[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 103 (Tuesday, July 20, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8840-S8842]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               CONSERVATION AND REINVESTMENT ACT OF 1999

  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, S. 25, the Conservation and Reinvestment 
Act, offers a unique opportunity for the entire nation to enjoy the 
tangible benefits of Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas production. It 
redirects a portion of royalties from Outer Continental Shelf 
production directly back to States and local communities for 
environmental and conservation programs.
  The effect of this bill will be to provide States and local 
communities

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funding to expand and maintain parks and to enhance hunting, fishing 
and other outdoor recreational activities.
  In addition, this bill would redirect a portion of Outer Continental 
Shelf Royalties back to the States which have endured the risks of 
production through the bill's Coastal Impact Assistance program. This 
program will provide dedicated funding to coastal States for air 
quality, water quality and to mitigate the environmental effects of 
Outer Continental Shelf infrastructure developments.
  Alabama might use these funds to help ensure water quality in Mobile 
Bay, part of the National Estuary Program, and for the preservation and 
restoration of oyster beds and other sensitive environments areas along 
our coast. States may choose to establish a protected trust fund, as 
Alabama has with existing state royalties, in order to use the revenues 
in perpetuity for environmental and conservation purposes.
  Alabama is one of only six States with active Outer Continental Shelf 
natural gas production off its shore and onshore infrastructure to 
refine and transport those resources. Alabama ranks ninth in the 
country for natural gas production and produced over 430 billion cubic 
feet of natural gas in 1994. There are four onshore refineries and 
numerous natural gas pipelines to process Outer Continental Shelf 
natural gas. The State has made a significant investment in providing 
the land and infrastructure to handle this production, yet has not been 
able to enjoy any direct royalty benefits from Outer Continental Shelf 
production.
  This bill takes a step towards ensuring Alabama and the entire nation 
receive at least a part of the direct benefits of Outer Continental 
Shelf production.
  I commend the Senator from Alaska, Mr. Murkowski, and the Senator 
from Louisiana, Ms. Landrieu, for their tremendous leadership on this 
issue and look forward to the passage of this bill soon.
  I express my appreciation to Senators Murkowski and Landrieu for 
working on this legislation. I have worked with them from the 
beginning. It has good potential to allow States to retain some of the 
oil and gas money for remediating environmental damage from production 
and for improving their environmental quality in general.
  I thank the Chair.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I appreciate this opportunity to 
participate in today's discussion of the Land and Water Conservation 
Fund (LWCF). Senator Landrieu and Senator Murkowski deserve great 
credit for their efforts to restore the LWCF's important conservation 
goals, as does Senator Lott for his commitment to addressing this issue 
on a bipartisan basis.
  Congress originally intended that revenues from off-shore oil and gas 
drilling be deposited into a Land and Water Conservation Fund to allow 
the federal and state governments to protect green space, improve 
wildlife habitat, and purchase lands for conservation purposes. I have 
come to appreciate this program, as the Land and Water Conservation 
Fund has been used by local and state governments in South Dakota to 
purchase park lands and develop many of the facilities that exist in 
municipal and state parks throughout the state.
  For the past five years, however, the state side of the LWCF has not 
been funded, the revenues from off-shore oil and gas drilling have been 
used to fund other federal programs. As a result, much-needed local and 
state park improvement projects have been held back, and there has been 
growing pressure in recent years to divert these funds back to their 
original purpose.
  Americans depend increasingly on parks and open spaces for recreation 
because they allow all of us to deal better with the stress of modern 
life. Therefore, it is important that states are given the resources 
they need to improve parks and public lands, and I am prepared to work 
in a bipartisan fashion to enact legislation this year to ensure 
greater annual funding of conservation efforts from off-shore oil and 
gas drilling revenues.
  A number of proposals, many of which are bipartisan, have been 
proposed by the administration and members of Congress to ensure that 
future off-shore oil and gas drilling revenues are dedicated to 
conservation purposes. A consensus appears to be developing that 
considerably more resources should be invested to protect and maintain 
rural and urban parks, preserve farmland and forests, provide 
incentives for the protection of endangered species on private lands, 
fully fund payments-in-lieu-of-taxes, and protect coastal resources.
  I believe that this legislation could have a tremendous positive 
impact on local, state, and national parks, and greatly enhance outdoor 
recreation and environmental education projects throughout South Dakota 
and the nation. It is my strong hope that Congress will produce 
compromise legislation reflecting many of the basic objectives 
contained in these proposals and ensure a strong future for our 
nation's natural resources. I am dedicated to working with Senators 
Landrieu, Murkowski, and Lott to achieve this goal.
  Mr. KERREY. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleagues, 
Senator Landrieu, Senator Breaux, Senator Lott, and others in 
supporting the Conservation and Reinvestment Act of 1999. This 
important legislation will provide consistent funding to state fish and 
wildlife conservation programs to help maintain our precious natural 
resources, and will help to bring more Nebraskans back to the river--in 
our case, the Missouri River. This legislation will give states the 
necessary funding to carry out a flexible, non-regulatory approach to 
conservation that prevents species and their habitats from becoming 
endangered and to restore fish and wildlife populations to healthy 
numbers. This legislation is consistent with and fully complementary to 
the Missouri River Valley Improvement Act of 1999 that I recently 
introduced, along with my colleagues Senator Daschle and Senator 
Johnson.
  The most important provisions of the Conservation and Reinvestment 
Act for my home state of Nebraska are Titles II and III, the Land and 
Water Conservation Fund reform provisions. Title III of this 
legislation would restore state-side funding to the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund--funding that has been diverted in recent years for 
other uses. However, as emphasized by the bill's authors and 
supporters, restoration of these funds to states is more important now 
than ever before, as Nebraska and all states are faced with accelerated 
population growth and urban sprawl, and increased demand by families, 
communities, and the business sector for recreation and conservation 
areas--areas that draw people and economic growth. Nebraska, as well as 
other states, has relied on hunters and anglers to provide the bulk of 
financial support for fish and wildlife programs--particularly through 
the purchase of hunting and fishing licenses and through excise taxes 
on sporting goods. However, these funds have not been adequate to 
address the needs of declining nongame species. Titles II and III of 
the Conservation and Reinvestment Act would provide a permanent Federal 
funding source to meet these needs in Nebraska and other states, and 
would revitalize the state matching grants program.
  The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act, as passed in 1965, utilized 
a portion of the proceeds from Outer Continental Shelf mineral leasing 
revenues to give to state and local governments for recreation and 
conservation purposes as those governments deemed necessary and 
beneficial for their communities. In 1997, a record $5.2 billion in 
royalties, rents, and bonus payments from new lease sales was collected 
by the Federal government. Significant federal revenues from Outer 
Continental Shelf leasing and production has been designated by law for 
the Land and Water Conservation Fund, but since 1995, Congress has not 
appropriated these monies to the states, but rather has transferred 
most of these funds to the U.S. Treasury for other uses. This important 
legislation would rectify this, and bring the funding source back to 
Nebraska and to local Nebraska communities. State and local governments 
match, dollar for dollar, Federal Land and Water Conservation funds for 
open space conservation and recreation in our communities. This act 
would restore the state and local funding, bolster the federal funding 
component, and also secure funding for urban parks and recreational 
areas.
  While this act would currently provide 7 percent of Land and Water 
Conservation Funds to the states, I signed

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a letter today, along with several of my colleagues in the Senate, 
urging that funding for this provision be increased to 10 percent--a 
level that I believe to be consistent with the needs that exist in my 
state of Nebraska and in others. Besides providing recreational funding 
support for community needs, this source of funds can have a 
significant impact on non-regulatory approaches to preventing wildlife 
species from being listed as threatened or declined under the 
Endangered Species Act--listings which often find landowners embroiled 
in private property rights vs. species protection laws. By enabling 
communities and states to preserve identified areas where habitat and 
species can be allowed to flourish with minimal or little disruption on 
the lives and activities of people, we can help to prevent future 
listings, and to safeguard against some of the social and economic 
disruptions that have often accompanied past listings.
  Additionally, wildlife conservation, conservation education, and 
wildlife-associated recreational programs--all of which contribute 
increasingly significant tourism and recreational dollar returns to the 
state of Nebraska--are traditionally underfunded. The International 
Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies estimates these needs 
nationally to be approximately one billion dollars per year.
  Increasing Title III funding to 10 percent of Outer Continental Shelf 
receipts would give Nebraska approximately an additional $1.7 million 
annually--money that I know from the people of Nebraska is both needed 
and would be well-spent.
  The Nebraska State Legislature passed a resolution this year in 
support of this bill, as did the City of Grand Island in Nebraska. 
Nebraska Governor Mike Johanns is one of 27 Governors to officially 
support this legislation. All 50 state fish and wildlife agencies, 
including the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, the International 
Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, and more than 3,000 local 
entities, businesses, clubs, and conservation organizations have 
endorsed the Conservation and Reinvestment Act of 1999. Nationwide, 
more than 200 state and local ballot initiatives sought to commit 
billions of dollars for conservation, farmland protection, and urban 
revitalization policies. More than 70 percent of these initiatives were 
supported by voters. I enthusiastically add my support to this 
impressive list of supporters, and look forward to working with Senator 
Landrieu and our colleagues to finalize and pass this important 
legislation.

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