[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 84 (Wednesday, June 28, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1138]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             PASSING THE CONSERVATION AND REINVESTMENT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN D. DINGELL

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 27, 2000

  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, today one of my hometown newspapers, the 
Detroit Free Press, published the following editorial urging the other 
body to pass H.R. 701, the Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA). As 
my colleagues know, the House approved CARA last month by an 
overwhelming bipartisan margin.
  The House bill may not be perfect, but clearly it is a strong 
foundation for a landmark conservation bill. The other body should 
proceed expeditiously so as not to let this once-in-a-generation 
opportunity pass us by.

              [From the Detroit Free Press, June 27, 2000]

                               Land Plan


             worthwhile conservation act stuck in committee

       The country's best chance in a century to commit to 
     conservation is staring it in the face, and yet the means to 
     make it happen may not survive the U.S. Senate.
       The Conservation and Reinvestment Act, which provides 
     hundreds of millions of dollars for land acquisition and 
     recreation projects nationwide, sits in committee, where it 
     landed after the House passed it by a 3-1 margin. The full 
     Senate seems likely to approve CARA, if it gets sprung from 
     the committee.
       The act does not require any new money to fund it. Rather 
     it is the revival of a decades-old promise that royalties 
     from oil and gas drilling on federal property would go toward 
     land preservation. In the meantime, the money has been used 
     to help mask the country's deficit-spending habit, a maneuver 
     that's no longer needed and ripe for Congress to fix.
       Some Western-state senators in key positions see CARA as a 
     federal land grab, although only a sixth of the money would 
     go toward federal purchases, and acquisitions would require 
     the consent of both the owner and Congress. Far more would 
     get funneled to the states, to set their own balance between 
     buying land and improving existing public spaces.
       One of CARA's most exciting aspects, in fact, is the 
     ability to focus on smaller projects than the federal 
     government normally would, including urban green spaces, 
     walkways and small slices of important habitat. For those 
     with visions of a walkable riverfront in Detroit, or 
     selective preservation of natural spots in the path of 
     development, CARA is a dream come true--if the senators 
     controlling its fate will set it free.

     

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