[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 40 (Wednesday, March 7, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1454-S1456]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ALEXANDER (for himself, Mrs. Capito, Mr. Daines, Mr. 
        Gardner, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. King, Mr. Manchin, and Mr. Tillis):
  S. 2509. A bill to establish the National Park Restoration Fund, and 
for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, probably every single one of us in the 
Senate would agree that it is hard to get here, it is hard to stay 
here, and it is wonderful to be able to accomplish something worthwhile 
while you are here. That is why I am here today--because I want to call 
attention to an announcement that was made this morning by a bipartisan 
group of U.S. Senators and the Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, 
which could take away

[[Page S1455]]

the $11.6 billion of national park maintenance backlog in the 417 
national parks that we have. The proposal we made this morning could 
eliminate that backlog over the next 10 years.
  I want to give Secretary Zinke and the President a lot of credit for 
this because they have agreed to do something that no other President 
and no other Secretary of the Interior have ever agreed to do, as far 
as I know, and that is to allow us to use revenues from energy 
development on Federal lands as mandatory spending to pay for the 
maintenance backlog in our National Park System.
  Ken Burns called our national parks ``America's Best Idea.'' I would 
say that the best idea to support America's best idea is the proposal 
that Secretary Zinke has made to take care of the maintenance backlog 
in our national parks.
  Half of that maintenance backlog is our roads. Of course, when we pay 
for the roads this way, that means all the money that is now being 
taken away from all the other purposes at our national parks--I am 
talking about the National Mall, where I get up in the morning and walk 
every day, or the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where I walk 
when I go home on the weekends--could be used for other purposes there, 
in all 417 of those parks.
  If we don't do this, we will never catch up because this backlog--
this $11.6 billion backlog--is four times the annual appropriations for 
the National Park Service. Everyone who cares about our national 
parks--and that should be almost every American--should welcome this 
proposal.
  As I said, our use of Federal dollars in this way is unprecedented, 
but the principle is not unprecedented. The principle is a very simple 
principle, and that is this: If we create an environmental burden, 
which energy exploration does, whether it is wind turbines or whether 
it is spreading solar panels all over hundreds and hundreds of acres or 
whether it is oil and gas exploration. If we create an environmental 
burden, we should create a corresponding environmental benefit. That 
principle is well established in our laws and has been supported by 
almost every major environmental and conservation group I know of.
  Let's start with the 1962 Outdoor Recreation Resources Review 
Commission that Laurance Rockefeller chaired. That Commission, which 
took a look at America for the next generation to see what we should do 
to protect the outdoors so we could all enjoy it, recommended, and the 
Congress adopted, the idea of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. 
There was a Federal side and a State side. Over all of the years since 
1964, $18 billion has been spent in the Land and Water Conservation 
Fund. That is the environmental benefit. Where did the money come from? 
It came from drilling on Federal offshore properties.
  In 1986, I chaired President Reagan's Commission on Americans 
Outdoors. We reaffirmed our support for the idea that an environmental 
burden means we should have an environmental benefit. We urged Congress 
to make permanent the funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. 
So we reaffirmed that again for the next generation.
  Then, in 2006, with the leadership of Senator Domenici, Senator 
Bingaman, and others--many of us worked on it--Congress decided we 
would take some of the revenues from new drilling in the Gulf of Mexico 
and apply those to the State side of the Land and Water Conservation 
Fund--again, an environmental burden and a corresponding environmental 
benefit.
  That is why this proposal is so exciting to me. That is why this 
proposal has such strong bipartisan support.
  In the Senate, the supporters include Senator King of Maine, Senator 
Daines of Montana, and Senator Heinrich of New Mexico. It is a 
bipartisan group. Supporters also include Senator Capito and Senator 
Manchin, Senator Gardner and Senator Tillis; all of us support and are 
cosponsoring this legislation we are introducing today.
  In the House of Representatives, we also have two cosponsors. 
Congressman Mike Simpson of Idaho, who is chairman of the House Energy 
and Water Development Subcommittee, and Congressman Kurt Schrader from 
Oregon is also a cosponsor in the House of Representatives.
  So I believe this is an unprecedented day; for all of those who care 
about and love our national parks and who have struggled to imagine how 
we can deal with this $11.6 billion maintenance backlog--a backlog that 
is four times the annual appropriation--we can pay this all off with 
this proposal, which is supported by the President and his Office of 
Management and Budget, a bipartisan group of Senators, and a bipartisan 
group in the House.
  I look forward to working with Senator Murkowski and Senator Cantwell 
in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Hopefully, it can be 
moved promptly through that committee. There are other important things 
we would like to do, but I can't think of anything much more important 
than our National Park System.
  I mentioned a little earlier that we have 417 national parks in the 
country. I grew up camping and hiking in one of those, and I live 
within 2 miles of that park. It is the Great Smoky Mountains National 
Park. It has more visitors than any other national park--nearly twice 
as many as the closest one. Eleven million people a year come to the 
park.
  Many of my best memories are from that park. I remember, when I was 
15 years old, my dad dropped me and a couple of other boys at the 
highest point of the park, Clingmans Dome, one day around 
Christmastime. There was 3 feet of snow. He said: I will pick you up in 
Gatlinburg. Well, he did, and that was about 8 or 9 hours later.
  Later that same year in the summertime we were camping on Spence 
Field. That is at about 5,000 or 6,000 feet as well. We had taken 
blueberry pancake mix up there. We picked the blueberries. We had all 
of the materials for a good breakfast, but we made one mistake. We left 
the breakfast in our packs in the tent, and during the night a bear 
crawled in there with us, took it out, and we ended up on top of the 
trail shelter banging the pans together trying to run the bear off. 
That was the last time we left our breakfast materials nearby the 
sleeping area when we were camping in the park.
  The park is a good place for lessons and learning and appreciating 
beauty. It is a good place for the rich. It is a good place for the 
poor. Parents bring their children out of a digital diet to feast on a 
world of natural splendor. We learn our history in a place where 
history comes alive; not just the history of the world but the history 
of East Tennessee, the history of Wyoming, the history of Maine, the 
history of Montana.
  Let me give my colleagues a sense of just what this $11 billion 
backlog means. I have already said it is nearly four times what the 
National Park Service receives in annual appropriations. We can talk 
about the Smokies alone. Between Tennessee and North Carolina, there is 
about a $215 million backlog of projects; 75 percent of that is roads. 
We get nearly twice as many visitors as any other park. These visitors 
come to see our majestic views. They spend 400,000 nights camping in 9 
frontcountry campgrounds and 100 backcountry camp sites.
  In 2013, the park had to close Look Rock Campground and the picnic 
area due to funding shortfalls in replacing the water treatment 
facilities. In order to open this recreation area for visitors, the 
park needs $3 million to replace the water treatment facility, repair 
the road infrastructure, and replace aging picnic tables and campground 
pads. This proposal could do that.
  The funding provided in the National Park Restoration Act, which is 
what we call our legislation, could help reopen this campground for the 
enjoyment of the over 11 million visitors to the Smokies.
  The Smokies also supports a vast trail system, with almost 850 miles 
of maintained trails for hikers, backpackers, and visitors. The current 
deferred maintenance backlog for trails in the Smokies is $18.5 
million. This proposal would take care of that.
  In August 2017, I visited the Smokies with Interior Secretary Ryan 
Zinke, and I saw firsthand with him the work that is needed on the 
trails. We hiked the Rainbow Falls Trail, where a 2-year project is 
underway to rehabilitate the trail.
  Crews from Trails Forever, a partnership between the Great Smoky 
Mountains National Park and the Friends of

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the Smokies, and the American Conservation Experience are working to 
build a rock staircase along the trail to reduce erosion and improve 
visitor safety and enjoyment.
  Crews use rigging systems to move large rocks, split them using 
drills and chisels, and then set them into place to provide long-
lasting trail structures for those hoping to see the rainbow formed by 
mist from the 80-foot waterfall along the Rainbow Falls Trail.
  Secretary Zinke and I worked to split and place one of those rock 
steps. It is not very easy to do. Volunteer crews will work to 
rehabilitate over 6 miles of that trail.
  In addition to the crews, every Wednesday volunteers head up the 
trail to help restore it for future visitors. In 2017, volunteers 
donated 900 hours of work on that trail.
  The Smokies is full of wonderful volunteers like those working on the 
Rainbow Falls Trail. Over 2,800 volunteers donated over 115,000 hours 
last year alone, but we must do more to get the funding to our parks to 
help address the maintenance needs and support the countless 
volunteers.
  In the Smokies, 75 percent of that maintenance work is roads, which 
isn't surprising, since millions of visitors to the park each year 
experience it behind the wheel. The park maintains and operates nearly 
400 miles of roads, including 6 tunnels and 146 bridges, which allow 
visitors to traverse the park's mountainous landscape.
  The Smokies is working hard to address these maintenance needs, and 
later this year they will open 16 miles of the Foothills Parkway. We 
are all looking forward to that in East Tennessee. Driving the 
Foothills Parkway will give you a spectacular view of the highest 
mountains in the Eastern United States. Tennesseans are excited that 
these new 16 miles of the parkway will soon be open to the public. It 
is scheduled for this fall.
  Due to funding shortfalls, building and repairing the 16-mile stretch 
of the Foothills Parkway took over 50 years and will be completed 
nearly 75 years after Congress first authorized the Foothills Parkway. 
Completing just 1.6 miles of the parkway took nearly 30 years.
  In 1944, Congress authorized the Foothills Parkway but prohibited 
Federal funds from being used to purchase and acquire the land, so the 
State of Tennessee purchased the land and gave it to the Federal 
Government to create a scenic parkway to provide views of the Great 
Smoky Mountains National Park.
  For 75 years, Tennesseans and visitors have been waiting to enjoy the 
majestic views of the Foothills Parkway because there hasn't been 
sufficient Federal funding to address the maintenance needs of our 
national parks. Other roadways in the Smokies, including Newfound Gap 
Road and Clingmans Dome Road, remain on this backlog list.
  Clingmans Dome Road takes visitors to Clingmans Dome--the highest 
point in Tennessee and the third highest mountain east of the 
Mississippi. At 6,643 feet, Clingmans Dome offers panoramic views of 
the Smoky Mountains.
  Additional funding is desperately needed for the Smokies and all of 
our National Parks to help repair and rebuild campgrounds, trails, and 
roads. Doing that will bring more visitors, more tourists, and more 
jobs to Tennessee and to national park communities throughout our 
country.
  According to the Outdoor Industry Association, the outdoor recreation 
economy generates 7.6 million direct jobs and $887 billion in consumer 
spending. In Tennessee, the outdoor recreation economy generates 
188,000 direct jobs and over $21 billion in consumer spending.
  In 2016, the visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park 
alone spent nearly $950 million in communities surrounding the park. 
The over 11 million visitors to the park supported nearly 15,000 jobs 
and $1.3 billion in economic output in these communities.
  Restoring our parks not only helps to preserve our land for 
generations but helps to grow our economy.
  Now, here is what our bill does. I see the Senator from North 
Carolina is coming to preside, and he is one of the principal 
cosponsors of the bill. The National Park Restoration Act will use 
revenues from energy production on Federal lands to help pay for the 
$11 billion maintenance backlog at our national parks. It will provide 
mandatory funding on top of annual appropriations for the National Park 
Service--for the priority-deferred maintenance needs that support 
critical infrastructure and visitor services at our parks.
  The National Park Restoration Fund created by the legislation will 
receive 50 percent of revenues from energy production on Federal lands 
over the 2018 projections that are not already allocated to other 
purposes.
  This legislation includes revenues from all sources of energy 
production on Federal land: oil, gas, coal, renewables, and alternative 
energy.
  The legislation protects all existing obligations for revenues from 
energy production on Federal land, including payments to States, 
payments to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and payments to the 
Reclamation Fund.
  Finally, I want to acknowledge the work that Senators Portman and 
Warner have done. They have introduced similar legislation. They have 
many of the same objectives. I know there are many other Senators who 
care deeply about this issue, other than the bipartisan group of us who 
introduced the legislation today. We can all work together in the 
Energy and Natural Resources Committee where this bill will be 
referred. We will put our heads together with Senator Murkowski and 
Senator Cantwell. We will come out with the best possible bill--
something that President Trump can continue to support and that the 
full Senate and then the House of Representatives can pass. Then, we 
can get on with it and begin to deal with the deferred maintenance 
backlog in our national parks.
  Theodore Roosevelt once said that nothing short of defending this 
country in wartime ``compares in importance with the great central task 
of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is 
for us.'' We must all work together to restore our national treasures 
so future generations have the same opportunity to enjoy them, as we 
have.
  In conclusion, let me reiterate something personal about this. In 
1985, the Secretary of the Interior called and asked me, when I was 
Governor of Tennessee, to chair the President's Commission on Americans 
Outdoors. I did that, along with Gil Grosvenor, the chairman of the 
National Geographic Society, and a variety of people. One of our major 
recommendations was to pick up the recommendation of the Rockefeller 
Commission from 1964, which said, if there is an environmental burden, 
there should be an environmental benefit. They are the ones who 
recommended, to begin with, that we take land from energy exploration 
and use it to pay for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
  We reaffirmed that in 1986. We reaffirmed that principle in 2006 when 
we used revenues from drilling for the State side of the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund.
  So while this proposal is unprecedented in the sense that it is the 
first time that I know of that a President and his Office of Management 
and Budget have approved mandatory funding using revenues from energy 
production on Federal lands to deal with national park maintenance 
needs, the principle of matching an environmental burden with an 
environmental benefit is well established.
  I am grateful to the President, and I am especially grateful to 
Secretary Zinke for his initiative. I look forward to working with a 
bipartisan group of Senators in the Energy Committee to develop a bill, 
pass it, and get started on the work of America's best idea for 
restoring America's best idea--our National Park System.
                                 ______