[PCA] Fw: CQ story on Resources Reconciliation Draft - Includes MMPA amendments

[Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov]

This article is from Congressional Quarterly (www.cq.com).

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 CQ GREEN SHEETS
 COASTS; FOSSIL FUELS; MINING AND MINERALS; PUBLIC LANDS
 Sept. 23, 2005
 Land Sales, Oil Drilling Among Elements of Resources Reconciliation Draft
 By Adam Satariano and Leslie Ann Duncan, CQ Staff


 Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in protected coastal
 waters as well as the sale of units from the national park system would be
 authorized under budget reconciliation language being drafted by Rep.
 Richard W. Pombo , R-Calif.


 As chairman of the House Resources Committee, Pombo has been charged with
 producing new revenue streams for the government ? proposals that would
 eventually be rolled into the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation
 package.


 "This is a draft," said committee spokesman Brian Kennedy. "It's a
 brainstorm of ways to save the federal government money."


 The draft drew a sharp response from Rep. Nick J. Rahall II of West
 Virginia, ranking Democrat on the Resources Committee.


 "Congress must find ways to save money, but I am having a hard time
 believing that selling our national parks to the highest bidder and
 drilling along our coastlines would even be brought to the table," he said
 in a written statement.


 Leasing Revenue


 The government would collect money on the leases sold to energy companies
 that want to drill in the protected areas of the Arctic National Wildlife
 Refuge (ANWR) and the outer continental shelf.


 Language authorizing drilling in ANWR has long been expected in the budget
 reconciliation package. Drilling on the outer continental shelf, however,
 is an idea that has gained momentum since Hurricane Katrina.


 Supporters of offshore drilling have said recent hurricanes in the Gulf of
 Mexico show that oil and gas production should not be consolidated in one
 region of the country.


 Environmentalists have opposed such efforts, arguing the move would put
 areas at risk of oil spills and other ecological damage.


 Offshore oil and gas leasing is currently banned by federal moratoriums
 except for the western and central Gulf of Mexico and parts of the Alaskan
 coast.


 Land Sales


 The draft also directs the National Park Service to remove the 15 least
 visited units from the national park system, including seven parks and
 preserves totaling 17.3 million acres in Alaska. The agency would have to
 sell the land parcels, or make them available for energy or commercial
 development.


 The draft also would direct the Park Service to sell commercial
 sponsorships of park visitor centers, museums, trails and auditoriums, and
 sell advertising space on all public transport vehicles in the system.


 And the draft would direct the agency to sell various parcels in
 Washington, D.C., and sell Theodore Roosevelt Island, in the Potomac
 River, for residential and commercial development.


 Mining Provisions


 On the mining front, the draft would repeal a longstanding moratorium on
 patenting of mining claims, charge $1,000 per claim (until the moratorium,
 enacted in successive Department of the Interior funding bills, the patent
 fee was $5), and would not charge miners a royalty for minerals produced
 on patented land.


 The draft also would convey several large parcels to mining companies in
 Nevada, Alaska and Idaho; and would recoup some of the revenue from sales
 of Bureau of Land Management land in Nevada. Under PL 105-263 , that money
 had been earmarked for state and local conservation and other uses, but
 the revenue has vastly exceeded expectations.


 The draft includes language to change the way Abandoned Mine Reclamation
 Fund monies are distributed, using a formula favored by Reps. Barbara
 Cubin , R-Wyo., and Rahall, who have introduced free-standing legislation
 on the matter ( HR 1600 ). A Senate Energy and Natural Resources
 subcommittee is holding a hearing on the abandoned mine reclamation issue
 next week.


 And the draft includes a package of amendments to the Marine Mammal
 Protection Act ( PL 95-522 ).


 Resources Committee Reconciliation Draft (pdf) :
 http://www.cq.com/flatfiles/editorialFiles/greenSheets/reference/20050923hres_recondraft.pdf