Land and Water Conservation Fund
Status: Authorization
for the fund, created 50 years ago, expires at the end of the month.
The fund has been the primary source of money for acquiring land by the National Park Service, the Forest Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management.
Almost $17 billion has been spent during the half century, with $10.4
billion used to buy 5 million acres of land, mostly in the West. The
fund also has provided grants for more than 41,000 state and local park
projects. Revenue comes from royalties from offshore gas and oil
drilling. Opponents argue the federal government should not be buying
more land when it can’t take care of the land it already has. They want
the fund to focus on upkeep. What’s happening in Congress: The
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved an energy bill
that includes permanent reauthorization of the fund in its current form.
That vote was made more significant by the fact that Murkowski, the
committee chairwoman, had favored revising the fund to focus on
maintenance. The House has yet to hold a hearing on a similar bill. The
bill is sponsored by Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., and has 142 co-sponsors, mostly Democrats. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee,
has said he would unveil his proposal for reforming the LWCF when
Congress returns. Advocates say it is too late for a stand-alone bill to
pass before the fund expires. They are hoping to attach the language to
a must-pass bill, such as one to fund the government into the new
fiscal year that begins Oct. 1...more
The article provides similar information on wildfires, drought and the sage grouse.
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
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