfect fit for increased investment during a 
time of need for climate and environmentally friendly infrastructure.
    OWRC was established in 1912 as a trade association to support the 
protection of water rights and promote the wise stewardship of water 
resources statewide. OWRC members are local governmental entities, 
which include irrigation districts, water control districts, drainage 
districts, water improvement districts, and other agricultural water 
suppliers that deliver water to one-third of all irrigated land in 
Oregon. These water stewards operate complex water management systems, 
including water supply reservoirs, canals, pipelines, and hydropower 
production facilities.
                    fiscal year 2023 appropriations
    We recognize our country must make strategic investments with 
scarce resources, particularly as our economy recovers from pandemic-
related impacts. The CWSRF is a perfect example of the type of program 
that should have funding increased because it creates jobs while 
benefitting the environment and is an efficient return on taxpayer 
investment. CWSRF projects provide much needed construction and 
professional services jobs, particularly in rural areas facing economic 
hardship. Moreover, as a loan program, it is a wise investment that 
allows local communities to leverage their limited resources and 
address critical infrastructure needs that would otherwise be unmet.
    In Oregon, the CWSRF is administered by the Oregon Department of 
Environmental Quality (DEQ), who responsibly maintains the program 
through repaid loans, interest, fees, and available Federal 
capitalization grants. According to EPA, for every $1 of Federal 
capitalization funding, $3 worth of assistance is provided, leveraging 
available funds to maximize benefits for local communities, the 
environment, and the economy. Unfortunately, available funding for 
water infrastructure projects continues be woefully insufficient to 
meet the growing water infrastructure funding needs in Oregon and 
nationwide. Appropriations for the CWSRF needs to be incrementally 
increased to support water infrastructure projects that are addressing 
these critical needs. The increasing amounts authorized in the bi-
partisan Infrastructure and Jobs Investment Act over the next 5 years 
increases needed investments incrementally and sustainably.
        background of cwsrf usage by oregon irrigation districts
    During the programs over 30-year history in Oregon, several OWRC 
member districts have successfully used CWSRF for projects that improve 
water quality and water quantity associated with water delivery 
diversions, canals, and pipelines throughout the state. OWRC and our 
members are highly supportive of the CWSRF, including promoting the 
program to our members and annually submitting Federal appropriations 
testimony in support of increased funding for the CWSRF. We believe it 
is an important funding tool irrigation districts and other water 
suppliers are using for innovative piping projects that provide 
multiple environmental and economic benefits.
    Numerous irrigation districts and other water suppliers need to 
pipe currently open canals, which significantly reduces sediment, 
improves water temperature, and provides other water quality benefits 
to rivers and streams. Piping immediately improves the efficiency of 
the water delivery system and helps increase available water supplies 
for aquatic life and irrigators alike. These projects also decrease 
energy consumption (from reduced pumping) and have opportunities for 
generating renewable energy, primarily through in-conduit hydropower. 
However, the lack of robust funding for these types of worthwhile 
projects has created uncertainty for potential borrowers regarding 
whether adequate funding will be available in future years. CWSRF is 
often an integral part of an overall package of local, State, and 
Federal funding that necessitates a stronger level of assurance loan 
funds will be available for planned water infrastructure projects. 
Reductions in CWSRF appropriations could lead to loss of matching grant 
funding and delay or derail beneficial projects irrigation districts 
have been developing for years.
    The success Oregon districts have had in using the loan program to 
design and implement multi-beneficial projects has led to increased 
applications to the CWSRF. Irrigation districts are once again eligible 
for a key funding element, principal forgiveness, up to 50 percent and 
capped at $500,000 for projects in a distressed community or eligible 
for the Green Project Reserve designation. As a result, we expect to 
see even more interest in the program. OWRC is hopeful there will be 
enough funding available to complete projects that will not only 
benefit the environment and the patrons served by the water delivery 
system, but also benefit the rural economy.
                         cwsrf needs in oregon
    The appropriations for the CWSRF program over the past few years 
has been far short of what is needed to address critical water 
infrastructure needs in Oregon and across the Nation. This has led to 
fewer water infrastructure projects, and therefore a reduction in 
improvements to water quality and water quantity. However, OWRC is 
pleased with the 5-year commitment to increased funding authorized in 
the bi-partisan Infrastructure and Jobs Investment Act. This Federal 
commitment is important as infrastructure needs have become more 
expensive and even more time critical.
    DEQ's most recent CWSRF ``Intended Use Plan--State Fiscal Year 
2022'' (July 1, 2021--June 30, 2022) dated January 12, 2022, includes 
twenty-two loan applications totaling $173,820,674 in requested 
funding. Currently, the loan program has $285,503,377 net available to 
lend for state fiscal year 2022. DEQ can award a maximum individual 
loan amount of $42,825,506.
    The following two irrigation district projects are currently ranked 
by DEQ in the top four by overall score and both meet the Green Project 
Reserve (GPR) requirements. Increased funding will help catalyze many 
more projects like the ones below in Oregon and throughout the Nation:
 north unit irrigation district (deschutes county) $8,150,000 (ranked 
                                  #1)
    Sec. 319, Design and Construction: Lateral 43 and Juniper Butte 
Piping Project. The District's System Improvement Plan (2017) proposes 
to pipe the district's open canal network, including the addition of 
pressure reducing stations, reuse/retention reservoirs, and metered 
turnouts for every water user. The current project proposes to start in 
one portion of the district by piping laterals 31, 32, 34 and 43, which 
represents a total of 8.2 miles of leaky canal and serves over 9,800 
acres of agricultural land. The project will improve water quality in 
the lower Crooked River, Lake Billy Chinook, and the lower Deschutes 
River by removing canal seepage and minimizing and eliminating return 
flow from agricultural lands. Piping of the laterals will also 
encourage on-farm efficiency by providing pressurized water, which 
enables the switch from furrow irrigation to sprinkler irrigation, 
reducing excessive seepage and agricultural runoff from fields. The 
project is consistent with Section 3.6.1 of the 2014 Nonpoint Source 
Management Plan and Section 6.1 of the CWSRF.
rogue river valley irrigation district and medford irrigation district 
                (jackson county) $24,334,500 (ranked #4)
    Sec. 319, Design and Construction, Joint System Canal Piping 
Project. Rogue River Valley Irrigation District and Medford Irrigation 
District jointly use the Joint System Canal to serve several thousand 
customers with crop irrigation. Seepage and evaporation are occurring 
along the canal, which is resulting in lost water and less water 
flowing through the canal downstream to other water bodies. The 
proposed project includes design and construction of piping up to 4.4 
miles of canal and diversions, replacement of siphons, improvements to 
water diversion structures and fish passage. The project will address 
water quantity and quality for downstream streams, including South Fork 
Little Butte Creek, which experience low flow in some seasons. The 
project focuses on best management practices for irrigation to improve 
water quality from nonpoint sources. The project is consistent with 
Section 3.6.1 of the Nonpoint Source Management Program Plan and 
Section 6.1 of the CWSRF.
              examples of green project reserves in oregon
    Oregon irrigation districts and other water suppliers are on the 
forefront of innovative piping projects that provide and leverage 
multiple benefits, including ``green'' infrastructure projects. 
Otherwise known as Green Project Reserve (GPR), DEQ is required to use 
at least 10 percent of annual Federal capitalization grants on projects 
that promote water and energy efficiency, are environmentally 
innovative, or include green infrastructure. In 2019, four GPR projects 
were financed by DEQ for a total of $13 million, far exceeding EPA's 
minimum requirement of $1.8 million for such projects in Oregon. Of 
those four funded projects, three were irrigation district projects 
that met several categories of the GPR requirements related to improved 
water and energy efficiency.
    In 2020, another three projects received awards totaling $38 
million and all met the GPR criteria:
    lone pine irrigation district (deschutes, jefferson, and crook 
                          counties) $2,000,000
    Sec. 319, Design and Construction, Irrigation Modernization 
Project. This project will modernize district-owned canals and laterals 
to conserve water, improve operational efficiency, reduce electrical 
and energy costs, reduce O&M for farmers through decreased pumping and 
improve habitat in the Deschutes River. The project will achieve these 
goals by piping all the district's open canals using HDPE and steel 
pipe. The existing suspension bridge over the Crooked River is in 
disrepair and a new structure is needed to convey the irrigation water 
across the river. The district will replace the bridge with a siphon 
under the river.
    middle fork irrigation district (hood river county) $20,000,000
    Sec. 319 Design and Construction, Clear Branch Dam Rehabilitation 
and Coe Branch Pipeline. The district will implement multiple projects 
to improve water quality and quantity associated with its irrigation 
diversions in the Middle Fork Hood River watershed. Specific projects 
include installing a new deep-water outlet and improving fish passage 
in Laurance Lake; installing new irrigation pipe to alleviate impacts 
from current irrigation system and addressing return flows from the 
irrigation system; improving the spillway at the Clear Branch Dam; and 
improving irrigation efficiency by district patrons.
       swalley irrigation district (deschutes county) $16,000,000
    Sec. 319 Design and Construction, Irrigation Modernization Project. 
This irrigation piping project includes the installation of pressurized 
pipe to eliminate seepage and evaporative loss from open ditches; flow 
regulating and metering devices at service connections; pressurized 
delivery to eliminate individual pumps system-wide; active education; 
and a sprinkler exchange program. Piping and pressurizing the 
irrigation canals will result in approximately 1.1 million kWh/year in 
energy conservation and conserve up to 16 cubic feet per second of 
water during the irrigation season.
    Providing increased appropriations for the CWSRF program will help 
implement additional innovative and multi-benefit projects like these 
in Oregon and across the Nation.
                               conclusion
    In conclusion, OWRC is strongly supportive of increased 
appropriations to the CWSRF program, allowing Oregon's DEQ to continue 
making targeted loans that address Clean Water Act issues and improve 
water quality while incentivizing innovative water management solutions 
that benefit local communities, agricultural economies, and the 
environment. This voluntary approach creates and promotes cooperation 
and collaborative solutions to complex water resources challenges. We 
respectfully request an appropriation of at least $2.75 billion as 
authorized in the bi-partisan Infrastructure and Jobs Investment Act 
for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Water State 
Revolving Loan Fund for fiscal year 2023.

    [This statement was submitted by Testimony of April Snell, 
Executive Director, Oregon Water Resources Congress.]

                                 ______
                                 
            Prepared Statement of Pacific Salmon Commission
    Chairman Merkley, and Honorable Members of the Committee, in March 
1985 the United States and Canada agreed to cooperate in the 
management, research and enhancement of Pacific salmon stocks of mutual 
concern by ratifying the Pacific Salmon Treaty (PST). I am Ron Allen, 
the Tribal Commissioner and Chair of the Finance and Administration 
Committee for the U.S. Section of the Pacific Salmon Commission (PSC). 
The U.S. Section prepares an annual budget for implementation of the 
Pacific Salmon Treaty. The United States and Canada completed revisions 
of five of the Annex Chapters to the PST in 2019. The Annex Chapters 
contain the details for operations of fisheries under the Treaty and 
will be in operation for the next 10 years.
    Funding to implement the PST comes from the Departments of 
Interior, Commerce, and State. The integrated budget details program 
needs and costs for Tribal, Federal, and State agencies involved in the 
Treaty. Tribal participation in the Treaty process is funded within the 
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) budget as a line item within Rights 
Protection Implementation.

        In order to meet the increased obligations under the Pacific 
        Salmon Treaty Agreement, the 25 affected Tribes identified 
        costs at $6,255,000 for Tribal research projects and 
        participation in the U.S.-Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty process. 
        This represents no change from current levels. The funding for 
        Tribal participation in the Pacific Salmon Treaty is a line 
        item in the BIA's budget under Rights Protection 
        Implementation.

    Under U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service programs, the U.S. Section 
identified funding needs as follows:

        USFWS participation in the Treaty process is currently funded 
        at $372,362. In addition, the Pacific States Marine Fisheries 
        Commission (PSMFC) Regional Mark Center receives support from 
        the USFWS to provide data services to the PSC process at 
        $236,189 annually. The U.S. Section recommends increasing the 
        funding for PSMFC by $150,000. The recommended total for the 
        two programs for fiscal Year 2023 is $758,551. The USFWS also 
        received an additional $4,700,000 for Pacific Salmon Treaty 
        Implementation starting in fiscal Year 2020. The USFWS uses 
        these funds to work with State agencies on marking of 
        anadromous salmonids. The USFWS transfers $100,000 of the 
        additional funds to the BIA to support Tribal implementation of 
        the PST. The U.S. Section recommends maintaining that level of 
        funding for fiscal Year 2023.

    The base funding for the USFWS supports critically important on-
going work and participation in the process. The funding for Pacific 
States Marine Fisheries Commission's Regional Mark Processing Center is 
utilized to meet Treaty requirements concerning data exchange with 
Canada. These program recommendations are integrated with those of 
participating State and Federal agencies to avoid duplication of effort 
and provide for the most efficient expenditure of limited funds.
    The U.S. Section of the PSC and the Treaty Tribes appreciate the 
$900,000 increase in fiscal Year 2020 for the Tribes to implement the 
revised chapters of the Pacific Salmon Treaty. Tribal programs are 
essential for the United States to meet its international obligations. 
Tribal programs have taken on additional management responsibilities 
over time. The revised Chinook Chapter includes a new metric for 
evaluating terminal area fisheries. The CYER (Calendar Year 
Exploitation Rate) metric requires additional data collection and data 
management by the affected Tribes. All participating agencies need to 
be adequately supported to achieve a comprehensive U.S. effort to 
implement the Treaty. The U.S. Section of the PSC is recommending an 
adjustment in funding to support the work carried out by the twenty-
five Treaty Tribes' participating in implementation of the Treaty. 
Programs carried out by the Tribes are closely coordinated with those 
of participating State and Federal agencies.
    The USFWS activities are essential, so the U.S. can maintain the 
coded wire tag database necessary to implement the Treaty. The work of 
the Regional Mark Processing Center includes maintaining and updating a 
coastwide computerized information management system for salmon harvest 
data as required by the Treaty. This work has become even more 
important to monitor the success of management actions aimed at 
reducing impacts on ESA-listed salmon populations. Canada has a 
counterpart database. The U.S. database will continue to be housed at 
the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. The U.S. Section 
appreciates the additional $4,700,000 in the USFWS budget to work with 
State agencies on producing hatchery fish to mitigate for catch 
reductions in the revised Chinook Chapter and for additional Tribal 
support. The U.S. Section recommends maintaining that funding for 
fiscal Year 2023.
    Funding to support activities under the Pacific Salmon Commission 
comes from the Departments of Interior, State, and Commerce. The U.S. 
Section can provide a cross-cut budget summary to the Committee. 
Adequate funding from all three Departments is necessary for the U.S. 
to meet its Treaty obligations. All the funds are needed for critical 
data collection and research activities directly related to the 
implementation and are used in cooperative programs involving Federal, 
State, and Tribal fishery agencies and the Department of Fisheries and 
Oceans in Canada. The commitment of the United States is matched by the 
commitment of the Government of Canada.
    Chairman Merkley, the United States and Canada established the 
Pacific Salmon Commission, under the Pacific Salmon Treaty of 1985, to 
conserve salmon stocks, provide for optimum production of salmon, and 
to control salmon interceptions. After thirty-seven years, the work of 
the Pacific Salmon Commission continues to be essential for the wise 
management of salmon in the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, and 
Alaska. For example, upriver bright fall Chinook salmon from the 
Hanford Reach of the Columbia River are caught in large numbers in 
Alaskan and Canadian waters. Tribal and non-Tribal fishers harvest 
sockeye salmon from Canada's Fraser River in the Strait of Juan de Fuca 
and in Puget Sound. Canadian trollers off the west coast of Vancouver 
Island catch Washington coastal Coho salmon and Puget Sound Chinook 
salmon. In the Northern Boundary area between Canada and Alaska, fish 
from both countries are intercepted by the other country in large 
numbers.
    The Pacific Salmon Commission provides a forum to ensure 
cooperative management of salmon populations. The United States and 
Canada reached agreements for revised Annex Chapters for management of 
Chinook, Coho, Chum, Fraser River Sockeye and Pink, and transboundary 
salmon populations for the next 10 years. It is critically important to 
have adequate resources for U.S. participants to implement the revised 
agreements and protect our Tribal Treaty resources.
    Before the Pacific Salmon Treaty, fish wars often erupted with one 
or both countries overharvesting fish that were returning to the other 
country, to the detriment of the resource. At the time the Treaty was 
signed, Chinook salmon were in a severely depressed state because of 
overharvest in the ocean as well as environmental degradation in the 
spawning rivers. Under the Treaty, both countries committed to rebuild 
the depressed runs of Chinook stocks and recommitted to that goal in 
1999 when adopting a coastwide abundance-based approach to harvest 
management. Under this approach, harvest management has complemented 
habitat conservation and restoration activities undertaken by the 
States, Tribes, and other stakeholders in the Pacific Northwest to 
address the needs of salmon listed for protection under the Endangered 
Species Act. The updated Annex Chapters continue these commitments. The 
combination of these efforts is integral to achieving success in 
rebuilding and restoring healthy, sustainable salmon populations.
    Finally, you should consider that the value of the commercial 
harvest of salmon subject to the Treaty, managed at productive levels 
under the Treaty, supports the infrastructure of many coastal and 
inland communities. The value of the commercial, recreational 
fisheries, and the economic diversity they provide for local economies 
throughout the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, is immense. The Commission 
funded an economic study of the fisheries and determined that this 
resource creates thousands of jobs and is a multi-billion dollar 
industry. The value of these fish to the twenty-four Treaty Tribes in 
Washington, Oregon, and Idaho goes far beyond their monetary value, to 
the cultural and religious lives of Indian people.
    The Commission funded a study to capture the socioeconomic value of 
the fisheries to U.S. Tribes and Canadian First Nations. A significant 
monetary investment is focused on salmon due to the listings of Pacific 
Northwest salmon populations under the Endangered Species Act. Given 
these resources, we continue to utilize the Pacific Salmon Commission 
to develop recommendations that help with the development and 
implementation of solutions to minimizing impacts on listed stocks. We 
continue to work towards the true intent of the Treaty, and with your 
support, we will manage this shared resource for mutual enhancements 
and benefits.
    Chairman Merkley, that concludes my written testimony submitted for 
consideration by your Committee. I want to thank the Committee for the 
support that it has given the U.S. Section in the past. Please feel 
free to contact me, or other members of the U.S. Section to answer any 
questions you or Committee members may have regarding the U.S. Section 
of the Pacific Salmon Commission budget.

    [This statement was submitted by W. Ron Allen, U.S. Section of the 
Pacific Salmon Commission.]
                                 ______
                                 
      Prepared Statement of Parker River National Wildlife Refuge
    I am pleased to submit this brief statement in support of my local 
Parker River NWR and the entire national wildlife refuge system. I 
strongly urge you to appropriate $712 million for US Fish and Wildlife 
Service fiscal Year 2023 to benefit all.
    I first encountered PRNWR in 2001 while visiting Boston to cheer my 
son at a collegiate swim tournament. I can still recall seeing my life 
Rough legged Hawk over Hellcat and imaging how many other life birds I 
might find at the Refuge. I asked my guide about living in town and 
soon began thinking seriously about possibilities. Retiring in 2010, I 
readily moved from our home of 30+ years in central New Jersey (where I 
regularly visited the Forsythe NWR we fondly called ``Brig,'') to 
Newburyport, Massachusetts explicitly BECAUSE of the international 
reputation of Parker River NWR as a birders' paradise, a very special 
``hot spot.'' The varied habitats and birds did not disappoint, even 
with the overall, heartbreaking decline in numbers of birds and their 
food sources. The extensive variety of habitats at PRNWR attracts a 
wide range of birds throughout the year. There are migrants passing 
through, those who come to nest in spring or ride out the winter, and 
the local dwellers as well as rarities that show up from time to time.
    Parker River NWR has remained my nearly daily destination for the 
past 12 years. In winters with sufficient snow cover, I ski Refuge 
Road, which allows me viewing access to owl habitats on the more 
southern end of the island. During the Pandemic when the Refuge was 
closed to vehicles, I borrowed a bicycle to ride 10+ miles round trip 
from headquarters to the Refuge and through to Sandy Point.
    As a carry-over from Pandemic restrictions, I continue to bird 
almost exclusively locally to conserve my use of fossil fuel out of 
concern for the climate crisis. Perhaps due to my growing knowledge of 
and familiarity with PRNWR, I won a seat on the Board of the Friends of 
PRNWR. During this time, I developed a very protective and supportive 
attitude toward the Refuge. As such, I am very concerned that without 
an increase in funding, the habitats and the wildlife themselves will 
be at huge risk. The Friends are very active and help greatly with 
maintenance, wildlife monitoring, and educational programs as well as 
funding an intern.
    I personally am very concerned about the staffing on the PRNWR, 
especially enforcement and the gatehouse. This is a very busy refuge, 
complicated by the State operated beach at the southern end. It seems 
that more and more, the attitude of visitors is similar to drivers on 
the nearby interstate. They seem interested in getting from point A to 
point B as fast as they can, and doing whatever they want to do. 
They're not so much into the journey and observing nature--trees, 
geological formations, birds and other animals, let alone thinking 
about the space as a refuge for wildlife, with humans being guests. I 
feel strongly that more continuous presence of enforcement staff would 
be a great help. Behaviors would change if there were a real and known 
risk of consequences. Enforcement and maintenance staff seem 
particularly stretched thin, which affects the care of the appropriate 
land and water habitats.
    PRNWR is a treasure, and very important to the community. Visitors 
arrive from all over and contribute to the economic well being of the 
local area. Surely for local residents and visitors alike, getting 
outside in such a beautiful and rich setting, and connecting with the 
natural world, is beneficial for developing a sense of the 
interdependence of all beings. That acknowledged relationship is 
critical to our being able effectively to combat the climate crisis. If 
there were a critical time to invest more deeply in our National 
Wildlife Refuge system, it is now. Again, I urge you to be as generous 
as possible and appropriate $712 million for US Fish and Wildlife 
Service fiscal Year 2023. Thank you for your attention.

    [This statement was submitted by MaryMargaret Halsey.]
                                 ______
                                 
  Prepared Statement of the Partnership for the National Trails System
    Thank you for the opportunity to submit written testimony on behalf 
of the Partnership for the National Trails System (PNTS) regarding 
Fiscal Year 2023 funding. Use of the 30 Congressionally designated 
National Scenic and Historic Trails (NSHT) has grown substantially 
since the onset of the pandemic and is expected to continue growing in 
the future. Increased investment in our National Trails System (NTS) is 
needed to meet public demands. PNTS requests at least $9.63 million for 
the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to be allocated to for NSHT, as 
well as a minimum of $3.15 million to operate Historic Trail 
Interpretive Centers and $69.491 million for National Conservation 
Lands. PNTS requests $22.18 million in National Park Service (NPS) 
Operations for the NSHT, $15 million for the Rivers, Trails and 
Conservation Assistance (RTCA) program, at least $8 million for 
Volunteers in Parks, a minimum of $10.95 million for Visitor Services 
sub-activity Youth Partnership Programs and $125 million for the 
Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP). PNTS also supports $30.51 
million for Trails, with $11.957 million specifically for NSHT in the 
U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Capital Improvement and Maintenance (CMTL) 
account, $72 million for Recreation, Heritage and Wilderness and $100 
million for Legacy Roads and Trails. PNTS also requests at least $93 
million for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Refuge Visitor 
Services. Additionally, PNTS supports robust funding for the Land and 
Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) with $50 million allocated from the 
Federal land acquisition programs of the BLM, the NPS and the USFS for 
projects that complete NSHT and protect side trails and viewsheds.
    Authorized through the 1968 National Trails System Act, the NTS 
includes 30 National Scenic Trails (NST) and National Historic Trails 
(NHT) that will eventually preserve 55,000 miles of public trails, 
traversing 50 States and the District of Columbia, connecting 84 
national parks, 89 national forests, 70 national wildlife refuges, over 
100 public land areas and 179 national wilderness areas. The NTS 
continues to grow with new trails in the pipeline to be considered by 
Congress in 2022 and beyond. They represent a broad spectrum of our 
Nation's iconic landscapes and its natural and cultural heritage. From 
the Southern Appalachian Mountains to the wildest reaches of Alaska, 
the San Francisco Bay and the breathtaking coast of the ``Big Island'' 
of Hawaii, they feature diverse ecosystems while shining a light on the 
stories of our Nation such as the U.S. fight for independence, the 
trails blazed by indigenous peoples and pioneers, the forced relocation 
of Native Americans, our struggle for civil rights, and much more. NSHT 
are collaboratively managed with volunteer-based, private nonprofit 
partners and Federal administrators. In 2021 alone, Federal funds 
invested in the trails leveraged over $20 million in private funding 
and volunteer hours valued at more than $23 million.
    PNTS is the only national nonprofit focused on NSHT. Our trail 
organization members are the primary partners working with the Federal 
agencies to cooperatively manage, construct, maintain, protect, and 
promote the NTS. Our members also include affiliate members that 
actively contribute to the promotion, improvement and activation of NST 
and NHT.
    PNTS is grateful for the expanded support for NSHT, and all trails 
administered by the land management agencies, in the FY22 House passed 
Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations bill and urge Congress to 
quickly pass a year-long funding bill.
    We thank you for providing ongoing funding for the NSHT 
administered by the NPS, BLM, and USFS and for the 2020 passage of the 
Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), which includes funds to tackle 
deferred maintenance on public lands and full, permanent funding of the 
LWCF.
    It is now up to Congress to ensure that adequate annual trail 
funding needs are met, and the administration and Federal land managers 
fully implement the GAOA as Congress intended. These funding streams 
are vital if we are to complete and maintain our NTS and federally 
managed trails to the necessary, expected and deserved standard.
        land management agency staffing and workforce assessment
    Funding increases for trail development and maintenance established 
over the last several years will only go so far without adequate 
staffing. The field staff at Federal land agencies have been severely 
curtailed over years, and the lack of oversight for our NTS is evident. 
For example, many USFS jobs were eliminated over the last decade 
because of ``fire borrowing.'' While Congress fixed that budget problem 
years ago, the results linger. The agency has not been restored to full 
strength.
    The Federal agency front-line managers provide crucial 
administration, oversight, and expertise to nonprofit trail partners. 
This guidance is key to the success of nonprofit groups as they take on 
more of the management responsibility for our National Trails and 
recruit, train and marshal thousands of volunteers in public service. 
Staffing must be substantially increased to sustain the current NTS, 
and to manage its possible expansion should Congress choose to 
designate more NSHT. We urge you to increase agency capacity to manage 
public lands and trails.
    For greater transparency and to ensure fiscally sound management of 
the NTS, PNTS requests the Committee direct the agencies the conduct a 
workforce assessment to examine the actual costs to operate a NST or 
NHT and the baseline level of funding needed.
    As the Committee prepares the FY23 budget, PNTS requests increased 
funding for Federal staffing at land management agencies to meet 
recreation, trail, and conservation needs of the NTS, including at 
least one dedicated superintendent or administrator per NSHT.
                    bureau of land management (blm)
    The BLM administers and manages NSHT as part of its National 
Conservation Lands. BLM protects nearly 6,000 miles of 18 designated 
trails in 15 States, in addition to thousands of miles of trails under 
study for potential designation. It administers the Iditarod NHT and 
co-administers the Old Spanish and El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro NHT 
with the NPS.
    The BLM lacks a specific account in its budget for trails, 
including the three NHT that it is charged by law to administer and the 
portions of the 15 other national trails that it manages on public 
lands. We request Congress address this lack of transparency by 
instructing BLM to establish line items for trails and NSHT in its 
budget to address the fragmented funding allocations across sub-
activity accounts and encourage consistent funding for trails. At a 
minimum, like the guidance the subcommittee provided to the USFS in 
FY20, we ask that the FY23 bill direct BLM to include unit-level 
allocations within major sub-activities for each of the NSHT as BLM has 
done for national monuments, wilderness, and conservation areas.
    PNTS requests including at least $9.63 million for NSHT to 
administer, manage, maintain and improve the Trails under BLM 
jurisdiction on public lands and add or improve amenities for trails. 
For example, is $900,000 requested for Iditarod NHT to support Federal 
trail administrator operation costs, trail maintenance, signage, 
permitting, shelter cabin maintenance, outreach and interpretation.
    PNTS also respectfully requests $69.491 million for management of 
the National Conservation Lands. This level of funding is needed to 
properly administer the system's expansion by 18 million acres since 
2000, and will permit increased inventory, monitoring and protection of 
cultural resources, enhance proper management of all resources and 
provide a quality visitor experience.
                      national park service (nps)
    The NPS administers 23 NSHT established by Congress. Funding at 
$22.18 million within the Park Service Operations account for the NSHT 
is essential for keeping these popular trails that connect people to 
iconic landscapes and the quintessential stories of the U.S. both past 
and present accessible for all. This request will help the work of NPS 
and its trail organization partners as they build, maintain, and 
interpret the trails.
    PNTS requests $1.566 million for construction projects including 
two projects on the California NHT that would add visitor amenities and 
new trail miles at Lake Point, UT and near Sacramento, CA as well as 
projects on the Ice Age and Santa Fe Trails. Trail partners identified 
the need for an additional $2.401 million for cyclical maintenance on 
the tread and facilities.
    In addition, continued support for the RTCA program will provide 
NPS expertise in trail and other recreation access projects to 
communities across the country. When a community asks for assistance 
with a trail or other project, NPS staff provide critical tools for 
success, on-location facilitation, and planning expertise, which draw 
from project experiences across the country and adapt best practices to 
a community's specific needs. Funding at $15 million will ensure these 
trail planning services are available to communities in all regions of 
the Nation.
                       u.s. forest service (usfs)
    The USFS is the lead Federal agency for five NST (Arizona, Florida, 
Pacific Northwest, Continental Divide and Pacific Crest), one NHT (Nez 
Perce) and manages 16 NSHT in part where they are on USFS lands.
    Funding for the USFS administered and managed portions of the NSHT 
comes from the CMTL account. In FY22, PNTS respectfully requests an 
appropriation of $30.51 million for Trails, with $11.957 million 
specifically allocated to the NSHT. This funding will allow the USFS to 
meet its administering agency responsibilities such as trail-wide 
coordination, guidance, technical assistance, and consultation with 
National Trail managers. Congressionally designated NSHT are special 
places and have specific legislative requirements that are broader than 
typical trail construction and maintenance activities on National 
Forest System trails. These legislative requirements, particularly the 
requirement for volunteer engagement and partnerships with volunteer 
organizations, are unique to NSHT programs and form a core component of 
their administration. Funding the USFS NSHT at $11.957 million will 
assist the Service meet its management responsibilities.
    Of the amount requested for trail operations, construction, and 
maintenance projects, $8.845 million is for the operations of trails 
that are administered by the agency, as well as for other NSHT that run 
through USFS-managed lands and high impact partnerships to benefit 
those trails. An additional $2.388 million is requested for two 
construction projects: $1.5 million for trail and trailhead 
construction on the Iditarod Trail and $888,000 for new trail 
construction for priority reroute projects on the Arizona Trail. A 
total of $725,000 is requested for maintenance projects that exceed 
volunteer abilities on the Arizona and Pacific Crest NST.
    As part of its ongoing budget simplification project the USFS 
removed the salaries and travel expenses from the CMTL line. This makes 
it impossible for trail partner nonprofits to track staff time 
dedicated to national trails. Already, we've seen the loss of a 
dedicated trail administrator position in favor of a much broader, 
regional trail administrator position and consolidation of their 
duties. Such a trend would further overwhelm over-extended staff in a 
manner that threatens the quality and integrity of the NSHT. We 
respectfully ask the subcommittee to include language in its FY23 
appropriations bill that compels USFS to include staff and travel 
expenses in the CMTL or otherwise delineate those expenses for NSHT in 
its budget.
                land and water conservation fund (lwcf)
    We appreciate and look forward to a minimum of $900 million in 
annual LWCF appropriations being utilized to protect public lands. 
Given the healthy pipeline of forthcoming land preservation projects on 
National Trails, PNTS respectfully requests Congress increase funding 
to a minimum of $50 million per year for the next 3 years for NSHT. The 
Appalachian NST greatly benefited from dedicated appropriations in the 
3 years following passage of the National Trails System Act, as would 
the System going forward. It is vital agencies prioritize NSHT projects 
to complete and protect NSHT. Dedicated funding would help accomplish 
this goal.
    PNTS stands ready to work with you to secure critically important 
programs that help fund, maintain and protect the NSHT across the 
Nation. The examples provided in the testimony of how the funding will 
be used represent only a small proportion of the work being done and 
funding needs of the NTS. PNTS would be happy to provide additional 
detailed information as needed. Thank you for the opportunity to 
provide this testimony and your consideration of our request for 
greater investment in our National Trails System.

    [This statement was submitted by Valerie Rupp, Executive Director, 
Partnership for the National Trails System.]
                                 ______
                                 
Prepared Statement of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
    On behalf of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, 
thank you for the opportunity to submit this written testimony 
regarding the fiscal Year 2023 Appropriations for the Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA). The Physicians Committee is a 501(c)(3) 
nonprofit organization supported by over 175,000 members nationwide 
working for effective, efficient, and ethical medical research and 
product testing.
    Fundamentally, we ask the subcommittee to encourage the EPA's 
further implementation of nonanimal approaches, also referred to as New 
Approach Methodologies (NAMs), in chemical safety testing. NAMs are 
defined by the EPA as ``any technology, methodology, approach, or 
combination that can provide information on chemical hazard and risk 
assessment to avoid the use of animal testing.'' \1\ These modern test 
methods, including computer models and in vitro cell and tissue-based 
assays, can now replace many outdated animal-based tests, which can 
take years to complete and provide an incomplete picture of how 
chemicals in our environment affect vulnerable people and wildlife. 
NAMs can provide more accurate and relevant results more quickly, and 
many NAMs are already available for regulatory use.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, New Approach Methods Work 
Plan, December 2021. https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2021-
11/nams-work-plan_11_15_21_508-tagged.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As you craft the fiscal Year 2023 Interior, Environment, and 
Related Agencies Appropriations bill, the Physicians Committee asks 
that you please consider the following provisions to advance the 
implementation of predictive human-specific science, facilitate faster 
development of safe products, and reduce new animal testing. Thank you 
for your consideration and please do not hesitate to reach out with any 
questions.
 increase funding for the pesticide licensing program to support pria 
                               activities
    Congress enacted the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA) 
in 2004, modeled after user fee programs for prescription drugs and 
medical devices. The act has been reauthorized three times and 
prescribes a schedule of fees charged to registrants for pesticide 
registration actions; in exchange, the law establishes timelines for 
those registration actions. Pesticide products that benefit from PRIA 
include not only crop protection products, but biopesticides, 
disinfectants, and other products that protect human health, 
communities, and the environment. PRIA IV, enacted on March 8, 2019, 
increased fees paid by industry for registration services by as much as 
30 percent from levels enacted in 2012 and includes funding for worker 
protection education programs, pesticide risk reduction programs, and 
partnership grants. Overall funding for the Office of Pesticide 
Programs (OPP), including PRIA activities, has fallen from a high of 
$144 million in fiscal Year 2004 to current levels of $129.3 million. 
Staffing has fallen more than 30 percent and, while the agency reports 
completion of more actions per year, they are often far delayed--in 
contradiction to the purpose of PRIA.
    Further, OPP has implemented strategies and pursued work to advance 
NAMs and reduce animal use where possible, such as through tiered 
testing approaches, granting waivers for toxicity tests that do not 
provide useful information, reducing the number of species required for 
certain tests, and tracking and publicly reporting metrics on animal 
test reduction and NAMs submission.\2\ However, reduced funding for the 
agency and understaffing has contributed to these initiatives being 
deprioritized among its other regulatory responsibilities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Strategic Vision for 
Adopting New Approach Methodologies--Metrics. https://www.epa.gov/
pesticide-science-and-assessing-pesticide-risks/strategic-vision-
adopting-new-approach-0
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Increased funding for the Pesticide Licensing Program, also 
supported by the PRIA Coalition of industry representatives, is needed 
to ensure that the EPA has the resources to meet statutory decision 
deadlines that enable new products to come to market and research and 
development investments to be made with confidence of market access. It 
would also allow OPP to accelerate its ongoing work to advance NAMs for 
regulatory use in pesticide products.
    The Pesticide Licensing Program within the Environmental Programs 
and Management (EP&M) account provides 85 percent of appropriated funds 
counted toward the minimum appropriation required under PRIA; if 
approved, the $144 million for the EP&M account, plus ongoing funding 
in other PRIA areas, would result in a total funding for the OPP of 
$163 million.
    The Physicians Committee requests that the subcommittee appropriate 
$144 million for the Pesticide Licensing Program within the 
Environmental Programs and Management Account.
   direct funding toward nams implementation activities in pesticide 
                         development and review
    In 2016, the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act for the 21st 
Century amended the Toxic Substances Control Act to prioritize 
reduction and replacement of animal tests and increase the use of NAMs 
by requiring industry to ``first attempt to develop the information by 
means of an alternative test method or strategy identified by the [EPA] 
... before conducting new vertebrate animal testing.'' \3\ In 2021, the 
EPA released an updated version of its New Approach Methods Work 
Plan,\4\ which provides a roadmap for evaluating and applying NAMs for 
assessing health risks and pursuing its animal testing reduction and 
replacement goals. It includes strategies for ensuring the regulatory 
framework accommodates use of NAMs, establishing animal use baselines 
and means for avoiding animal tests that do not contribute to 
regulatory decisions, developing metrics for measuring progress, 
establishing scientific confidence in methods, developing NAMs to fill 
gaps, and engaging stakeholders in the process. Further, the 
President's fiscal Year 2023 budget request for the EPA includes the 
goal of reducing animal testing in its activities and performance plan 
for pesticides licensing, outlining many of the NAMs efforts OPP 
continues to pursue.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, 
Public Law 114-182. https://www.congress.gov/114/plaws/publ182/PLAW-
114publ182.pdf
    \4\ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, New Approach Methods Work 
Plan, December 2021. https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2021-
11/nams-work-plan_11_15_21_508-tagged.pdf
    \5\ FY 2023 Justification of Appropriation Estimates for the 
Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Pg. 
452. https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2022-04/fy-2023-
congressional-justification-all-tabs.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Accompanying the programmatic funding request described above, it 
is important that significant funding is dedicated for activities to 
further implement NAMs into hazard and risk management decisions to 
ensure EPA strategies for advancing NAMs can be prioritized. This 
requested report language, also supported by the Humane Society of the 
United States, the Humane Society Legislative Fund, and the People for 
the Ethical Treatment of Animals, would provide detail on expectations 
and help meet existing agency goals to assess chemical risk more 
accurately and efficiently while reducing animal use.
    The Physicians Committee requests that the subcommittee dedicate 
funds toward activities to support the implementation of NAMs in 
pesticide development and review by including the following report 
language:
    Implementation of NAMs in Pesticide Development and Review.- The 
Committee supports increased funding for the Pesticide Licensing 
Program and directs a significant portion of program funding to be 
spent on activities that support the implementation of New Approach 
Methodologies (NAMs) in pesticide development and review. The Committee 
is aware that NAMs protect human health and the environment by 
providing reliable chemical hazard information without the use of 
animal testing. The application of NAMs for regulatory risk assessment 
can make chemical safety testing more efficient by reducing study 
lengths and costs to the Agency and industry. Allocated funds should be 
used to publish updated policies outlining the acceptance of 
scientifically supported NAMs for specified applications, implement 
required annual trainings on NAMs for employees involved in pesticide 
review, continue to engage in Federal and nongovernmental organization 
collaborations, fund an additional 10 FTEs to support NAMs 
implementation, and meet deadlines set in the New Approach Methods Work 
Plan, in addition to other efforts.

    [This statement was submitted by Kristie Sullivan, M.P.H., Vice 
President for Research Policy, Physicians Committee for Responsible 
Medicine.]
                                 ______
                                 
              Prepared Statement of Pinon Community School
    Pinon Community School is located on the Navajo Nation Reservation 
in Pinon, Arizona. We serve as a 1st-12th grade residential community 
for students who attend school at the Pinon Unified School District 
throughout the School Year. We also operate a kindergarten day school 
on our campus. We are a community grant school, funded by the Bureau of 
Indian Education (BIE) and operated pursuant to the Tribally Controlled 
Schools Act (Public Law 100-297). At Pinon Community School, we strive 
to be a resource for our students, their parents, and the greater 
community. Our Navajo language, culture, and values are at the heart of 
what we do. Pinon Community School is also a Member of the Dine Bi Olta 
School Board Association (DBOSBA), which represents all of the locally-
elected school boards within the Navajo Nation. We would like to 
associate ourselves with DBOSBA's fiscal Year 2023 appropriations 
testimony and tell our school's story to provide context for these 
priorities. Our testimony highlights the following fiscal Year 2023 
priorities:

  --Increases for School Facility Construction and School Replacement 
        Construction;

  --Increases and Forward Funding for School Facilities Operations and 
        Maintenance;

  --COVID-19 Relief Funds Expeditiously Distributed for Ventilation 
        Repairs;

  --Increases for ISEP Formula Funds;

  --Full Funding for Teacher and Counselor Pay Parity; and

  --Expanding Eligibility for Tribally Controlled Schools to 
        Participate in the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS).

    School Facilities Improvement & Repair and School Replacement 
Construction funding in the BIE's Education Construction budget not 
only impacts the health and safety of our students and staff, it 
impacts the useful life of our buildings. Our school was built in 1995 
and is already facing significant facilities challenges: the buildings' 
foundations are shifting, there are critical piping issues with our 
hydraulic line, we lack a functioning HVAC system, our boiler needs 
parts replaced, our alarm system is not fully functional, and various 
other building renovations are needed. We have diligently logged these 
pressing concerns in the MAXIMO system; hired engineers and contractors 
with relevant experience to provide site assessments, designs, and 
proposals; contacted the BIE; and contacted the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs Division of Facilities Management and Construction (DFMC), all 
to little avail. Many of these issues could have been avoided if 
corners had not been cut when our school buildings were replaced in 
1995 and in the following years the BIE and DFMC had properly 
maintained these buildings. The DFMC when pressed, offers small, 
nominal fixes for discrete building problems when comprehensive 
solutions are needed. While the BIE owns the buildings we use, the BIE 
and DMFC have not taken the necessary actions to properly repair and 
maintain them.
    School Facilities Operations and Maintenance funds also play a 
pivotal role in the health and safety of our students and staff. More 
funding is needed to address the BIE system-wide maintenance backlog, 
to hire staff with sufficient repair and maintenance expertise, to 
ensure schools have enough funding to adequately heat and cool our 
buildings with adequate air circulation to reduce the risk of 
coronavirus transmission, and to ensure that safety inspections are 
completed and provided to schools in a timely fashion (we are still 
waiting for the results of our most recent safety inspection). We also 
encourage Congress to shift these two accounts to the forward funded 
portion of the BIE's budget to help further insulate schools from the 
disruptive uncertainties of continuing resolutions and government 
shutdowns.
    COVID-19 Relief Funds Must Be Expeditiously Distributed for 
Ventilation Repairs. Our HVAC system is a fundamental, pressing 
concern. Since 2017, Pinon Community School has requested assistance 
from the BIE and DFMC for HVAC improvements to address excessive heat. 
Currently on our campus, the dormitories, recreational building, 
kindergarten classrooms, and cafeteria building are without HVAC units, 
which provide critical ventilation and air conditioning. The Navajo 
Nation is requiring all schools to conduct a walkthrough of school 
facilities to assess and document findings that may impede students 
from safely returning to school. Unfortunately, we have been unable to 
complete the walk through due to our lack of ventilation. An improved 
HVAC system is not only a critical safety measure, it is critical to 
our ability to bring our students back for in-person services. A safe 
and healthy in-person living and residential environment is crucial to 
the well-being of our students and community. We have worked diligently 
to take steps to improve the HVAC system. Recently, the DFMC began 
construction on a portion of the project; however, the project is very 
limited in scope and will not permit proper ventilation for the 
entirety of the school campus, including the kindergarten classroom. 
Despite this, we have secured design plans and estimates for what it 
would take fully repair and replace the HVAC and associated hydraulic 
cooling system. We have also selected contractors who are licensed to 
perform this work. The estimate we were provided is roughly $4 
million--far more than Pinion Community School has been allocated in 
emergency COVID-19 relief funds. The DFMC's tinkering around the edges 
of this problem is not acceptable, particularly when COVID-19 relief 
funds have been allocated by the BIE to help schools repair, replace 
and upgrade our HVAC systems.
    We would like to sincerely thank Congress, and specifically these 
subcommittees, for appropriating several rounds of urgently needed 
COVID-19 relief funds to the BIE school system. Your support helped our 
students, teachers and schools weather the worst of the pandemic and we 
could not have come this far without these emergency funds. The delays 
on the BIE and DFMC's implementation, however, have frustrated our 
attempts to make the critical improvements to our facilities, which are 
needed to safely welcome back our students.
    Given the urgency of our School's needs and Congress' intent to 
rapidly deploy COVID-19 relief funds, we find BIE and DFMC 
implementation delays particularly troubling. We note that from the 
three rounds of COVID-19 relief funds Congress appropriated ``for 
programs operated or funded by the BIE'', 10 percent or $125.9 million 
was set-aside for the BIE's ``national-level support/administrative 
reserve.'' The BIE in subsequent webinars, communications to schools 
and press releases specified that the ``national-level support/
administrative reserve'' funds are focused on the following: mental 
health services; learning management system investments; HVAC & indoor 
air quality improvements; emergency management and coordination; 
communications outreach; system enhancements (NASIS); oversight and 
records support; and ``other priorities''. Further, BIE specified that 
schools wishing to access these funds should enter this into MAXIMO, 
and contact the BIE and the DFMC, which we have done. While some of the 
BIE's other identified uses of the ``national-level support/
administrative reserve'' funds appear to have, at best, only a 
tangential impact on keeping our students and staff safe, ``HVAC & 
indoor air quality improvements'' are fundamental to their health and 
safety. We urgently need $4 million for our HVAC repair and replacement 
project and we urge the DFMC to provide this funding without further 
delay.
    ISEP Formula Funds are our core operating account. The Student 
Count is one of the key factors driving the ISEP distribution formula. 
As a residential school, the shift to virtual learning during the worst 
of the coronavirus pandemic had a significant impact on our enrollment. 
We appreciate that on February 8, 2021, BIA Director Darryl LaCounte, 
exercising the delegated authority of the Assistant Secretary--Indian 
Affairs, issued a blanket waiver of the 25 CFR Subchapter E regulatory 
requirements applicable to SY 2020-2021 for bus transportation; 
commercial transportation; residential; and instructional hours. This 
waiver applied to all schools in the BIE school system. This had the 
effect of ensuring that schools were ``held harmless'' in the 
distribution formulas for the drop in enrollment due to the pandemic. 
We also appreciate that on February 2, 2022, Assistant Secretary--
Indian Affairs Bryan Newland issued a similar blanket waiver for all 
schools in the BIE school system for SY 2021-2022. Because student 
count is a calculated on a 3-year average, these waivers ensure that we 
are held harmless 3 years into the future for the pandemic-related drop 
in enrollment. We ask that prior to the end of the SY 2021-2022 waiver, 
a multi-faceted assessment of pandemic recovery conditions should be 
employed to determine whether to extend the waiver. Such an assessment 
should also evaluate whether local concerns may warrant a school-
specific extension of the waiver.
    As we prepare for our students to return in-person, we have 100 
residential students enrolled for grades 1-12, when we have capacity 
for 400. Meanwhile, we have 25 kindergarten students enrolled, with 
capacity for 100. We are currently working to increase enrollment but 
the state of our facilities and our difficulties attracting and 
retaining teachers and staff is holding us back from fully realizing 
our potential as a school and as a resource for our community. For 
example, we are exploring the concept of offering vocational education 
options for our high school students but more funding would be needed 
to develop that curriculum and hire the teachers and staff to run it. 
BIE-funded schools across the Nation are facing a significant teacher 
shortage, but that shortage is particularly acute here on the Navajo 
Nation, where many schools operate in remote locations and because 
surrounding public schools in Arizona and neighboring New Mexico have 
responded to the teacher shortage by substantially increasing teacher 
pay. Having the resources to attract and retain quality teachers and 
counselors is a significant challenge for us.
    Full Funding for Teacher and Counselor Pay Parity is a critical 
tool for attracting and retaining quality teachers. Federal law 
requires the BIE to provide funding so that teachers and counselors in 
the BIE-funded school system may be paid equivalent salaries to their 
counterparts in the Department of Defense Education Activity. Federal 
law also provides that, at the discretion of the local school board, a 
BIE-operated school may pay salaries consistent with those paid by 
public schools in the state where the BIE school is located.
    We would like to thank the subcommittees for the fiscal Year 2021 
House Report 116-448 and the Joint Explanatory Statement accompanying 
the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act which direct the BIE to 
``clearly display funding amounts required to comply with Defense 
Department-equivalent pay rates as part of future budget justifications 
and to include sufficient funding in its budget request to fully fund 
these requirements''. While the Administration's fiscal Year 2022 
budget request for the BIE proposed an increase for ISEP Formula Funds 
and included teacher and counselor pay parity among the priorities to 
be funded from within this program increase, the fiscal Year 2022 
budget justification failed to quantify the specific amount for this 
purpose. We ask the subcommittees to continue to hold the BIE 
accountable for quantifying and requesting the correct amount for 
teacher and counselor pay parity and ensuring that the amounts provided 
are sufficient to match the increases provided by the Defense 
Department schools or are consistent with the rate of pay of public 
schools in the States where our BIE-operated and tribally controlled 
schools are located, whichever of these rates are higher. Given the 
acute teacher shortages, this parity is essential to our school's 
ability to recruit and retain qualified teachers and counselors.
    Expanding Eligibility for Tribally Controlled Schools to 
Participate in the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) would not 
create any new costs for the Federal Government but it could 
significantly bolster the efforts of tribally controlled schools like 
ours to attract and retain quality teachers. Congress recently extended 
eligibility for tribally controlled schools to participate in the 
Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) and Federal Employee Group Life 
Insurance (FEGLI) programs. Extending the option of FERS participation 
to us and other tribally controlled schools would strengthen this 
effort.
    Thank you. We would like to thank the subcommittees for your 
support and partnership throughout the pandemic. The resources you 
allocated for BIE system schools helped keep our students and teachers 
safe and connected. We also deeply the appreciate the recent increases 
provided to the key BIE accounts we depend on and for your ongoing 
oversight of the BIE. We consider you our partners in this important 
endeavor of preparing our students for a bright future. Thank you for 
the opportunity to provide this testimony. Please consider us a 
resource if you have any questions.

    [This statement was submitted by Sharon Begay, Governing Board 
President and Joe Benally, Principal.]
                                 ______
                                 
              Prepared Statement of Preservation Action's
    Chairman Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski and Members of the 
subcommittee, on behalf of Preservation Action's thousands of members 
and supporters, representing nearly every State, I appreciate the 
opportunity to present written testimony on the Department of 
Interior's fiscal Year 2023 Appropriations for the National Park 
Service and its historic preservation programs. My name is Russ 
Carnahan and I'm the President of Preservation Action. Founded in 1974, 
Preservation Action is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization created to 
serve as the National grassroots advocacy organization for historic 
preservation. We represent an active and engaged grassroots 
constituency from across the country, and we appreciate the opportunity 
to provide their perspective.
    On behalf of members and supporters across the country, I'd like to 
thank the subcommittee for their strong support of historic 
preservation programs and priorities in the past several Interior 
Appropriations bills, and especially for the FY22 Interior 
Appropriations bill, which funded the Historic Preservation Fund at 
$173.3 million. This marked the seventh consecutive year of record 
funding for the program and for the first-time exceeded the program's 
decades old, $150 million authorized level. Thanks to your support, 
programs that have a proven track record of saving places American's 
value, revitalizing communities, combating climate change by reusing 
infrastructure, and helping tell the story of historically marginalized 
and underrepresented groups; continue to benefit all Americans.
    Preservation Action's mission is to make historic preservation a 
national priority. For 48 years we've advocated for sound preservation 
policy, including two of the most important tools for historic 
preservation- the Historic Preservation Fund and the Federal Historic 
Rehabilitation Tax Credit (HTC).
           national park service: historic preservation fund
    The Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) is the principal source of 
funding to implement the Nation's historic preservation programs. Since 
1976 the HPF has helped to recognize, save, revitalize and protect 
America's historic resources. HPF funding is critical to State Historic 
Preservation Offices and Tribal Historic Preservation offices (SHPO/
THPOs) to ensure they have the staffing capacity needed to review 
infrastructure and green energy projects as per Congressional directive 
under the National Historic Preservation Act. HPF funding also supports 
critically important competitive grant programs. We especially 
appreciate this committee's continued support of programs like the 
African American Civil Rights Grant Program, the History of Equal 
Rights grant program, the Underrepresented Communities Grant Program, 
and others that are helping to tell a more diverse and inclusive 
American story.
    Preservation Action is extraordinarily grateful for the strong 
support Congress, and especially this Committee, have shown for the HPF 
in recent years, but more is needed, especially as SHPOs and THPOs are 
expected to face increased workloads as the Infrastructure Investment 
and Jobs Act is implemented.
    Preservation Action recommends this subcommittee to continue their 
strong support of historic preservation by appropriating $200 million 
in funding for the Historic Preservation Fund in FY23's Department of 
Interior budget. Including funding at the following levels:

  --$65 million for State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPOs) for 
        heritage preservation and protection programs that create jobs, 
        economic development, and community revitalization. SHPOs carry 
        out the primary functions of the National Historic Preservation 
        Act including -finding and documenting America's historic 
        places, making nominations to the National Register, providing 
        assistance on rehabilitation tax credit projects, reviewing 
        impacts of Federal projects, working with local governments, 
        and conducting preservation education and planning. 
        Additionally, States are required to match at least 40 percent 
        of the money they receive from the HPF.

  --$35 million for Save America's Treasures Program. The Save 
        America's Treasures grants program helps preserve nationally 
        significant historic properties and collections that convey our 
        Nation's rich heritage to future generations of Americans.

  --$34 million for Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs). 
        THPOs are designated by federally recognized Tribal governments 
        and assume the Federal compliance role of the SHPO on their 
        respective Tribal lands. Tribal historic preservation plans are 
        based on traditional knowledge and cultural values, and may 
        involve projects to improve Indian schools, roads, health 
        clinics and housing. THPOs have been chronically underfunded. 
        Funding levels have not kept pace with the growing number of 
        Indian Tribes with THPO programs, resulting in a lower average 
        grants per tribe.

  --$24 million for the African American Civil Rights Initiative 
        Competitive Grants. A competitive grant program to preserve the 
        sites and stories of the African American struggle to gain 
        equal rights in America.
  --$12 million for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. 
        Funding would provide grants to Historically Black Colleges and 
        Universities (HBCUs) to preserve and repair historic buildings 
        on the campuses of HBCUs.
  --$12 million for the Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Subgrants. 
        Supports the rehabilitation of historic properties and fosters 
        economic development of rural communities through subgrants.

  --$10 million for the Semiquincentennial Grants. This competitive 
        grant program preserves publicly owned historical sites 
        commemorating the upcoming 250th anniversary of the founding of 
        the United States.

  --$5 million for the History of Equal Rights Grant Program. A 
        competitive grant program to preserve the sites and stories 
        related to the struggle of all people to achieve equal rights 
        in America.

  --$3 million for the Under-Represented Communities Grant Program. 
        These competitive grants support the survey and nomination of 
        properties to the National Register of Historic Places and as 
        National Historic Landmarks associated with communities 
        currently under-represented.
total fiscal year 2023 historic preservation fund request: $200 million
    Preservation Action also supports the bipartisan Historic 
Preservation Enhancement Act (H.R. 6589) which would fully fund and 
permanently authorize the Historic Preservation Fund at $300 million. 
The HPF's authorization has not been increased since the program's 
inception in 1976 and the program's current authorization is set to 
expire in 2023. This bill would provide much needed certainty to the 
States, Tribes, and local communities that rely on this Federal funding 
to carry out their critical preservation work.
   national park service: federal historic rehabilitation tax credit
    The Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit (HTC), administered by 
SHPOs, THPOs and the National Park Service, is the most significant 
Federal investment in historic preservation. The HTC has been a 
catalyst for development, rehabilitating of more than 46,000 historic 
buildings across the Nation and leveraging over $181 billion in private 
investment. Since inception, the HTC has created more than 3 million 
jobs and produced over 178,300 affordable housing units. In addition to 
revitalizing communities and spurring economic growth, the HTC returns 
more to the Treasury than the cost of the program. The HTC has helped 
to rehabilitate historic structures and revitalize communities in all 
50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S Virgin 
Islands. Preservation Action also supports the bipartisan Historic Tax 
Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (S. 2266, H.R. 2294), which would 
increase the value of the HTC, improve access to the credit, and make 
the credit more appealing for smaller projects.
    Preservation Action urges the Committee to continue to support the 
Historic Tax Credit by sufficiently funding SHPOs, THPOs and the 
National Park Service who administer the program.
             national park service: national heritage areas
    We'd also like to express our support for the Preservation 
Partnership Program which supports National Heritage Areas nationwide. 
Designated by Congress, National Heritage Areas (NHAs) are community-
driven sites that weave cultural, natural, and historic resources 
together to tell nationally significant stories. NHAs rely on public-
private funding where every Federal dollar allocated is matched with an 
average of $5.50 in public and private funds.
    While we appreciate Congress's support of NHAs, funding has not 
kept pace with the need and popularity of the program. Since 2004 the 
number of NHAs have more than doubled while funding for the program has 
only increased by 33 percent. To bring funding in line with the 
increased number of NHAs, Preservation Action recommends, in accordance 
with the National Alliance of National Heritage Areas, $32 million for 
National Heritage Areas through the Preservation Partnership Program in 
the FY22 Department of Interior's budget. Preservation Action also 
supports the bipartisan National Heritage Area Act of 2021 (H.R. 1316) 
which establishes standardized criteria of NHAs and ensures long term 
sustainability.
     independent agency: advisory council on historic preservation
    The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) is an 
independent Federal agency that promotes the preservation, enhancement, 
and sustainable use of the Nation's diverse historic resources, and 
advises the President and Congress on national historic preservation 
policy. We appreciate the continued support of this important agency. 
Preservation Action recommends the Committee support $10.5 million for 
the ACHP in the fiscal Year 2023 Interior Appropriations Bill. An 
increase in funding will enhance the critical functions of the agency 
in ensuring the Nation's historic and cultural resources are protected, 
while advancing Tribal consultation, and finding efficiencies to 
deliver timely Federal review of major infrastructure projects.
                               conclusion
    Preservation Action appreciates the opportunity to provide our 
views on the FY23 Department of Interior budget. We work closely with a 
broad cross-section of preservation professionals from the State and 
local level and are pleased to be able to add their perspective.
    Preservation Action continues to value the dedicated work of 
National Park Service employees, the partnership of the Advisory 
Council on Historic Preservation as well as the instrumental work of 
SHPOs and THPOs in preserving America's cultural heritage.
    Thank you for valuing the input of the preservation community as 
you consider the FY23 Department of Interior budget and your past 
support of vital historic preservation programs. We look forward to 
working with the committee and are happy to answer any questions you 
may have.

    [This statement was submitted by Russ Carnahan, President, 
Preservation Action.]
                                 ______
                                 
Prepared Statement of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
    Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony regarding 
appropriations for the Department of the Interior (``DOI'') and its 
agencies, namely the National Park Service (``NPS''), Bureau of Land 
Management (``BLM''), and Fish and Wildlife Service (``FWS''). We 
believe public land use agencies are underfunded and require increases 
in staffing, particularly ranger positions.
    Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (``PEER'') is a 
nonpartisan, nonprofit, service organization for environmental and 
public health professionals, land managers, scientists, enforcement 
officers, and other civil servants dedicated to upholding environmental 
laws and values. We work with current and former federal, State, local, 
and Tribal employees who seek a higher standard of environmental ethics 
and scientific integrity within their agencies.
    First, PEER will address NPS. Since 1916, NPS has been charged with 
an essential task: preserving the Nation's most awe-inspiring vistas 
and iconic wildlife, while keeping the parks ``unimpaired for the 
enjoyment of future generations.'' \1\ More than a century later, 
pressures within and beyond park boundaries threaten the future of the 
parks' natural beauty and ecosystems. In order to uphold the 
conservation legacy of national parks, Congress must invest in agency 
staffing.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ https://www.nps.gov/grba/learn/management/organic-act-of-
1916.htm#::text= percent22....to percent20conserve,of percent20the 
percent20National percent20Park percent20Service.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The current trajectory of park expansions and overcrowding, without 
commensurate increases in staffing, is unsustainable. Between 2010 and 
2020, NPS lost 5,935 employees, 29 percent of the 20,813 staff that 
remained in 2020.\2\ Park visitation rebounded following the 2020 
pandemic when many parks were closed. In 2021, the 45 most popular 
parks set attendance records. Despite record levels of visitation, 
increasing search and rescue operations, and rising crime, the number 
of rangers in our National parks has steadily declined. Since 2005, the 
ranks of permanent law enforcement rangers fell by 15 percent, while 
seasonal law enforcement rangers deployed during peak seasons dropped 
by 30 percent.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/
Climate-Capacity-Crisis---Attrition-at-Climate-Agencies-and-Immediate-
Steps-to-Address-It.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In 2021, PEER released the NPS Voices Tour 2018 Summary Report. The 
report was compiled by Sepler and Associates and was intended to 
empower NPS employees to speak out about their work environments. The 
report identifies multiple issues arising from the increase in park 
visitation and increase in job responsibilities and decreased budgets. 
The report calls working conditions ``sub-par'' and recommends 
``Alignment between Budgets and Expectations.'' ``In the face of 
smaller budgets, participants urge that expectations and priorities 
reflect reduced capacity. Alternatively, they call for full funding for 
the priorities currently identified.'' \3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ https://peer.org/nps-voices-summary-report-06-06-2019-pdf/at 4.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    One of the major themes that the report highlights is the issue of 
staffing. ``Overwhelmingly, participants speak out about understaffing 
of parks and its consequences. At all levels, they describe the parks 
as stretched to breaking with workers being asked to work many 
uncompensated hours and overwork causing sickness, stress, lack of 
morale, and safety problems. Frequent 'acting' positions, often poorly 
staffed, also disrupt any attempt at stability in the parks. Many 
believe that chronic understaffing and the failure to match 
qualifications to positions contribute to disrespectful, abusive, and 
harassing behavior. Furthermore, the administrative demands on 
supervisors prevent them from spending time interacting with and 
supervising their staff.'' \4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ Id. at 3.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    "We heard voices from people wearing thin from being asked to 
perform at a high level in the face of inadequate resources, competing 
demands, and in some cases work environments rendered extremely 
stressful due to interpersonal behavior.'' \5\ To correct these 
problems, supervisors said NPS must increase its permanent staff. 
Supervisors reported perpetual turnover led to constant onboarding and 
training, loss of institutional knowledge, and a lack of continuity.\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ Id. at 10.
    \6\ Id. at 15.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    We cannot keep asking NPS staff to meet current and future 
challenges without adequate resources and support. Instead, we need to 
build and expand a core workforce equipped with the tools to tackle the 
complex management problems parks face. The Biden administration's 
proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023 provides for a slight increase in 
NPS hiring but with almost nothing targeted for its depleted ranger 
force. PEER is asking Congressional appropriators to:
                                 ______
                                 
  --Prioritize visitor and resource protection among NPS operational 
        budget increases; and

  --Require NPS to implement its own policy requiring the application 
        of consistent standards for determining appropriate force 
        levels.

    Next, we shift our focus to BLM. BLM manages more than 245 million 
acres of public lands (10.5 percent of all land in the country, the 
most of any Federal agency).\7\ Both in conserving and restoring 
habitat at the surface and holding mineral prospectors to the highest 
of environmental standards, BLM can protect biodiversity and slow the 
climate crisis by decreasing overall U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\ https://www.blm.gov/about/what-we-manage/national.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Like NPS, BLM is experiencing significant increases in visitation 
coupled with concerning reductions in agency staff. In 2010, BLM 
estimated it had 58,570,000 recreational visits \8\ on BLM-administered 
lands. By 2020, that number rose to 73,110,000, nearly a 25 percent 
increase in one decade. In contrast, in 2010, BLM employed just over 
11,000 full time employees (FTE)\9\, but by 2020 it fell to 9,458 FTE 
\10\, more than a 14 percent decrease in the same time period. 
Currently, BLM employs 8,800 FTE, amounting to one employee for every 
31,499 acres.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \8\ https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/docs/2021-08/
PublicLandStatistics2020.pdf.
    \9\ https://www.westernwatersheds.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/
FY2012_BLM_Greenbook-2.pdf.
    \10\ https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/fy2022-blm-budget-
justification.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    An instructive example of the on-the-ground impacts of growing 
visitation and reduced staff is the Red Rock Conservation Area just 
outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. There, red rock formations in the 
sandstone draw visitors from the sprawling metropolis to off-road, 
mountain bike, and hike. Staffing levels in the conservation area have 
remained flat as visitation has increased from 200,000 visitors per 
year in the 1980s to 3.5 million in 2020. The acreage in the 
conservation area itself has also more than doubled during that time. 
As crowds and lands have grown without commensurate increases in 
staffing, infrastructure and staff have struggled to match the 
challenges posed by increased visitation. Unauthorized mountain bike 
trails now tear through important historical and cultural sites. 
Graffiti mars canyon walls. Cultural sites face an accumulation of 
trash and increased looting.
    Overall, the dedicated members of BLM's staff cannot be expected to 
maintain their diligent oversight of the 245 million acres of public 
lands in their charge with fewer employees and more responsibilities. 
PEER is asking Congressional appropriators to:

  --Increase BLM staffing to a total of 15,000 FTE. This recommendation 
        comes with the support of current BLM employees and is 
        supported by a former BLM Director.

    Lastly, PEER will discuss FWS. FWS works to conserve, protect, and 
enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing 
benefit of the American people.\11\ The agency oversees more than 560 
National Wildlife Refuges, 70 national fish hatcheries, numerous 
regional and field offices across the country, and thousands of active 
conservation projects.\12\ FWS employs over 8,400 staff members 
currently.\13\ In Fiscal Year 2021, FWS employed 641 commissioned law 
enforcement rangers and special agents, both permanent and seasonal. 
Comparatively, FWS employed 662 commissioned law enforcement rangers 
and special agents, both permanent and seasonal, in Fiscal Year 2011. 
With increased visitation across all public land use agencies, PEER is 
concerned about staffing decreases in FWS.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \11\ https://www.fws.gov/.
    \12\ Id.
    \13\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Overall, DOI must address the widening gap between personnel 
resources and demand by increasing its staff, specifically rangers. 
Rangers within the public land agencies are charged with a variety of 
essential tasks, ranging from park interpretation to search and rescue 
operations to investigating criminal activity. In general, they help 
facilitate park enjoyment and guarantee public safety. The reduction of 
rangers in our land use agencies, timed with record visitation, has 
adverse public safety consequences. Across DOI, criminal referrals for 
prosecution dropped 70 percent (from 6,082 down to 1,812), prosecutions 
filed off those referrals fell 67 percent (from 4,233 to 1,381), and 
convictions secured declined 74 percent (from 3,328 to 919).\14\ With 
fewer rangers employed to patrol public lands, law enforcement and 
public safety efforts fall significantly. PEER is asking Congressional 
appropriators to:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \14\ Interior Criminal Enforcement 1986-2021 (generated by TRACFED, 
https://trac.syr.edu/infoTRACFED.html).

  --Ensure that NPS, BLM, and FWS law enforcement staffing levels are 
        funded to the level they were a decade ago in 2012. This would 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        be a modest but significant bump from current levels; and

  --Add report language requiring the three agencies to report back to 
        the subcommittee on their assessment of law enforcement needs 
        for Fiscal Year 2024, including the specific steps they have 
        taken to implement the recommendations from the Government 
        Accountability Office report.\15\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \15\ https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-20-171t.

    Americans across the country have rediscovered the beauty and awe 
of public lands, and with each visit they are reminded of how integral 
these places are to our National identity. In order to preserve these 
natural spaces for future generations, NPS, BLM, and FWS require 
increases of their most important resource: people. Increased staff can 
help agencies maintain their missions and support the communities that 
are in and near these lands by providing local, good-paying jobs. PEER 
is proud to support these efforts, and we ask Congressional 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
appropriators to demonstrate theirs by:

  --Granting public land use agencies the full funding that they have 
        requested, plus an additional 20 percent for more staffing.

    Thank you for your work on this issue thus far, and for considering 
this testimony regarding increased staffing in DOI's public land 
agencies in Fiscal Year 2023.

    [This statement was submitted by Public Employees for Environmental 
Responsibility.]
                                 ______
                                 
           Prepared Statement of the Public Lands Foundation
    We thank you for this opportunity to present the subcommittee with 
our views regarding the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) budget for 
fiscal Year 2023. As a national, non-profit organization with more than 
600 members, comprised principally of retired BLM employees, the Public 
Lands Foundation (PLF) has a unique body of experience, expertise, and 
knowledge of public land management. As retirees, we believe we offer 
an objective and non-bureaucratic view of what is currently happening 
on the public lands managed by the BLM. The PLF supports the BLM and 
its programs, but we are independent in our views and requests. We 
strive to improve the effectiveness of the BLM by: 1) encouraging 
professionalism of its employees; 2) increasing the public's 
understanding of and support for the proper management of the public 
lands; and 3) promoting scientific management of lands administered by 
the BLM.
    The BLM manages the most diverse landscapes in the Nation's 
portfolio; providing stewardship to approximately 247 million acres of 
land and 700 million acres of mineral estate from the north slope of 
Alaska to Jupiter Inlet in Florida, and from tundra to old growth 
forests to desert landscapes. These lands consist of many attributes, 
habitat for thousands of species of plants and animals, clean water, 
cultural resources, scenic beauty, solitude, and special places. They 
also provide the Nation with wealth from its many resources including 
oil and gas, coal, renewable energy, non-energy minerals, all types of 
recreation, forage for livestock, timber, and wild horses and burros. 
The economic value of these lands to the American people is immense; 
according to the BLM: A Sound Investment for America 2020 report, 
during Fiscal Year 2019 these lands generated combined revenues in 
excess of $111 billion and supported over 498,000 jobs. These lands are 
important economically to the United States as a whole. They are 
especially vital to the many rural communities throughout the West that 
are intermixed with these lands and whose citizens work and recreate on 
the lands. These uses and values can only be achieved when there is 
some balance between energy development and other programs, such as 
wildlife, livestock grazing, forest management, and recreation to 
provide for the diversity of uses and the maintenance of healthy, 
resilient landscapes.
    Last year Secretary Haaland made the decision to move the BLM 
Headquarters back to Washington, D.C. The PLF strongly supports that 
decision. This decision places the leadership of the BLM where it can 
better work with the Department, other agencies, OMB and Congress, and 
National constituencies, while maintaining its western presence through 
its state and field office organization. The reorganization in 2019 and 
2020 resulted in the loss of a large part of the senior level staff of 
the agency through reassignments to other agencies or retirements. This 
along with other factors such as Covid-19, resulted in a huge number of 
vacancies across the Bureau, estimated to be at least 20 percent of the 
full-time positions. These vacancies affect the Bureau at all levels of 
the organization and the loss of capacity is impacting the BLM in 
efficiently meeting its multiple use and sustained yield mission, along 
with the additional workload that goes with implementing new 
initiatives such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). 
The leadership of BLM is currently working on filling these vacancies 
and providing the necessary training of employees. The reality is that 
unless the Bureau can successfully fill a significant number of these 
vacancies, it will be impossible to carry out the priority work of the 
Administration and this Congress.
    The BLM estimates that the fiscal Year 2023 proposed budget will 
support some 10,592 FTE positions and has also proposed an increase of 
$8.1 million from fiscal Year 2021 and fiscal Year 2022 funding levels 
for workforce and organizational support. The PLF is concerned that the 
proposed budget may not meet the needs of the Bureau to reestablish the 
leadership and refill vacant positions of the organization and requests 
that Congress appropriate sufficient funding to the BLM to regain lost 
capacity and add capacity to meet new initiatives such as the IIJA. 
Funding must cover workforce planning, hiring, and training.
    The PLF recognizes and appreciates the difficult decisions that 
must be made by the Congress and the Administration to allocate scarce 
dollars to programs that generate the best economic and social returns 
to the American taxpayers. The PLF believes the budget should 
prioritize programs that provide for healthy, resilient landscapes 
capable of withstanding the impacts of a changing climate; the 
conservation of species dependent on the diverse habitat the BLM 
manages; economic benefits to the Nation and to the rural communities 
dependent on the BLM-managed public lands; all forms of energy and 
associated transmission; and the safety of communities these lands 
surround and the public that lives near and uses them.
    The BLM fiscal Year 2023 proposed budget of $1.6 billion includes 
$1.4 billion for the Management of Lands and Resources appropriation 
and $128.7 million for the Oregon and California Grant Lands 
appropriation. This is a $238 million increase from fiscal Year 2021 
and fiscal Year 2022 funding levels or approximately a 17.5 percent 
increase in funding. This compares to a proposed funding increase of 
24.5 percent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and a proposed 
funding increase of 15.8 percent for the National Park Service.
    The PLF is supportive of the Oil and Gas Management ($115.8 
million), Oil and Gas Inspection and Enforcement ($51 million), Coal 
Management ($16.5 million), and Renewable Energy ($49.7 million) budget 
requests for the BLM that support the sustainable and balanced 
development of both traditional and renewable energy resources, 
including solar, wind, and geothermal energy resources on the public 
lands. Funding should also support the needs for the associated 
infrastructure related to pipeline and transmission development on the 
public lands necessary for the development of these energy resources. 
Energy and infrastructure development on the public lands is part of 
the multiple-use mandate for the BLM under the Federal Land Policy and 
Management Act (FLPMA) and supports economic growth, energy 
independence, jobs in our rural communities, and generates revenues for 
Federal and State treasuries and local economies. It is critically 
important that sufficient funds are provided to not only support the 
leasing and permitting activities to facilitate environmentally 
responsible energy development and associated infrastructure needs, but 
that sufficient funds are also provided for land use planning, other 
resource assessments, NEPA reviews, program management, and inspection 
and compliance activities to assure that development is complying with 
laws, regulations, and lease terms. Adequate dollars to cover Resource 
Management Plans and activity-level plans must be available or the 
permitting of any of these activities will be threatened by continuing 
litigation. It should be recognized, however, that the development of 
energy resources and associated infrastructure on the public lands also 
affects other resources and must be balanced as to time and scale of 
development. Funding for other high value resource programs can help 
mitigate and offset some of the effects on these other resources and 
the landscape. An example would be the proposed $158.5 million funding 
in the Wildlife Habitat Management program, which includes support for 
the implementation of conservation practices for sage-grouse under the 
west-wide sage-grouse habitat management plans, currently being 
revised, that are potentially affected by energy and infrastructure 
development.
    An area of great interest to the PLF is the management of habitat 
for species across the diverse habitats of BLM managed public lands. 
Habitat for the greater sage-grouse is one species of particular 
concern because its management affects vast areas of the West. As the 
West has become urbanized over the last 100 years,
    large areas of sagebrush have been impacted and this medium-sized 
bird has suffered population declines. Although it is a State-managed 
species that depends on the sagebrush-steppe habitat to survive, the 
BLM manages large areas of the habitat across the Western States and 
must be in lock step with management strategies of the western States. 
The PLF supports the proposed funding in the Wildlife Habitat 
Management program to coordinate activities on public lands with State 
agencies, stakeholders, and partners to improve and restore habitat 
that has been damaged by wildfire, weed invasions, and development. 
Conserving and restoring habitat for sage-grouse will also enhance 
populations of elk, mule deer, golden eagles, and hundreds of species. 
Healthy sagebrush habitats also maintain vibrant ranching communities 
dependent on these habitats and a thriving outdoor recreation economy.
    Another area of concern is one that the PLF has spoken to for many 
years. The overpopulation of wild horses and burros on the range is 
past the critical point and is doing irreparable harm to the land, 
vegetation, wildlife, livestock, and the horses and burros themselves. 
In the past we have requested that BLM receive significant increases in 
this program so that the agency can aggressively address the 
overpopulation issue through removals and fertility control. Last 
fiscal year's appropriations included significant increases in this 
program and BLM has been working to reduce the population. However, as 
you well know, this program is not without controversy, and it will 
take several years of work to address the imbalance between the horse 
population and the health of the land. We ask that Congress support the 
$153.1 million funding request for fiscal Year 2023 to allow the BLM to 
implement their strategic management plan, consistent with the May 2020 
Report to Congress on the BLM wild horse and burro program.
    The BLM has proposed a $110 million funding level for the Rangeland 
Management program for fiscal Year 2023, however has not addressed the 
ever-increasing backlog of grazing permit renewals on the public lands. 
The BLM administers approximately 18,000 grazing permits on nearly 
22,000 grazing allotments. Grazing permits are generally renewed every 
10 years. A proper renewal requires an appropriate level of NEPA 
analysis to ensure healthy rangelands and conserve and protect lands 
and other important resources. There is already a backlog of these 
permit renewals and the analyses required for these renewals. As of 
February 2022, the agency had 10,522 unprocessed permits and in fiscal 
Year 2023 approximately 1,800 additional grazing permits are scheduled 
to expire. A priority needs to be placed on the funding for the 
analysis and review of those permits impacting riparian areas and those 
permits not meeting rangeland health standards. Some reports have 
indicated that 54 million acres, or half of the 108 million acres of 
BLM grazing leases, do not meet rangeland health standards. If the BLM 
is unable to conduct the reviews and analyses necessary to administer 
these permit renewals, it will not only affect the range management 
program but also all other programs. This backlog of permit renewals 
also creates another additional problem, namely the potential for 
litigation that will consume more manpower and financial resources of 
the agency. The BLM needs additional funds in order to properly 
administer the current and future backlog of permit renewals. The PLF 
strongly urges Congress to appropriate an additional $8 million 
specifically for the analyses and administration of grazing permit 
renewals for each of the next 3 years, starting in fiscal Year 2023.
    The BLM has proposed a $68.2 million funding level for the 
Recreation Resources Management program for fiscal Year 2023, however 
this funding level will not be sufficient to meet the dramatic increase 
in the recreational use of the public lands. Recreation use throughout 
the West has expanded significantly. Western communities are growing 
and recent national trends toward more remote workforces has allowed 
more and more employees to locate nearer public lands. One of the 
attractions of the public land is the broad spectrum of recreation 
activities that the public lands support, both dispersed recreation and 
developed recreation sites. In 1993, the BLM recreation program budget 
was $47 million. Adjusted for inflation, the fiscal Year 2021/FY 2022 
budget should have been at $86 million, however the fiscal Year 2021/FY 
2022 budget was only$58 million (a $28 million deficit). The BLM's 
proposed fiscal Year 2023 budget has identified an increase of only 
$9.7 million to enhance recreational opportunities and improve 
infrastructure. This increase is insufficient. Without adequate and 
sustained increases, the adverse impacts on the public lands from ever-
increasing recreation use will continue to be significant and the 
recreational visitor will have less than positive experiences.
    Several Administrations and Congresses have recognized that 
catastrophic wildland fires continue to be a serious issue across all 
land ownerships. These fires are the result of several conditions 
across the landscape including climate change, deteriorating forest and 
rangeland health, increased recreational use, and increased development 
within the wildland-urban interface. Providing adequate funding for 
wildfire preparedness and suppression is critical. Equally important is 
the need to reduce wildland fuel loads and improve forest and rangeland 
health and resiliency through active management. The land management 
agencies have been working to reduce wildland fire risks over the past 
few decades; however, there has not been adequate funding for the 
agencies to address the problem at the pace and scale needed. Congress 
recognized this issue and authorized additional funding through the 
IIJA to help increase the pace of this work. The PLF requests that the 
BLM and other land management agencies be fully funded for wildland 
fire suppression and landscape health and resiliency projects.
    One way to aid in the funding of BLM forest health projects is to 
reauthorize the BLM's Forest Ecosystem Health and Recovery Fund 
(FEHRF). In 1992, Congress established the FEHRF (Public Law 102-381) 
to authorize the BLM to recover dead and dying timber rapidly and 
restore the forested area quickly. This Fund was later broadened to 
include forest health treatments. The Fund provided that the Federal 
share of monies received from the disposal of the timber from these 
treatments would remain available, without further appropriation, for 
the BLM to conduct similar treatments. Since that time, the BLM has 
successfully treated tens of thousands of acres using this authority. 
It has been an important source of funds on the O&C lands, but in 
particular on the Public Domain forestlands to restore the health of 
forests. Authority for this fund has sunset; however, it has been 
reauthorized through this fiscal year as part of the Continuing 
Resolution. We strongly encourage the Congress to restore authority for 
this important funding tool permanently, or in the alternative, for a 
period of not less than 10 years.
    While authorized by Congress in 2017, the current Administration 
has just recently established the Foundation for America's Public 
Lands. This Foundation is being tasked with providing supplemental 
resources and support to the BLM, which will benefit all Americans who 
value and use BLM-administered public lands. The Covid-19 pandemic 
underscored just how important public lands are to this country. The 
BLM has requested $1 million to support the Foundation in fiscal Year 
2023 and Congress needs to provide sufficient funding to allow the 
Foundation to continue its work on behalf of the BLM.
    We appreciate the hard choices that this subcommittee has before 
it. The Nation faces many challenges, all of which require funds. The 
public lands managed by the BLM are a good investment that can provide 
positive returns to the Treasury as well as many amenities that 
contribute to the wellbeing of the American people. These lands are the 
lifeblood of many communities that provide economic development in 
commodities, recreation, cultural identity, and many other benefits.
    Thank you for the opportunity to share the PLF's priorities for the 
BLM fiscal Year 2023 Budget.

    [This statement was submitted by Mary Jo Rugwell, President, Public 
Lands Foundation.]
                                 ______
                                 
                Prepared Statement of the Puyallup Tribe
    The is an independent sovereign nation having historically 
negotiated with several foreign nations, including the United States in 
the Medicine Creek Treaty of 1854. This relationship is rooted in 
Article I, Section 8, of the United States Constitution, Federal laws 
and numerous Executive Orders. The governing body of the Puyallup Tribe 
of Indians is the Puyallup Tribal Council which upholds the Tribe's 
sovereign responsibility of self-determination and self-governance for 
the benefit of the 6,000 Puyallup Tribal members and the 25,000 plus 
members from approximately 355 federally recognized Tribes who utilize 
our services.
    The Puyallup Tribe operates healthcare, social services, law 
enforcement and corrections, education, and a myriad of other programs 
and services for our Tribal citizens and individuals within our program 
and service areas. These programs depend on continued resources and 
support through Federal appropriations--which reflect the Federal trust 
and treaty obligations to American Indian and Alaska Native people and 
Tribes.
     department of health and human services--indian health service
    The Puyallup Tribe has operated a healthcare program since 1976 
through the Indian Self-determination Act, Public Law 93-638. The 
Puyallup Tribal Health Authority (PTHA) operates a comprehensive 
ambulatory care program serving the Native American population in 
Pierce County, Washington. The current patient load exceeds 9,000, of 
which approximately 1,700 are Tribal members.
    There are no Indian Health Service hospitals in the Portland Area, 
so all specialties and hospital care have been paid for out of our 
contract care allocation. This the full funding of the Purchased and 
Referred Care (PRC) program is critical to ensuring that Indian people 
in the Northwest receive adequate health care. The Pandemic highlighted 
this need, because the hospitalized care our COVID-19 patients needed 
was paid for by PRC.
    The Puyallup Tribe strongly supports the proposal for advance 
appropriations for the Indian Health Service. The fiscal Year 2020 
government shutdown underscored the need for this change. The delays in 
funding had deeply-felt impacts in Tribes' ability to provide health 
care to our people.
    We also strongly support the initiative to make contract support 
costs and 105(l) lease costs mandatory costs so that they do not 
continue to stress the limited funding allocation that the subcommittee 
receives. This is the first important step to making all the Indian 
Health Service's funding mandatory.
    Regarding Contract Support Costs, we remain concerned that the 
Indian Health Service is seeking to undermine its obligation, which has 
now been confirmed twice by the U.S. Supreme Court, to pay full 
contract support costs, by categorizing certain necessary costs/
activities as ``Secretarial activities,'' and refusing to pay contract 
support costs for these activities, which are and have always been 
considered contract support cost activities for which Tribes have 
received CSC payment. We would ask the Committee to include language in 
its appropriations bill that would require the Indian Health Service to 
compute fiscal Year 2023 CSC consistent with computations undertaken in 
fiscal Year 2021. We appreciate the direction to the Agency on this 
matter in the fiscal Year 2023 Committee Conference Report.
            department of interior--bureau of indian affairs
    We strongly support increased funding for the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs and Bureau of Indian Education. This funding is to focus on the 
most critical needs of Indian country, the safety of our children, our 
families, and our environment.
    Public Safety & Justice: The Tribe's top priority is public safety 
and justice. The lack of financial resources is a significant barrier 
to the provision of effective public safety services in Indian country. 
The Bureau of Indian Affairs only provides $588,000 for our Tribal law 
enforcement services contract, this amounts to 8 percent of the Tribe's 
total level of need. The Tribe can supplement these resources, so that 
we are able to have a Chief of Police, and thirty commissioned officers 
and two (2) reserve officers.
    These officers are charged with the service and protection of the 
entire 40 square miles of the Reservation and the usual and accustomed 
areas where we exercise our Treaty protected hunting and fishing 
rights. The Puyallup Reservation encompasses most of the City of 
Tacoma, as well as parts of five other different municipalities (Fife, 
Milton, Puyallup, Edgewood and Federal Way). Furthermore, Interstate 5 
runs through the Puyallup Reservation and is a known drug and human 
trafficking corridor. Our officers are tired, and they need 
reinforcements.
    Detention and corrections funding remains of critical importance to 
the Puyallup Tribe. The Puyallup Tribe has a 28-bed adult corrections 
facility. Again, we worked closely with the OJS on an agreed upon 
operating cost of this facility at $2.7 million. However, the BIA 
provides only $725,000, approximately 26 percent of what the Tribe 
needs to run the facility.
    In addition, we operate a Tribal Court program. Our base BIA 
funding for this program has remained at $194,996 since fiscal Year 
2015. Like the Law Enforcement and Detention funding, this amount 
represents only a small amount of the Tribe's needs to fully operate 
the Tribal Court program. Increased funding for Tribal courts is 
critical as we are working to exercise our jurisdiction over non-
Indians who commit domestic violence and other violent crimes against 
native women.
    Natural Resources Management: The Puyallup Tribe is the steward for 
the land and marine waters of our homeland, including our usual and 
accustomed fishing places and shellfish and wildlife areas. The United 
States has treaty, trust, and governmental obligations and 
responsibilities to manage natural resources for uses that are 
beneficial to the Tribal membership and regional communities. Our 
resource management responsibilities cover thousands of square miles in 
the Puget Sound with an obligation to manage production of anadromous, 
non- anadromous fish, shellfish and wildlife resources. Unfortunately, 
despite our diligent program efforts, the fisheries resource is 
degrading, causing economic losses on Native and Non-native fishermen, 
as well as the surrounding communities.
    Existing levels of appropriations are simply inadequate to reverse 
the trend of resource/habitat degradation in Puget Sound and other 
areas. A minimum funding level of $17.146 million is necessary for the 
BIA Western Washington (Bolt) Fisheries Management program, and we urge 
the subcommittee to meet or exceed this amount for fiscal Year 2023 
appropriations. Any increase in funding would provide new monies for 
shellfish, groundfish, enforcement, habitat, wildlife and other natural 
resource management needs. As the aboriginal owners and guardians of 
our lands and waters, it is essential that adequate funding is provided 
to allow Tribes to carry out our inherent stewardship of these 
resources.
    The Puyallup Tribe also operates several salmon hatcheries in our 
territory. These hatcheries benefit both Indian and non-Indian 
commercial and sport fisheries. We work cooperatively with the 
Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, neighboring Tribes, Federal 
agencies and state fishery managers to ensure the success and 
sustainability of our hatchery programs. We urge Congress to increase 
funding to these important facilities. And finally, the Timber, Fish 
and Wildlife (TFW) Supplemental and U.S./Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty 
programs have allowed for the expansion of Tribal participation in the 
state forest practice rules and regulations, as well as allowed Tribes 
to participate in inter-Tribal organizations to address specific 
treaties and legal cases relating to multi-national fishing rights, 
harvest allocations, and resource management practices. This funding 
must be continued.
    One area of critical importance is the need to provide additional 
resources to fund natural resource infrastructure to ensure that our 
Natural Resource Programs have the facilities they need to operate.
    Operations of Indian Programs & Tribal Priority Allocations: The 
Tribal Priority Allocations (TPA) account within the Operations of 
Indian Programs include the majority of funding used to support ongoing 
services at the ``local tribal'' level, including natural resources 
management, child welfare, education, and other Tribal government 
services. These functions have not received adequate and consistent 
funding to allow Tribes the resources to fully exercise self-
determination and self-governance. Further, the small increases TPA has 
received over the past few years have not been adequate to keep pace 
with inflation. The Puyallup Tribe requests that the subcommittee 
increase funding for the Operation of Indian Programs and TPA to ensure 
program stability and operations as the needs of our Tribal members 
increase.
    Bureau of Indian Education. We celebrate the Administration's 
emphasis on the Tribal Schools. The Puyallup Tribe operates the pre-K 
to 12 Chief Leschi School, including the ECEAP and FACE programs, with 
an enrollment of 640 + students. The costs of operating this school--
including staff, supplies, and student transportation--continue to 
increase. Unfortunately, the amounts that Congress has appropriated are 
not keeping-up with inflation, let alone sufficient to allow us to 
dedicate additional resources to improving the education outcomes for 
our children. We are treading water and if more assistance is not 
provided, we may begin to drown.

    [This statement was submitted by Bill Sterud, Chairman of the 
Puyallup Tribe of Indians.]
                                 ______
                                 
          Prepared Statement of the Ramah Navajo School Board
    Honorable Chair, Ranking and subcommittee Members, Ya'aht'eeh. My 
name is Martha Garcia, President of the Ramah Navajo School Board, Inc. 
(RNSB). Together with the other four members of the Board of Trustees 
and on behalf of the Ramah Navajo people, we are grateful to all the 
members of the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees on 
Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies for the opportunity to 
share our testimony.
    RNSB operates a complex of Head Start, Elementary, Junior High and 
High Schools, as well as the Pine Hill Health Center and Behavioral 
Health and Social Services programs on the Ramah Navajo Reservation in 
New Mexico. In 1970, RNSB established the Ramah Navajo High School, the 
first Indian community school governed by an all-Indian, locally 
controlled school board. Our efforts were a model for the 
groundbreaking 1975 Indian Self-Determination and Educational 
Assistance Act, PL 93-638 (ISDEAA). Today, RNSB provides quality 
services and programs to address our community's needs and uplift their 
economic conditions.
    RNSB's priority budget concerns include line items in the Bureau of 
Indian Education (BIE), Bureau Indian Affairs (BIA), and Indian Health 
Service (IHS) budgets. We also have significant facility and 
infrastructure challenges that must be addressed to be able to deliver 
our programs and services safely and without disruptions. Our pressing 
infrastructure needs include the renovation and replacement of school 
buildings, completing the replacement of our electrical system, and the 
replacement of our water and wastewater systems.

    Our priority budget line items in the BIE and BIA budgets are:

  --Increases for ISEP Formula Funds;

  --Full Funding for Teacher and Counselor Pay Parity;

  --Expanding Eligibility for Tribally Controlled Schools to 
        Participate in the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS);

  --Increases for Road Maintenance for School Bus Routes and Student 
        Transportation;

  --School Facility Replacement Construction and Oversight of the 
        Division of Facilities Management and Construction (DFMC);

  --Emergency Repair and Support for Essential Infrastructure Systems; 
        and

  --Reduce Unnecessary and Burdensome Reporting to the BIE.

    Our priority budget line items in the IHS budget are:

  --Advance Appropriations; and

  --Increases for the Hospitals and Health Clinics line item in the IHS 
        Services Budget.
                               education
    ISEP Formula Funds is the core BIE account, which funds our 
school's operations. ISEP funding increases are vital to enhancing 
learning opportunities for all of our students through the training, 
development and retention of excellent teachers. Schools across the 
Nation are facing a significant teacher shortage but that shortage is 
particularly acute here in more remote communities like ours on the 
Navajo Nation. New Mexico has responded to the Nationwide teacher 
shortage by significantly increasing teacher pay. RNSB does not have 
the budget to compete with the salaries being offered by public schools 
here in New Mexico. In order to effectively address this problem, we 
need ISEP increases paired with Full Funding for Teacher and Counselor 
Pay Parity, and opportunities to expand the benefits package we can 
offer our teachers and staff as discussed below.
    Full Funding for Teacher and Counselor Pay Parity is a critical 
tool for attracting and retaining quality teachers. We ask the 
subcommittees to continue to hold the BIE accountable for ensuring that 
the amounts requested for pay parity are sufficient to match the 
increases provided by the Defense Department schools. Given the 
significant salary increases for public school teachers in New Mexico, 
RNSB also encourages consideration for pay rate increases that would 
keep pace with either the Defense Department schools, or the rate of 
nearby public schools, whichever of these rates is higher. Given our 
acute teacher shortage, these requested increases to provide pay parity 
are essential.
    Expanding Eligibility for Tribally Controlled Schools to 
Participate in the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) would 
significantly bolster the efforts of tribally controlled schools like 
ours to attract and retain quality teachers, but would not create any 
new costs for the Federal Government. We thank Congress for recently 
extending eligibility for tribally controlled schools to participate in 
the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) and Federal Employee Group 
Life Insurance (FEGLI) programs. Extending the option of FERS 
participation to us and other tribally controlled schools would provide 
a competitive benefits package that will enhance our ability to recruit 
and retain teachers.
    Increases for Student Transportation in the BIE Budget and Road 
Maintenance Funding for School Bus Routes in the BIA Budget are of 
particular importance to RNSB. Our experience is consistent with what 
the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported in 2017: poor road 
conditions on school bus routes present safety concerns and pose 
obstacles to student attendance. Many of our students travel long 
distances on unpaved (gravel) and unimproved earth roads. A strong rain 
or snowstorm can render our school bus routes impassible and disrupt 
learning for days. Also, as the GAO pointed out, our geographically 
dispersed locations and poor road conditions result in increased 
transportation costs for fuel (especially now as gasoline prices are 
skyrocketing), additional vehicle maintenance, and the increased bus 
driver pay associated with our rural and isolated routes.
    RNSB is greatly concerned by the increased costs for student 
transportation and the continued deteriorating conditions of the roads 
serving our communities. RNSB has been troubled by the BIE's outdated 
and incomplete student transportation funding formula, which currently 
operates to underestimate student transportation needs. Most BIE-funded 
grant schools on the Navajo Nation exhaust their student transportation 
allocation by February of each school year. The BIE's school 
transportation funding formula does not consider the higher maintenance 
costs for vehicles traveling on rutted, washboard gravel roads. 
Additionally, many necessary transportation expenses are not eligible 
for funding under the formula. These include trips made for fuel or 
maintenance services; transportation necessary for medical or other 
emergencies; transportation associated with after-school programs (such 
as athletics, band, detention, tutoring and study hall, arts and 
crafts, special classes, and other extra-curricular activities). Given 
that after-school programs are a vital part of the curriculum we offer, 
RNSB views after-school student transportation as an essential student 
service that should be included in the BIE's funding formula to better 
respond to the actual needs and costs for student transportation in the 
BIE-funded school system. For these reasons, continued increases for 
Student Transportation and Road Maintenance funding targeted to school 
bus routes remain essential.
    School Facilities Improvement & Repair and School Replacement 
Construction in the BIE's Education Construction budget significantly 
impacts the health and safety of our students and staff. RNSB is 
grateful to the subcommittees for the increasing levels of support you 
have provided for the improvement and replacement of school facilities. 
In our prior years' testimonies, RNSB has documented the significant 
health, safety and learning challenges our students have faced as a 
result of the chronically delayed and piecemeal approach the Indian 
Affairs Division of Facilities Management and Construction (DFMC) takes 
with respect to the repair and maintenance of our facilities. Through 
our testimony before the subcommittees and the strong support of our 
Congressional Delegation, RNSB has able to address part of our 
education facilities concerns through an agreement with DFMC to 
replace, renovate and repair certain school buildings. RNSB is very 
concerned, however, by the lack of progress being made by the DFMC. In 
April 2019, DFMC anticipated a 30-month period for the completion of 
both the renovation and new construction phases of the project. Today, 
more than 30 months have passed and the project has not even reached 
the 20 percent design phase. RNSB looks forward to the moment when we 
can report to the subcommittees that the project is completed and we 
have provided our students with a learning environment where they can 
excel, with healthy indoor air and water quality, reliable internet 
connectivity and IT features-all unhindered by disruptions caused by 
power outages, leaking pipes or other health and safety hazards.
    Emergency Repair and Support for Essential Infrastructure Systems. 
The Ramah Navajo community celebrated RNSB's 50th anniversary in 2020, 
just before the COVID-19 Pandemic began. After 50 years of operation, 
however, RNSB has been experiencing significant facility and 
infrastructure needs as critical systems, such as our water and 
wastewater systems, have exhausted their design life, or have 
deteriorated due to insufficient inspection and maintenance activities 
by the BIA. Power and water service outages and broken pipes disrupt 
the delivery of services and can pose serious risks to health and 
safety. RNSB has sought DFMC assistance with respect to emergency 
repair for our water system as water samples have exceeded the 
Environmental Protection Agency Maximum Contaminant Levels for arsenic, 
lead, radionuclides and endocrine disrupting phthalates water. RNSB 
also sought DFMC emergency repair assistance with respect to the 
failure of our electrical system. Both the water system and the 
electrical system failures have posed immediate threats to life, 
health, and safety. In the case of our electrical system, the DFMC 
failed to conduct a site visit and indicated that since the repair at 
RNSB exceeded the Agency's $250,000 program funding limit for emergency 
repairs, it would not treat the matter as an emergency repair. 
Meanwhile, RNSB's wells and water pipes are 45 years old and need 
replacing. The system has grown over the years and serves not only our 
school building, but also our IHS-funded clinic, and other facilities 
that are needed by the community. Safe, clean water is one of the most 
pressing of RNSB's priorities.
    As a matter of oversight and accountability, we ask the 
subcommittees to inquire with DFMC regarding its emergency repair cap 
and call upon the DFMC to engage in meaningful consultation with the 
requesting Tribe or Tribal organization on emergency repairs whenever 
facility conditions present a threat to life, health, and safety. 
Furthermore, as the subcommittees consider facility funding 
requirements for BIE-funded schools, RNSB encourages the subcommittees 
to ensure those budget requests include amounts necessary for periodic 
inspection, maintenance and upgrades of essential supporting 
infrastructure.
    Reduce Unnecessary and Burdensome Reporting to ensure the effective 
implementation of Indian education programs and the efficient use of 
Federal resources. RNSB has concerns regarding BIE actions that have 
undermined self-determination in Indian education and distracted our 
teachers and administrators from focusing on providing quality 
educational services to our students. When Congress drafted the 
Tribally Controlled Schools Act (TCSA), it included an express 
limitation on tribally controlled schools' reporting requirements and 
what authorities apply to them. Yet, the BIE often attempts to subject 
tribally controlled schools to additional reporting that duplicates 
information already available in the existing reports that tribally 
controlled schools provide. When RNSB personnel are used to gather, 
format, and submit information in response to the BIE, they are not 
available to focus their efforts on providing educational services to 
our students. We ask that the subcommittees express awareness of 
concerns in the appropriations instructions that will be provided to 
the BIE and that those instructions request a report or response from 
the BIE.
    Thank you. Before turning to our health priorities, we would like 
to extend our gratitude to the subcommittees for the role you played in 
ensuring that schools in the BIE school system were included in the 
COVID-19 relief laws in a robust and equitable manner.
                                 health
    Support for Advance Appropriations for IHS. Funding delays make it 
impossible for IHS and Tribal health programs to plan and manage our 
annual budgets. At the time of this writing, fiscal Year 2022 is almost 
halfway over, and we are still waiting to understand our full 
appropriation. We urge the subcommittees to take the necessary steps in 
the fiscal Year 2023 appropriations bill to move IHS to an advance 
appropriation starting in fiscal Year 2024.
    Increases are needed for the Hospitals and Health Clinics line item 
in the IHS Services Budget. Our Pine Hill Health Center services three 
counties in NM, and one county in Arizona. Cibola, McKinley, Catron, 
and Apache. Services are provided to 19,023 residents of the four 
counties. Over the past year we have experienced a 10 percent per 
capita increase in healthcare spending, attributed to these several 
factors: inflation, increases in staff salaries, and additional costs 
associated with treating patients with long COVID. More funding is 
needed to keep pace with these increased costs.

    [This statement was submitted by Ramah Navajo School Board, Inc.]
                                 ______
                                 
  Prepared Statement of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians
    I am Dr. Aaron Payment. As the elected Chairperson of the Sault 
Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, I am speaking on behalf of my 
Tribe. My testimony today will focus upon Federal recognition of Tribal 
sovereignty rights; Federal treaty and trust obligations to the Tribes; 
the need for mandatory funding; and advance appropriations. Throughout 
all of my testimony, I will use data from my own Tribe, as well as 
national statistics.
    The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians is located in the 
Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The Tribe administers 23 governmental 
divisions and manages over 75 federal, State, local and tribally funded 
programs across our seven-county service area-Alger, Chippewa, Delta, 
Luce, Mackinac, Marquette and Schoolcraft counties. We have a Tribal 
membership of 43,376. Our territory includes 2,800 acres of trust land 
and our ceded territories throughout Michigan where we exercise our 
Treaty reserved rights to fish, hunt and gather. For almost fifty years 
the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe has built its governmental capacity to 
provide the full range of services to its members including health 
care, education, elder services, law enforcement, housing, family and 
social services, and cultural programs.
    The Tribe operates 8 health clinics across our seven-county service 
area. In these clinics we offer a wide range of services including 
medical, dental, behavioral health, special diabetes, nutrition, 
pharmacy, wellness programs, and traditional medicine. We are proud of 
our work in this space, but it is time to fully fund Indian Health 
Services.
    We strongly support Indian Programs Advance Appropriations Act. 
This legislation is modeled after the Veterans Health Care Budget 
Reform and Transparency Act of 2009 and the Surface Transportation and 
Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015. We also strongly 
support making the Indian Health Service mandatory federal. Overall, 
this will insulate funding that helps fulfill trust obligations, 
provide for seamless operations across fiscal years and advance 
fairness and parity.
                         indian health services
    The pandemic made clear that there is no more critical need in 
Indian country than competent health care. People's lives are literally 
at stake. Poor living conditions contribute to the Native health 
crisis, but so too, does the Federal Government's failure to adequately 
fund Tribal health programs. National health care spending in 2016 was 
$9,990 per capita, while Indian Health Service spending was only 
$2,834. American Indians and Alaskan Natives are much harder hit by 
disease, chronic illness, and injury than other Americans. Native 
Americans are 450 percent more likely to die of tuberculosis; 520 
percent more likely to suffer from alcohol-related deaths; 368 percent 
more likely to die from chronic liver disease and cirrhosis; 207 
percent more likely to die from motor vehicle crashes; 177 percent more 
likely to die from diabetes complications; and our youth are 2.5 
percent times more likely to commit suicide than other populations. 
Cancer rates in Indian Country are 12 percent higher than the rest of 
the US, and Native Americans with cancer are 26 percent more likely to 
die compared to non-Natives. The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa 
Indians Tribal clinics are only funded at approximately 50 percent 
capacity which means that we are unable to provide adequate treatment 
for our People. Thus, we need additional resources across the full 
spectrum of the Indian Health care system.
    Hospitals and Health Clinics: We fully support the Bemidji Area's 
recommendation for a 12.7 percent increase in the Health and Health 
Clinic line item will allow Area and Tribal programs to apply funding 
in a targeted and program specific manner; at the same time, it 
supports the direct care needs unique to each Tribal community. 
Certainly, funding for the Indian Health Care Improvement Fund must be 
used to ensure that each reach has funding parity.
    Indian Health Facilities: In the Bemidji Area, we need a regional 
opioid addiction recovery treatment facility. In February, 2019 we 
announced a collaboration with the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation to 
expand our substance abuse treatment and recovery services and enhance 
our integrated health and wellness center to build a true team based 
facility to support those in our community and throughout the Region 
who are in the throes of addiction.
    The Recovery Hospital and Campus is a product of the Tribe's Tribal 
Action Plan, approved in 2016 by the Tribe, with the input from the 
membership. From this process we heard the membership's demand for a 
Recovery Hospital close to home, with Traditional Medicine at its core. 
We have learned that incorporating traditional beliefs and culture are 
critical to combatting the cultural identity crisis that has plagued 
Tribal communities since the 1800's. Our idea is to incorporate 
culturally traditional and modern treatment modalities, while working 
not only with the addict but his family as well. Only through family 
support and healthy living, will be able to effectively combat this 
plague. As we have started the journey to make this dream a reality, we 
have been confronted by many who tell us this kind of facility has 
never been built in Indian country. Therefore, it cannot be done. My 
ancestors overcame too much for me to give up simply because something 
has never been done before. I believe we can do it and I am asking for 
your help to make our dream a reality.
    Health IT Modernization: We support the increase of $750 million 
for Electronic Health Records. In addition to ensuring electronic 
health record stabilization, it will be imperative to have a system 
that ``talks'' with other systems, including those associated with the 
Veterans Administration, Federal prisons, and Tribal and Urban Indian 
facilities. For this to happen in our Area, Bemidji needs broadband and 
technological infrastructure support. The same kind of support will be 
needed throughout Indian Country.
    Purchased and Referred Care (PRC): We support the 11.1 percent 
requested increase for Purchased and Referred Care. While primary and 
direct care programs exist in some areas of Indian Country, access to 
more advanced care is still needed and PRC funding increases will 
assist with this need along with augmenting direct care services. The 
need for full funding of Purchased and Referred Care was made critical 
by the pandemic, as many patients needed to be treated in hospitals 
with ICU units or acute respiratory care units, which impact PRC 
dollars.
    Dental Services: The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe supports the requested 
4.9 percent increase for Dental Services. Dental services are a growing 
need in the Area and a recent analysis of the funding received showed 
that the current level of funding equates to only $20 per individual in 
the Bemidji Area. Increased money and resources are necessary to meet 
the dental needs of Indian Country.
                        bureau of indian affairs
    Tribal Natural Resources Programs: The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of 
Chippewa Indians are co-managers of a large part of lakes Michigan, 
Huron, and Superior as we hold Treaty protected rights to fish in these 
lakes pursuant to the 1836 Treaty. Thus, it is critical that the 
Congress provide full funding for the Chippewa Ottawa Resource 
Authority to ensure proper management of the resource consistent with 
the court approved consent decree.
    On November 15th, 2021 the Secretaries of the Interior and 
Agriculture issued a Joint Secretarial Order on Fulfilling the Trust 
Responsibility to Indian Tribes in the Stewardship of Federal Lands and 
Waters. This order was issued to ``ensure that the Department of 
Agriculture and the Department of the Interior (Departments) and their 
component Bureaus and Offices are managing Federal lands and waters in 
a manner that seeks to protect the treaty, religious, subsistence, and 
cultural interests of federally recognized Indian Tribes [...]; that 
such management is consistent with the Nation-to-nation relationship 
between the United States and federally recognized Indian Tribes; and, 
that such management fulfills the United States' unique trust 
obligation to federally recognized Indian Tribes and their citizens.
    Also on November 15th, 2021 the President's Office of Science and 
Technology Policy issued a memorandum to the heads of all departments 
and agencies instructing them to ``recognize Indigenous Traditional 
Ecological Knowledge (ITEK)-a form of Indigenous Knowledge-as one of 
the many important bodies of knowledge that contributes to the 
scientific, technical, social, and economic advancements of the United 
States and to our collective understanding of the natural world.''
    The Bureau of Indian Affairs appropriations are the primary funding 
mechanism for the Sault Tribe Natural Resources Programs to engage our 
Federal Partners in ensuring that ITEK is incorporated and that our 
collective treaty and subsistence are properly accounted for and 
communicated in pursuit of these Federal policies. We ask Congress to 
provide support for Tribal natural resources programs to develop and 
integrate this information into our work to better protect treaty 
protected natural resources.
    The BIA's Natural Resources Management Endangered Species program 
is an important program, vital to the maintenance of important 
threatened and endangered species. Since 2012, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe 
of Chippewa Indians has identified several endangered species needs and 
submitted requests for funding. To date however, our funding requests 
have not been granted. This is due to the competitive nature of limited 
funds available to the Midwest region. My Tribe recommends full funding 
for the program.
    The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians has relied on the 
BIA Forestry Program for several planning and management of forestry 
projects on the Reservation. While my Tribe does not have substitutive 
commercial forest resources, we do have over 1,500 acres of forest 
lands that are maintained. The management of these acres are dependent 
on the Forestry Program funds and the BIA staff that work on our 
behalf. Additionally, we have a strong interest in developing forest 
resources in the future. We see this as an opportunity for the Tribe to 
create new jobs for Tribal members and increase access to natural 
resources for subsistence harvest. We strongly recommend full funding 
of the BIA Forestry Program.
    Tribal Court Programs: Our Tribal Court program, an integral 
component to our Tribe's sovereignty, is significantly underfunded. In 
fact, the Federal Government provides only 3.76 percent of base need 
funding necessary to operate a Tribal Court capable of meeting our 
Tribe's service population needs. In fact, Federal base funding for our 
Tribal Court program has only increased a total of $3,000 in the past 
21 years. In the end, our Tribe provides additional funding necessary 
to meet the needs of basic needs of our government, but that money is 
taken from other governmental programs, such as health, education, and 
care for the elderly.
    Even with this strong Tribal support for our program, our courts 
are still lacking. Our most recent BIA assessment of our courts 
identified the need to upgrade the Court's technology, improve the 
Tribal Court building's security. We recommend Congress fully fund 
Tribal Courts base funding levels to meet the budget model provided by 
the BIA.

    [This statement was submitted by Dr. Aaron A. Payment, Chairperson 
of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.]
                                 ______
                                 
           Prepared Statement of Seattle Indian Health Board
    Chair Pingree, Ranking Member Joyce, and members of the House 
Committee on Appropriations--Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and 
Related Agencies, my name is Esther Lucero. I am Dine, of Latino 
descent, the third generation in my family to be living outside of our 
reservation, and I strongly identify as an urban Indian. I serve as the 
President & Chief Executive Officer of the Seattle Indian Health Board 
(SIHB), one of 41 Indian Health Service (IHS) designated urban Indian 
organizations (UIO) nationwide serving the 76 percent of American 
Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people residing in urban areas.\1\ I 
have had the privilege of serving SIHB for 6 years and have been 
providing testimony to this subcommittee for the past 4 years. I am 
honored to have the opportunity to submit my testimony today, including 
a request of $949.7 million to the Urban Indian Health line item to 
address the chronic underfunding of the Indian healthcare system and 
support our communities' adjustments to live alongside the COVID-19 
pandemic.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ U.S. Census Bureau. (2021). County Population by 
Characteristics: 2010-2020. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/
popest/technical-documentation/research/evaluation-estimates/2020-
evaluation-estimates/2010s-county-detail.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
          supplemental funding for urban indian organizations
    I would like to extend our gratitude to the subcommittee for the 
record investments in the Indian healthcare system through COVID-19 
supplements, which included $414 million for the 41 UIOs nationwide. 
SIHB was awarded $37 million in COVID-19 supplements captured by a 
diverse stream of funding from the Public Health Service and Social 
Services Emergency Fund, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
(CDC), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 
(SAMHSA), and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). 
As you know, UIOs have historically never received facilities dollars. 
These investments supported SIHB's ability to enhance our facility to 
create a COVID-19 safe environment for our relatives (patients) and our 
staff. We are also proud to say that we did not have to furlough or 
layoff staff through the pandemic and we have kept our services open to 
meet the needs of our people. We have been identified as true leaders 
in our community-centered approach to COVID-19 testing and vaccination 
distribution, which never would have occurred without these 
supplemental funds.
    Additionally, I would like to thank the subcommittee for the 
passage of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) which included the 
temporary extension of 100 percent Federal Medical Assistance 
Percentage (FMAP) to UIOs, amended the UIO line item for funds to be 
utilized for minor renovations, and addressed the ``Four Walls'' issue 
to allow for services outside of Tribal facilities. These inclusions 
are critical to improving the quality of healthcare service delivery to 
AI/AN communities nationwide. In Washington State, we successfully 
advocated to have the 100 percent FMAP cost-savings allocated into a 
budget line item that will support our work in documenting our 
Traditional health services as billable services. This allows us to 
serve our relatives in a culturally attuned manner and ensures that our 
Indigenous epistemologies are treated in parity with western care 
methods.
 advance appropriations & mandatory spending for the indian healthcare 
                                 system
    I am thankful for members of the subcommittee for supporting S. 
2985 Indian Programs Advanced Appropriations Act, to authorize advance 
appropriations for IHS. This can mitigate the potential for unsavory 
administrations to inflict us with government shutdowns. However, IHS 
has failed to submit a budget proposal to Congress, creating an 
administrative barrier to moving forward with this legislative act.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ To accompany H.R. 4372-117th Congress. (July 6, 2021). 
Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies 
Appropriations Bill, 2022. https://www.congress.gov/117/crpt/hrpt83/
CRPT-117hrpt83.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    To address this concern, I would like to request Congressional 
advocacy to immediately appoint an IHS Director capable of submitting a 
budget proposal that outlines the necessary structure and incremental 
funding approaches for the Indian healthcare system to reach full 
funding levels. In previous recommendations to the subcommittee, SIHB 
had requested the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) oversee 
IHS submitting the budget proposal. In combination, the IHS budget 
proposal and advanced appropriation bill will strengthen the Indian 
healthcare system to avoid susceptibility to Continuing Resolutions 
(CR) and government shutdowns.
    I also urge the subcommittee to support the proposed President's 
Budget for Fiscal Year 2023 which includes $9.1 billion in mandatory 
spending for IHS. Historically, the Indian healthcare system has been 
significantly affected by CRs and government shutdowns. In the midst a 
pandemic, I find it frustrating that we were dependent on a CR for 
fiscal Year 2022 until March 2022. CRs harm the daily operations of 
UIOs and threaten the continuation of our services, programs, and 
activities offered to our relatives. In the previous administration, 
the government shutdowns closed IHS facilities, delayed our relatives' 
access to critical healthcare services, and in some cases resulted in 
death of community members. If we had not received generous donations 
from community partners, we would have had to close our entire Elders' 
program. Mandatory spending and advance appropriations can support the 
long-term planning and quality of healthcare delivery provided by the 
Indian healthcare system at large.
  optimizing 100 percent federal medical assistance percentage (fmap)
    I encourage the subcommittee to support permanent reauthorization 
of urban Indian health parity. Congress recently passed a 2-year 
temporary extension of 100 percent FMAP to UIOs through ARPA. Through 
our collaborative efforts with Tribal and state partners, Federal cost 
savings have been captured into Washington State's Indian Health 
Improvement Reinvestment Account. The 2-year pilot will bring in an 
estimated $18 million for health programs, activities, and services 
provided to AI/AN communities.
    Following the overwhelming success of the FMAP reinvestment, SIHB 
received SAMHSA Block Grant funds to implement a first-of-its-kind 
Traditional Indian Medicine (TIM) Parity Pilot. The pilot program seeks 
to demonstrate TIM's impact on improving health outcomes and increasing 
cost savings when sufficiently integrated into a blend of Western and 
culturally attuned services. SIHB's pilot will credential and privilege 
our TIM practitioners and assign Electronic Health Record (EHR) codes 
for TIM services within existing behavioral health billing models. TIM 
encounters will be documented within our EHR system and evaluated by 
our research division--Urban Indian Health Institute (UIHI). Our final 
report on the pilot will be shared with Tribal, government, and 
community partners to encourage the reimbursement of traditional 
programs nationally.
    Blending TIM services with Western healthcare is essential to 
improving our relative's health outcomes and reducing health 
disparities. In 2021, our TIM services had over 39,000 encounters with 
the highest service areas including blessings, educational and cultural 
programing, and group talking circles. Despite the positive health 
impacts of TIM services, the absence of third-party reimbursement or 
other funding mechanisms continues to be a substantial barrier to AI/
ANs accessing TIM services.
 increased demand for behavioral health access & workforce development
    I applaud President Biden's recent recommendation to increase 
funding for behavioral health prevention, treatment, and harm reduction 
services, including targeted investments in culturally attuned 
services.\3\ AI/AN people are disproportionately represented in poor 
behavioral health outcomes, including higher rates of behavioral health 
conditions such as mental health, substance use, and suicide.\4\ 
Mounting stressors and grief related to COVID-19, have shown increasing 
national rates of substance use disorder (SUD) before and during the 
pandemic \5\ yet the access to behavioral health providers is lacking, 
especially in AI/AN communities. I ask the subcommittee to support 
workforce initiatives that support the Indian healthcare system 
including dual credentialing of our behavioral health providers and 
increasing administrative activities under the IHS Loan Repayment 
Program (LRP).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ President Biden's State of the Union Address. (March 2022). 
Retrieved from: https://www.whitehouse.gov/state-of-the-union-2022/
    \4\ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services--Office of 
Minority Health. (2021). Mental and Behavioral Health - American 
Indians/Alaska Natives. Retrieved from: https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/
omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlID=39
    \5\ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (December 2020). 
COVID-19 and People at Increased Risk. Retrieved from: https://
www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/resources/covid-drugs-QA.html#risk-severity
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    To address the shortage of behavioral health providers, I would 
like to request Congressional support to mirror the Veterans Benefits 
Administration (VBA) dual certification process of behavioral health 
and mental health providers for the Indian healthcare system. I have 
recently spoken to IHS, who has stressed this is a legislative fix that 
can increase incentives for providers to join the Indian healthcare 
system. To address the growing need for SUD treatment, SIHB offers out-
patient behavioral health services and is in the process of acquiring a 
facility for a 92-bed in-patient facility. Dual certification can 
support our soon to open in-patient facility that will increase the 
local behavioral health workforce and include services for pregnant and 
parenting adults, offer Medically Assisted Treatment, operate a full-
service clinic with pharmaceutical services, and offer culturally 
attuned services for whole-person care.
    I also believe adjusting the IHS LRP can increase leadership skills 
for providers. Currently, IHS LRP contracts outline clinical practice 
as. 8 Full Time Employee (FTE) practicing direct inpatient or 
outpatient care and. 2 FTE performing practice-related administrative 
activities. Many times, participants in the IHS LRP go on to fill 
critical leadership roles within the Indian healthcare system but feel 
unprepared to fulfill the required roles and duties of leadership 
positions. To address this gap, I suggest increasing administrative 
activities to. 3 FTE and reducing clinical time to. 7 FTE to ensure 
providers learn how to manage clinical operations.
    Collectively, these two initiatives can address the Indian 
healthcare systems vacancies and provide necessary incentives to 
support recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals. I also 
support the National Tribal Budget Formulation Workgroup recommendation 
to invest $1 billion to the Indian healthcare workforce development 
program to address the chronic and pervasive health care provider 
shortages.
            infrastructure for the indian healthcare systems
    I am grateful for the facilities fix in ARPA allowing UIOs to 
utilize our single line item for facility improvement, but this 
amendment is not enough. Recently, the Indian healthcare facility 
construction need grew from $14.5 billion in 2016 to $23 billion in 
2021.\6\ UIOs continue to face severely aged, inefficient, and 
overcrowded healthcare facilities that are not equipped to meet the 
rising healthcare demands.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ Indian health Service. (2021). Indian Health Service All Tribal 
and Urban Indian Organizations Leader Call presentation. Retrieved 
from: https://www.ihs.gov/sites/newsroom/themes/responsive2017/
display_objects/documents/2021_Speeches/
IHSJulyTribalLeaderandUIOLeaderCallJuly2021.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I want to echo our UIO partner's request \7\ and encourage Congress 
to invest $100 million in future infrastructure packages to address the 
immediate needs of UIO facilities including construction, maintenance, 
equipment, and other facility needs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\ NCAI. (April 13,2021). RE: Indian Country Infrastructure 
Legislative Proposal. Retrieved from: https://ncai.org/
NCAI_Indian_Country_Infrastructure_Letter---FINAL_Update-.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
             improving health equity through urban confers
    Lastly, I would like to request members of the subcommittee support 
of H.R. 5221 Urban Indian Health Confer Act. H.R. 5221 will allow UIOs 
to be part of the decision-making process with Federal health agencies, 
while increasing transparency between UIOs and HHS. Urban confers 
address key challenges for AI/AN and have the potential to increase 
culturally responsive services and quality of health service delivery 
to AI/AN populations. Urban confer mechanisms can also guide preventive 
measures to address chronic health conditions, diseases of concern, and 
public health emergencies. The passage of H.R. 5221 will support the 
requests made in this testimony including advocacy for 100 percent 
FMAP, behavioral health workforce initiatives, infrastructure, and 
support equitable decision-making on the allocation of resources 
provided to the Indian health care system.

    [This statement was submitted by Esther Lucero (Dine), President & 
CEO, Seattle Indian Health Board.]
                                 ______
                                 
Prepared Statement of Self-Governance Communication & Education Tribal 
                               Consortium
    On behalf of SGCETC, I am submitting this written statement 
regarding funding priorities for the fiscal Year 2023 budgets for the 
Departments of the Interior's (DOI) Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), 
Health and Human Services' (HHS) Indian Health Service (IHS) and 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
    The fiduciary responsibilities of the United States to Tribal 
Nations arise from commitments made in treaties and agreements, in 
exchange for which Indians relinquished vast tracks of homelands and 
resources.\1\ More than 380 Tribal Nations have entered into Self-
Governance agreements with the DOI and/or IHS to transfer Federal 
resources and programs from Federal to Tribal administration to better 
serve the needs of their citizens and communities. Tribal Nations that 
elect to administer Federal programs through Self-Governance agreements 
know that increased Tribal control and decision-making authority 
results in improved social and economic wellbeing at the local level.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Pub. L. No. 114-178, Sec. 101, 130 Stat. 432 (2016) (codified 
at 25 USC Sec. 5601).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Tribal Nations assuming administration over programs once 
administered by Federal agencies, do so knowing that this does not 
abrogate the Federal Government's treaty and trust obligations. It 
empowers Tribal governments as sovereign nations to best determine the 
needs of their citizens and communities while bolstering Tribal 
economies and job creation for Indian country and surrounding non-
Native communities. As such, we offer the following recommendations:
  increase base budgets and recurring funding for indian programs and 
                    reduce reliance on grant funding
    Across the board, Federal Indian programs are significantly 
underfunded. The lack of adequate funding puts the lives of Tribal 
citizens at risk and limits the services provided by Tribal 
governments. Increases in base budgets for Indian programs will allow 
Tribes to fund core Tribal government programs and will provide an 
opportunity for additional Tribal Nations to participate in Self-
Governance.
    SGCETC supports the growing sentiment expressed by Tribal Nations 
that we do not want our funding sources to be increasingly supplemented 
by grants. Short-term competitive grants hinder Self-Governance because 
it creates uncertainty in planning, imposes extensive regulations and 
reporting requirements, and restricts the use of indirect costs. Tribal 
Nations are not non-profit organizations and should not be treated as 
such. The signers of the over 400 treaties between Tribal Nations and 
the United States did not sign with the intent of being dependent on 
grants. Lives were not lost, nor land ceded for our needs to be 
dependent on a successful grant application package review.
      reclassify section 105(l) lease costs as mandatory spending
    Pursuant to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 
Act (ISDEAA), most Tribal Nations now administer programs that were 
previously administered by the Federal Government, which results in the 
need for Tribal facilities to house these programs. Section 105(l) of 
the ISDEAA, 25 USC Sec. 5324(l), provides that the Secretaries of DOI 
and HHS must enter into leases with an Indian Tribe or Tribal 
organization for the administration and delivery of services under the 
ISDEAA. Section 105(l) requires both Secretaries to compensate each 
Indian Tribe or Tribal organization for lease costs, including rent, 
depreciation, operation and maintenance, and other reasonable expenses. 
The Maniilaq Assn's v. Burwell decisions in 2014 (72 F. Supp. 3d 227 
(DDC 2014)) and 2016 (70 F. Supp. 3d 243 (DDC 2016)) upheld this 
Federal responsibility, and Tribal Nations are now entering into lease 
agreements with both DOI and HHS to compensate for the use of Tribal 
facilities for ISDEAA services.
    Tribal Nations commend the Federal Government's recognition of its 
obligation to fully fund 105(l) leases. The next step in fostering this 
progress is by reclassifying Section 105(l) lease funding from 
discretionary to mandatory spending.
     reclassify contract support costs (csc) as mandatory spending
    ISDEAA obligates the Federal Government to provide Tribal Nations 
with the necessary funding to ensure that a Tribal Nation has the 
resources to contract or compact Federal programs. In 2005 and 2012, 
the Supreme Court confirmed that the ISDEAA requires full payment of 
CSC to each contractor even when Congress caps CSC appropriations at a 
level insufficient to fully pay all contractors.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ Cherokee Nation of Okla. v. Leavitt, 543 US 631 (2005); Salazar 
v. Ramah Navajo Chapter, 567 US 182 (2012)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Despite the progress realized, Congress still funds CSC as a 
discretionary appropriation which creates an environment of competition 
with other programs funded in the agencies' discretionary budget. 
Additional progress cannot be achieved, in this matter, until CSC is 
not required to compete against funding for Indian programs. The way to 
remove this element of competition is to appropriate CSC on a mandatory 
basis.
  institute advance appropriations for the indian health service (ihs)
    The Indian Health Service has historically operated in an 
environment of unpredictable funding. This instability has proven to be 
an obstruction to the delivery of high-quality, treaty obligated 
services to citizens of many Tribal Nations. Despite funding 
uncertainties, the individuals operating the healthcare delivery system 
comprised of the IHS, Tribal health programs, and urban Indian health 
organizations have been relentless in their efforts to provide high-
quality, comprehensive services. Just imagine what they could do with 
access to predictable funding that allows for them to plan service 
delivery more effectively.
    Funding predictability can be provided by offsetting the fact that 
these services are funded on an annual basis through the appropriations 
process with authorizing advance appropriations for the IHS. One of the 
most recent examples of unpredictable funding is the partial shutdown 
which occurred from late 2018 to early 2019. There is no doubt that the 
35-day disruption in critical services and employee pay exacerbated the 
state of the already fragile healthcare services provided throughout 
Indian Country.
    During this trying time, citizens who depend on the Indian health 
system, whether IHS or Tribal, for care experienced negative health 
outcomes, including premature death. Additionally, Indian health system 
employees faced the emotional distress associated with loss of wages 
during furlough. Some employees were directed to work without pay 
because they have been classified as ``essential'' employees. These 
types of work environments create an elevated level of stress for 
employees, which, without a doubt, has a severe and detrimental impact 
on the quality of care provided to patients.
    As a matter of fact, on September 13, 2018, the Government 
Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report titled ``Indian Health 
Service: Considerations Related to Providing Advance Appropriation 
Authority'' (GAO-18-652). This report confirms the challenges the 
current IHS appropriations process has on the delivery of health care 
to American Indian and Alaska Native populations and how advance 
appropriations can alleviate these challenges.
    GAO notes in their report that the IHS budget has been enacted by 
the start of the fiscal year only four times in the last 40 years. This 
means that IHS and Tribal health providers are left scrambling to 
manage budgets with only short-term funding through continuing 
resolutions. Advance appropriations will allow IHS and Tribal health 
programs the assurance of funding to effectively administer health 
programs, thereby increasing access and improving the quality of care 
provided to American Indian and Alaska Native populations. Advance 
appropriations for the Indian health system would promote greater 
stability in services and facilities management and improve budgeting, 
retention, and recruitment of health professionals.
    These types of worst-case scenarios can be avoided, and lives can 
be saved by authorizing full advance appropriations for the Indian 
health system.
    Therefore, we humbly request your support for IHS advance 
appropriations for fiscal Year 2024 in the fiscal Year 2023 
appropriations bill. We request support for standalone legislation that 
would establish advance appropriations for the IHS.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ See HR 5549 (sponsored by Rep. Young (R-AK)). Two other bills, 
HR 5567 and S. 2985 would create advance appropriations for IHS and the 
Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Indian Education.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    support the expansion of tribal self-governance authority in epa
    Tribal Nations have proven their ability and effectiveness 
administering Federal programs that provide services to their citizens 
and communities. Now is the time to support expansion of this 
successful approach for the delivery of Federal programs and resources 
to Tribal communities beyond just the Department of the Interior, IHS, 
and Department of Transportation. We request that the Committee 
includes funding for a Tribal-Federal workgroup on the feasibility of 
expanding Self-Governance to EPA and how such authority would be 
implemented, possibly as demonstration projects.
    Thank you for the opportunity to share our recommendations with the 
subcommittee.

    [This statement was submitted by W. Ron Allen, President, Board of 
Directors, Communication & Education Tribal Consortium (SGCETC) and, 
Tribal Chairman/CEO, Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe.]
                                 ______
                                 
      Prepared Statement of the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge
    This testimony is being submitted on behalf of the Amigos de la 
Sevilleta, which was formed in 1997 to support the Sevilleta National 
Wildlife Refuge.
    The Amigos de la Sevilleta appreciates the opportunity to offer 
comments on the fiscal Year 2023 Interior Appropriations bill.
    We would like to focus our testimony on the value that increased 
Refuge funding would bring to the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge 
(which is of course just one of many spectacular National Refuges). 
Sevilleta is one of the largest Refuges in the lower 48 States. Its 
230,000 acres include four different biomes that intersect and support 
a high level of biological diversity. The Refuge is unique in that it 
was set aside ``to preserve and enhance the integrity and the natural 
character of the ecosystems of the property by creating a wildlife 
refuge managed as nearly as possible in its natural state.'' The Refuge 
is not managed for specific wildlife species, but instead focuses on 
restoring natural processes by means of controlled burns of invasive 
vegetation, and tree restoration, and removal of domesticated animals 
that still can be found on the refuge.
    This huge Refuge is currently operated by only 5 people: the Refuge 
Manager, a Biologist, a Visitor Services Manager, and two maintenance 
workers. The Amigos helps by providing volunteers to supplement the 
staff, as well as contributing limited funds. We also organize events 
to introduce the public to the trails and Visitor Center. 
Unfortunately, due to limited refuge staff, the Visitor Center is only 
open three days a week, disappointing visitors who travel to the refuge 
when the Center is closed.
    The Amigos therefore urge that the National Wildlife Refuge System 
be fully funded, with adequate maintenance, biological, hunting, 
fishing, environmental education, and interpretation programs. Our 
testimony reflects our desire to reach this full funding goal over the 
next few years, and we ask that you work towards $712 million in annual 
funding. $712 million reflects the loss of over 1,000 staff in the last 
decade from the System.

    [This statement was submitted by Colin Barnett, President, Amigos 
De La Sevilleta.]
                                 ______
                                 
               Prepared Statement of Shoalwater Bay Tribe
                            recommendations
  1. Provide increased funding for climate change mitigation efforts 
        including community relocation programs in fiscal Year 2023
  2. Work with others in Congress and the Administration to facilitate 
        the mandatory trust acquisition of fee lands where a Tribe is 
        undergoing forced relocation due to climate change and other 
        threats
  3. Create funding opportunities for Tribal and intergovernmental 
        agreements for infrastructure between federal, State, local and 
        Tribal governments
  4. Provide full funding and advance appropriations for the Indian 
        Health Service (IHS).
  5. Fund Critical Infrastructure investments for the Indian health 
        system
  6. Ensure mandatory funding for Contract Support Costs and 105(l) 
        lease payments
  7. Amend Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act to 
        Clarify CSC provisions

    Thank you Chairman Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski, and Members 
of the subcommittee for the opportunity to share our funding priorities 
for the fiscal Year 2023 Federal budget. My name is Charlene Nelson, 
and I am the Chairwoman of the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe on the 
beautiful north shore of Willapa Bay, facing out to the Pacific Ocean. 
Similar to most coastal Tribes, we are stewards of the great ocean. As 
the Chairwoman of the Tribe, and in my former career as an educator and 
commercial fisherman, I have learned firsthand that vibrant and 
successful Indian communities are not possible without first attending 
to the human health of the community members and also ensuring the 
health of the environment. The following testimony will provide 
information about our community's urgent need to relocate in the face 
of the climate crisis, and support additional funding for climate 
resiliency programs. The testimony also outlines priorities for the IHS 
budget in fiscal Year 2023. Like many Tribal communities we continue to 
be impacted by the growing challenge of climate change on our 
environment. Threats such as flooding, erosion, ocean acidification, 
increased wildfires, extended drought, and changes in seasons all 
contribute to the serious challenges that Tribal communities currently 
face. We encourage the committee to provide increased funding for 
climate change activities targeted at Tribal communities in fiscal Year 
2023.
    We appreciate $32 million in Tribal Climate Resilience funding 
contained in the fiscal Year 2022 omnibus appropriations legislation 
(H.R. 2471), which includes $8 million for Tribal relocation grants. We 
also appreciate the $216 million in funding provided to the BIA in the 
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 116-58) for ``Tribal 
climate resilience, adaptation, and community relocation planning, 
design, and implementation of projects which address the varying 
climate challenges facing Tribal communities across the country.'' 
However, while these opportunities are appreciated, they are limited. 
The problems facing Tribal communities due to climate change are 
immense. We appreciate the $21 million proposed by the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs for fiscal Year 2023 for those with need to relocate. We urge 
this Committee to provide significantly increased funding for climate 
change resilience and mitigation in fiscal Year 2023, as the challenges 
we--and many Tribal communities--face will require significant 
investment. To fail to do so, is tantamount to being complicit in the 
disappearance of our lands, our people, and our way of life.
                shoalwater bay tribe and climate change
    Indian Tribes and Alaska Natives are on the front lines of climate 
issues because, unlike many others in our society, we are rooted to our 
ancestral homelands. Our lands are us, and we are our lands and waters. 
If things change due to climate instability-flooding, habitat loss, 
diminished drinking water, incapacity to engage in subsistence 
activities-we have nowhere else to go.
    We are a Pacific Northwest coastal Tribe and all of our housing and 
government buildings are just 15 feet above sea level. Partial Federal 
funding, and a Tribal relationship with the Army Corps of Engineers, 
has led to construction of an embankment in the tidal zone portion of 
our Reservation, and adjoining lands, but was constructed using native 
sand and earthen materials, and is now washing away. We are told that 
with the advent of climate change, and the varying weather patterns and 
tidal effects, everything has been sped up. A single tsunami event 
would take out every home, our government, our economic development 
opportunities, and what defines us as Shoalwater people.
    We need to move to higher ground to survive as a Tribe. Other 
coastal Tribes in our region have been in similar circumstances and 
Congress has come through with funding for relocation, recognizing the 
Federal trust responsibility. We have committed a lot of our limited 
resources--both financial and time--to planning for and preparing for 
the necessary changes to keep our people alive. Fortunately, some of 
the land adjacent to our reservation is suitable for this. Using Tribal 
funding, we have purchased 1,200 acres of land at 250 feet above sea 
level for the relocation of our Tribal village. But this is raw land 
and there are only dirt roads. We are tapping out our only reserves to 
meet these exigent needs. Based on erosion and other projections, this 
needs to happen immediately.
    This support will not just impact our Tribal community, but will 
support the two counties in our area, both of which have some of the 
highest rates of poverty in the state. The Shoalwater Bay Tribe is now 
one of the biggest employers in the county, so support for our Tribe 
equals support for the entire area. Many of the current key roads are 
merely a few feet above sea level, so planning for alternate roads is 
already a critical need for the whole area. The Tribe has formal 
support for this project from the Pacific Board of County 
Commissioners; Economic Development Council of Pacific County; and 
Tokeland-North Cove Chamber of Commerce.
    I would urge the Committee to consider the Federal trust 
responsibility to Tribes and make a commitment that there if and when 
there are Tribal climate refugees-dispossessed of their lands and 
waters by climate change-Congress will use its plenary power over 
Indian and Alaska Native matters to rebuild ancestral homelands. The 
Shoalwater Tribe can be a test case, establishing how Tribal and 
Federal resources can relocate a Tribal community to a new, more 
resilient location.
                        congressional assistance
    Our Tribe does not have the land base we will need to support us 
indefinitely. We will need Federal funding for land acquisition, 
replacement of roads, utilities, three essential government buildings, 
and 80 homes. In total, we believe the project would cost approximately 
$120 million. This total includes $70 million for roads and utilities, 
$17 million for government buildings and $33 million for homes.
    But we do not just need funding. We urge you to work with your 
colleagues in Congress and the Administration to facilitate the 
mandatory trust acquisition of fee lands where a Tribe is undergoing 
forced relocation due to climate change, erosion, flooding, tsunami, 
and other threats to its existing Reservation and trust land base. 
Tribes should not have to go through a lengthy and expensive fee to 
trust process for relocation land acquisition, which, by definition 
will be an off-reservation acquisition for most Tribes. We are 
encouraged by recent actions of the Department of the Interior and 
Bureau of Indian Affairs to examine the land into trust process, 
especially when it comes to issues around climate change for Tribal 
communities. However, Congressional support for such actions is 
critical.
    Congress can also create legislation and funding opportunities for 
Tribal and intergovernmental agreements for infrastructure between 
federal, State, local and Tribal governments to make the changes needed 
to help our communities survive in the face of climate change. The 
Department of Transportation, for example, will often not release 
emergency funding for road infrastructure until an existing road 
completely fails. If that occurs with Washington SR 105, which runs 
through our Reservation, it will cut the Tribe off from its schools, 
banks, closest groceries, and many of its employees from their homes, 
among other impacts. Congress can change these rules to allow for 
substantial road replacement funding in advance of an existing route 
becoming impassable. Any funding of this nature should be non-
competitive, and be provided directly to Tribal governments without 
matching fund requirements.
    Infrastructure investment for land acquisition, road and building 
construction, and rebuilding economic development opportunities will 
not only assist the Tribe, but will also support the local economies of 
Pacific and Grays Harbor counties. A new road system will be a 
resilient, and necessary coastal connection for the two counties, so it 
will be a true investment that will create returns. The cost of us not 
finding the support to relocate our village is the highest cost any 
community can pay--sea level rise will mean the annihilation of our 
Tribal community and culture. Even if we physically survive as 
individuals by relocating off of traditional lands, it will mean the 
erasure of our Tribal culture.
                    indian health service priorities
    Full Funding for the Indian Health Service. We with support from 
the IHS, we strive to provide Alaska Natives and American Indians with 
access to high quality and comprehensive medical services, no more so 
than during the ongoing pandemic. The Indian health system has 
navigated unimaginable hardships related to supplies, staffing levels, 
infrastructure and facilities, and high rates of underlying conditions 
in serving our people at this time. We sincerely appreciate the work 
that this committee has undertaken--on a bipartisan basis--to provide 
funding increases for IHS year after year. However, more must be done 
for the United States to honor its trust and treaty obligations to 
Tribal Nations.
    The IHS Tribal Budget Formulation Workgroup has calculated the need 
at $49.8 billion for full funding. The Workgroup supports fully funding 
this amount in fiscal Year 2023.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Full recommendations are available here: https://www.nihb.org/
docs/02072022/FY percent202023 percent20Tribal percent20Budget 
percent20Formulation percent20Workgroup percent20Recommendations 
percent20Vol percent201.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Support for Mandatory and Advance Appropriations for IHS. We 
appreciate the Biden Administration's proposal to provide mandatory 
funding for IHS and increase funding over 10 years. Reclassifying the 
IHS budget as mandatory spending not only reflects the nature of the 
trust and treaty obligations to Tribal Nations, but also will allow IHS 
to be funded at a level that is necessary for providing health care to 
AI/ANs. As noted in the President's budget request, ``Mandatory funding 
for the IHS provides the opportunity for significant funding increases 
that could not be achieved under discretionary funding caps.''\2\ The 
proposal outlined in the President's Budget request is a good start, 
but must be developed in partnership with Tribal Nations. We stand 
ready to work with you and IHS to further develop this proposal so that 
it provides adequate funding for IHS and fully honors Tribal self-
determination and self-governance.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ Department of Health and Human Services, Fiscal Year 2023, 
Indian Health Service, Justification of Estimates for Appropriations 
Committees, p. CJ-3.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    However, if full mandatory appropriations cannot be achieved for 
fiscal Year 2023, we continue to support IHS advance appropriations for 
the short term. For many years, Tribes have requested that IHS 
appropriations be funded on an advance appropriations cycle. Funding 
delays make it impossible for IHS and Tribal health programs to plan 
and manage their annual budgets. Congress recognized these challenges 
when it provided the Veterans Administration with advance 
appropriations over a decade ago. Yet, IHS still waits for parity. In 
fiscal Year 2022, we did not receive our full funding amount until 
almost halfway through the fiscal year. The practical implication of 
this is that our health systems do not have the ability to plan our 
finances even weeks ahead, as we do not know what our funding level 
will be. Full advance appropriations for the IHS would lead to better 
stability for our health system, improve provider recruitment and 
retention, and improve practices over all. We appreciate President 
Biden's support for IHS advance appropriations in his fiscal Year 2022 
budget request to Congress and the support of many members of this 
subcommittee on IHS advance appropriations. We urge the Committee to 
take the necessary steps in the fiscal Year 2023 appropriations bill to 
move/continue IHS to an advance appropriation for fiscal Year 2023 and 
beyond.
    Mandatory Funding for Contract Support Costs and 105(l) lease 
payments: If Congress is not able to enact full mandatory funding for 
IHS this year, we continue to support mandatory funding for Contract 
Support Costs (CSC) and 105(l) leases. We appreciate the subcommittee's 
commitment to ensuring that Contract Support Costs (CSC) and 105(l) 
lease costs are fully funded by including an indefinite discretionary 
appropriation in fiscal Year 2021 for both of these accounts However, 
changing these accounts to mandatory appropriations in fiscal Year 2023 
would bring appropriations process into line with the clear legal 
requirements of the authorizing statute. CSC and 105(l) lease funds are 
already an entitlement under substantive law for the ISDEAA to function 
as intended by Congress. It is contradictory and problematic to 
appropriate funding for CSC on a discretionary basis.
    Amend Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act to 
Clarify CSC provisions: We also request that the committee consider 
amending the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act 
(ISDEAA) to clarify that when agency funding paid to a Tribe for 
program operations is insufficient for contract and compact 
administration, contract support costs will remain available to cover 
the difference. In the recent court decision Cook Inlet Tribal Council, 
Inc. v. Dotomain,\3\ a Federal appeals court held that costs for 
activities normally carried out by IHS are ineligible for payment as 
CSC-even if IHS transfers insufficient, or even no, funding for these 
activities in the Secretarial amount. Under this new ruling, if 
facility costs are higher for a Tribe than for IHS, the Tribe is forced 
to cover the difference by diverting scarce program dollars. Recently, 
this serious misinterpretation of the ISDEAA that has been applied to 
one Tribal organization resulting in a 90 percent reduction of contract 
support costs reimbursement threatens Tribal self-governance and self-
determination. Therefore, we call upon Congress to provide a 
legislative fix to clarify the intent on Congress for this matter, and 
ensure consistency with precedent.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc. v. Dotomain, 10 F.4th 892 (D.C. 
Cir. 2021).

    [This statement was submitted by Charlene Nelson, Chairperson, 
Shoalwater Bay Tribe.]
                                 ______
                                 
       Prepared Statement of the Society for American Archaeology
    The Society for American Archaeology (SAA) once again appreciates 
this opportunity to present its recommendations for Fiscal Year 2023 
cultural resources program appropriations for the Department of 
Interior and USDA Forest Service. I am Dr. Deborah Nichols, president 
of the Society.
    The SAA is an international organization that, since its founding 
in 1934, has been dedicated to research about and interpretation and 
protection of the archaeological heritage of the Americas. With more 
than 5,500 members, the SAA represents professional and avocational 
archaeologists, archaeology students in colleges and universities, and 
archaeologists working at Tribal agencies, museums, government 
agencies, and the private sector. The SAA has members throughout the 
United States, as well as in many nations around the world.
    The members of the SAA thank the subcommittee for supporting an 
increase in funding for Federal cultural resources programs in fiscal 
Year 2022. These Federal and federally supported programs, created 
under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and other key statutes and funded 
through annual appropriations, constitute the foundation of historic 
and cultural preservation activities in the United States. These 
activities comprise the principal means of preserving and protecting 
our Nation's irreplaceable historic, archaeological, and cultural 
treasures. In addition to ensuring Americans can learn about and enjoy 
the artifacts and knowledge of America's history, funding Federal 
archaeology programs facilitates economic growth and infrastructure 
project delivery.
    Given the above, our testimony for fiscal Year 2023 emphasizes the 
message that we have expounded on over the past several years-in order 
for federally based historic preservation to work effectively, it must 
have the necessary staffing and resources. This year, several 
circumstances expand the need for funds.
 department of the interior-increased archaeologist staff: $10 million
    As we noted last year, Federal archaeologists perform a huge number 
of important tasks, including reviews under Section 106 of the NHPA for 
federally funded projects, projects requiring a Federal permit, or 
projects on Federal lands; conducting surveys for historic and cultural 
resources under Section 110 of the NHPA; protection of archaeological 
sites and materials under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act 
(ARPA); preservation and repatriation of highly sensitive cultural and 
spiritual Tribal objects under the Native American Graves Protection 
and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA); consultation with Indigenous and 
descendant communities on the effects of Federal actions on their 
cultural resources; development of contracts and cooperative agreements 
between Federal agencies and private firms or universities; technical 
assistance on archaeological matters; coordination and management of 
volunteers helping to preserve cultural sites; and curation of Federal 
archaeological collections.
    At present, the Federal archaeological workforce, across many 
departments and agencies, lacks a sufficient number of people on staff 
(fewer than 1,400 in all) to carry out its current and future 
statutorily required responsibilities. The situation will become even 
more serious when you factor in the skyrocketing increase of projects 
authorized under the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) and the 
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Another concern must be addressed-
climate change threatens archaeological sites. For instance, Jamestown, 
the first English settlement in North America, is experiencing flooding 
due to rising coastal water levels. The multiyear drought in the West 
has severely depleted many federally controlled reservoirs such as 
Lakes Mead and Powell. Lower water tables expose many previously 
submerged archaeological sites to the danger of erosion from the 
elements, as well as the threat of looting. ARPA, the NHPA, and NAGPRA 
require the protection and proper management of these sites and 
whatever objects they contain. The NPS, the Bureau of Reclamation, and 
other DOI agencies need more archaeologists to protect these vulnerable 
public cultural resources.
    The SAA recognizes that correcting the situation will require a 
multiyear effort. It is critical that this begin sooner rather than 
later. We request an additional $10 million in fiscal Year 2023 for 
Interior archaeologist positions.
  national park service-national recreation and preservation cultural 
                         programs: $36 million
    When most people picture our National parks, they envision the 
parks' natural and recreational aspects. Though less visible, but 
equally vital to the public mission, we urge you to remember that the 
overwhelming majority of our Nation's parks also contain historical and 
cultural sites, including sacred lands of deep meaning to Indigenous 
Americans and places that tell the story of America's development and 
more recent past. NPS National Recreation and Preservation Programs are 
vital for the technical assistance and other support they provide for 
resource protection within National Parks, to other Federal agencies, 
and to state, Tribal, and private sector stakeholders. These programs 
assist communities in preserving their significant historical and 
archaeological properties. The archaeological component identifies, 
documents, and inventories archaeological resources in parks; produces 
archaeological technical and programmatic publications; implements 
regulations for protecting archaeological resources; and assists other 
agencies through program development and training. The SAA appreciates 
the increase of $2.4 million in the final fiscal Year 2022 bill. In 
order to keep up with the rising cost of inflation, and to ensure that 
these programs keep pace with the compliance workload increases brought 
by the GAOA and the infrastructure law, the SAA requests a total of $36 
million for fiscal Year 2023, an increase of $1.6 million.
  national park service-historic preservation fund (hpf): $200 million
    The Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) provides crucial support to 
State (SHPO) and Tribal (THPO) Historic Preservation Offices and 
matching grants to nonprofits and local governments to preserve and 
document historic resources. Your local communities rely on these 
grants to attract tourism, retain a unique sense of place, and promote 
economic development. The HPF (among other programs) plays a crucial 
role in the ability of States and local municipalities to comply with 
the preservation system established by the NHPA-particularly with 
regard to Section 106 consultations. SHPOs and THPOs constitute the 
``front line'' in the effort to preserve our cultural heritage. Their 
workloads have grown and will continue to expand.
    We need to shine a spotlight on an especially dire shortfall. 
THPO's are particularly hard-pressed because there are 210 offices, and 
the fiscal Year 2022 omnibus bill appropriated a totally insufficient 
average of just $75,000 of annual funding per office. The HPF overall 
saw a record level of funding in the final fiscal Year 2022 bill, but 
SHPOs received only a $2 million increase. THPOs fared even worse ($1 
million). These increases did not even account for the erosion of 
spending power due to inflation. We urge more resources for these 
offices to rectify this situation. The SAA strongly endorses the 
recommendations put forward by the preservation community for a total 
of $200 million for the HPF in fiscal Year 2023, of which $65 million 
would go to SHPOs and $34 million to THPOs.
 bureau of land management (blm)-cultural resources management: $21.8 
                                million
    The BLM manages 245 million acres, which makes the agency the 
largest land manager in the United States. These lands contain an 
enormous number of known and as-yet-undiscovered cultural resources. To 
date, only 10 percent of BLM lands have been surveyed for cultural 
resources. As with the other programs mentioned here, the BLM needs 
resources so it can fulfill its statutory requirements to research, 
inventory, and protect the cultural resources under its control. In the 
fiscal Year 2022 final omnibus bill, the BLM Cultural Resources 
Management program received $20 million, an increase of $422,000. While 
appreciated, the many activities of BLM staff archaeologists require 
more funding so that this personnel may better continue their work to 
survey the lands they administer and identify the cultural resources 
therein, conserve archaeological sites and materials, and integrate 
cultural resources data through the National Cultural Resources 
Information Management System. In particular, new funding will enable 
the BLM to finally resolve the disruption and dysfunction that occurred 
in the cultural resources program under the last administration due to 
the relocation of many headquarters staff to offices in the West. That 
action resulted in the retirement or resignation of many staff members 
and was only reversed by Secretary of the Interior Haaland last year. 
The SAA requests an increase of $1.8 million for BLM Cultural Resources 
Management.
bureau of land management-national landscape conservation system: $65.1 
                                million
    The National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS), first 
established in 2000 and authorized by Congress in 2009, contains more 
than 35 million acres of National Monuments, Wilderness Areas, Wild and 
Scenic Rivers, and other sensitive lands. They include an extensive and 
diverse array of the Nation's archaeological and cultural resources. 
While the System received a much-needed increase of $3.4 million in 
fiscal Year 2022, more needs to be done to provide the level of 
preservation management and sound stewardship of the lands in the 
system. Investigation, research, and preservation needs remain great. 
In order to provide adequate management of these lands and the cultural 
resources they contain, the SAA strongly supports an allocation of 
$65.1 million for the program. This substantial increase would restore 
the NLCS to its record fiscal Year 2006 funding level, address the rise 
in inflation, and allow the BLM to bring to bear the resources 
necessary to carry out this essential mission.
  native american graves protection and repatriation act grants: $2.3 
                                million
    We reiterate the importance of the NAGPRA Grants Program to 
restoring culturally affiliated human remains, funerary objects, sacred 
objects, and objects of cultural patrimony to affiliated Native 
American Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations. It serves a key role 
by helping facilitate cooperation between Tribes and museums to 
document covered items and realize their repatriation under the NAGPRA 
statute. The increase in the fiscal Year 2022 final bill, to a total of 
$2.1 million, was helpful. Nevertheless, with increasing numbers of 
THPOs and increasing numbers of Federally Recognized Tribes, demand for 
these grants is also surging, and inflation must also be taken into 
account. Given these realities, and the fact that some repositories 
still have not completed their inventories, the SAA urges another 
increase. We respectfully request that the National NAGPRA Grants 
Program receive $2.3 million for fiscal Year 2022, an increase of 
approximately $200,000.
  us forest service-recreation, heritage and wilderness: $115 million
    Most of the work carried out by the USFS heritage activities 
involves Section 106 compliance on Federal forest land. The Bipartisan 
Infrastructure Law will reportedly increase that workload by a factor 
of four. In order to address the situation, the USFS-apparently alone 
among Federal agencies-began the process of hiring archaeologists to 
ensure that these new undertakings comply with historic preservation 
statutes. It will take at least the next 4 years to bring this effort 
to a successful conclusion. Therefore, we recommend that $115 million 
be allocated to the Recreation, Heritage and Wilderness account, with 
$6 million dedicated to making these new archaeological positions 
permanent.
    The SAA greatly appreciates your time and consideration of these 
important issues. Please contact us if you have any questions or 
concerns.

    [This statement was submitted by Dr. Deborah Nichols, President of 
the Society.]
                                 ______
                                 
        Prepared Statement of the Society of American Foresters
    The Society of American Foresters (SAF) appreciates the opportunity 
to submit written public testimony to the Senate Committee on 
Appropriations, subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related 
Agencies regarding fiscal year 2023 appropriations. SAF recommendations 
focus on supporting programs at the USDA Forest Service (USFS) and the 
Department of the Interior (DOI), including the Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM).
           saf's top federal priorities for fiscal year 2023
    (1) Increased investment in the USFS Forest Inventory and Analysis 
(FIA) program to at least $32.4 million and the addition of a budget 
line item for FIA salaries and expenses.

    (2) Increased investment in the USFS Research and Development 
programs to $82 million and continued support for the Joint Fire 
Science program.

    (3) Increased investment in the Forest Products program to $47 
million and the Roads program under Capital Improvement and Maintenance 
to $86 million to better support National Forest System lands and rural 
economies.

    (4) Fully funding the Landscape Scale Restoration program at $20 
million and increased investment in the Forest Stewardship program to 
$22 million.

    (5) Permanently authorizing BLM's Forest Ecosystem Health and 
Recovery Fund.

    Founded by Gifford Pinchot in 1900, SAF is the premier scientific 
and educational organization in the United States advancing and 
promoting science-based, sustainable management and stewardship of the 
Nation's public and private forests. SAF has over 9,000 members 
including public and private sector natural resource professionals, 
researchers, CEOs, administrators, investment advisors, educators, and 
students. As the professionals who study, manage, and care for our 
Nation's forest resources, we have a vested interest in ensuring their 
long-term health and sustainability.
    Americans rely on the 751 million acres of public and private 
forests in the US to provide clean and abundant air and water, forest 
products, fish and wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities, carbon 
sequestration and storage, forage and range resources, energy, and 
scenic beauty. Continuing to sustainably manage our forests for these 
diverse benefits has become increasingly challenging due to 
unprecedented environmental threats. In particular, the climate change 
and biodiversity crises illustrate the need for continued investment in 
the forest sector.
    While wildfires and carbon storage are likely the most topical 
issues in the public discourse surrounding forests today, a myriad of 
challenges faced by forestry professionals are intensifying under 
changes in climate (e.g., invasive pests, disease, species migration, 
water availability). In the face of these challenges, forestry 
professionals continue to create an adaptive suite of forest management 
solutions that balance resilience, ecological integrity, and natural 
resource economies. Implementing these solutions and ensuring the 
sustainability of our forests requires continued investment in our 
forestry professionals.
    Healthy, viable forests are long-term investments. Funding for 
research, science, and technology is essential to building effective 
programming with sufficient workforce capacity to protect our forests 
for the future.\1\ Furthermore, breaking the pattern of unresolved 
funding bills and continuing resolutions would be of tremendous help to 
our land managers. A commitment to consistent and timely budget and 
appropriations cycles from Congress and the Administration provides the 
certainty required for resource managers to plan for the upcoming field 
season and consider future years as well. This certainty will dictate 
management activities and allow managers to provide direction and 
instruction on deployment of resources to address critical needs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Society of American Foresters. Forest Sector Research and 
Development. Last updated April 30, 2021.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                   specific fiscal year 2023 requests
Forest and Rangeland Resources
    Advances in research have highlighted the instrumental role that 
forests continue to play in mitigating the effects of climate change. 
For example, US forests and associated harvested wood products 
sequester nearly 15 percent of economy-wide CO2 emissions each year and 
store more than three decades of CO2 emitted from fossil fuels.\2\ USFS 
Forest and Rangeland Resources is one of the critical bodies ensuring 
the longevity and resilience of our forests by advancing climate- 
smart, ecological management strategies across the landscape.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ USDA Forest Service. Forest Inventory and Analysis National 
Program: Forest Carbon Science and Reporting. Retrieved March 3, 2022, 
from https://www.fia.fs.fed.us/forestcarbon/#::text=In percent20the 
percent20United percent20States percent2C percent20forests,CO2 
percent20emitted percent2 0from percent20fossil percent20fuels.
    \3\ United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 
Research & Development (2021). Research Improves Climate-Smart 
Management of America's Forests and Grasslands (Report No. FS-1175).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                     forest inventory and analysis
    Forestry professionals and a diverse array of stakeholders rely on 
the inventory data and analysis of America's forests provided by the 
Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program. This critical information 
is needed to support sound policy and forest management decisions, both 
public and private, and is increasingly important for decisions 
regarding carbon stocks, sustainability, and new and expanding markets. 
The needs of our Nation's forests, coupled with the policy priorities 
of this Congress, make this an ideal time to significantly increase 
investment in this critical program. SAF recommends at least $32.4 
million in program funding for FIA in fiscal Year 2023 and supports 
adding a budget line item that includes FIA salaries and expenses.
                        research and development
    Investments in forestry research are essential for the future 
health and sustainability of the Nation's forests. Research conducted 
at the five USFS research stations, the International Institute of 
Tropical Forestry, and in the Forest Products Laboratory is crucial to: 
(1) developing new products and practical innovation; (2) identifying 
forest ecosystem disturbance responses and forest resilience; (3) 
responding to shifting social demands and demographic changes; (4) and 
quantifying the contributions of forests to air and water quality. 
Without USFS leadership, investigation of these critical research needs 
would largely be left unfulfilled. Using Federal investments that are 
leveraged in partnership with universities and private-public 
consortiums, important research questions, emerging threats, and 
potential opportunities are thoroughly researched and vetted. SAF 
recommends $82 million for the Research and Development program in 
fiscal Year 2023.
                           joint fire science
    SAF appreciates this subcommittee's commitment to continuing the 
important work of the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP). SAF recommends 
funding for the JFSP at or above fiscal Year 2022 levels and asks the 
subcommittee to encourage active participation by DOI and USFS in 
prioritizing investment in fire research and decision support.
Capital Improvement and Maintenance
                                 roads
    Roads on National Forest System lands are vital infrastructure 
facilitating the use, enjoyment, protection, and long-term health of 
Federal lands. Properly maintained roads enable the agency to meet 
critical natural resource needs and provide safe access to public 
lands. Unfortunately, with annual appropriations not nearly matching 
the need, properly maintaining this vital infrastructure has become 
increasingly challenging. Deteriorating roads reduce access for 
recreation, firefighting, and resource management. Investments in these 
critical assets will create jobs in rural communities while also 
improving wildlife habitat, hunting and fishing opportunities, public 
safety, and resource management. SAF recommends $86 million for the 
Roads program in fiscal Year 2023.
National Forest System
                            forest products
    The Forest Products program supports the agency's goals to foster 
resilient ecosystems, mitigate climate change and wildfire risks, and 
strengthen rural communities through timber sales and other removals of 
forest products. Increased investment would not only support a 
sustainable flow of wood fiber to markets but also launch more projects 
focused on removing small diameter, low-value material, and understory 
trees that are not commercially viable but need to be removed to reduce 
the risk of wildfire or improve forest health conditions. SAF 
recommends $47 million for the Forest Products program in fiscal Year 
2023.
State and Private Forestry
                      landscape scale restoration
    Landscape Scale Restoration (LSR) projects are key tools for 
States, in collaboration with the USDA Forest Service and other 
partners, to address the most critical forest priorities identified in 
each State's Forest Action Plan. The competitive grant process ensures 
innovative approaches to restoration work are proposed and priority is 
given to projects that further the advancement of State Forest Action 
Plans. Therefore, LSR contributes to achieving results across the 
landscape and making meaningful local, regional, and national impacts. 
SAF recommends full funding for the Landscape Scale Restoration program 
at $20 million in fiscal Year 2023.
                           forest stewardship
    The Forest Stewardship Program (FSP) equips private forest 
landowners with the unbiased, science-based information they need to 
sustainably manage their forests now and into the future, helping to 
keep forests as forests. On average, state forestry agencies and other 
partners match Federal investments 2:1, which means the impact of 
Federal dollars delivered through the FSP have amplified on-the-ground 
impacts. Increased Federal funding for FSP will allow state forestry 
agencies and forestry professionals to ramp up outreach efforts and 
provide additional technical assistance to landowners to ensure that 
private forestland acres are maintained and continue to provide a 
myriad of public benefits. SAF recommends $22 million for the Forest 
Stewardship program in fiscal Year 2023.
Department of the Interior-Bureau of Land Management
               forest ecosystem health and recovery fund
    Managing BLM forestlands is an important element of maintaining and 
improving the health and productivity of our Nation's public lands. The 
Forest Ecosystem Health and Recovery Fund (referred to as the 5900 
Account by BLM) was originally established in 1993 to help BLM rapidly 
respond to forestlands damaged by wildfire, insects, and disease. Over 
the years, the authorization has expanded to include a wide range of 
proactive forest health treatments to reduce the risk of future damage 
as well as a variety of recovery activities including salvage and 
replanting.
    The Forest Ecosystem Health and Recovery Fund is self-funded with 
receipts generated from the sale of forest products resulting from 
projects planned and executed to meet the purposes of the fund. Since 
its creation, the fund has provided an additional $4-10 million 
annually to improve forest health and resilience on BLM forestlands.
    SAF believes that the justification for this fund is stronger than 
ever. Given hotter and drier summers, our forests are subjected to 
increased insect and disease damage and longer and more extreme 
wildfire seasons. Public land managers-including BLM foresters-need 
proper resources to manage forests to reduce fuel loads, salvage 
damaged timber, and make forests more resilient to disturbances. SAF 
requests that the subcommittee consider permanent or long- term 
authorization for the Forest Ecosystem Health and Recovery Fund (PL 
102-381).

    [This statement was submitted by Terry Baker, Chief Executive 
Officer, Society of American Foresters.]
                                 ______
                                 
             Prepared Statement of Southcentral Foundation
    My name is April Kyle, and I am the President and CEO of 
Southcentral Foundation (SCF) and an enrolled Ninilchik Tribal member. 
SCF is the Alaska Native Tribal health organization designated by Cook 
Inlet Region, Inc. and 11 federally-recognized Tribes--the Aleut 
Community of St. Paul Island, Igiugig, Iliamna, Kokhanok, McGrath, 
Newhalen, Nikolai, Nondalton, Pedro Bay, Telida, and Takotna--to 
provide health care services to beneficiaries of the Indian Health 
Service (IHS) pursuant to a government-to-government contract with the 
United States under authority of the Indian Self- Determination and 
Education Assistance Act (ISDEAA), Public Law 93-638. SCF is a two-time 
recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for health 
(2011 and 2017) and one of the largest 10 employers in Alaska.
    SCF, through our 2,500 employees, provides critical health 
services, for the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness 
of 65,000 Alaska Native and American Indian people. This includes 
52,000 people living in the Municipality of Anchorage and the 
Matanuska-Susitna Borough, and 13,000 residents of 55 rural Alaska 
Native villages. SCF offers over 85 programs including primary care, 
dental, behavioral health, and addiction treatment as well as co-owning 
and co-managing the Alaska Native Medical Center with our partner the 
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC). Our service area 
encompasses over 100,000 square miles, an area the size of Wyoming.

    1. Advance Appropriation is critical to the stability of the Tribal 
health care delivery system.

    SCF strongly supports advance appropriations for the Indian Health 
Service. The fiscal Year 2020 government shutdown underscored the need 
for this change. The delays in funding had dire impacts in Alaska 
Native and American Indian communities across the country. As 
Congresswoman McCollum has said, ``[d]uring the government shutdown, 
basic everyday needs like health clinics, Tribal justice services, and 
social services for children, families, and seniors went unfunded, 
putting Native American communities at risk.'' We completely agree that 
``[t]hese programs are critical to life, health, and safety in these 
communities, and the Federal Government has a legal and moral 
responsibility to ensure funding for our trust and treaty 
responsibilities is not interrupted. Advance appropriations for Indian 
Country is a promising avenue for making good on our commitments to our 
Native American brothers and sisters.''
    Much has been said in this subcommittee, year after year, about how 
the programs and departments subject to this appropriations process are 
reflections of the trust relationship the Federal Government has with 
American Indian and Alaska Native people. The problems that arise from 
shutdowns and other delays in the context of a lack of advance 
appropriations exacerbate the problems caused by the funding shortfalls 
and disparities.

    2. Continue to Provide Increases for Behavioral Health Programs

    We cannot state strenuously enough how important it is to increase 
available funds for behavioral health. Alaska Native and American 
Indian people are disproportionately represented in substance misuse, 
especially opioid addiction, and suicide statistics. According to the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Alaska Native and 
American Indian people had the highest drug overdose death rates for 
the last 3 years. This death rate has risen by almost 10 percent since 
2018. The CDC also found the suicide rate among Alaska Native people is 
almost three times the U.S. general population rate and at least six 
times the National average in some parts of Alaska.
    Behavioral health funds are critical to our most vulnerable 
population--our youth. SCF operates several programs that provide 
mental health care for Alaska Native youth which go beyond individual 
and group therapy to include programs that build academic, vocational 
and leadership skills through culturally appropriate methods. It is our 
firm conviction that only by addressing the root causes that drive 
individuals to drug misuse and addiction, domestic and child abuse, 
poverty, and unemployment--can we help them heal.
    SCF is also standing up services dedicated to serving individuals 
experiencing behavioral health crisis. Together with our partners at 
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, we are on our way to opening a 
short-term crisis stabilization center on the Alaska Native Health 
Campus, and we are planning work on a crisis residential center. These 
facilities will serve Alaska Native and American Indian individuals in 
Anchorage and across the State. However, Federal investment in 
behavioral health facilities is desperately needed to help build out 
these areas of the behavioral health continuum of care in Alaska.
    We also support specific appropriations for an Opioid Prevention, 
Treatment and Recovery program for Alaska Native and American Indian 
people. We recommend that all behavioral health funding increases be 
distributed among Tribes and Tribal organizations as additions to our 
self-governance compacts and contracts. The Indian Health Service 
practice of creating competitive grant programs for behavioral health 
services has created access barriers for many Tribes and unnecessarily 
increased the administrative burden of Tribal organizations. Alaska 
Native health care providers like SCF recognize that the size of the 
opioid and substance abuse problem in Alaska demands resources. 
However, with insufficient funds to address behavioral health 
challenges, we cannot adequately reach those who suffer from addiction, 
those struggling with PTSD, our military veterans, or victims of 
violent crime. Prevention, education, and timely medication-assisted 
treatment (MAT) programs remain our most potent tools to raise a new 
generation of Alaska Native people who practice positive, life-
affirming behaviors and who will, in turn, pass on these life skills to 
their children and grandchildren.
    Unfortunately, recent appropriations have only provided a modest 
increase for mental/behavioral health, and it did not increase funding 
for the behavioral health integration initiative or for suicide 
prevention, or the amount available for alcohol and substance misuse 
programs. More is needed.

    3. Health Workforce Development

    The pandemic highlighted the drastic shortage of health care 
workers in America. The need is at every clinical level from doctors, 
nurses, dentists, mental health specialists, to medical assistants, and 
other medical technicians. We have worked to build systems that 
recruit, train, and develop not only our clinical staff but our 
executive staff as well. We firmly believe that solving this workforce 
crisis is a mission-critical priority and we are exploring all avenues 
for recruiting talent and developing our own employees.
    We have had tremendous success in training Tribal members as dental 
health aide therapists, behavioral health aides, and community health 
aides. We have also had great success in executive training programs to 
ensure we have a high level of competency in managing our health 
system.
    While we appreciate that the funding for Indian Health Professions 
has increased in the last 2 years, we think more must be done to 
recruit and retain health care professionals to serve in Tribal 
communities.

    4. Section 105(l) Lease Payments and Contract Support Costs

    We appreciate the committee's careful attention to the issue of 
105(l) leases. We also continue to strongly support that these costs 
remain an indefinite appropriation, but with the goal to make sure 
these costs (along with contract support costs) are made mandatory 
costs so that they do not continue to stress the limited funding 
allocation the subcommittee receives.
    Regarding Contract Support Costs, we remain concerned that the 
Indian Health Service is seeking to undermine its obligation, which has 
now been confirmed twice by the U.S. Supreme Court, to pay full 
contract support costs, by categorizing certain necessary costs/
activities as ``Secretarial activities,'' and refusing to pay contract 
support costs for these activities, which are and have always been 
considered contract support cost activities for which Tribes have 
received CSC payment. We would ask the committee to include language in 
its appropriations bill that would require the Indian Health Service to 
compute fiscal Year 2023 CSC consistent with computations undertaken in 
fiscal Year 2021. We appreciate the direction to the Agency on this 
matter in the fiscal Year 2023 Committee Conference Report.

    5. Conclusion

    Thank you again for the opportunity to provide testimony on behalf 
of Southcentral Foundation and the people we serve.

    [This statement was submitted by April Kyle, President and CEO of 
Southcentral Foundation.]
                                 ______
                                 
               Prepared Statement of Squaxin Island Tribe
    On behalf of the Squaxin Island Tribal Leadership and citizens, it 
is an honor to provide our funding priorities and recommendations for 
the fiscal Year 2023 Budgets for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), 
Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), and Indian Health Service (IHS) and 
related agencies. We request that Tribal program funding throughout the 
Federal Government be exempt from sequestrations, rescissions, and 
disproportionate cuts. We support Advance Appropriations for the IHS 
and BIA to prevent funding lapses and other unintended consequences 
associated with short-term funding measures from disrupting critical 
services to American Indians and Alaska Natives provided by the Federal 
Government. Thank you for fully funding Contract Support Costs (CSC) 
and 105(l) leases as indefinite line items but we ask that you re-
classify both as mandatory spending to ensure Tribal Nations have the 
tools for effective governance critical in fulfilling the promise of 
the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. Squaxin 
Island is one of the first 30 Federally recognized Tribes to enter a 
Compact of Self-Governance with the United States in both the 
Departments of the Interior and Health and Human Services.

SQUAXIN ISLAND TRIBE Specific Requests:

    1. $13 million Construction of New Health Center

    2. Northwest Indian Treatment Center (NWITC) Residential Program in 
IHS

    A. $1.5 million--Medicine Building

    B. $250,000--Sustain Operations

    3. $500,000 Shellfish Management Program--BIA

    Support National and Regional fiscal Year 2023 Budget Requests and 
Recommendations for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian Health Service 
and Bureau of Indian Education--by the National Congress of American 
Indians, National Indian Health Board, National Indian Education 
Association, Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians and the Northwest 
Indian Fisheries Commission
                    squaxin island tribe background
    We are native people of South Puget Sound and descendants of the 
maritime people who lived and prospered along these shores for untold 
centuries. We are known as the People of the Water because of our 
strong cultural connection to the natural beauty and bounty of Puget 
Sound going back hundreds of years. The Squaxin Island Indian 
Reservation is in southeastern Mason County, Washington and the Tribe 
is a signatory to the 1854 Medicine Creek Treaty. Our treaty-designated 
reservation, Squaxin Island, is approximately 2.2 square miles of 
uninhabited forested land, surrounded by the bays and inlets of 
southern Puget Sound. Because the Island lacks fresh water, the Tribe 
has built its community on roughly 26 acres at Kamilche, Washington 
purchased and placed into trust. The Tribe also owns 6 acres across 
Pickering Passage from Squaxin Island and a plot of 36 acres on 
Harstine Island, across Peale Passage. The total land area including 
off-reservation trust lands is 1,715.46 acres. In addition, the Tribe 
manages roughly five hundred acres of Puget Sound tidelands.
    Our Tribal governance combines our sovereign powers as well as U.S. 
Congressional acts related to treaties, statutes, and public law. The 
Squaxin Island Tribe, like all Tribal Nations, continues to work 
through the impacts of the pandemic. Prior to COVID-19, the Tribal 
government and our economic enterprises constituted the largest 
employer in Mason County with over 1,250 employees. The Tribe has a 
current enrollment of 1,123 and an on-reservation population of 426 
living in 141 homes. Squaxin has an estimated service area population 
of 2,747; a growth rate of about 10 percent, and an unemployment rate 
of about 30 percent. We continue to need the assistance of 
Congressional relief funds to mitigate the ongoing challenges to 
recovery. We are grateful for the support we have received so far.
         squaxin island tribe specific requests/justifications:
    1. $13 million--Design and Construct New Squaxin Island Health 
Center--IHS Division of Facilities Planning and Construction

    In 1995, under a Self-Governance compact with the U.S. Department 
of Health and Human Services' Indian Health Service, the Squaxin Island 
Tribe began construction of the Tribally owned Sally Selvedge Memorial 
Health Center (the Center). The original 8,000 square foot facility 
housed the primary care, dental, mental health, contract health 
services and community health and served an estimated 770 users. The 
Center consolidated health programs into one facility and expanded new 
services not previously available due to the lack of space and 
resources. We remain proud of this accomplishment and what we were able 
to offer our citizens using and leveraging funds as we saw fit to meet 
our local needs.
    On June 17, 2021, IHS testified before the House Committee on 
Natural Resources on the status of IHS and Tribal facilities, 
``Disparities in the health status of American Indians and Alaska 
Natives are directly affected by access to health care services. Health 
care services are constrained by the limited capacities of existing 
Indian Health Service and Tribal health care facilities. There is a 
significant need for expansion, renovation, or replacement of many 
buildings.''\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ https://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/asl/testimony/2021/06/17/
examining-federal-facilities-indian-country.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Thirty years after the Center was built, the Squaxin Island Health 
and Human Services (HHS), located in the Center now provides 9,000 
patient/clinic visits with over 17,000 pharmacy encounters taking place 
each year to 905 AI/AN patients as well as other family members of 
those patients. We can no longer accommodate all of our mental health 
and substance use disorder programs in the same facility. Our Health 
Promotion/Disease Prevention and HIT programs are also located in 
another site. Medical services have outgrown our existing space and our 
ability to address the public health emergency has been hindered 
because our facility was unable to accommodate any increases to medical 
or administrative staff. The Tribe bills Medicare, Medicaid and other 
third-party payers but the buying power we once had to build a new 
health center in 1995 has diminished in 2022, even more so because of 
inflation caused by the pandemic. Our American Indian/Alaska Native 
patient population has increased over 25 percent since 2012. Current 
medical, dental, and behavioral services are insufficient for our 
current population. Laboratory and lab services are severely under 
built and would not be able to meet accreditation standards. The recent 
pandemic spotlighted our need for basic health care delivery 
infrastructure improvements, in both staffing and buildings, required 
to address communicable viruses. The potential consequences on our 
Tribal members and families with underlying health conditions remains a 
concern for us. We can no longer continue to provide good care in 
facilities that have met their maximum remodeling capacity. Squaxin 
Island Tribe is in desperate need of Congressional appropriations to 
construct a new facility.
    Since 1993 and continues today, the Healthcare Facilities 
Construction Priority System (HFCPS) is the methodology that the IHS 
uses to identify and prioritize the need for IHS and Tribal healthcare 
facilities. Prior to Squaxin Island building the Center, the IHS, in 
collaboration with Tribal representatives, used the HFCPS to prioritize 
major health facilities' needs. The IHS projects were ranked based on 
the population served, the condition of health care facilities, 
remoteness, and barriers to care. The total need for the HCFC Program 
in 2016 was approximately $14.5 billion for expanded and active 
authority facility types according to the 2016 IHS and Tribal Health 
Care Facilities' Needs Assessment Report to Congress.\2\ An update to 
the needs assessment report to Congress is in progress. However, early 
drafts report an increase in the need is up to approximately $22 
billion.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ https://www.ihs.gov/sites/newsroom/themes/responsive2017/
display_objects/documents/RepCong_2016/
IHSRTC_on_FacilitiesNeedsAssessmentReport.pdf.--PDF
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The President's fiscal Year 2022 Budget Request for Health Care 
Facilities Construction is $266 million to boost the line item to an 
historical $526 million. However, the final fiscal Year 2022 budget 
amounts remain uncertain. The Squaxin Island facility is operating 
beyond capacity and the operational and maintenance costs continue to 
soar. Health care needs are becoming more challenging every day and we 
are not winning the battle.
    In March 2020, pre-pandemic, we were in the process of rolling out 
the Squaxin Island Tribe Strategic Health Plan; a robust health program 
plan which includes all the details about a new facility and expanded 
services. Today there is approximately 12,000 square feet that houses 
the entire HHS department. Using estimates of current building sizes, 
or comps, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation 
recently built a 64,000 square foot health center with a user 
population of 3,331. Medical facilities average $500 per square foot. 
Squaxin Island's user population is approximately 28 percent the size 
of Umatilla. We estimate we need a minimum of 25,000 square feet based 
on the Indian Health Care Services' Healthcare Systems Planning tool, 
which calculates the current user population and projections of growth 
out to 2034. Estimated total cost for the design and construction of 
the Squaxin Island Health Center is $13,000,000.

    2. $1.750 Million Increase for Northwest Indian Treatment Center 
(NWITC) Residential Program--IHS--H"D3WXbi Palil'' meaning ``Returning 
from the Dark, Deep Waters to the Light"

    The Squaxin Island Tribe's Northwest Indian Treatment Center, D3f 
bi Pa lil, is a residential treatment facility that serves Native 
Americans with chronic substance abuse patterns related to unresolved 
grief and complex trauma, including generational trauma. The Center is 
Commission on Accreditation of Facilities accredited and a recognized 
national model of treatment for treating trauma in the presence of 
addiction, uniquely integrating the Best Practice of Dialectical 
Behavioral Therapy (DBT) with Plant Medicines. This culturally infused 
use of a Best Practice, based on this NWITC program, has been adapted 
in many Tribal communities since its development. DBT is a model of 
treatment with good research results for the treatment of substance 
above and mental health conditions.
    In recognition of NWITC's unique model of treatment, the State of 
Washington Health Care Authority has requested NWITC to create a video-
documentary describing the key elements. They have provided over 
$82,000 to fund this video-documentary which can be used as a model by 
other Tribes to help understand the benefits and requirements of the 
facility. NWITC has these urgent needs:

    A. Medicine Building--this project is shovel ready cost estimated 
at $1.5 million. This building will support and expand the reach of the 
activities of the DBT/Plant Medicine program. It will be a place of 
medicine making, but also have video capacity linking this program to 
other Tribal medicine programs and creating a library available to 
Tribal behavioral health programs and NWITC alumni. The result will be 
better support for alumni, but also will help build capacity in Tribal 
communities in the Northwest.

    B. Because of the pandemic, the relapse rate in Tribal communities 
served by NWITC are high. To better support NWITC alumni, it is 
necessary to provide more support. Even though the NWITC has a Recovery 
Support Team who actively supports alumni for 1-year post treatment, in 
the current environment this is insufficient. NWITC requires a staff 
position to provide the DBT/Plant Medicine training/coaching in the 
Tribal communities in which alumni live. Costs include a position to 
implement this, plus expenses of alumni to participate, including 
hotel, food, etc. In past events NWITC has verified this as the most 
successful approach for teaching/coaching alumni. Budget for this is 
$250,000.

    1. $500,000--Shellfish Management--BIA

    The Squaxin Island Tribe faces an ongoing budget deficit to 
maintain and operate the shellfish program at its current level of 
operation-a level that leaves 20 percent of treaty-designated state 
lands and 80-90 percent of private tidelands unharvested due to lack of 
funding. To address this shortfall and enable effective growth and 
development of the program, an annual minimum increase of $500,000 is 
requested. Shellfish have been a mainstay for the Squaxin Island people 
for thousands of years and are important today for subsistence, 
economic and ceremonial purposes. The Tribe's right to harvest 
shellfish is guaranteed by the 1854 Medicine Creek Treaty. Today, we 
are unable to fully exercise our treaty rights due to lack of Federal 
support for our shellfish management program.

    [This statement was submitted by Kristopher K. Peters, Chairman, 
Squaxin Island Tribe.]
                                 ______
                                 
             Prepared Statement of Tanana Chiefs Conference
    The Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC) appreciates the opportunity to 
submit written testimony to the subcommittee regarding fiscal Year 2023 
appropriation priorities for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and 
Indian Health Service (IHS). TCC urges the subcommittee to continue in 
fiscal Year 2023 to prioritize funding increases for the BIA and IHS 
appropriation accounts that provide critical housing, Tribal Courts, 
public safety, social services, subsistence, and healthcare needs to 
rural, isolated communities such as the Alaska Native villages TCC 
serves.
    We are grateful to the subcommittee and Congress for the bipartisan 
support it has shown for Alaska Native villages, especially since the 
Coronavirus pandemic swept across the Nation and into Alaska Native and 
Tribal communities. Federal funds have often spelled the difference 
between the success or failure of Tribal programs and, in turn, the 
wellbeing of the indigenous peoples of this great country. This remains 
true today as Alaska Natives face continued challenges concerning 
inadequate infrastructure, healthcare, public safety, food insecurity, 
and the impacts of climate change.
    TCC is a non-profit interTribal consortium of 42 communities, 
including 37 Federally recognized Indian Tribes, located across 
Alaska's interior. TCC serves approximately 18,000 Alaska Natives in 
Fairbanks, where our headquarters is located, and in the rural villages 
located along the 1,400 miles of the Yukon River and its tributaries, 
and the upper Kuskokwim River drainage, in Alaska's interior.
                                housing
    On average, TCC receives about 280 eligible applicants each year 
for the BIA Housing Improvement Program (HIP) (funded at $11.7 million 
in fiscal Year 2021). Due to funding restrictions, only the top scoring 
applications are awarded. Since 2018, we received HIP funds to rebuild 
eight homes in five villages. If HIP continues to be funded at this 
level, it will take 140 years to meet the housing needs of the low-
income individuals in Interior Alaska. The lack of housing for low-
income Alaska Native families continues to be a priority for TCC. 
Approximately 23 percent of Tribal households in our region (381 
households) are dealing with overcrowding. The COVID-19 pandemic 
highlighted the health disparity resulting from overcrowding in Alaska 
Native villages and Tribal communities. The region's average per capita 
income is $26,366 per year, which is approximately 25 percent lower 
than the average per capital income for Alaska. HIP assistance is the 
only assistance very low-income families qualify for. HIP is not 
duplicative of NAHASDA's grant program. We urge the subcommittee to 
significantly increase this ``neediest of the needy'' housing program 
for fiscal Year 2023 at levels well above the fiscal Year 2021 enacted 
level to improve housing conditions for low-income Alaska Natives.
                 tribal courts (public law 280 states)
    We urge the subcommittee to establish permanent and recurring funds 
for Tribal Courts within BIA's Public Safety and Justice account for 
Tribal Courts (TPA) in Pub. L. 280 States like Alaska. We also ask to 
increase Tribal Court funding to $20 million per year. Since receiving 
BIA Pub. L. 280 Tribal Court funds, TCC Region Tribes have expanded 
their caseloads, case types, and have improved outcomes for minor 
Tribal members normally involved in the State child welfare system. 
Tribes now having funding to ensure Indian Civil Rights Act applies in 
all cases through full time Tribal court clerks, administrators, and 
training of Tribal judges. These changes have improved Tribal Court 
approaches to families struggling with addictions, domestic violence, 
and mental health issues. Due to Alaska Native villages not receiving 
BIA public safety funds, the role of Tribal Courts in Alaska Native 
villages is critical. It allows our villages to address public safety 
concerns at the community level in a culturally appropriate manner that 
is responsive to local concerns. Trained Tribal Court personnel make a 
difference.
    Tribal and Wellness Courts are tangible evidence of our sovereign 
status and promote healing and reduce criminal activity through a 
holistic approach, rather than through arrest, prosecution, and 
incarceration far from family and Tribal services. Tribal Courts have 
been using their affirmed authority under VAWA to issue and enforcement 
domestic violence protection orders and address minor crimes through 
tribal/state diversion agreements. Tribes in the Region are currently 
working to develop a regional interTribal court for Healing to 
Wellness, and hope to help serve families and individuals that need 
additional supports through the diversion courts.
                             public safety
    TCC appreciates the leadership of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland 
and this subcommittee concerning Missing and Murdered Indigenous women 
and the creation of new unit to investigate and solve these cases 
within the BIA's Office of Justice Services. Living in rural 
communities with little or no local law enforcement often means that 
rural Alaska Natives are 2-4 times more likely to be the victim of 
crime compared to living in an urban center such as Anchorage. TCC 
currently has 10 Village Public Safety Officers (VPSOs) funded by the 
State and one Tribal Peace Officer to provide public safety and other 
first responder services to our region. Our villages have 11 officers 
to cover a service area that is slightly smaller than the state of 
Texas. Our Tribes continue to call for increased public safety 
resources for Alaska Native villages to keep our communities safe and 
to break the cycle of abuse, trauma, and suffering.
                         icwa & social services
    TCC receives ICWA funding to allocate $24,000 to our eligible 
villages. This covers one-half of the cost for an ICWA advocate paid 
$14/hr. for a 40-hour work week. Interior Alaska Tribes need $100,000 
annually (a four-fold increase to the current assistance level we can 
provide based on an appropriation of $17 million for ICWA). If our 
Tribes are to end the cycle of abuse and trauma to young Native 
children, we need qualified staff to monitor ICWA cases and ensure that 
the children are kept safe and whenever possible reunited with parents 
or guardians. The Tiwahe Program is a successful model that better 
integrates social services, ICWA, Tribal Courts, counseling, and job 
training. Please expand this culturally-rooted and holistic program 
beyond its pilot Tribes so that this proven model can be replicated 
among all Tribes. Tiwahe Program funds should be allocated equally to 
all Tribal human services programs. It will save lives, money, and 
build strong Native communities that raise healthier and more confident 
Native children.
    Unfortunately, rates of child abuse and neglect in Alaska are above 
the National average. Alaska's physical abuse investigations during the 
COVID pandemic have increased by 200 percent. This is a significant 
increase and yet the BIA funds to prevent child abuse are consistently 
inadequate. While funding increases for costs to implement the Indian 
Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act are important, 
Congress should also increase welfare assistance, ICWA, and social 
service funds.
                                 realty
    The funding for the realty program has not matched the increased 
demand for services. Our realty program started with under 3,000 
landowners and today we are serving nearly 12,000. Since the passage of 
the 2019 Dingell Act, Veterans are eligible to apply for allotment 
lands with support from their local Tribal realty providers. This work 
is an unfunded mandate.
    Historically, record keeping funding was sent to regional BIA 
offices and then distributed as end of year monies to Tribes, which was 
approximately $500,000 per year. Over the last decade, TCC has not 
received these funds, yet our landowners continue to increase and the 
BIA shifted more record keeping responsibility onto Tribes. Probates 
are becoming more complex. As land ownership becomes fractionated, more 
individuals are named in probate cases and aging probate backlogs 
increase. The volume and difficulty of work has increased, yet the 
funding has not. In 2012, we had 3 realty specialists, 2 archeologists, 
2 appraisers, 3 surveyors, and 3 probate specialists. We now have 1 
realty specialist, 2 probate specialists, 1 appraiser, 1 surveyor and 1 
archeologist/environmental officer due to funding constraints.
    Surveys to partition/subdivide restricted lands is critical for 
landowner use and is one of the most effective ways to combat 
fractionation. We have an incredible need for survey with nearly 100 
requests for survey that are unmet. We receive no funding for 
surveying. The number of trespass complaints has quadrupled in the last 
5 years. Fractionation, road construction for resource development, 
outside hunting/fishing pressures, and climate change contribute to the 
increase in trespass complaints.
                       public law 102-477 program
    TCC has successfully operated a 477 program since late 1990s, 
currently with 12 programs consolidated under the plan. 477 programs 
allow TCC to provide wrap around services to our clients to help them 
achieve their self-sufficiency goals. In the past 3 years, TCC served 
6,664 adults, 633 youth, and 2,489 cash assistance recipients. TCC 
appreciates the work by BIA AS-IA Newland for prioritizing the 
Department of the Interior's MOA with other agencies to expand the 477 
Program. With an update MOA that compliments the law, TCC plans to 
expand consolidated programs. TCC views the 477 program as providing an 
excellent model of how increasing Tribal flexibility with funding can 
improve successful outcomes for our beneficiaries.
        tribal management/development program and co-management
    TCC seeks permanent and recurring funding for Inter-Tribal Fish 
Commissions and Tribal Wildlife Co-Management Organizations. TCC uses 
funds received within the TM/DP account to support the work performed 
by the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission that works to unify the 
Yukon River Tribes, advocate for Tribal management, build capacity and 
address food security challenges with the decline of salmon runs due to 
climate change. We need permanent and recurring funding for Inter- 
Tribal Fish Commissions and Tribal Wildlife Co-Management Organizations 
to continue this work. Harvesting salmon is vital to the health and 
wellbeing of Tribal members. There is no culturally acceptable and 
economical feasible substitute for this subsistence practice. Fisheries 
management decisions on the Yukon River are made using fish counts from 
two sonars operated by the State near Pilot Station at river mile 123 
and the other more than 1,000 miles upriver at Eagle. On average, it 
takes 27-40 days for salmon to travel between the two sonar sites. The 
past 3 years, the counts at the Pilot Station sonar have overestimated 
the run size, with up to 40,000 king salmon ``unaccounted'' for between 
the two sonar sites. With an increase of $500,000 in our fiscal Year 
2023 TM/DP funding, TCC can purchase a sonar midriver near Galena to 
count salmon in the Yukon River earlier. A midriver sonar could impact 
and create more equity of salmon harvest opportunities for the entire 
population that lives on the Yukon River watershed, which is about 
126,000 people. The resource management system does not acknowledge 
traditional knowledge unless supported by data. A mid-river sonar at 
Galena would give Tribes critical data to influence more accurate and 
fair management decisions. This is an important step toward co-
management of our traditional resources.
    TCC urges the subcommittee to instruct the non-BIA bureaus of the 
Interior Department to honor the legal authority to enter self-
governance contracts for the stewardship of traditional territories 
with Tribes (ISDEAA Title IV), recognizing the capacity and capability 
of Tribes and Tribal organizations to assume co-management of public 
lands and resources that are critical to the maintenance of our hunting 
and fishing stewardship practice, and meeting national climate change 
and conservation goals.
                               healthcare
     In the late 1980's TCC assumed management of the Alaska Native 
Health Center in Fairbanks and renamed it the Chief Andrew Isaac Health 
Center after the Traditional Athabascan Chief from Dot Lake who led TCC 
from 1972 to 1991. The Chief Andrew Isaac Health Center is an 
accredited ambulatory health care facility providing comprehensive 
outpatient services to eligible beneficiaries in our region. We 
strongly support advance funding of IHS appropriations in the fiscal 
Year 2023 appropriation bill and making IHS funding mandatory.
    We urge the subcommittee to increase Services funds well above the 
fiscal Year 2021/FY 2022 enacted levels to address the historic and 
continuing inequitable and unequal funding for Alaska Native and 
American Indian healthcare. If we are to end health disparities between 
indigenous and non-Native people, address behavioral health needs, the 
unacceptable high rate of infant mortality, the opioid epidemic, and 
suicide among Native people, we need recurring funding increases in IHS 
Services and Facilities programs commensurate with our needs and the 
Federal Government's trust obligations to provide health care to Alaska 
Natives and American Indians.
    This subcommittee knows well our lack of infrastructure and the 
negative health consequences that result to Native people from too few 
health facilities, inadequate housing and transitional housing, lack of 
qualified health professionals, long waiting lists for alcohol, 
substance abuse, and mental health treatment programs, and long travel 
distances to health facilities. Tribal organizations like TCC need 
Federal appropriations across a broad array of Federal programs to 
build more ambulatory health clinics, rehabilitate or construct housing 
and transitional housing, recruit and hire qualified and dedicated 
health professionals, staff, operate, and maintain substance abuse 
treatment centers, and increase public transit. With more funds, we can 
better ensure access to life- saving medical care and mental health 
treatment services for Alaska Natives and beneficiaries.
    The Pub. L. 102-477 Program is an excellent model that breaks down 
arbitrary and harmful ``silos'' of Federal funding that deprive Tribal 
organizations like TCC the flexibility we require to address multiple 
needs in a holistic and culturally appropriate manner. It is in our 
mutual interest for the Federal Government to afford Tribal 
organizations the flexibility we require to do the most with what we 
are given. Congress should trust Tribal organizations and let us 
demonstrate what we can achieve for our members if we collaborate and 
work together toward these shared goals.
    Thank you for the opportunity for us to share our funding 
priorities with you.

    [This statement was submitted by Brian Ridley, President, Tanana 
Chiefs Conference.]
                                 ______
                                 
        Prepared Statement of the Urban Indian Health Institute
    Members of the Senate Committee on Appropriations subcommittee on 
Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, my name is Abigail Echo-
Hawk, and I am an enrolled citizen of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, 
currently living in an urban Indian community in Seattle, Washington. I 
am the Executive Vice President of the Seattle Indian Health Board 
(SIHB) and Director of the Urban Indian Health Institute (UIHI), an 
Indian Health Service (IHS) designated Tribal Epidemiology Center 
(TEC), where I oversee our policy, research, data, and evaluation 
initiatives. To ensure adequate resources and research can be conducted 
by TECs, I request $474.4 million to the IHS Hospitals and Clinics: 
Tribal Epidemiology Center line item to improve culturally attuned 
research, data, and evaluation services for the over 7 million American 
Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people across the country.
    I am an American Indian health researcher with more than 20 years 
of experience in both academic and non-profit settings. I am part of 
numerous local, State, and Federal efforts to support AI/AN communities 
in research, including serving on the Tribal Collaborations Workgroup 
for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) All of Us precision 
medicine initiative. I am also a recent member of the NIH Office of 
AIDs Research Advisory Council as the only Native representative. I am 
a co-author to four groundbreaking research studies on sexual violence 
and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) where I 
have called national attention to the institutional barriers in data 
collection, reporting, and analysis of demographic data that perpetuate 
violence against AI/AN people. I am a member of the National Academies 
of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Standing Committee for 
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Center for 
Preparedness and Response (SCPR). And I was a committee member for the 
NASEM: Framework for Equitable Allocation of COVID-19 Vaccine.\1\ As 
the only representative from the Native community, I worked to ensure 
the needs of our Indian healthcare system, Tribes, AI/AN rural and 
urban were appropriately included to inform States and policymakers 
nationwide.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 
(2020). A Framework for Equitable Allocation of Vaccine for the Novel 
Coronavirus. www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/a-framework-for-
equitable-allocation-of-vaccine-for-the-novel-coronavirus#sl-three-
columns-ae9c516d-4db7-4a55-be7a-9cc567aa561b
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    support advanced appropriations for tribal epidemiology centers
    I would like to thank the subcommittee for hosting a hearing on A 
Review of the Fiscal Year 2023 President's Budget for the Indian Health 
Service held on May 11, 2022. I was pleased to hear the subcommittee 
raising the concerns of Indian Country, including IHS failing to submit 
a budget proposal to support our efforts in reaching advanced 
appropriations for the Indian healthcare system. I was also pleased to 
hear Congresswoman Murkowski advocating for IHS to receive a permanent 
director capable of submitting this budget proposal. Through collective 
advocacy, I am confident in the Indian healthcare system receiving 
equitable funding to uphold obligated trust and treaty responsibilities 
to AI/AN populations.
            continued institutional barriers on data access
    I would like to thank the members of the subcommittee for their 
support on S.1397 Tribal Health Data Improvement Act of 2021,\2\ which 
passed the House and was heard in the Senate in late March. The act 
addresses many of the concerns and recommendations issued by the 
Government Accountability Office (GAO) report Tribal Epidemiology 
Centers: HHS Actions Needed to Enhance Data Access.\3\ The act expands 
an Indigenous Data Sovereignty framework \4\ by reaffirming TECs access 
to public health data, encouraging the IHS to share public health data 
with Tribes, Tribal organizations, urban Indian organizations (UIOs), 
and improving the quality and accuracy of public health data.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ H.R. 3841 (2021). Tribal Health Data Improvement Act of 2021. 
www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3841?s=1&r=70
    \3\ United States Government Accountability Office. (March 2022). 
Tribal Epidemiology Centers: HHS Actions Needed to Enhance Data Access. 
Retrieved from: https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-104698.pdf .
    \4\ United States Indigenous Data Sovereignty Network. (2021). 
usindigenousdata.org/policy-briefs
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    UIHI's work continues to highlight the ongoing undercount, 
misclassification, and gaps of information collected on AI/ANs, 
signifying the erasure of health inequities experienced in Indian 
Country. On February 19, 2021, UIHI released a national report card, 
Data Genocide \5\ to the House Select subcommittee on the Coronavirus 
Crisis, that analyzed the collection and reporting of COVID-19 case 
surveillance data for AI/ANs by State. The report revealed the Nation 
receive a grade of D+ for our ability to track and report on racial 
demographic COVID-19 data for AI/ANs. To provide our community with 
accessible and reliable AI/AN data, UIHI maintains two data dashboards, 
COVID-19 \6\ and Community Health Profiles \7\, on AI/ANs across the 
country. These dashboards are the first-of-its kind and provide viable 
data to service providers to support program planning, identify gaps in 
data and research, and support decision-making for our community.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ Urban Indian Health Institute. (February 15, 2021). Data 
Genocide of American Indians and Alaska Natives in COVID-19 Data. 
www.uihi.org/download/data-genocide-of-american-indians-and-alaska-
natives-a-report-card-grading-u-s-States-quality-of-covid-19-data-and-
their-effectiveness-in-tracking-it-for-american-indian-and-alaska-
native-p/?wpdmdl=17709&refresh=62165c5d26f381645632605
    \6\ Urban Indian Health Institute. (2021). COVID-19 Data Dashboard. 
www.uihi.org/covid-19-data-dashboard/
    \7\ Urban Indian Health Institute. (2022). Community Health 
Profiles. www.uihi.org/urban-indian-health/data-dashboard/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Despite the Affordable Care Act authorizing public health data to 
TECs, the IHS continues to deny TECs with necessary data. As recently 
as January 19, 2022, UIHI was denied county-level STI and HIV data 
stratified by race. Additionally, the CDC has not improved our ability 
to access the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) 
and National Data Warehouse with the CDC simultaneously holding back on 
releasing COVID-19 data to the public.\11\ We are actively pursuing and 
requesting public data across the Department of Health and Human 
Services (HHS) with the Administration and Congress to oversee the CDC 
fulfilling our data requests.
    We request Federal agencies establish data sharing requirements 
with TECs which uphold Congressional intent and recommendations by the 
GAO report. The lack of investment affects the quality of data reported 
out, inter-operability between public health agencies, and limits our 
ability to analyze data in a timely manner. Increased funding for data 
modernization supports TEC's provide information to Tribes, Tribal 
organizations, UIOs, and government agencies and inform decision-making 
for the equitable distribution of resources as well as robust policies, 
planning, and programming to address social determinants of health 
experienced in Indian Country.
      prioritizing maternal health under the biden administration
    In 2021, the Administration announced initial actions to address 
the Indigenous maternal health crisis.\8\ However, the future of 
maternal and infant programming is severely lacking within IHS 
programming. Nationally, CDC data shows that AI/ANs have almost twice 
the infant mortality rate \9\ and three to four times the maternal 
mortality rate \10\ as compared to non-Hispanic whites. Significant 
investments must be made for maternal and infant health delivered under 
the Indian healthcare system.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \8\ The White House. (April 13, 2021). Fact Sheet. 
www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/13/fact-
sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-initial-actions-to-address-
the-black-maternal-health-crisis/.
    \9\ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Infant 
Mortality in the United States, 2018: Data From the Period Linked 
Birth/Infant Death File. www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/NVSR-69-7-
508.pdf
    \10\ Petersen EE, Davis NL, Goodman D, et al. (2019). Vital Signs: 
Pregnancy-Related Deaths. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm68181
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    https://www.nationalpartnership.org/our-work/resources/health-care/
maternity/american-indian-and-alaska.pdf
    Currently, there are only 10 IHS obstetric facilities available 
nationwide to support infant and maternal health.\11\ In 2020, the 
Phoenix Indian Medical Center abruptly closed their inpatient 
obstetrics services due to outdated equipment and staffing 
shortages.\12\ On average, IHS spends $3,332 per patient compared to 
the National average of $9,207 per patient.\13\ Urban AI/AN women rely 
on Medicaid as their primary insurance compared to only 27.2 percent of 
non-Hispanic white women.\14\ Despite the expansion of Medicaid in the 
Affordable Care Act, 21 percent of AI/AN women remain uninsured or 
underinsured.\15\ These types of ramification have resulted in over 90 
percent of AI/AN births occurring outside of IHS facilities.\16\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \11\ IHS. Locations. https://www.ihs.gov/babyfriendly/locations/
    \12\ Indian Country Today. (October 23, 2020). Birthing center 
closure: 'My baby and I felt abandoned'. https://
indiancountrytoday.com/news/birthing-center-closure-my-baby-and-i-felt-
abandoned?redir=1
    \13\ National Congress of American Indians. (2020). Healthcare. 
https://www.ncai.org/07_NCAI-FY20-Healthcare.pdf
    \14\ Urban Indian Health Institute. (2021). Community Health 
Profile. https://www.uihi.org/download/community-health-profile-
national-aggregate-of-urban-indian-organization-service-areas/
?wpdmdl=19113&refresh=62570f7186e871649872753
    \15\ National Partnership for Women & Families. (October 2019). 
American Indian and Alaska Native Women's Maternal Health.
    \16\ IHS. Maternal Mortality and Morbidity in Indian Country. 
https://www.ihs.gov/sites/dccs/themes/responsive2017/display_objects/
documents/IHSmaternalmortalityfsfinal.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    While not under the IHS, the National Institutes of Health--Healthy 
Native Babies Program (HNBP) was the only national AI/AN educational 
campaign for infant and maternal health which expired on May 5, 2022. 
HNBP provides culturally attuned programming and trainings to address 
infant health disparities including high rates of Sudden unexplained 
infant death (SUID) through materials, community stipends, and 
culturally attuned training. With the ending of this program, the 
subcommittee must advocate for increased initiatives to address the 
maternal and infant health crisis or find HNBP a new home within a 
Federal agency like IHS.
                holistic gender-based violence services
    The pandemic has stressed the need for additional resources to 
reach AI/AN survivors, victims, families, and communities affected by 
the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People (MMIWP) crisis. 
During the pandemic, gender-based violence incidents increased by 8.1 
percent,\17\ yet we know this is a severe undercount for AI/AN 
populations who are difficult to reach. IHS must receive additional 
funding to support prevention and intervention of violence for our 
loved ones.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \17\ National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice (February 
2021). Domestic Violence During COVID-19: Evidence from a Systematic 
Review and Meta-Analysis.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In response, UIHI has released a number of reports including: 
Sacred: Womxn of Resilience,\18\ a report on the COVID-19 impact on 
Native femme-identify Native survivors of sexual violence; Service as 
Ceremony: A Journey Toward Healing,\19\ a national study interviewing 
gender-based violence direct service providers; and Building the 
Sacred: An Indigenous Framework for Programs Serving Native Survivors 
of Violence. \20\ These reports are critical to understanding where 
continued investments and policy change are needed so we may move 
towards healing.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \18\ Urban Indian Health Institute. (September 2020). Sacred: Womxn 
of Resilience. www.uihi.org/download/supporting-the-sacred-womxn-of-
resilience/?wpdmdl=18261&refresh=6217b40a4ce3e1645720586
    \19\ Urban Indian Health Institute. (February 17, 2022). Service as 
Ceremony: A Journey Toward Healing. www.uihi.org/download/service-as-
ceremony-a-journey-toward-healing/
?wpdmdl=19563&refresh=621d39d2458ae1646082514XX
    \20\ Urban Indian Health Institute (February 17, 2022). Building 
the Sacred. www.uihi.org/download/building-the-sacred-an-indigenous-
evaluation-framework-for-programs-serving-native-survivors-of-violence/
?wpdmdl=19565&refresh=6216aacc3cca61645652684
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Sacred: Womxn of Resilience was a grant opportunity for Native 
femme-identifying survivors of sexual assault who had been impacted by 
the pandemic. The report recommended funding for housing stability, 
legal representation, behavioral health, and strengthening community 
support to reduce unmet needs, support providers, promote self-
determination and healing, and honor Tribal sovereignty. The report 
also found the relationship between law enforcement, providers, and 
survivors could be improved through culturally responsive training and 
authentic relationship-building.
    Service as Ceremony: A Journey Toward Healing details stories and 
experiences of gender-based violence direct-service providers in urban 
and rural Native communities. The report found culturally attuned 
programing that holistically address physical, psychological, and 
spiritual impacts, while responding to community needs, were essential 
to building resiliency and responding the spectrum of violence. The 
providers' stories revealed six areas of unmet needs: centering culture 
as a core part of service; improve flexibility of State and Federal 
grants; increased access to housing and stability; and expanded 
LGBTW2S+ services in community prevention.
    As a compliment to Service as Ceremony, we released Building the 
Sacred: An Indigenous Evaluation Framework for Programs Serving Native 
Survivors of Violence. UIHI's framework supports building the patient-
provider relationship and culturally attuned responses to MMIWP. These 
reports make three key recommendations 1) fund TECs to conduct research 
by and for Indigenous people 2) Assure funding is non-competitive, 
multi-year, and provides flexible spending, and 3) Include UIOs in 
grant carve outs in bills like the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
    The subcommittee and IHS must implement policies, programming, and 
activities to support a multipronged approach to address the MMIWP 
crisis. Federal agencies have a fiduciary obligation to protect AI/AN 
populations across the Nation and must do everything in their statutory 
limits to combat MMIWP.

    [This statement was submitted by Abigail Echo-Hawk, MA, Director of 
the Urban Indian Health Institute.]
                                 ______
                                 
        Prepared Statement of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
    Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony regarding Fiscal 
Year 2023 (FY23) appropriations. Our organizations share a commitment 
to collaborative, landscape-scale conservation. This work brings people 
together across geographies, sectors, and cultures to restore 
fragmented landscapes and seascapes, safeguarding the ecological, 
cultural, and economic benefits provided by intact and connected 
habitat. We therefore support the President's FY23 Budget Request of 
$57.5M (an increase of approximately $27.7M over FY22) for the U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) Science Applications Program.\1\ 
This funding is critical for effectively coordinating collaborative, 
large landscape conservation, climate resilience, and habitat 
connectivity efforts across the Federal Government-and with state, 
Tribal, and non-governmental partners nationwide. Furthermore, we urge 
you to provide an additional $2.5M ($60M total for Science 
Applications) in order to begin implementing the consensus 
recommendations that emerged from the recent Future of Conservation 
Forum \2\ (led by USFWS) and the recent congressional briefing on 
``Building a Durable National Framework for Large Landscape 
Conservation.'' \3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2022-03/presidents-2b-
service-budget-request-prioritizes-conservation-key
    \2\ https://www.futureofconservation.earth/forum.html
    \3\ https://www.eesi.org/briefings/view/032922fed
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As described in the USFWS FY23 Budget Justification,\4\ Science 
Applications ``addresses complex, multi-jurisdictional conservation 
challenges across large landscapes using a collaborative approach to 
develop shared conservation priorities, actions and outcomes'' (SA-1, 
emphasis added). Science Applications achieves this by convening 
federal, state, Tribal, and non-governmental partners to identify and 
implement durable, inclusive, and landscape-scale conservation 
solutions. The Science Applications Cooperative Landscape Conservation 
\5\ and Science Support \6\ activities provide the coordination, 
scientific expertise, and technical tools needed to tackle challenges 
that transcend the management authority, resources, and scope of any 
single entity. Investing in the collaborative processes and Landscape 
Conservation Designs \7\ of these multi-stakeholder conservation 
partnerships is necessary to adequately address pressing threats to 
American livelihoods and ecosystems, such as climate change, habitat 
fragmentation, biodiversity loss, and environmental injustice-key goals 
of the Biden administration's America the Beautiful initiative.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ https://www.fws.gov/media/fiscal-year-2023-fish-and-wildlife-
service-budget-justification
    \5\ The FY23 budget request for Cooperative Landscape Conservation 
is $19,013,000 and 85 full-time employees (FTEs), an increase of 
$6,102,000 and 25 FTEs over the 2022 annualized level provided by the 
continuing resolution (SA-1).
    \6\ The FY23 budget request for Science Support (including Adaptive 
Science and Service Science, combined) is $38,482,000 and 49 full-time 
employees (FTEs), an increase of $21,215,000 and 26 FTEs over the 2022 
annualized level provided by the continuing resolution (SA-1).
    \7\ USFWS defines Landscape Conservation Designs as ``blueprints 
that guide partners in targeting their management efforts to areas they 
collectively identify as having high conservation value'' (USFWS FY23 
Budget Justification, SA-8).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Effectively synchronizing landscape conservation, habitat 
connectivity, and climate adaptation efforts across Federal agencies 
and coordinating these efforts with non-federal partners requires 
investing in a new durable, comprehensive, and inclusive national 
structure for and approach to landscape conservation. That is why a 
group of experts published a report in 2021 calling for renewed Federal 
leadership and resources to address large-scale conservation challenges 
and to support and connect regional conservation partnerships across 
the Nation.\8\ This perspective is shared by many prominent leaders in 
the conservation community, as articulated in an op-ed published in The 
Hill last year by former U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) 
officials.\9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \8\ https://largelandscapenews.org/2021/05/17/national-landscape-
conservation-framework/
    \9\ https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/549729-21st-
century-conservation-a-vision-of-collaboration-across
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Given this clarion call for a coordinated strategy, and growing 
public attention to the issue, the non-partisan Environmental and 
Energy Study Institute (EESI) held a congressional briefing on large 
landscape conservation in March (summarized in Appendix 1 of this 
testimony). Expert panelists-representing USFWS, the Native American 
Fish and Wildlife Society, conservation organizations, and 
environmental foundations-discussed opportunities to coordinate and 
catalyze collaborative conservation efforts through a locally-led, 
nationally-scaled strategy and approach. A key theme that emerged was 
the need for funding, policies, and processes that elevate shared 
conservation priorities from the bottom up, and that weave together 
conservation efforts into a cohesive network of landscape-scale 
partnerships and programs.
    Recognizing this need, Science Applications has stepped up to 
launch the ``next generation of collaborative conservation,'' in 
partnership with State and Tribal agencies, Federal counterparts, and 
stakeholders on the ground (USFWS FY23 Budget Justification, SA-4). 
Ultimately, these efforts aim to build an inclusive, ``durable 
conservation framework to promote biodiversity, climate adaptation and 
mitigation, and racial equity'' (USFWS FY23 Budget Justification SA-7). 
To achieve this ambitious and important goal, USFWS convened over 200 
federal, state, Tribal, and non-governmental partners in January to 
prioritize actions to better coordinate conservation efforts and build 
a unifying national framework. Science Applications took the lead on 
summarizing these recommendations into a report, the executive summary 
of which is included as Appendix 2 to this testimony. To begin 
implementing the actions-which echo the recommendations of the 
aforementioned landscape conservation framework report,\10\ op-ed by 
former DOI officials, and EESI briefing-Science Applications needs 
funding beyond the $57.5M in the budget request.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \10\ https://largelandscapes.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/
Landscape-Conservation-Framework.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    An additional $2.5M (for a total FY23 appropriation of $60M for 
Science Applications) is necessary to collaboratively develop a new 
national framework for conserving a network of healthy and productive 
lands and waters that sustain our Nation's unique natural and cultural 
resources. In particular, greater direct investments in building and 
sustaining the collaborative capacity of landscape conservation 
partnerships across the country are critical (as recognized in Theme 3 
of Appendix 2). In the USFWS FY23 Budget Justification, Science 
Applications recognizes ``[c]apacity for coordination and collaboration 
is essential for maintaining [the] partnerships'' that underlie their 
work (SA-3). USFWS also notes that fostering the strong working 
relationships at the heart of collaborative conservation requires 
reliable funding over the long-term (SA-3). Once a solid foundation of 
trust and a shared conservation vision are in place, then USFWS and 
their partners can successfully ``work within their respective 
authorities and priorities to deliver conservation actions that are 
collectively greater than the sum of the parts'' (SA-3).
    Ultimately, Science Applications is uniquely positioned to provide 
``Federal support to local, State, and regional conservation efforts 
that contribute to creating a more inclusive and enduring conservation 
framework by bringing people and organizations together to accomplish 
shared conservation priorities.'' (SA-7). To play this vital support 
and catalyst role, the program needs robust congressional 
appropriations. We appreciate your consideration of our testimony and 
would be happy to provide additional information.
                               appendix 1
 building a durable national framework for large landscape conservation
 environmental and energy study institute briefing series agencies in 
action: federal programs that deliver climate mitigation and adaptation 
                           benefits every day
    The final briefing in the series focused on landscape conservation. 
Ecosystems often span county, state, Tribal, and national borders. Wide 
swaths of area must be managed across jurisdictions and in 
collaboration with stakeholders on the ground to maximize social and 
environmental benefits, including ecosystem services such as water 
filtration and carbon sequestration. Furthermore, networks of intact 
and connected core habitats, working lands, and open space facilitate 
the migration of species, which is especially important for allowing 
animals to adapt to climate and land use changes, as well as for 
reducing human-wildlife conflict and wildlife-vehicle collisions.
    Panelists dove into the benefits of coordinating conservation 
efforts at the scale of large landscapes and showcased opportunities to 
advance an inclusive and durable national framework for landscape 
conservation.

Key Takeaways

  --No single entity alone has the authority or the ability to address 
        conservation challenges across the United States. A coordinated 
        national effort by the conservation community is required. This 
        effort, due to its scale and scope, would be best supported by 
        Federal leadership.

  --A national framework for landscape conservation should not be a 
        top-down regulatory approach. Rather, it should be a set of 
        conditions that would elevate shared conservation priorities 
        and challenges from the bottom up. It could also include a 
        national network of collaborative conservation partnerships.

  --A national survey by the Network for Landscape Conservation 
        identified 122 collaborative landscape conservation initiatives 
        in the United States. The projects are locally focused, but 
        they achieve significant regional and national outcomes.

  --The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58) 
        provides $400 million in ecosystem restoration grants to 
        States, Tribes, and territories. Continued engagement with 
        States and Tribes on implementation is critical.

  --There is no guaranteed funding for Tribal fish and wildlife 
        programs. Tribes must cobble together funds piecemeal for their 
        programs through multiple funding sources. The Recovering 
        America's Wildlife Act (H.R.2773) would be a great way to work 
        with Tribes. For the first time, Tribes were included in the 
        development of this conservation bill from the beginning. The 
        Tribal title would provide base funds for Tribal fish and 
        wildlife programs.
                               appendix 2
     the future of conservation forum: creating and implementing a 
                    collaborative national framework
                  draft summary of recommended actions
Executive Summary

    Stemming the biodiversity crisis and mitigating climate impacts 
requires us to rally together to create a network of connected lands 
and waters that can support healthy wildlife and thriving human 
populations. Fish and wildlife agencies have the important role and 
unique responsibility to conserve fish, wildlife, and their habitats 
yet the agencies also recognize the need to adapt to a changing society 
to increase the relevancy of conservation. An overarching challenge to 
conservation is how we weave disparate efforts together to create a 
durable and unifying national framework for conservation.
    In January 2022, the Future of Conservation Forum brought together 
over 200 professionals to discuss and begin to prioritize the actions 
needed to ensure a durable future for conservation. Participants 
included representatives from federal, provincial, and State 
governments, Indigenous groups, non-governmental organizations, 
philanthropies, businesses, landowners and others. Forum participants 
were divided into working groups that generated ideas in one of seven 
areas:

  --Collaboration

  --Private Lands

  --Biodiversity

  --Climate Change

  --Urban Landscapes

  --Coordination across Governments

  --Integrating Science and Traditional Ecological/Indigenous 
        Knowledges in Conservation Planning

    The report summarizes cross-cutting themes and their respective 
actions that surfaced across many or all of the working groups during 
the forum. It also includes actions around each of the seven working 
group areas. We consider this report a ``living document'' that we 
expect to evolve with additional input. It is hoped that this summary 
and the report will be used by agencies and organizations as they work 
collaboratively towards defining and developing a national framework 
for landscape-scale conservation.

Cross-cutting themes emerging from the forum are:

    1) Build Trust to Strengthen Collaboration and Achieve Greater 
Impact

    2) Inventory Approaches to Landscape Conservation and Collaboration

    3) Establish Support for Critical Functions

    4) Advance A Framework That Increases Equity and Inclusion

    5) Secure New Funding and Develop A Comprehensive Funding Approach

    6) Develop and Deliver Robust Communication, Outreach, and 
Education

    [This statement was submitted by Center for Large Landscape 
Conservation.]
                                 ______
                                 
            Prepared Statement of the WateReuse Association
    Thank you for the opportunity to present our fiscal Year 2023 
funding requests for programs administered by the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA). The WateReuse Association (WateReuse) urges 
you to meet the President's fiscal Year 2023 Budget Request of $25 
million for the Pilot Program for Alternative Water Source Grants (33 
U.S.C. 1300).
    WateReuse is a not-for-profit trade association for water 
utilities, businesses, industrial and commercial enterprises, non-
profit organizations, and research entities that engage in and on water 
reuse. WRA and its state and regional sections represent more than 200 
water utilities serving over 60 million customers, and over 300 
businesses and organizations across the country. WRA's mission is to 
advance safe and sustainable water supplies, to promote acceptance and 
support of recycled water, and to advocate for policies and funding 
that increase water reuse.
    As climate change accelerates, and its associated impacts on water 
resources increase, the Nation must invest in water recycling to build 
resilience, manage energy demands, support public and environmental 
health, and ensure America's economic prosperity. Investments in water 
recycling ensure reliable and resilient community water supplies, 
support sustainable economic development, and help protect our rivers, 
lakes, streams, aquifers and wetlands. Moreover, water recycling 
projects often using less energy, imposing a smaller carbon footprint, 
and generating fewer air pollution emissions than other options for 
providing new water supplies.
    To address this urgent need, Congress authorized the Pilot Program 
for Alternative Water Source Grants as part of the recently enacted 
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. Through the program, 
EPA would make competitive grants to state, interstate, and intrastate 
water resource development agencies to engineer, design, construct, and 
test alternative water source systems, including water reuse systems. 
The program will ensure that communities in all 50 States plus the 
District of Columbia and Puerto Rico can access water recycling tools 
to solve local water challenges.
    We strongly supported Congress' decision to reauthorize the Pilot 
Program for Alternative Water Source Grants as part of the 
Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act, and we urge you to provide 
first-time funding for the program in fiscal Year 2023.
          examples of water recycling from around the country
    In Virginia's tidewater region, Hampton Roads Sanitation District 
is pursuing a multi-benefit water reuse program called the Sustainable 
Water Initiative for Tomorrow (SWIFT). HRSD's SWIFT project treats 
wastewater effluent to drinking water standards and reuses it to 
recharge the regional aquifer. The investment of $1.1 billion in 
capital outlays provides critical public health, environmental and 
economic benefits by replenishing the overdrawn Potomac Aquifer, 
recharging 100 million gallons per day (MGD) of fresh water at full 
implementation, providing a reliable safe water supply to support the 
region's population and the Nation's critical military assets, and 
generating nutrient credits that HRSD can trade--providing an estimated 
savings of $1.5 billion for 11 counties across the region. EPA 
investment programs have provided critical capital to help move this 
large project forward.
    In Florida's Tampa Bay Region, Hillsborough County's Saltwater 
Intrusion and Aquifer Recharge Program (SHARP) is creating a hydraulic 
barrier to saltwater intrusion between the Bay and the region's 
drinking water aquifer. At a cost of $20 million, SHARP is yielding 
significant climate-resiliency benefits by protecting the region's 
freshwater aquifer from sea level rise and saltwater intrusion, 
reducing pumping costs and energy use by raising groundwater levels and 
increasing pressure in the potable freshwater aquifer, generating water 
supply credits that offset the project's cost, and supporting seagrass 
and fishery recovery efforts by reducing nutrient and other effluent 
loadings.
    In Texas, El Paso Water is using water recycling and saline 
groundwater desalination to produce a drought-resilient, cost-
effective, and reliable water supply to support a vibrant local 
economy. Compared to the next best alternative (importing groundwater), 
El Paso's water reuse program is reducing energy use by 3.6 million MWH 
over the planning period, shrinking the agency's carbon footprint by 
nearly 700,000 MT of carbon emissions over a 50-year period, and 
addressing affordability challenges related to imported water by saving 
more than $1.2 billion, or 74 percent.
    In Southern California's Chino Basin, local leaders developed the 
Optimum Basin Management Program (OBMP) to address the region's water 
challenges. At its core, the OBMP is a water reuse program with other 
key components facilitated by water recycling. The OBMP generates 
energy savings in excess of 5.8 Billion kWh over 30 years by relying on 
local resources rather than energy intensive water imports, saves 
ratepayers an estimated $2.4 billion in water supply costs (a 153 
percent return on investment), and restores instream flows and water 
quality in the Santa Ana River, returning a surface water supply to 
downstream Orange County and replenishing and improving water quality 
in the Chino Groundwater Basin.

    [This statement was submitted by Greg Fogel, WateReuse 
Association.]
                                 ______
                                 
          Prepared Statement of Western Governors' Association
    Chair Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski, and Members of the 
subcommittee, the Western Governors' Association (WGA) appreciates the 
opportunity to provide written testimony on the appropriations and 
activities of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service (FWS), National Park Service (NPS), U.S. Forest 
Service (USFS) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). WGA is an 
independent organization representing the Governors of the 22 
westernmost States and territories. The Association is an instrument of 
the Governors for bipartisan policy development, information sharing 
and collective action on issues of critical importance to the western 
United States.
    The agencies within the subcommittee's jurisdiction wield 
significant influence over vast areas of the American West. Ninety-four 
percent of all Federal lands are located in the western States, and the 
Federal Government owns over 46 percent of the land within active WGA 
States. The work of this subcommittee is of vital importance to Western 
Governors, as it affects public lands management and Federal agency 
interaction with other levels of government and the public.
    There is a natural tension between State and Federal Governments 
that is embedded in the fabric of the U.S. Constitution. These 
sovereign governments must have a close and productive working 
relationship to promote efficiency and maximize returns on taxpayer 
investments. Improving the partnership between States and the Federal 
Government is central to the mission of WGA and is reflected in WGA 
Policy Resolution 2021-01, Strengthening the State-Federal 
Relationship.
    In last year's House committee report accompanying the Interior, 
Environment, and Related Agencies Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations bill 
(H. Rpt. 117-83), the Federal agencies funded by the Interior bill were 
directed to provide appropriate feedback on Tribal input received by 
agencies through meaningful consultation in their decision-making 
processes. Similar direction to Federal agencies for government-to-
government consultation with States, which is required pursuant to 
Executive Order 13132, Federalism, would improve the co-sovereign 
relationship between States and the Federal Government.
    Federal agencies should provide state, territorial, local, and 
Tribal government officials with accessible and clear information on 
available Federal resources and programs and the most effective 
utilization of those resources in disaster recovery. WGA has worked 
with Federal partners to improve interagency coordination on post-
wildfire restoration work, including a roadmap of assistance available 
to communities affected by wildfire and identification of 
``navigators'' to help communities prioritize post-wildfire restoration 
needs. Western Governors urge the Federal Government to prioritize the 
funding of these important efforts, as they should have a positive 
effect on maximizing the value of restoration work and, more 
importantly, addressing the needs of communities affected by wildfire.
    Western Governors are proud of the 2018 Shared Stewardship 
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between WGA and the U.S. Department 
of Agriculture (USDA). The MOU has led to collaborative engagement on 
several cross-boundary, cross-jurisdictional issues, including post-
wildfire interagency coordination, cheatgrass infestations, and 
vegetation management in utility corridors. It has also led to positive 
engagement between individual States and the Department: USDA has now 
executed Shared Stewardship agreements with 28 States, 15 of which are 
within the WGA footprint. These agreements provide States a useful tool 
to discuss land management priorities and coordinate on priority land 
management projects.
    Responsible land management can only occur when federal, State and 
local stakeholders collaborate to improve the health and resilience of 
our lands. Likewise, proactive fish and wildlife conservation is most 
effective when leveraging the cooperative efforts of State and Federal 
officials across multiple disciplines. To this end, Western Governors 
support all reasonable proactive management efforts to conserve 
species, including engaging stakeholders to implement early, voluntary 
conservation measures. WGA also believes the Services should explore 
expanded use of detail positions and shared staff between State and 
Federal agencies to increase interagency coordination.
    States possess primary authority to manage most fish and wildlife 
within their borders, and they receive economic benefits associated 
with healthy species and ecosystems. At the same time, species listings 
can dramatically affect the efforts of western States to promote 
economic development, accommodate population growth, and maintain and 
expand infrastructure. Western Governors believe that States should be 
full partners in listing, critical habitat designations, recovery 
planning, recovery efforts, and delisting decisions. State agencies 
often have the best available science, expertise and other scientific 
and institutional resources such as mapping capabilities, biological 
inventories, biological management goals, state wildlife action plans 
and other important data. All listing, recovery and delisting decisions 
made by the Federal Government should recognize, consult, and employ 
these vast state resources and utilize objective, peer-reviewed 
scientific literature and scientific observations.
    Fish and wildlife migration corridors and habitat are necessary to 
maintain healthy populations of species in the West. Western Governors 
applaud the additional funding for Federal agencies to advance state-
supported programs and projects promoting voluntary migration corridor 
and habitat conservation and request that you continue to appropriate 
these funds. Governors note that any Federal efforts to identify, 
regulate or conserve wildlife migration corridors through 
administrative or legislative action must involve coordination and 
consultation with States and should advance collaborative, locally 
driven initiatives to conserve key wildlife corridors and habitat.
    WGA applauds the full funding for the Payment in Lieu of Taxes 
(PILT) program administered by the Department of the Interior for 
fiscal year 2021 and recommends the enactment of a permanent and stable 
funding mechanism for the program. PILT funding does not represent a 
gift to local jurisdictions; rather it provides important compensation 
for the disproportionate measure of non-taxable Federal lands in the 
West. Similarly, payments under the Secure Rural Schools and Community 
Self-Determination Act (SRS) compensate communities whose timber 
industries have been negatively affected by actions and acquisitions of 
the Federal Government. Western Governors request that you continue to 
appropriate full funding annually for both PILT and SRS in the future.
    Western Governors continue to be concerned about the number of wild 
horses and burros on BLM lands. This number is presently estimated to 
be more than triple the current Appropriate Management Level (AML). 
Overpopulation has resulted in the degradation of rangeland, negatively 
affecting wildlife and domestic livestock as well as the habitat of 
threatened and endangered species. WGA supports a process to establish, 
monitor and adjust AMLs for wild horses and burros that is transparent 
to stakeholders, supported by scientific information (including state 
data), and amenable to adaptation with new information and 
environmental and social change. Western Governors recognize BLM's 2019 
Path Forward for Management of BLM's Wild Horses and Burros and 2020 
Analysis of Achieving a Sustainable Wild Horse and Burro Program as 
examples of sensible alternatives to current wild horse and burro 
management practices. WGA encourages the subcommittee to continue 
funding the BLM's implementation of the recommendations contained in 
these proposals.
    WGA remains concerned about the spread of invasive mussels in the 
West and has highlighted this issue through the Western Governors' 
Biosecurity and Invasive Species Initiative. Of particular concern are 
invasive quagga and zebra mussels, which continue to be a major threat 
to western water resources. To combat this threat, Western Governors 
request that the BLM, FWS and NPS continue to be provided with the 
resources necessary to implement mandatory inspection of all high-risk 
watercraft and decontamination of watercraft infested with quagga and 
zebra mussels leaving waterbodies under their jurisdiction. Outside the 
jurisdiction of the subcommittee but relevant to this matter, Western 
Governors support legislation that would clarify Federal authority to 
conduct inspection and decontamination procedures and manage invasive 
species on lands and waters under their jurisdiction.
    Western Governors applaud NPS for its efforts to preserve iconic 
landscapes, habitats and cultural resources. WGA is concerned, however, 
about the significant maintenance backlog affecting National Parks. WGA 
appreciates the funding authorized by the Great American Outdoors Act 
for priority deferred maintenance projects administered by Federal land 
management agencies and supports ongoing NPS operations to address 
critical infrastructure needs.
    Data for water management and drought response planning is critical 
to western States. Western Governors request continued funding for the 
Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program administered by the U.S. 
Geological Survey. The data generated by the program is integral to 
water supply management decisions of States, utilities, reservoir 
operators and farmers. It is also essential for risk management, 
disaster mitigation, and drought and flood forecasting throughout the 
West.
    Infrastructure management is another crucial element of drought 
response, and Federal investments in our Nation's aging water and 
wastewater facilities are essential to our Nation's continued economic 
prosperity and environmental protection. EPA'S Clean Water and Drinking 
Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs) provide necessary support for 
communities to maintain and enhance their water infrastructure. Western 
Governors' Policy Resolution 2021-10, Water Quality in the West, 
encourages adequate funding for SRFs. Western Governors appreciate the 
SRF appropriations and authorizations included in the Infrastructure 
Investment and Jobs Act and encourage the subcommittee to strongly 
support these programs. Western Governors similarly support the funding 
of Federal programs that promote non-federal water infrastructure 
investment, such as the Water Infrastructure Finance Innovation Act 
program. This important program provides flexible long-term, low-cost 
supplemental credit assistance for projects of national and regional 
significance.
    States have exclusive authority over the allocation and 
administration of rights to groundwater located within their borders 
and are primarily responsible for protecting, managing, and otherwise 
controlling the resource. The regulatory reach of the Federal 
Government was not intended to, and should not, be applied to the 
management and control of groundwater resources. WGA encourages 
Congress to include express and unambiguous language protecting States' 
authority over groundwater resources in any water-related legislation, 
as well as clear direction to administrative agencies to respect such 
authority. WGA appreciates the language included by the subcommittee in 
prior Appropriations Acts addressing existing statutory authorities for 
groundwater protection. Federal agencies should work within existing 
State authorities to address their groundwater-related needs and 
concerns. WGA urges you to ensure that Federal efforts involving 
groundwater recognize and respect state primacy and comply with all 
statutory authorities.
    States also possess delegated authority from EPA to manage air 
quality within their borders. Congress and EPA should recognize state 
authority under the Clean Air Act (CAA) and accord States sufficient 
flexibility to create air quality and emissions programs tailored to 
individual state needs, industries and economies. State CAA programs 
require financial support from Congress, yet funding has declined since 
the CAA's enactment. In addition, given the unique character of the 
West and the region's attainment challenges, funding should be 
appropriated for EPA to assist western States in research on 
background, interstate and transported ozone. This is especially 
critical as more frequent and intense wildfires are steadily reducing 
the West's gains in air quality improvement. Smoke from wildfires 
causes exceedances under National Ambient Air Quality Standards for 
particulate matter and ozone, negatively affecting public health, 
safety and transportation. Prescribed fire can reduce these effects but 
is currently underused in many areas due to concerns about how it may 
affect compliance with CAA State Implementation Plans.
    Western Governors and Federal land management agencies deal with a 
complex web of interrelated natural resource issues. It is an enormous 
challenge to judiciously balance competing needs in this environment, 
and Western Governors appreciate the difficulty of the decisions this 
subcommittee must make. The foregoing recommendations are offered in a 
spirit of cooperation and respect, and WGA is prepared to assist you in 
discharging these critical and challenging responsibilities.

    [This statement was submitted by James D. Ogsbury, Executive 
Director, Western Governors' Association.]
                                 ______
                                 
          Prepared Statement of Western States Arts Federation
    Thank you for providing the opportunity to submit outside witness 
testimony as you consider investments in vital Federal agencies, 
including the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The Western States 
Arts Federation (WESTAF), a regional partner of the NEA, and the 
Western Arts Advocacy Network (WAAN) write to affirm the integral role 
the NEA plays in communities throughout the region.
    As we know, arts and creativity strengthen our Nation. They make us 
stronger-as individuals, families, communities, States and as a 
country. They are a backbone of innovation, prosperity, and thriving 
people and places. Public funding for arts and creativity is a high 
return investment that benefits every American in every city, town and 
rural community nationwide. Federal support of the arts is uniquely 
valuable because the ratio of private and other public funds matching 
every NEA grant dollar is about 9:1, far surpassing the required non-
federal match of at least 1:1 (NEA, 2021).
    We urge you to continue bipartisan support and fund the National 
Endowment for the Arts in the fiscal Year 2023 Interior Appropriations 
bill at no less than $203.55 million to broaden access to the cultural, 
educational, and economic benefits of the arts and to advance 
creativity and innovation in communities across the United States. 
Because of the leadership of Congress, this increase will mean expanded 
support of arts and culture across the West driven by decisions made at 
the community level. We encourage the subcommittee to build a specific 
path to index funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and 
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) at $1 per capita. Each 
agency is currently funded at about .54 cents per capita. We also 
encourage continued parity between NEA and NEH funding. We further 
request you to support the recovery of the arts sector by allowing the 
NEA to provide general operating support funding as the sector recovers 
from the Omicron variant to COVID-19.
    We understand the importance of the NEA's leadership in the West 
and would like to point out the following:

    1. NEA is a significant funder and a positive force for arts 
development in the West, a fast growing and exceptionally diverse 
region that is home to nearly a quarter of the U.S. population.

    2. NEA funds reach every congressional district in the West and 
throughout the United States (435 congressional districts). NEA support 
is a critical component in ensuring that arts funding reaches every 
community in the U.S.

    3. In the West, the NEA has awarded more than $25 million in grants 
annually to arts efforts in recent years. In 2022, the NEA awarded 
$11.2 million to support state arts agencies in the West, and across 
the region the Endowment's federal-state partnership is absolutely 
essential.

    4. Every dollar of Federal funding invested in the National 
Endowment for the Arts leverages $9 of additional funding nationally. 
Investment into state arts agencies in our region alone provides a 
nearly 12:1 return on investment based on 2022 data (see table below).

           National Endowment for the Arts Contribution to State Arts Agency Revenue in the West FY22
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                    % of Total
                              State                                Total Agency   Arts Endowment   Funding From
                                                                    Revenue ($)      funds ($)    Arts Endowment
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alaska..........................................................       3,852,107         726,807            18.9
Arizona.........................................................       4,378,732         942,732            21.5
California......................................................     179,027,900       1,305,900             0.7
Colorado........................................................       2,907,265        808,1000            27.8
Hawai'i.........................................................       8,507,889         750,700             8.8
Idaho...........................................................       1,712,755         828,460            48.4
Montana.........................................................       1,923,508         879,900            45.7
Nevada..........................................................       2,815,976         772,700            27.4
New Mexico......................................................       2,189,200         771,200            35.2
Oregon..........................................................       7,022,195         841,600            12.0
Utah............................................................      12,165,900         799,700             6.6
Washington......................................................       6,703,449         922,200            13.8
Wyoming.........................................................       1,786,200         743,483            41.6
WESTAF region...................................................     234,993,076      18,366,382          23.72
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, 2022

    Arts and creativity are an American economic engine. Based on 2020 
data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the arts and culture sector 
experienced substantial losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 
2019 and 2020, the U.S. arts economy shrank at nearly twice the rate of 
the economy as a whole: arts and cultural production fell by 6.4 
percent compared with a 3.4 decline in the overall economy. In spite of 
these challenges in 2020, arts and culture still added $876.7 billion, 
or 4.2 percent, to national GDP (Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2022). 
The size and diversity of the arts and culture sector helped it to 
remain a major contributor to the economy.
    The sector provides people with the foundation for creativity, 
equipping an innovative workforce, generating new ideas in every field, 
and keeping our Nation globally competitive. Arts and creativity 
strengthen economic health by creating jobs in multiple industries, 
driving tourism, and providing opportunities for young people. In the 
West, jobs in creative occupations, creative industries earnings, and 
cultural nonprofit revenues were all on an upward growth trajectory 
prior to the pandemic according to WESTAF's Creative Vitality Suite 
data.
       creative industries earnings growth in the west, 2011-2020


    Helping the creative economy to get back on track will reap rewards 
for the region and the Nation as a whole. The National Endowment for 
the Arts acts as the flag bearer for this vital industry in our Nation 
that in the West alone grew by 85 percent between 2011 and 2020 
(Creative Vitality Suite, 2022).
    New research shows that the arts can accelerate State and local 
economic turnarounds. A first-of-its-kind empirical analysis conducted 
by Douglas Noonan at Indiana University studied the role of the arts in 
economic recovery after the Great Recession, and the data reveals that 
the creative sector grew more quickly than the general economy in those 
years. Unlike conventional industrial supply chains, the arts often 
grow independently from other sectors, which helps to diversify state 
economies. States with varied arts ecosystems (including the 
performing, visual, media, design and publishing subsectors) posted 
bigger economic gains after the Great Recession than their less-
diversified neighbors. Creativity stimulates economic development while 
bolstering civic engagement, making the arts a powerful catalyst for 
building economic strength.
    In addition to economic benefits, the NEA is an example of 
impactful federal-state partnership. Effective federal-state 
partnership is what allows the Endowment to continue its long standing 
focus on the ``underserved.'' Thanks to Congressional leadership, the 
NEA can continue to support the work of local communities across the 
West. Recent examples of the Arts Endowment's direct support in the 
West ranges from support of organizations such as Art Access who 
provides visual and literary arts programs for veterans in Utah to 
Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts whose vision is to help creative 
people on the Confederate Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in 
Pendleton, Oregon. The Arts Endowment invests in projects that 
represent all communities in the West, but the agency's support has 
been particularly important to engaging rural communities, indigenous 
communities, young people, and the full range of communities that make 
up the West in terms of race and ethnicity.
    Public funding for arts and creativity is a high-return investment 
in every town and rural community nationwide, not only in the biggest 
cities. It improves the lives of all Americans, equips an innovative 
workforce, and keeps us competitive globally. It is a great example of 
government done right that fuels public-private partnerships, leverages 
considerable additional public and private investment far surpassing 
the required Federal match of 1:1, and puts tax dollars and decision-
making authority into State and local hands. The NEA's fiscal Year 2022 
budget is $180 million, just 0.004 percent of the Federal budget. The 
Administration's fiscal Year 2023 budget request for the NEA is $203.55 
million. A more robust agency budget would not only help to support the 
recovery of one of the most devastated, yet resilient industries 
emerging from the pandemic but also move us toward ensuring that the 
arts contribute to the present and future strength, pride, cohesion and 
economic success of every community in the United States.

Sincerely, 


    [This statement was submitted by WESTAF and the Western Arts 
Advocacy Network.]
                                 ______
                                 
        Prepared Statement of the Wildlife Conservation Society
    The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) would like to thank 
Chairman Merkley, Ranking Member Murkowski, the members of the 
subcommittee for providing this opportunity to submit testimony in 
support of funding in the FY23 Interior, Environment Related Agencies 
Appropriations Act for the Multinational Species Conservation Fund 
(MSCF), Office of International Affairs (IA), Office of Law Enforcement 
(OLE), Endangered Species Recovery Grants Program accounts at the U.S. 
Fish Wildlife Service (FWS), the International Forestry program at the 
U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the Climate Adaptation Science Centers at 
the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
    WCS was founded with the help of Theodore Roosevelt in 1895 with 
the mission of saving wildlife wild places worldwide. Today, WCS 
manages the largest network of urban wildlife parks in the United 
States, led by our flagship, the Bronx Zoo. Globally, our goal is to 
conserve the world's most important wild places, focusing on 14 
priority regions that are home to more than 50 percent of the world's 
biodiversity. We have offices field programs in more than 60 countries 
work with our partners to manage more than 200 million acres of 
protected areas around the world, employing more than 4,000 staff 
including about 200 Ph.D. scientists 100 veterinarians.
    The world faces three existential crises, all caused by humankind: 
a pemic of zoonotic origin, the loss of biodiversity, climate change. 
These crises are interrelated, with many of the same causes solutions. 
We know that pemics of zoonotic origin (passed between animals people) 
such as COVID-19 are directly tied to wildlife trade the breaching of 
the human-wildlife interface through deforestation forest degradation. 
We also know that deforestation forest degradation are major causes of 
carbon emissions, that more than a third of the answer to climate 
mitigation can come from nature-based solutions. Protected conserved 
areas are at the heart: they protect biodiversity, mitigate climate 
change, prevent future pemics of zoonotic origin. Ecologically intact 
areas in between protected areas support the well-being of millions, 
including Indigenous Peoples, are critical to achieving the UN 
Sustainable Development Goals. Additional funding in the FY23 Interior 
appropriations bill for international conservation programs will be 
critical to address these crises reassert U.S. leadership in the world.
    FWS-Multinational Species Conservation Fund-$30 Million: Global 
priority species, such as tigers, rhinos, African Asian elephants, 
great apes, turtles, tortoises, face constant danger from poaching 
(particularly for illegal trade purposes), habitat loss degradation, 
other serious threats. MSCF programs have helped to sustain recover 
wildlife populations by combating poaching trafficking, reducing human-
wildlife conflict, protecting essential habitat-all while promoting 
U.S. economic security interests across the globe. These programs 
efficiently use taxpayer dollars, granting them an outsized impact 
because they consistently leverage two to four times as much in 
matching funds from organizations like WCS, foreign governments, local 
NGOs, private foundations.
    Funding from the MSCF provides front-line protection against 
zoonotic disease by supporting projects that prevent or reverse the 
conditions that lead to pathogen spillover events. These events 
increase when humans come into closer contact with wildlife through the 
destruction degradation of wildlife habitats, particularly forests, or 
at live wildlife markets where animals are crowded for sale slaughter. 
In both situations, wildlife is likely to be severely stressed, which 
further increases the potential for pathogen spillover to occur for 
human disease outbreaks. Biodiversity loss, in itself, can also 
contribute to zoonotic disease spillover by removing buffer species 
that protect against diseases jumping into human populations.
    WCS has had great success on projects using funds from the MSCF. 
One ongoing Great Ape award to WCS is supporting a 5-year project to 
secure the Cross River gorilla population in Nigeria Cameroon. WCS has 
established an effective network of core protected areas corridors 
linking habitat between the two countries is working with local 
communities to protect the intact, old growth forest that is their home 
critical to the survival of the fewer than 300 remaining gorillas.
    FWS-International Affairs-$35 Million: The FWS IA program supports 
efforts to conserve our planet's rich wildlife diversity by protecting 
habitat species, combating illegal wildlife trade, building capacity 
for lscape-level wildlife conservation. The program provides oversight 
of domestic laws international treaties that promote the conservation 
of plant animal species by ensuring that international trade other 
activities do not threaten their survival in the wild. Within IA, the 
FWS Regional Programs for Africa, Eurasia, the Western Hemisphere seek 
to address grassroots wildlife conservation problems from a broad, 
lscape perspective, building regional expertise capacity while 
strengthening local institutions. The IA program works with the MSCF, 
supporting the conservation of species that are not specifically 
addressed by the Fund funding conservation of entire habitats, even in 
cases where they cross political boundaries.
    WCS asks that the subcommittee increase funding for the program to 
$35 million so that it can continue to support efforts to conserve 
lscapes vulnerable species better address the crises facing the planet. 
In addition to this, increased funding is also needed to mitigate the 
impacts that the pemic is having on revenues that normally fund 
conservation, particularly those from ecotourism. Some of the most 
highly successful wildlife conservation programs, including those that 
the U.S. has supported for decades, work with developing countries 
local communities to combine sustainable management conservation of 
wildlife with new economic opportunities incomes derived from wildlife-
based tourism. In some African countries, parks protected areas are a 
major driver of tourism a substantial contributor to their national GDP 
sustainable development. In many of these countries' community-managed 
``conservancies'' wildlife is the foundation of tourism models that 
have generated millions of dollars in benefits for local communities 
supported successful, locally run conservation. With these revenues 
still recovering due to the pemic, support is needed to ensure 
conservation activities can continue.
    The final FY20, fiscal year 2021 FY22 bills included report 
language directing the Department of the Interior to develop policies 
procedures for the execution oversight of international conservation 
programs to ensure that grant recipients have policies in place that 
safeguard the rights of Indigenous peoples the human rights of 
individuals communities in around protected areas supported by grant 
monies. WCS has worked with the Department FWS on the development of 
these guidelines urges the Committee to include funding to support 
their continued implementation enforcement.
    FWS-Office of Law Enforcement-$152.5 Million: The U.S. remains one 
of the world's largest markets for wildlife wildlife products, both 
legal illegal. A small group of dedicated officers at OLE are tasked 
with protecting fish, wildlife, plant resources by investigating 
wildlife crimes-including commercial exploitation, habitat destruction, 
industrial hazards- monitoring international trade to intercept illegal 
products like wildlife timber facilitate legal commerce. As the United 
States developed implemented a comprehensive strategy to combat the 
growing crisis of wildlife trafficking over the last several years, 
most of the new responsibilities placed on FWS are enforced by OLE, WCS 
supports increasing funding for the agency to $152.5 million. A primary 
need for additional funding is to strengthen OLE's presence at the U.S. 
border to protect against the importation of wildlife that may serve as 
a host of pathogens that could cause dangerous diseases of zoonotic 
origin.
    Recent increases in the OLE budget have enabled the agency to 
deploy 12 FWS attaches in targeted U.S. embassies overseas in countries 
including Tanzania, Gabon, Peru, China, Thail, where wildlife 
trafficking has proven to be a serious problem. Law enforcement 
attaches are experienced criminal investigators who specialize in 
wildlife natural resource investigations have provided extensive 
support to local authorities engaged in wildlife trafficking 
investigations. Several investigations of transnational organized crime 
networks involved in the trafficking of elephant ivory, rhino horn, 
reptiles, other wildlife wildlife parts between Africa Asia have been 
initiated as a direct result of attache intervention, attaches have 
assisted extensively in fostering intelligence sharing investigative 
support between affected countries. The House has twice passed parts of 
the Preventing Future Pemics Act, most recently as part of the America 
COMPETES Act, which would authorize $150 million for the deployment 
support of additional OLE attaches. This language has bipartisan 
support in the Senate. As part of this request, WCS urges the Committee 
to include $37.5 million-one quarter of the authorization-to enable OLE 
to begin sting up this expected authorization.
    FWS-Endangered Species Recovery Challenge Grants-$15 Million: 
Funding provided to the USFWS for recovery efforts of endangered 
species has been limited for decades. although the Service has 
accomplished some great successes-recovery of the bald eagle the brown 
pelican, for example-hundreds of species are in desperate need of help 
to prevent extinction. The Recovery Challenge Grants program provides 
matched funds from USFWS to support projects conducted by outside 
partners like zoos aquariums accredited by the Association of Zoos 
Aquariums to develop implement recovery plans high priority recovery 
actions for endangered species. With limited funding for recovery, it 
is more important than ever to invest Federal funding in programs that 
leverage the significant resources expertise of outside partners to 
help the USFWS accomplish its objectives in the most effective way. 
Increasing funding for endangered species through the Recovery account 
the Recovery Challenge Grant program specifically would recognize the 
positive impact this funding has had on recovery goals encourage the 
continued prioritization of these important functions.
    USFS-International Forestry-$20 Million: With estimates ranging 
broadly from $51 billion to $150 billion, the trade in illegal timber 
threatens the world's forests, reduces biodiversity, severely impacts 
countless local communities that rely on forests for food, employment, 
wealth. The trade also affects the U.S. economy, which has lost 
approximately $1 billion per year over 200,000 jobs due to illegal 
logging. The International Forestry program (FS-IP) works to level the 
playing field by reducing illegal logging improving the sustainability 
legality of timber management overseas, translating to less underpriced 
timber undercutting U.S. producers. Through partnerships with USAID the 
Department of State, FS-IP helps to improve resource management in 
countries of strategic importance to U.S. economic national security. 
This work maintains biodiversity in important natural strongholds helps 
some of the world's last intact forests continue to play a key role in 
sequestering carbon, reducing the effects of climate change.
    With technical financial support from FS-IP, WCS has been 
conserving the biologically rich Southern Forest Complex in the 
southern part of Myanmar. The region comprises tropical rain forests 
inhabiting globally endangered species like Indochinese tiger, Asian 
elephant, Malayan tapir. Furthermore, about 600 kilometers of coastline 
edged with mangrove forests allows for a considerable variety of 
biodiversity, including marine species such as sea turtles cetacean 
species such as whales dugong. In this lscape, WCS promotes a 
participatory approach to lscape level l-use planning advocating for 
the establishment of a Community Based Conservation Corridor along the 
Myintmoletkhet range, supporting local communities to conduct 
biological monitoring surveys within their traditional village 
boundaries, within or around protected areas.
    USGS-Climate Adaptation Science Centers-$97 Million: The USGS 
Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CASCs) collaborate with cultural 
natural resource managers other stakeholders of public ls to develop 
research, data, scientific resources to respond to the effects of 
climate variability change on fish, wildlife, ecosystems, the 
communities they support. The National CASC manages nine Regional 
CASCs, which serve every State in the Nation connect decision makers to 
science by educating conducting actionable research to answer common 
concerns about how climate extremes trends affect human populations, 
wildlife, forests, grassls, rivers, coastlines, other natural 
resources.
    Sea-level rise, changing stream ocean water temperatures, extreme 
weather events are causing Federal, State, local governments, 
businesses, Indigenous peoples to face new damages incur new costs to 
prepare for new conditions. As the challenges faced by these entities 
worsen, CASCs are deploying their research, education, outreach 
capacities to provide science data to make strong decisions. But given 
accelerating dems, additional resources are required to provide the 
assistance to anticipate adapt to these changing circumstances. Looking 
to the future, there are opportunities for CASCs to: exp strategic 
partnerships with other government offices agencies, private-sector 
partners, community groups to increase understing implementation of new 
practices informed by sound science; exp CASCs role in generating 
knowledge the future workforce to build the capacity of DOI managers, 
their partners, to access apply climate science; increase development 
of data research that addresses the increasing informational needs of 
natural cultural resource managers; better inform the DOI strategic 
priorities mission areas with their supporting goals.
    WCS appreciates the opportunity to share its perspective to make a 
case for modest increases in Federal investments in conservation in the 
FY23 Interior, the Environment Related Agencies Appropriations Act. 
Conservation of public ls is an American tradition, as far back as 
1909, Theodore Roosevelt recognized that the management of our natural 
resources requires coordination between all nations. Continued 
investment in conservation will reaffirm our global position as a 
conservation leader, while improving national global security building 
capacity good governance in developing countries.

    [This statement was submitted by Colin Sheldon, Director of Federal 
Affairs.]
                                 ______
                                 
              Prepared Statement of Wild Horse Management
    The below-signed national and state organizations concerned for 
public land health request your support for adequate funding to enable 
the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to achieve a sustainable program 
addressing the urgent need to manage wild horses and burros for the 
protection, restoration and conservation of our lands and the multitude 
of wildlife species that depend upon them.
    The Wild and Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 mandates that 
wild horses and burros shall be managed to achieve and maintain a 
thriving natural ecological balance. Compliance with this mandate can 
only be accomplished by management of wild horses and burros to the 
number that sustains the carrying capacity of the land. Unfortunately, 
in the 50 years since enactment of the act, this mandate has rarely 
been achieved.
    The current estimated population of over 86,000 wild horses and 
burros is more than three times greater than the carrying capacity of 
BLM-managed public lands, undermining the health of public rangelands, 
adversely affecting other uses of the lands and the species that depend 
on them. In turn, this necessitates emergency gathers of horses and 
burros to prevent them from dying of dehydration and starvation. Direct 
removal of excess wild horses and burros from the range is the only way 
to protect and improve the health of the land, wildlife and of the 
those remaining wild horses and burros themselves before irreversible 
ecological damage occurs. As importantly, removal programs stop the 
needless, preventable suffering of the removed animals due to effects 
of this overpopulation on the landscape. Without a continuing increase 
in the rate of removal of horses and burros, populations will continue 
to expand. As a result, our Nation will witness not only growing 
degradation to its rangeland ecosystem, wildlife and these horses and 
burros, but also exponential growth in restoration costs to its 
taxpayers.
    As a result of the continued growth of wild horse and burro 
populations in the West, habitat is declining in quality across many 
areas, which is being further exacerbated by warmer and drier 
conditions, wildfire, and nonnative invasive plants. Native wildlife 
species that millions of Americans care about-including bighorn sheep, 
sage grouse, pollinators, and a multitude of other species large and 
small- are being negatively impacted across most of their range.
    BLM has seen their budget annually boosted over the last few years, 
enabling them to begin effective and humane proactive management 
actions to reduce wild horse and burro numbers on the range, thus 
moving toward the restoration our lands.
    We urge this committee and other members of Congress to support the 
continuation of additional capacity for BLM to address this increasing 
problem for our Nation's valuable public lands. By continuing to 
provide sufficient annual funding for effective management of wild 
horse and burro populations we can achieve appropriate management 
levels to retain the health of our land. Sufficient funding now, saves 
far more taxpayer monies than allowing horse populations to continue to 
increase at the current rate of 20 percent per year.
    Thank you for your consideration of this urgent request of our 
broad coalition of concerned entities. We invite your questions and 
welcome the opportunity to discuss this ongoing issue and possible 
solutions.

Sincerely,

    Arizona Wildlife Federation
    Backcountry Hunters & Anglers
    California Bowmen Hunters/State Archery Association
    California Chapter--Backcountry Hunters & Anglers
    California Chapter of the Wild Sheep Foundation
    California Deer Association
    California Rifle and Pistol Association
    California State Chapter, National Wild Turkey Federation
    Coalition for Healthy Nevada Lands
    Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation
    Ducks Unlimited
    Friends of Nevada Wilderness
    Houston Safari Club
    Idaho Wildlife Federation
    Inland Northwest Wildlife Council
    Izaak Walton League
    Lander County Conservation District
    Mule Deer Foundation
    National Deer Association
    National Wildlife Federation
    Nevada Association of Conservation Districts
    Nevada Association of Counties
    Nevada Bighorns Unlimited
    Nevada Cattlemen's Association
    Nevada Coalition for Wildlife
    Nevada State Chapter, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers
    Nevada State Chapter, National Wild Turkey Federation
    Nevada Waterfowl Association
    Nevada Wildlife Federation
    New Mexico Wildlife Federation
    North American Grouse Partnership
    Northern Nevada Safari Club International
    Oregon Anglers Alliance
    Oregon Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers
    Oregon Chapter of Safari Club International
    Oregon Pack Works
    Oregon State Chapter, National Wild Turkey Federation
    Oregon Wild Sheep Foundation
    Orion, the Hunters Institute
    Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
    Safari Club International
    San Diego County Wildlife Federation
    San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of Safari Club International
    Sierra Front Chapter- Muley Fanatic Foundation
    Sportsmen's Alliance
    Southern Nevada Coalition for Wildlife
    Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
    Washington Hunters Heritage Council
    Wildlife Management Institute
    Wyoming Wildlife Federation

    [This statement was submitted by John Gale, Conservation Director--
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.]
                                 ______
                                 
               Prepared Statement of the Wildlife Society
    The Wildlife Society (TWS; wildlife.org) appreciates the 
opportunity to provide testimony concerning the fiscal Year 2023 
budgets for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service (FWS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and U.S. Forest Service 
(USFS). Founded in 1937, TWS represents approximately 15,000 wildlife 
biologists and managers with a mission to inspire, empower, and enable 
wildlife professionals to sustain wildlife populations and habitat 
through science-based management and conservation.
    Appropriations for the following programs within the jurisdiction 
of the subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies will 
affect the current and future status of wildlife and wildlife 
professionals in North America. To enable the appropriate use of 
science within these programs and beyond, TWS respectfully requests the 
following programmatic funding in fiscal Year 2023.

                          FY 2023 Interior Appropriation Requests--The Wildlife Society
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                      FY 2022
                    Agency                                   Program                  Enacted       FY 2023 TWS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
USGS                                            Climate Adaptation Science                51.9 M         85.74 M
                                                 Centers.
                                                Cooperative Research Units......            26 M          28.2 M
                                                National Wildlife Health Center   ..............         \*\82 M
                                                 Infrastructure Improvements.
                                               -----------------------------------
FWS                                             National Wildlife Refuge System.           519 M           712 M
                                                State and Tribal Wildlife Grants          72.6 M           100 M
                                                Ecological Services.............           277 M         356.2 M
                                                NMBCA...........................             5 M           7.9 M
                                                Partners for Fish and Wildlife..          57.7 M            68 M
                                                Migratory Bird Joint Ventures...          15.6 M            25 M
                                               -----------------------------------
BLM                                             Wildlife and Aquatic Habitat             197.7 M         239.1 M
                                                 Management.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\*\no-year funding request appropriated until expended

                     u.s. geological survey (usgs)
    Within the Ecosystems Mission Area, the Climate Adaptation Science 
Centers program responds to regional wildlife, ecosystems, and 
community-based stakeholder needs in the face of a changing climate. 
Minor funding increases in recent fiscal years have allowed for 
increased program responsiveness through the launch of the Midwest 
Climate Adaptation Science Center and additional capacity in ensuring 
Tribes have proactive opportunities to shape projects and distribution 
of associated resources. However, funding has not kept pace with 
identified needs, particularly in ensuring USGS has the resources to 
communicate scientific outputs to stakeholders to act on project 
findings. In fiscal Year 2023, we recommend full implementation of the 
Administration's proposal, with a goal of reaching no less than $85.74 
million.
    The USGS will also play a critical role in providing the Nation 
with the tools needed to avoid the next pandemic. The Survey-wide 
National Wildlife Health Center located in Madison, WI is the Nation's 
only Federal BSL-3 facility exclusively dedicated to scientific 
investigation and research on wildlife diseases that threaten human, 
animal, and environmental health. The COVID-19 pandemic heightens the 
need for completing a long-proposed modernization of the facility to 
ensure early detection of biological threats and robust bio-
surveillance for high-consequence pathogens in wildlife. TWS thanks 
Congress for providing $55 million in funding for phase one 
improvements to the National Wildlife Health Center in fiscal Year 
2021. However, an estimated $82 million is still required for project 
completion. TWS requests the remaining $82 million in funding, 
appropriated until expended, to complete these much-needed 
infrastructure improvements.
    The USGS is also uniquely positioned to provide a scientific basis 
for understanding implementation mechanisms for the Administration's 
America the Beautiful initiative. The USGS Cooperative Fish & Wildlife 
Research Units (CRUs), which fosters federal, state, NGO, and academic 
partnerships to provide actionable science tailored to the needs of 
natural resource managers, will be vital to robust, stakeholder driven 
implementation of these efforts. The support of many State agencies, 
universities, and non-government organizations has allowed the program 
to be a model for cooperative natural resource science programming and 
leverage an average of three dollars in outside funds for every Federal 
dollar invested. The Wildlife Society thanks appropriators for their 
understanding of this need and associated funding increases provided in 
fiscal Year 2021 and continued in fiscal Year 2022. The program has 
been able to fill a majority of vacant positions with this funding, and 
has been able to forge new partnerships with States and organizations 
not presently working with the program. The Wildlife Society requests a 
small increase in funding to the Administration-requested $28.2 
million, which will allow the CRUs to build on these new partnerships 
and establish units in States that have long requested one.
                 u.s. fish and wildlife service (usfws)
    With over 850 million acres of lands and waters, the National 
Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) will also play a key role in 
implementation of the America the Beautiful initiative. Unfortunately, 
the current NWRS operations and maintenance (O&M) budget is nowhere 
close to meeting the moment. In order to adequately conserve NWRS lands 
and align with the multiuse goals of America the Beautiful, significant 
investment in O&M programming is required. Conservation planning, a 
core O&M subactivity that deals with the creation of multistakeholder 
comprehensive conservation plans for refuge system units, has been 
chronically underfunded. As a result, 40 percent of these 
congressionally mandated plans are either out of date or do not exist. 
In addition to inadequate funding for long-term planning, the NWRS has 
lacked funding to meet their own identified needs in bringing diverse 
audiences into NWRS and USFWS programming. The Urban Wildlife Program, 
housed under NWRS O&M, seeks to target USFWS investments to underserved 
communities to bolster recreational access and conservation outreach. 
This program will be well-positioned to support DEI efforts outlined in 
America the Beautiful, but is not able to meet identified needs with 
the $5.5 million currently allocated.
    While Congress did provide a minimal increase across operations and 
maintenance accounts in fiscal Year 2022, this increase did not even 
cover the cost of the baseline 2.2 percent salary increase scheduled 
for Federal employees. TWS urges Congress to consider the significant 
shortcomings of the operations and maintenance accounts of the Refuge 
System in fiscal Year 2023, and provide at least $712 million in 
operations and maintenance funding to begin making inroads on adequate 
visitor services, habitat management activities, and long term 
conservation planning.
    The State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program (STWG) is the Nation's 
only program that encourages developing and implementing State Wildlife 
Action Plans, thereby directly supporting States in preventing wildlife 
from being listed under the Endangered Species Act. Collectively, STWG 
funds support strong partnerships among federal, state, Tribal, 
private, and nonprofit entities that enable wildlife professionals to 
implement on-the-ground conservation activities that benefit over 
12,000 at-risk species. In fiscal Year 2010, appropriations were at $90 
million for the program--allowing States to complete more of the 
projects deemed necessary for monitoring and recovery of at-risk 
species. Subsequent budget reductions in STWG, however, have not 
allowed this highly successful program to reach its full potential. TWS 
requests that Congress once again work to increase funding for the 
program to at least $100 million annually.
    Through the Ecological Services Program (ESP), USFWS works with 
diverse public and private partners to help identify species facing 
extinction, reduce threats to their populations, and return species 
back to the public trust responsibilities of States and Tribes. 
Wildlife professionals in USFWS are working on new strategies to 
increase efficacy of ESP, though the primary impediment to 
effectiveness remains inadequate funding. To effectively move species 
through all components of the ESA listing and delisting process, TWS 
requests full implementation of the Administration's fiscal Year 2023 
request of no less than $356.2 million for all subactivities.
    Since 2002, the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act (NMBCA) 
has provided more than $75 million in grants to support over 600 
projects in 36 countries that enable partner entities and wildlife 
professionals to conserve approximately 400 migratory bird species on 5 
million acres in the U.S., Mexico, Central America, South America, and 
the Caribbean. Moreover, NMBCA has achieved a partner match ratio of 
nearly 4:1 despite requiring only a 3:1 match. The needs of U.S. 
migratory bird species and conservation efforts to keep these species 
common extends to landscapes far beyond U.S. borders. As a result, TWS 
recommends Congress increase funding to no less than $7.9 million in 
fiscal Year 2023 to achieve greater proactive conservation results 
under the NMBCA program.
    Further promoting FWS' partnership with non-federal stakeholders is 
the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program. This program allows 
voluntary habitat restoration goals, aligned with identified strategic 
priorities, on private lands to be achieved through cost-efficient 
financial and technical assistance. If adequately funded, this program 
has the potential to serve as a vital tool in implementing private land 
conservation efforts as sought in the America the Beautiful initiative. 
TWS supports an increase in Partners for Fish and Wildlife program 
funding to no less than $68 million in fiscal Year 2023.
    The Migratory Bird Joint Ventures (MBJV), part of USFWS' Migratory 
Bird Management program, are locally-directed partnerships that develop 
and implement science-based habitat conservation strategies for all 
species of birds across North America. These partnerships have 
leveraged Federal funds at 31:1 to enhance and conserve over 27 million 
acres of avian habitat. TWS supports $25 million for enhancing and 
promoting the highly effective and collaborative partnerships of the 
Migratory Bird Joint Venture.
                    bureau of land management (blm)
    The Wildlife and Aquatic Habitat Management program maintains and 
restores fish, wildlife, and their habitat across a large portion of 
America's western landscapes. This includes projects to balance effects 
of multiple public land uses, such as energy development and livestock 
grazing, with needs of native species. This program also includes 
management of approximately 300 listed species under the Endangered 
Species Act. TWS recommends Congress support the Wildlife and Aquatic 
Management program with no less than the Administration request of 
$239.1 million in fiscal Year 2023--with robust funding applied to the 
Threatened and Endangered Species management subactivity.
    The Wildlife Society recognizes free-ranging horses and burros in 
the U.S. as ecologically invasive, feral species. Free-ranging, legally 
designated ``wild'', horse and burro populations on BLM lands were 
estimated at over 82,000 individuals in March of this year, only the 
second estimated population decrease in a decade. While TWS has been 
pleased to see the BLM's increased use of gathers and adoptions, 
population estimates still exceed the agency's threshold for ecological 
sustainability by more than 55,000 animals. By the BLM's own estimates, 
it will take hundreds of millions of dollars and several years more to 
reach ecologically sustainable levels. TWS recommends continued 
financial support for the BLM in their efforts to employ all the tools 
at their disposal to achieve ecologically sustainable levels. 
Additionally, TWS requests the elimination of an annual appropriations 
rider limiting sale and/or destruction of unwanted or unadoptable 
horses and burros. This will allow for the flexibilities and long-
standing protections to herd health as outlined in the 1971 Wild Free 
Roaming Horses and Burros Act to be implemented as originally outlined 
by Congress.
                          u.s. forest service
    Improving the future health and sustainability of the Nation's 
forests and grasslands in line with the goals of America the Beautiful 
requires a strong investment in USFS Research and Development (R&D). 
Through long-term monitoring and collaborative research efforts with 
States and other partners, USFS R&D generates broad environmental and 
societal benefits, including an understanding of wildlife-habitat 
relationships for multiple species and ecological communities that 
enables informed land management decisions. Further, providing adequate 
resources for effective science-based wildlife habitat management is 
central to balancing the multiple uses of public forests and 
grasslands. TWS requests robust funding for the program in fiscal Year 
2023 to ensure cooperative research on our Nation's lands and forests 
can continue.

    [This statement was submitted by Gordon Batcheller, President, The 
Wildlife Society.]
                                 ______
                                 




 
       LIST OF WITNESSES, COMMUNICATIONS, AND PREPARED STATEMENTS

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page

Alliance:
    For:
        The Great Lakes, Prepared Statement of the...............
          183....................................................
    To:
        Save Energy and Partners, Prepared Statement of the......
          184....................................................
American:
    Alliance of Museums, Prepared Statement of the...............
      186........................................................
    Bird Conservancy, Prepared Statement of......................
      188........................................................
    Hiking Society, Prepared Statement of the....................
      191........................................................
    Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), Prepared 
      Statement of the...........................................
      194........................................................
    Institute of Biological Sciences, Prepared Statement of the..
      198........................................................
    Lung Association, Prepared Statement of......................
      200........................................................
Animal Welfare Institute, Prepared Statement of..................
  203............................................................
Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Prepared Statement of.............
  206............................................................
Assiniboine and Sioux Rural Water Supply System, Prepared 
  Statement of...................................................
  208............................................................
Association of:
    Air Pollution Control Agencies (AAPCA), Prepared Statement of
      210........................................................
    Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, Prepared Statement of.........
      216........................................................
    Black Mesa Community School Board, Prepared Statement of.....
      218........................................................
    Bloom, Mr. David, Chief Financial Officer, Enviromental 
      Protection Agency..........................................
      69.........................................................
    Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation, Prepared Statement of...
      221........................................................
    Business Council for Sustainable Energy, Prepared Statement 
      of.........................................................
      224........................................................
    Clean Water Administrators, Prepared Statement of the........
      211........................................................
    Zoos and Aquariums, Prepared Statement of the................
      213........................................................

Capito, Senator Shelley Moore, U.S. Senator From West Virginia...
  113............................................................
Center for Invasive Species Prevention, Prepared Statement of the
  226............................................................
Central Arizona Water Conservation District, Prepared Statement 
  of.............................................................
  228............................................................
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Prepared Statement of................
  229............................................................
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Prepared Statement of................
  232............................................................
Chugach Regional Resources Commission, Prepared Statement of 



Coalition:
    For:
        American Heritage, Prepared Statement of.................
          240....................................................
    Of:
        Refuge Friends and Advocates, Prepared Statement of......
          245....................................................
    To:
        Protect America's National Parks, Prepared Statement of..
          243....................................................
Colorado River:
    Basin Salinity Control:
        Forum, Prepared Statement of.............................
          248....................................................
        Program, Prepared Statement of 



    Board of California, Prepared Statement of...................
      249........................................................
Conservation Fund, Prepared Statement of the.....................
  230............................................................
Council of Infrastructure Financing Authorities, Prepared 
  Statement of...................................................
  252............................................................
Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, Prepared Statement of.....
  277............................................................
Curtis, Jillian, Chief Financial Officer, Indian Health Service..
  39.............................................................

Defenders of Wildlife, Prepared Statement of.....................
  255............................................................
Dine Bi Olta School Board Association,,Prepared Statement of.....
  258............................................................
Ding Darling Wildlife Society, Prepared Statement of.............
  260............................................................
Dzilth-Na-O-Dith-Hle Community School, Prepared Statement of.....
  261............................................................

Ecological Society of America, Prepared Statement of.............
  264............................................................
Entomological Society of America, Prepared Statement of the......
  266............................................................

Feinstein, Senator Dianne, U.S. Senator From California, 
  Questions Submitted by 



Fish and Wildlife Service Prepared Statement of..................
  269............................................................
Flanagan, Denise, Director, Office of Budget, Department of the 
  Interior.......................................................
  115............................................................
Florida Keys Wildlife Society, Prepared Statement of the.........
  270............................................................
Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Prepared Statement of 
  the............................................................
  271............................................................
Fort Peck Reservation, Prepared Statement of the.................
  273............................................................
Fowler, Hon. Elizabeth, Acting Director, Indian Health Service:
    Prepared Statement of........................................
      45.........................................................
    Statement of.................................................
      39.........................................................
    Summary Statement of.........................................
      43.........................................................
Friends of:
        Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, Prepared Statement 
          of the.................................................
          275....................................................
        Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Prepared Statement of 
          the....................................................
          278....................................................
        Mid-Columbia River National Wildlife Refuges, Prepared 
          Statement of the.......................................
          278....................................................
        Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge, Prepared Statement 
          of the.................................................
          279....................................................
        Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Prepared Statement 
          of.....................................................
          281....................................................
        Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, Prepared Statement of 
          the....................................................
          282....................................................
        Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, Prepared 
          Statement of...........................................
          285....................................................
        Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge, Prepared Statement of 
          the....................................................
          287....................................................
        Tampa Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Prepared Statement of 
          the....................................................
          288....................................................
        Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, Prepared 
          Statement of...........................................
          290....................................................
        Wertheim Prepared Statement of...........................
          292....................................................

Geological Society of America Prepared Statement of..............
  292............................................................
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Prepared Statement of the.....
  295............................................................

Haaland, Hon. Deb, Secretary, Department of the Interior:
    Prepared Statement of........................................
      125........................................................
    Statement of.................................................
      115........................................................
    Summary Statement of.........................................
      123........................................................
Hagerty, Senator Bill, U.S. Senator From Tennessee, Questions 
  Submitted by...................................................
  172............................................................
Healthy Schools Network Prepared Statement of....................
  297............................................................

International Fund for Animal Welfare Prepared Statement of......
  300............................................................
Interstate Mining Compact Commission Prepared Statement of the...
  303............................................................

Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe Prepared Statement of..................
  306............................................................

Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Prepared 
  Statement of...................................................
  309............................................................
Leahy, Senator Patrick J., U.S. Senator From Vermont, Questions 
  Submitted by 



League of:
    American Orchestras, Prepared Statement of...................
      311........................................................
    Conservation Voters, Prepared Statement of...................
      314........................................................
Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Prepared Statement of the
  315............................................................

McConnell, Senator Mitch, U.S. Senator From Kentucky, Questions 
  Submitted by...................................................
  35.............................................................
Methane Action, Prepared Statement of............................
  317............................................................
Methane Action and Remineralize the Earth, Prepared Statement of.
  320............................................................
Metlakatla Indian Community Prepared Statement of................
  323............................................................
Merkley, Senator Jeff, U.S. Senator From Oregon:
    Opening Statement of 


Moore, Hon. Randy, Chief, United States Forest Service:
    Prepared Statement of........................................
      8..........................................................
    Statement of.................................................
      1..........................................................
    Summary Statement of.........................................
      6..........................................................
Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, Prepared Statement of the..............
  326............................................................
Murkowski, Senator Lisa, U.S. Senator From Alaska:
    Questions Submitted by 



    Statement of 



National:
    Association of:
        Abandoned Mine Land Programs, Prepared Statement of......
          328....................................................
        Clean:
            Air Agencies, Prepared Statement of..................
              330................................................
            Water Agencies, Prepared Statement of................
              333................................................
        State:
            Energy Officials, Prepared Statement of..............
              336................................................
            Foresters, Prepared Statement of.....................
              338................................................
        Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, Prepared Statement 
          of.....................................................
          341....................................................
    Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers, Prepared 
      Statement of...............................................
      344........................................................
    Congress of American Indians, Prepared Statement of..........
      347........................................................
    Council of Urban Indian Health, Prepared Statement of........
      350........................................................
    Endowment for the Arts, Prepared Statement of................
      353........................................................
    Fire Protection Association, Prepared Statement of...........
      353........................................................
    Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Prepared Statement of..........
      354........................................................
    Humanities Alliance, Prepared Statement of...................
      357........................................................
    Park:
        Service, Prepared Statement of 


    Parks Conservation Association, Prepared Statement of........
      359........................................................
    Trust for Historic Preservation, Prepared Statement of.......
      362........................................................
    Wildlife
        Refuges, Prepared Statement of...........................
          365....................................................
        Refuge System, Prepared Statement of 


Native Village of Eyak, Prepared Statement of....................
  367............................................................
Natural Science Collections Alliance, Prepared Statement of......
  370............................................................
Nature Conservancy, Prepared Statement of the....................
  373............................................................
Nisqually Indian Tribe, Prepared Statement of....................
  375............................................................
Northwest:
    Indian Fisheries Commission, Prepared Statement of...........
      378........................................................
    Portland Area Indian Health Board, Prepared Statement of.....
      381........................................................
Norton Sound Health Corporation, Prepared Statement of...........
  384............................................................

Oregon Water Resources Congress, Prepared Statement of the.......
  387............................................................

Pacific Salmon Commission, Prepared Statement of.................
  390............................................................
Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Prepared Statement of.....
  392............................................................
Partnership for the National Trails System, Prepared Statement of 
  the............................................................
  393............................................................
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Prepared Statement 
  of the.........................................................
  396............................................................
Pinon Community School, Prepared Statement of....................
  397............................................................
Preservation Action's, Prepared Statement of.....................
  400............................................................
Public:
    Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Prepared 
      Statement of...............................................
      403........................................................
    Lands Foundation, Prepared Statement of the..................
      405........................................................
Puyallup Tribe, Prepared Statement of the........................
  408............................................................

Ramah Navajo School Board, Prepared Statement of the.............
  410............................................................
Regan, Hon. Michael, Administrator, Environmental Protection 
  Agency:
    Prepared Statement of........................................
      75.........................................................
    Statement of.................................................
      69.........................................................
    Summary Statement of.........................................
      73.........................................................
Rubio, Senator Marco, U.S. Senator From Florida, Question 
  Submitted by...................................................
  36.............................................................

Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Prepared Statement of 
  the............................................................
  413............................................................
Seattle Indian Health Board, Prepared Statement of...............
  415............................................................
Self-Governance Communication & Education Tribal Consortium, 
  Prepared Statement of..........................................
  418............................................................
Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, Prepared Statement of the....
  420............................................................
Shoalwater Bay Tribe, Prepared Statement of......................
  421............................................................
Society:
    For:
        American Archaeology, Prepared Statement of the..........
          424....................................................
    Of:
        American Foresters, Prepared Statement of the............
          427....................................................
Southcentral Foundation, Prepared Statement of...................
  429............................................................
Squaxin Island Tribe, Prepared Statement of......................
  431............................................................

Tampa Bay National Wildlife Refuges, Prepared Statement of.......
  289............................................................
Tanana Chiefs Conference, Prepared Statement of..................
  434............................................................
Tester, Senator Jon, U.S. Senator From Montana, Questions 
  Submitted by...................................................
  167............................................................

Urban Indian Health Institute, Prepared Statement of the.........
  437............................................................
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Prepared Statement of the........
  440............................................................

Van Hollen, Senator Chris, U.S. Senator From Maryland, Questions 
  by 


WateReuse Association, Prepared Statement of the.................
  443............................................................
Western:
    Governors' Association, Prepared Statement of................
      445........................................................
    States Arts Federation, Prepared Statement of................
      447........................................................
Wild Horse Management, Prepared Statement of.....................
  453............................................................
Wildlife:
    Conservation Society, Prepared Statement of the..............
      450........................................................
    Society, Prepared Statement of the...........................
      454........................................................

                            SUBJECT INDEX

                              ----------                              

                      UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE

                                                                   Page

Additional Committee Questions...................................
  33.............................................................
Highlights From the President's fiscal year 2023 Budget Request 
  for Specific Priorities........................................
  10.............................................................
Legislative Proposals and Administrative/General Provisions......
  11.............................................................
                               __________

                         INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE

105(L) Tribal Leases.............................................
  64.............................................................
Additional Committee Questions...................................
  68.............................................................
Advance Appropriations...........................................
  49, 59.........................................................
Albuquerque IHS System...........................................
  55.............................................................
American Indians in Urban Areas..................................
  56.............................................................
Appropriations Committee Oversight...............................
  53.............................................................
Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill...................................
  60.............................................................
Change in IHS Budget Proposals...................................
  51.............................................................
Closing..........................................................
  49.............................................................
Contract Support:
    Costs........................................................
      63.........................................................
    Costs (CSC)..................................................
      53.........................................................
Congressional Oversight..........................................
  49.............................................................
Covid:
    Prevalence...................................................
      50.........................................................
    Vaccines and Therapeutics....................................
      50.........................................................
Covid-19 Response and Future Emergency Preparedness..............
  48.............................................................
Electronic Health Records (EHR)..................................
  66.............................................................
Follow-up IHS Mandatory Proposal Briefing........................
  63.............................................................
IHS:
    Budget Proposal Change.......................................
      66.........................................................
    Facilities...................................................
      58.........................................................
    Management...................................................
      62.........................................................
    Mandatory Funding Proposal...................................
      44.........................................................
    Staffing.....................................................
      57.........................................................
Long-Term Funding Solutions......................................
  45.............................................................
Mandatory Funding Legislative Proposal...........................
  52.............................................................
Modernizing Critical Infrastructure..............................
  47.............................................................
Prioritizing High Quality Health Care............................
  46.............................................................
Provider Abuse...................................................
  61.............................................................
Purchase and Referred Care.......................................
  66.............................................................
Sanitation and Facilities Projects...............................
  54.............................................................
Student Loan Repayment Program...................................
  60.............................................................
Supporting Self-Determination....................................
  48.............................................................
Supreme Court Decision on Roe v. Wade............................
  57.............................................................
Timeline for Project Construction................................
  55.............................................................
Urban Indian Organizations.......................................
  60.............................................................
Warm Springs Water Infrastructure................................
  51.............................................................
                               __________

                    ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Achieving Clean and Safe Water for All Communities...............
  77.............................................................
Additional Committee Questions...................................
  104............................................................
Bay Delta Watershed..............................................
  105............................................................
Burlington High School Contamination.............................
  108............................................................
California Coast Dumping Cleanup.................................
  104............................................................
Chesapeake Bay...................................................
  109............................................................
Clean Air........................................................
  110............................................................
Elevating Environmental Justice..................................
  76.............................................................
Enforcing Environmental Laws.....................................
  76.............................................................
Ensuring:
    Clean and Healthy Air for All Communities....................
      77.........................................................
    The Safety of Chemicals for People and the Environment.......
      78.........................................................
Full-Time Equivalents Staffing...................................
  113............................................................
Lake Champlain...................................................
  108............................................................
    Basin Program................................................
      109........................................................
PFAS.............................................................
  112............................................................
Renewable Fuels..................................................
  106............................................................
Restoring EPA's Core Capacity and Following the Science..........
  78.............................................................
Safeguarding and Revitalizing Communities........................
  78.............................................................
South Coast Air Quality District.................................
  105............................................................
Stakeholder Meetings.............................................
  113............................................................
Tackling the Climate Crisis......................................
  75.............................................................
The fiscal year 2023 President's Budget Request..................
  75.............................................................
Wildfires........................................................
  107............................................................
                               __________

                       DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Additional Committee Questions...................................
  165............................................................
Addressing Climate Challenges and Building Resilience............
  128............................................................
Advancing:
    And Incorporating Science Across Interior....................
      134........................................................
    Indian Education.............................................
      127........................................................
Balancing:
    Development and Conservation.................................
      133........................................................
    The Nation's Energy Portfolio................................
      132........................................................
Building:
    Agency Capacity..............................................
      136........................................................
    A More Inclusive Agency......................................
      135........................................................
    Resilient Communities........................................
      129........................................................
Civilian Climate Corps...........................................
  134............................................................
Clean Energy Jobs of the Future..................................
  131............................................................
C&O Canal........................................................
  168............................................................
Creating Jobs to Meet Environmental and Energy Challenges........
  130............................................................
Glen Echo........................................................
  168............................................................
Infrastructure...................................................
  133............................................................
Investing in Tribal Communities..................................
  126............................................................
Landsat..........................................................
  169............................................................
Land and Water Conservation Fund.................................
  170............................................................
Leveraging Technology and Information............................
  137............................................................
Monarch butterflies..............................................
  170............................................................
Migratory Bird Treaty Act........................................
  171............................................................
Overview of Interior's Budget....................................
  125............................................................
Promoting Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion of Underserved 
  Communities....................................................
  135............................................................
Reclamation Jobs in Energy Communities...........................
  132............................................................
Resource Stewardship.............................................
  129............................................................
Strengthening:
    Interior's Commitment to Diversity and Equity................
      135........................................................
Tribal Nations...................................................
  126............................................................
The America the Beautiful Initiative.............................
  130............................................................
Water Challenges.................................................
  128............................................................
Workforce and Operational Improvements...........................
  136............................................................
Wildland Fire Management.........................................
  128............................................................

                                  [all]