[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 121 (Thursday, September 30, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1742]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 TRAIL RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF LANDS 
                                  ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 28, 2004

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill, 
and congratulate my Colorado colleague, Mr. Tancredo, for his 
leadership in introducing it.
  I joined as a cosponsor of this bill because I also want to improve 
the ability of the land-managing agencies to adequately enforce the 
rules that apply to uses of the Federal lands.
  That is also why I also introduced a related bill--H.R. 751, the 
Responsible Off-road Vehicle Enforcement and Response Act, or 
``ROVER.'' My bill is narrow. It deals only with enforcement of the 
regulations for use of vehicles on National Forest lands and public 
lands managed by BLM. This bill goes much further. In addition to the 
forests and BLM lands, it also applies to lands managed by the National 
Park Service and the refuges managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service. 
And it addresses the enforcement of all regulations, not just those 
related to use of vehicles.
  In the Resources Committee, Mr. Tancredo and I worked with Chairman 
Pombo, Ranking Member Rahall, and other Members, to develop a 
substitute that included a number of improvements in the bill.
  After the Resources Committee completed its work, the measure was 
reviewed by the Judiciary Committee, and the bill now before the House 
reflects changes made in that committee. It also includes the 
provisions of H.R. 1038, the Public Lands Fire Regulations Enforcement 
Act of 2003--also approved by the Resources and Judiciary Committees 
last year--which would increase the maximum fine for violations of 
regulations related to campfires. I also cosponsored that measure.
  As I said, I do support the legislation before us. I hope the House 
will approve it, because legislation for better and more consistent 
enforcement of regulations is needed. However, we need to recognize 
that it is only one part of a bigger picture.
  Even more than new legislation, it seems to me, the land-managing 
agencies need more resources--more money and more people--if we want 
them to do a better job.
  As approved by the Resources Committee, H.R. 3247 would have helped 
with that, too, by allowing the agencies to use money from fines to 
help pay for some of the restoration work caused by violations of 
regulations, as well as for offsetting the administrative costs 
involved in enforcement of those regulations. Unfortunately, the 
Judiciary Committee evidently had some concerns about that part of the 
legislation, and so the bill now before us does not include those 
provisions.
  This is something that I think should be addressed in the future, and 
I will seek to work with other Members to do that. Today, however, we 
can take an important step forward by passing this bill, and I urge the 
House to approve it.

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