[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 133 (Tuesday, September 29, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11130-S11131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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     VARIOUS ENVIRONMENTAL RIDERS CONTAINED IN THE FY 99 INTERIOR 
                       APPROPRIATIONS LEGISLATION

 Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today to support the 
Senior Senator from Montana (Mr. Baucus) in his efforts to describe 
some of the provisions of concern that were attached to the Interior 
Appropriations legislation, the fate of which is now uncertain. I hope 
that all the provisions that will harm the environment, impede the 
enforcement of environmental law, or weaken federal environmental 
policy, will be removed from this legislation if it either returns to 
the floor or is incorporated in a broader appropriations bill.
  This is not the first time that I have supported the Senior Senator 
from Montana in his efforts to address environmentally harmful 
legislative riders in appropriations legislation. In September 1995, I 
joined in his efforts to mitigate the effects of riders in the FY 96 
VA-HUD appropriations legislation regarding the operations of the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency. Once again, I applaud his leadership 
in championing the protection of the environment.
  Mr. President, for more than two decades, we have seen a remarkable 
bipartisan consensus on protecting the environment. As a consequence of 
this broad agreement, today we breathe cleaner air, drink cleaner 
water, and enjoy spectacular public lands.
  Unfortunately, again during this Congress, we have faced numerous 
proposals to modify the environmental protections upon which American 
families depend. We have seen bills that would undermine the Wilderness 
Act and the management of our public lands, block implementation of the 
Endangered Species Act, rollback wetlands standards and weaken 
enforcement of clean water laws, and slow down or stop cleanup of 
hazardous waste sites. Congressional consideration of these proposals 
has been divisive, time-consuming, and ultimately unproductive.
  Mr. President, I believe we have a responsibility to the American 
people to protect the quality of our public lands and resources. That 
responsibility of stewardship requires that I oppose legislative 
efforts to include proposals in routine spending bills that weaken 
environmental laws or prevent potentially beneficial environmental 
regulations from being promulgated by the

[[Page S11131]]

federal agencies that carry out federal law.
  In addition to my substantive concerns, Mr. President, I also share 
with the Senator from Montana a procedural concern about these riders. 
The people of Wisconsin have been calling my office in the last few 
weeks to express their grave concern that when riders are placed in 
spending bills major decisions regarding environmental protection are 
being made without the benefit of an up or down vote. Wisconsinites 
have very strong views that Congress has a responsibility to discuss 
and publicly debate matters effecting the environment. Thus, the Senior 
Senator from Montana is making an important procedural point for the 
Senate. We should be on record with regard to our position on this 
matter of open government and environmental stewardship.
  Though I have substantive concerns about all of the riders that the 
Senior Senator from Montana has detailed, and others, I wanted to share 
my concerns by highlighting in detail a few riders contained in the 
Interior Appropriations legislation.
  I am concerned about the language on forest road decommissioning that 
is contained in Title II of the Interior bill. This language prohibits 
the use of funds to decommission National Forest System roads until the 
Regional Forester certifies that all ``unauthorized'' roads are 
decommissioned or reconstructed. Mr. President, this mandate simply 
does not recognize that maintaining existing roads is a priority both 
in Wisconsin's national forests and throughout Forest Service Region 9. 
Our existing road system in the Nicolet and Chequamegon National 
Forests not only serves those who visit our forests, but also serves 
our local communities. Forest Service roads are important routes 
between communities in the northern part of my state. I also travel 
them when I attend Listening Sessions and other events in northern 
Wisconsin. I am concerned that if our forests have to spend time 
documenting all unauthorized roads this fiscal year, such as snowmobile 
crossings and other rights of way, we will neither get to accomplish 
any needed decomissioning, nor any much needed maintenance.
  I also oppose the rider regarding logging in Tongass National Forest 
contained in the Interior bill. While Wisconsin's national forests have 
struggled to bring their timber sales above cost, I am concerned that 
this rider requires that the Forest Service offer for sale, and allow 
the logging of, ninety percent of the timber volume proposed by the 
Tongass Land Management Plan, a plan which is currently under appeal to 
the Secretary of Agriculture. Moreover, this rider contains a 
dangerous, precedent-setting provision that makes this requirement 
legally enforceable. I strongly believe that taxpayers should be 
getting a better return for the sale of timber from public lands, and I 
am concerned about increasing cut volumes when we still need to address 
below cost issues on the Tongass.
  These are a few of my concerns, Mr. President. I believe that the 
Senate should act to strip these riders from the bill and send clean 
Interior funding provisions to the President for his signature. I 
encourage my colleagues to take the advice of the Senior Senator from 
Montana, and act to fund the programs we must fund without taking 
environmental policy actions that the public opposes.

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