[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 101 (Tuesday, July 16, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5710-S5712]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. FLAKE (for himself, Mr. McCain, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Risch, and
Mr. Heller):
S. 1300. A bill to amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003
to provide for the conduct of stewardship end result contracting
projects; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Mr. FLAKE. Mr. President, on behalf of Senators McCain, Crapo, Risch,
Heller, and myself I am pleased to introduce the Stewardship
Contracting Reauthorization and Improvement Act.
As we continue to search for ways to prevent future wildland fire
tragedies, it is worth noting that the U.S. Forest Service and the
Bureau of Land Management, BLM, are about to lose one of their most
valuable tools in that ongoing fight.
The tool, known as stewardship contracting, allows the Forest Service
and BLM--in collaboration with State and local governments, tribal
agencies, and non-governmental organizations--to enter into contracts
with public or private entities to carry out a variety of land-
management projects, including those that can reduce the risk of
wildland fire.
Stewardship contracts have been particularly useful in Arizona. The
Forest Service awarded the first such 10-year contract to the White
Mountain Stewardship Project in 2004, and the largest contract, the
Four Forest Restoration Initiative, began in 2012. Unless Congress
acts, the authority to enter into these agreements will expire at the
end of September. Our legislation would not only extend the authority
for Federal agencies to enter into these agreements, but it builds on
past experiences to make commonsense improvements.
For example, it would give the Forest Service and BLM flexibility
when establishing cancellation ceilings. A cancellation ceiling
represents the amount of money the government would have to pay its
contracting partner if the contract were cancelled. Typically, the
government has to obligate the full amount at the inception of the
contract. As noted in a 2008 GAO report, cancellation ceilings that
require agencies to obligate large sums can serve as an impediment to
long-term landscape-scale contracts, precisely the types of agreements
that most significantly reduce wildfire risks.
Using Defense Department acquisition regulations as a model, our bill
solves this problem by allowing Federal agencies to obligate funds in
stages that are economically or programmatically viable. It would also
require those agencies to notify the House and Senate natural resource
committees, as well as the Office of Management and Budget, if the
agencies propose contracts that do not fully cover the cancellation
ceiling amount. Any extra value from a contract would be dedicated to
first satisfying outstanding cancellation-related liabilities before
being used to fund other stewardship projects. Finally, our bill
incorporates key fire-liability provisions from timber sale contracts
into the stewardship model, establishing parity between the two
instruments.
Stewardship contracting and the resulting partnerships have helped
restore forests, reduce the risk of out-of-control wildfires, and
protect rural communities. I thank Senators McCain, Crapo, Risch, and
Heller for their support and leadership. It is my hope that our
colleagues will act quickly to extend and improve this important land-
management tool.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 1300
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Stewardship Contracting
Reauthorization and Improvement Act''.
SEC. 2. STEWARDSHIP END RESULT CONTRACTING PROJECTS.
(a) In General.--Title VI of the Healthy Forests
Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591) is amended by adding
at the end the following:
``SEC. 602. STEWARDSHIP END RESULT CONTRACTING PROJECTS.
``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Chief.--The term `Chief' means the Chief of the
Forest Service.
``(2) Director.--The term `Director' means the Director of
the Bureau of Land Management.
``(b) Projects.--Until September 30, 2023, the Chief and
the Director, via agreement or contract as appropriate, may
enter into stewardship contracting projects with private
persons or other public or private entities to perform
services to achieve land management goals for the national
forests and the public lands that meet local and rural
community needs.
``(c) Land Management Goals.--The land management goals of
a project under subsection (b) may include--
``(1) road and trail maintenance or obliteration to restore
or maintain water quality;
``(2) soil productivity, habitat for wildlife and
fisheries, or other resource values;
``(3) setting of prescribed fires to improve the
composition, structure, condition, and health of stands or to
improve wildlife habitat;
``(4) removing vegetation or other activities to promote
healthy forest stands, reduce fire hazards, or achieve other
land management objectives;
``(5) watershed restoration and maintenance;
``(6) restoration and maintenance of wildlife and fish; or
``(7) control of noxious and exotic weeds and
reestablishing native plant species.
``(d) Agreements or Contracts.--
``(1) Procurement procedure.--A source for performance of
an agreement or contract under subsection (b) shall be
selected on a best-value basis, including consideration of
source under other public and private agreements or
contracts.
``(2) Contract for sale of property.--A contract entered
into under this section may, at the discretion of the
Secretary of Agriculture, be considered a contract for the
sale of property under such terms as the Secretary may
prescribe without regard to any other provision of law.
``(3) Term.--
``(A) In general.--Except as provided in subparagraph (B),
the Chief and the Director may enter into a contract under
subsection (b) in accordance with section 3903 of title 41,
United States Code.
``(B) Maximum.--The period of the contract under subsection
(b) may exceed 5 years but may not exceed 10 years.
``(4) Offsets.--
``(A) In general.--The Chief and the Director may apply the
value of timber or other forest products removed as an offset
against the cost of services received under the agreement or
contract described in subsection (b).
``(B) Methods of appraisal.--The value of timber or other
forest products used as an offset under subparagraph (A)--
``(i) shall be determined using appropriate methods of
appraisal commensurate with the quantity of products to be
removed; and
``(ii) may--
``(I) be determined using a unit of measure appropriate to
the contracts; and
``(II) may include valuing products on a per-acre basis.
``(5) Cancellation ceilings.--
``(A) In general.--The Chief and the Director may obligate
funds to cover any potential cancellation or termination
costs for an agreement or contract under subsection (b) in
stages that are economically or programmatically viable.
``(B) Notice.--
``(i) Submission to congress.--Not later than 30 days
before entering into a multiyear agreement or contract under
subsection (b) that includes a cancellation ceiling in excess
of $25,000,000, but does not include proposed funding for the
costs of cancelling the agreement or contract up to the
cancellation ceiling established in the agreement or
contract, the Chief and the Director shall submit to
[[Page S5711]]
the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate
and the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of
Representatives a written notice that includes--
``(I)(aa) the cancellation ceiling amounts proposed for
each program year in the agreement or contract; and
``(bb) the reasons for the cancellation ceiling amounts
proposed under item (aa);
``(II) the extent to which the costs of contract
cancellation are not included in the budget for the agreement
or contract; and
``(III) a financial risk assessment of not including
budgeting for the costs of agreement or contract
cancellation.
``(ii) Transmittal to omb.--At least 14 days before the
date on which the Chief and Director enter into an agreement
or contract under subsection (b), the Chief and Director
shall transmit to the Director of the Office of Management
and Budget a copy of the written notice submitted under
clause (i).
``(6) Relation to other laws.--Notwithstanding subsections
(d) and (g) of section 14 of the National Forest Management
Act of 1976 (16 U.S.C. 472a), the Chief may enter into an
agreement or contract under subsection (b).
``(7) Contracting officer.--Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, the Secretary or the Secretary of the
Interior may determine the appropriate contracting officer to
enter into and administer an agreement or contract under
subsection (b).
``(8) Fire liability provisions.--Not later than 90 days
after the date of enactment of this section, the Chief and
the Director shall issue for use in all contracts and
agreements under subsection (b) fire liability provisions
that are in substantially the same form as the fire liability
provisions contained in--
``(A) integrated resource timber contracts, as described in
the Forest Service contract numbered 2400-13, part H, section
H.4; and
``(B) timber sale contracts conducted pursuant to section
14 of the National Forest Management Act of 1976 (16 U.S.C.
472a).
``(e) Receipts.--
``(1) In general.--The Chief and the Director may collect
monies from an agreement or contract under subsection (b) if
the collection is a secondary objective of negotiating the
contract that will best achieve the purposes of this section.
``(2) Use.--Monies from an agreement or contract under
subsection (b)--
``(A) may be retained by the Chief and the Director; and
``(B) shall be available for expenditure without further
appropriation at the project site from which the monies are
collected or at another project site.
``(3) Relation to other laws.--
``(A) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, the value of services received by the Chief or the
Director under a stewardship contract project conducted under
this section, and any payments made or resources provided by
the contractor, Chief, or Director shall not be considered
monies received from the National Forest System or the public
lands.
``(B) Knutson-vanderberg act.--The Act of June 9, 1930
(commonly known as the `Knutson-Vanderberg Act') (16 U.S.C.
576 et seq.) shall not apply to any agreement or contract
under subsection (b).
``(f) Costs of Removal.--Notwithstanding the fact that a
contractor did not harvest the timber, the Chief may collect
deposits from a contractor covering the costs of removal of
timber or other forest products under--
``(1) the Act of August 11, 1916 (16 U.S.C. 490); and
``(2) the Act of June 30, 1914 (16 U.S.C. 498).
``(g) Performance and Payment Guarantees.--
``(1) In general.--The Chief and the Director may require
performance and payment bonds under sections 28.103-2 and
28.103-3 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, in an amount
that the contracting officer considers sufficient to protect
the investment in receipts by the Federal Government
generated by the contractor from the estimated value of the
forest products to be removed under a contract under
subsection (b).
``(2) Excess offset value.--If the offset value of the
forest products exceeds the value of the resource improvement
treatments, the Chief and the Director shall--
``(A) use the excess to satisfy any outstanding liabilities
for cancelled agreements or contracts; or
``(B) if there are no outstanding liabilities under
subparagraph (A), apply the excess to other authorized
stewardship projects.
``(h) Monitoring and Evaluation.--
``(1) In general.--The Chief and the Director shall
establish a multiparty monitoring and evaluation process that
accesses the stewardship contracting projects conducted under
this section.
``(2) Participants.--Other than the Chief and Director,
participants in the process described in paragraph (1) may
include--
``(A) any cooperating governmental agencies, including
tribal governments; and
``(B) any other interested groups or individuals.
``(i) Reporting.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, the Chief
and the Director shall report to the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Natural
Resources of the House of Representatives on--
``(1) the status of development, execution, and
administration of agreements or contracts under subsection
(b);
``(2) the specific accomplishments that have resulted; and
``(3) the role of local communities in the development of
agreements or contract plans.''.
(b) Offset.--To the extent necessary, the Chief and the
Director shall offset any direct spending authorized under
section 602 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003
(as added by subsection (a)) using any additional amounts
that may be made available to the Chief or the Director for
the applicable fiscal year.
(c) Conforming Amendment.--Section 347 of the Department of
the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999
(16 U.S.C. 2104 note; Public Law 105-277) is repealed.
______
By Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. Merkley):
S. 1301. A bill to provide for the restoration of forest landscapes,
protection of old growth forests, and management of national forests in
the eastside forests of the State of Oregon; to the Committee on Energy
and Natural Resources.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, today I would like to reintroduce an
important piece of forest legislation for my home State of Oregon.
This is legislation that I introduced in the last two Congresses. The
legislation gained the support of the administration through a number
of improvements, but unfortunately it failed to get passed. I have
since made a few more updates and improvements as I continue talking to
stakeholders who worked with me on this legislation. I am introducing
the bill today to reinvigorate the discussion and get stakeholders to
finalize any outstanding issues so we can finally get this bill done
this Congress. I am sending the message that restoring these forests in
Oregon is an urgent priority that needs to get done an I am going to
keep at it until this issue gets addressed
I am pleased that my colleague from Oregon, Senator Merkley has again
joined me today in introducing this bill. He also recognizes the urgent
needs to restore Oregon's forests and help forest dependent communities
and I am glad he is part of this fight.
Oregon's historic war over its forests restyled in gridlock that led
to millions of acres of Oregon's Federal forest landscape containing
choked, overstocked stands that are at great risk of uncharacteristic
catastrophic fires, insect infestations and disease. The outcome of the
decades of conflict is very evident in Eastern Oregon's forests.
That is why I introduced legislation in the last two Congresses to
tackle the challenges facing Oregon's Eastside forests and why I
reintroduce this legislation again today.
The legislation I first introduced in 2009 reflected an agreement
reached by leaders on both sides of these difficult issues Intense
negotiations resulted in that legislation with the goal of bringing
jobs and a healthier tomorrow to the 8.3 million acres on the 6 Federal
forests in eastern and central Oregon. That agreement has already
resulted in progress being made on forestry issues in Eastern Oregon.
Already there is more collaboration, less gridlock, more timber
harvests and forests gradually beginning to get restored.
But we can't stop there. Since the last Congress, discussions and
negotiations with interested stakeholders have continued. Today's bill
reflects some of those discussions as well as some of the real progress
seen on the ground in Eastern Oregon, but it also preserves the core
elements of the agreement that I crafted with the stakeholders to this
agreement--a push to increase the timber produced from our national
forests, landscape scale restoration efforts and protections for
watersheds and old growth.
Eastern Oregon today is down to only a small handful of surviving
timber mills. Yet those mills are urgently needed to process saw logs
and other merchantable material from forest restoration projects.
Without them, there will be no restoration of Oregon's Eastside
forests. But without far greater certainty of merchantable timber
supply, more mills will close.
That's why we not only need to introduce legislation today, we need
to pass it this Congress. Because time is not on our side and at risk
forests and mills won't wait forever for the perfect consensus.
Fortunately leaders on both sides of this issue recognize that
Oregon's forests will pay the price if more mills close. That
recognition is what brought us to the landmark agreement in the first
place.
[[Page S5712]]
I expect continued discussions as the Senate process advances over
the best way to craft the bill to reflect current reality on the ground
but I want to build on the progress that has been made to this point.
I also want to point out that none of our efforts will succeed unless
Oregon Federal forests are also adequately funded to properly manage
and restore these valuable Federal assets. I will fight, along with
Senator Merkley and other stakeholders, for the funding to put our
people back to work and restore the health of our forests.
I thank the stakeholders that have continued to spend time and energy
engaged in discussions with me on the details of this legislation. I
know there is further work ahead, and I look forward to working with
them to get the legislation ready for passage.
I want to also express my gratitude to Governor Kitzhaber, who also
understands the importance of advancing efforts to treat and restore
Oregon's forests. He went to bat to putting state funding behind these
efforts so I want to ensure that the Federal Government is also
honoring its commitment to manage these Federal treasures and be a good
neighbor to state and private lands. I appreciate his efforts and look
forward to continuing to work with him.
I am pleased to reintroduce this legislation today, and I intend to
keep working with all the folks in my State who are willing to talk in
good faith about restoring our Eastside forests. I want to continue to
get input from stakeholders on any further revisions to the bill and
get a final product that will pass this Congress.
______
By Mr. REED (for himself, Mr. Kirk, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Udall of New
Mexico, Mr. Whitehouse, and Mr. Durbin):
S. 1306. A bill to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of 1965 in order to improve environmental literacy to better prepare
students for postsecondary education and careers, and for other
purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Mr. REED. Mr. President, today I am reintroducing bipartisan
legislation to provide support for environmental education in our
Nation's classrooms. I thank Senators Kirk, Murray, Tom Udall, Durbin,
and Whitehouse for agreeing to be original cosponsors of the No Child
Left Inside Act of 2013.
According to the National Association for Environmental Education, 47
states and the District of Columbia have taken steps towards developing
plans to integrate environmental literacy into their statewide
educational initiatives. In Rhode Island, organizations such as the
Rhode Island Environmental Education Association, Roger Williams Park
Zoo, Save the Bay, the Nature Conservancy, and the Audubon Society, as
well as countless schools and teachers, are offering educational and
outdoor experiences that many children may never otherwise have,
helping inspire them to learn. In partnership with the Rhode Island
Department of Education, these organizations have developed a statewide
environmental literacy plan that is now being put into action.
Given the major environmental challenges we face today, our bill
seeks to prioritize teaching our young people about their natural
world. For more than three decades, environmental education has been a
growing part of effective instruction in America's schools. Responding
to the need to improve student achievement and prepare students for the
21st century economy, many schools throughout the Nation now offer some
form of environmental education.
Yet, environmental education is facing a significant challenge, and
remains out of reach for too many children. With many schools being
forced to scale back or eliminate environmental programs, fewer and
fewer students are able to take part in related classroom instruction
and field investigations, however effective or in demand these programs
are.
The No Child Left Inside Act would increase environmental literacy
among elementary and secondary students by encouraging and providing
assistance to states for the development and implementation of
environmental literacy plans and promoting professional development for
teachers on how to integrate environmental literacy and field
experiences into their instruction.
The legislation would also support partnerships with high-need school
districts to initiate, expand, or improve their environmental education
curriculum, and for replication and dissemination of effective
practices. Finally, the legislation would support interagency
coordination and reporting on environmental education opportunities
across the Federal Government. This legislation has broad support among
national and State environmental and educational groups.
The American public recognizes that the environment is a central
issue to our future health and well-being. In the private sector,
business leaders also increasingly believe that an environmentally
literate workforce is critical to their long-term success. They
recognize that better, more efficient environmental practices improve
the bottom line and help position their companies for the future.
Environmental education helps prepare the next generation with the
skills and knowledge necessary to be competitive in the global economy.
Studies have shown that it enhances student achievement in science and
other core subjects and increases student engagement and critical
thinking skills. And it promotes healthy lifestyles by encouraging kids
to get outside.
That is why I encourage my colleagues to cosponsor the bipartisan No
Child Left Inside Act and to join with Senator Kirk and me to include
its provisions into the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act.
____________________