[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 41 (Friday, March 9, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E503-E504]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    INTRODUCTION OF FEDERAL LANDS RESTORATION, ENHANCEMENT, PUBLIC 
                EDUCATION, AND INFORMATION RESOURCES ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, March 9, 2007

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Madam Speaker, I am today introducing a bill 
to provide additional resources for use by the Federal land-managing 
agencies to restore lands damaged as a result of improper activities 
and to promote public education about the use of the Federal lands. My 
Colorado colleague, Representative Tancredo, is again cosponsoring the 
legislation. I greatly appreciate his support.
  The bill is based on one part of a bill introduced by Representative 
Tancredo that I cosponsored in the 108th and 109th Congresses. Our 
purpose is to improve the ability of the land-managing agencies--the 
Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and the Fish and 
Wildlife Service in the Interior Department as well as the Forest 
Service in the Agriculture Department--to adequately enforce the rules 
that apply to uses of the lands they manage.
  In the 108th Congress, Mr. Tancredo and I worked with the Resources 
Committee's Chairman, Ranking Member, and other Members, to develop a 
substitute that included a number of improvements in the bill. The 
Resources Committee approved that substitute, which included provisions 
similar to those in the bill I am introducing today. However, after the 
Resources Committee completed its work,

[[Page E504]]

the measure was reviewed by the Judiciary Committee, which made further 
changes before the bill went to the House floor.
  The most significant change was deletion of the provisions of the 
bill that allowed the agencies to retain fines paid for violations of 
land-use regulations and to use those funds for repairing damages to 
the lands and for public education. I regretted that change because in 
addition to more adequate authority to enforce regulations, the land-
managing agencies need more resources--more money and more people--if 
we want them to do a better job.
  The House passed the bill as revised by the Judiciary Committee, but 
the 108th Congress adjourned before the Senate could complete action on 
it. Accordingly, in the 109th Congress Mr. Tancredo reintroduced the 
House-passed bill and I cosponsored it, and I introduced a separate 
bill which he cosponsored. We are repeating that pattern of cooperation 
today.
  The Tancredo-Udall bill of the 108th Congress would have allowed the 
land-managing agencies to use money from fines to help pay for some of 
the restoration work caused by violations of regulations and for public 
education.
  The bill I am introducing today is similar. It would allow agencies 
to use money collected as fines to be used for repairing damage caused 
by the actions that lead to the fines or by similar actions. It would 
also allow them to use the money to increase public awareness of 
regulations and other requirements regarding use of Federal lands. And 
it provides that any of the money not needed for those purposes would 
be credited to the Crime Victims Fund in the Treasury.
  Madam Speaker, this is a modest bill but an important one. I think it 
deserves the support of our colleagues and I will do all I can to 
achieve its enactment into law.

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