[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 83 (Thursday, June 4, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1315-E1316]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCTION OF A BILL TO AUTHORIZE THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 
                                 PARKS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BEN RAY LUJAN

                             of new mexico

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 4, 2009

  Mr. LUJAN. Madam Speaker, today I am pleased to introduce a bill to 
authorize the seven National Environmental Research Parks (NERPs) at 
Department of Energy (DOE) sites, including the Los Alamos 
Environmental Research Park in my district. These parks are unique 
outdoor laboratories that offer secure settings for long-term research 
on a broad range of subjects including, wildlife biology, ecology, 
climate change effects, environmental remediation, and maintenance of 
freshwater ecosystems. The parks also provide rich environments for 
training future researchers and introducing the public to environmental 
sciences. They are located within six major ecological regions of the 
United States which cover more than half of the nation.
  In the mid-1970s, DOE developed a policy for current and future 
research parks. The mission of the parks is to: conduct research and 
education activities to assess and document environmental effects 
associated with energy and weapons use; explore methods for eliminating 
or minimizing adverse effects of energy development and nuclear 
materials on the environment; train people in ecological and 
environmental sciences; and educate the public. The Parks maintain 
several long-term data sets that are available nowhere else in the U.S. 
or in the world on amphibian populations, bird populations, and soil 
moisture and plant water stress. These data are uniquely valuable for 
understanding wildlife biology, ecology, and for the detection of long-
term shifts in climate.
  The federal government's interest in and need for ecological research 
evolved after World War II as we sought security and safety by 
producing nuclear weapons in isolated regions surrounded by large 
buffer zones of undeveloped land. DOE's predecessor, the Atomic Energy 
Commission, AEC, recognized a need to track both radioactive fallout 
from the testing of nuclear weapons and inadvertent radioactive 
releases from nuclear weapons production facilities into the 
environment. Out of the radionuclide research grew new technologies for 
quantifying the movement of natural materials such as nutrients and 
fluids and of introduced pollutants through the ecosystem. The 
maintenance of the Parks by DOE conforms with statutory obligations to 
promote sound environmental stewardship of federal lands and to 
safeguard sites containing cultural and archeological resources.
  In 1972 AEC established the first NERP at the Savannah River Site in 
South Carolina. The plan for a research park emerged during a formal 
review of the environmental research activities at Savannah River. The 
review team consisted of scientists, representatives from other Federal 
agencies, and members of the newly formed President's Council on 
Environmental Quality.
  The Los Alamos NERP was designated in 1973. Its 40 square miles 
include the entire site of Los Alamos National Laboratory and a 
landscape of canyons, mesas, mountains, and the Rio Grande providing a 
diverse range of ecosystems to explore. The Park's ongoing 
environmental studies include: interaction between its local ecosystems 
and the hydrologic cycle; contaminant transport; elk, deer, and raptor 
population dynamics; landfill cap performance; woodland productivity; 
and long-term data sets developed to monitor climate change effects, 
soil moisture, and fire ecology providing valuable baseline reference 
information. Over 125 publications related to the ecology and 
interaction between lab operations and the environment have been 
written about Los Alamos and the Pajarito Plateau it rests on.
  The National Environmental Research Parks have been conducting 
critical activities for our nation and the world's environmental 
research portfolio for decades. They are one of our nation's most 
valuable environmental research assets, and it is time for them to be 
recognized in law and explicitly provided the resources they need to 
continue their valuable work. This legislation offers guidance for the

[[Page E1316]]

Parks' research and monitoring programs as well as their education and 
outreach activities, and it authorizes a small amount of core funding 
needed to support their important work. I look forward to working with 
my colleagues in both parties and both Chambers of Congress to bring 
this bill to the President's desk as soon as possible.

                          ____________________