[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 14451]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 14451]]

                              CONSERVATION

  Mr. REED. Mr. President, on September 3, 1964, President Lyndon 
Johnson signed the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act. The Land and 
Water Conservation Fund, or LWCF, was created by Congress to use 
revenues from Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas development--a non-
renewable resource--to invest in America's renewable resources by 
creating parks and open spaces, protecting wilderness, wetlands and 
refuges, preserving habitat, and enhancing recreational opportunities.
  The LWCF has been a remarkable conservation success story. In its 35-
year history, LWCF has supported the acquisition of nearly 7 million 
acres of parkland and the development of more than 37,000 park and 
recreation projects. In my state of Rhode Island alone, LWCF has 
invested over $32 million in nearly 400 state and local parks projects, 
including $1.7 million for development of Roger Williams Park in 
Providence, $1.1 million for Scarborough State Beach in Narragansett, 
and $536,000 for rehabilitation of the famous Cliff Walk in Newport. 
Because State and local governments provide at least half of initial 
project costs and assume all operation and maintenance costs in 
perpetuity, each Federal dollar leverages several dollars in non-
Federal contributions.
  But despite the LWCF's success, funding for the program has fallen 
well below its authorized level of $900 million per year, and the 
stateside grant program was completely zeroed out in 1995, even as 
offshore oil and gas revenues increased and the need for parks and open 
space continued to rise dramatically.
  Last year, President Clinton proposed an historic Lands Legacy budget 
initiative to fully fund the LWCF at its authorized level. Although 
appropriators did not fully fund the Lands Legacy budget request, 
Members of Congress are clearly getting the message Americans are 
sending to Washington about the need for major conservation legislation 
to promote open space and recreation.
  On May 11, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 701, the 
Conservation and Reinvestment Act of 2000, by a vote of 315-102. The 
``CARA'' bill, which would automatically set aside revenues from 
offshore oil and gas leases to fully fund the Federal and State LWCF 
grant programs for the first time in decades, was the product of an 
extraordinary bipartisan compromise between the House Resources 
Committee chairman, Don Young, and the ranking member, George Miller. 
The CARA bill would provide nearly $3 billion annually until 2015 to 
support conservation efforts across the country.
  All eyes are now on the Senate, Mr. President. Across the country, 
Americans in cities, suburbs, and rural areas have joined State 
Governors, city and town planners, wildlife program managers, hunters 
and fishermen, and environmental organizations to call on the Senate to 
act on this historic legislation.
  Several bills have been introduced in the Senate:
  S. 2123, introduced by Senators Landrieu and Murkowski, is identical 
to H.R. 701 as reported by the House Resources Committee;
  S. 2567, introduced by Senator Boxer, is identical to H.R. 701 as 
passed by the full House;
  S. 2181, introduced by Senator Bingaman, would support many of the 
same programs as the House bill but would distribute a greater 
percentage of LWCF stateside funds evenly among the states, benefitting 
states with small populations, such as Rhode Island. In addition, it 
would support a number of marine research and conservation programs;
  And there are several more bills, all of which seek to fully fund the 
LWCF and preserve our natural heritage for future generations.
  Mr. President, none of these bills is perfect; there is always room 
for improvement. Members of the Senate may disagree, for example, on 
how much funding should go to coastal assistance, or federal land 
acquisition in western states, or endangered species protection. I, for 
one, believe it is critically important that we provide $125 million or 
more each year for the Urban Parks and Recreation Recovery, UPARR, 
program, as well as full annual funding of $150 million for the 
Historic Preservation Fund. We should also avoid creating incentives 
for new offshore oil and gas drilling.
  Whatever our differences over the details of this legislation, Mr. 
President, the important thing is that we pass a bill this year. Any 
one of these conservation bills would represent an unprecedented and 
desperately needed investment in our natural resources and our cultural 
and historic heritage.
  But we have to act soon. There are, at best, 33 legislative days left 
in the 106th Congress. Many members of this body, myself included, are 
disappointed that the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has 
postponed several markups of the CARA bill. But we understand that 
Chairman Murkowski and ranking member Bingaman are working to satisfy a 
wide array of regional interests on the Committee, and we continue to 
hope that an agreement can be reached in time for the Committee to 
approve the bill next week. We would urge the Majority leadership to 
move the bill expeditiously to the floor following the Committee's 
action.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues to send to the President 
a bill that will respond to our constituents' overwhelming calls for 
Congress to make a substantial and reliable investment in the 
conservation of our Nation's wildlife, coastal resources, and open 
spaces. The momentum is with us, and we should not miss this rare 
opportunity to create a conservation legacy for generations to come.

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