With the 109th Congress about to slide into history, its work is best characterized by two words: wasted energy. This session had a few pleasant surprises, but overall the agenda was driven by special interest politics and political pandering.

Two Good Days

On May 18, REP helped secure House passage of three critical pro-environment amendments to 2007 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies appropriations bill, each of which passed with significant Republican support. Passing any pro-environment legislation in the House is a Herculean task; passing three good amendments in a single day is unbelievable. The successful amendments were:

1. The Steve Chabot (R-OH)/Robert Andrews (D-NJ) amendment to ban the use of federal funds for the construction of logging roads in the Alaska's Tongass National Forest (passed 237-181)
   
   
2. The Adam Putnam (R-FL)/Lois Capps (D-CA) amendment to remove language in the appropriations bill that would have ended the moratorium on offshore oil and gas leasing and production (passed 217-203), and
   
   
3. The James Oberstar (D-MN)/Jim Leach (R-IA)/John Dingell (D-MI) amendment to prohibit the EPA from narrowing the scope of Clean Water Act protection to exclude so-called “isolated” wetlands, seasonal ponds, and ephemeral streams (passed 222-198).

The Oregon wilderness bill designates 77,216 acres of wilderness and 25 miles of wild and scenic rivers in Mount Hood National Forest.

The California legislation would designate 275,000 acres of wilderness, including more than 42,000 acres in the remote King Range on the Lost Coast, the longest stretch of undeveloped coastline in the U.S. outside of Alaska. It also designates approximately 79,000 acres as a Recreation Management Area.

The Idaho measure is the controversial plan crafted by Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID), which would create three wilderness areas in Central Idaho’s Boulder-White Cloud Mountains totaling almost 300,000 acres. On the down side, the bill would release 130,000 acres of land from wilderness study area protection, create a motorized state park and cede over 5,000 acres to local jurisdictions for housing developments.

Each of these bills requires Senate passage and the President’s signature.


Cheers for the White House

Back in June, President Bush used the Antiquities Act to establish the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument, protecting nearly 90 million acres of marine waters, islands and coral reefs. (Insiders say First Lady Laura Bush was the one with the clout to make that happen.)

Days later, Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced a new draft of the National Park Service’s Management Policies that reaffirms the agency’s commitment to protect park resources such as air quality, and preserve wilderness and the experiences of visitors.

In announcing the draft, Kempthorne said: “When there is a conflict between conserving resources unimpaired for future generations and the use of those resources, conservation will be predominant.” REP says Amen! to that.


Cheers for These Guys, Too

Good news in the Senate was passage of an amendment to the Water Resources Development Act requiring independent review of Army Corps of Engineers projects. Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe (both R-ME) co-sponsored the bill.


Drill, Drill, Drill

When it comes to addressing America’s energy woes, Congress is stuck in one gear. While there have been numerous GOP-sponsored bills to diversify our fuel supply and increase energy efficiency, the only thing Republican leaders seem to allow a vote on are bills to open up more protected areas to oil and gas drilling. So far this year:

• The Senate passed a budget resolution with a provision to authorize oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The House has failed to produce a budget, so the Senate provision is dead.
• The House passed H.R. 5429, Rep. Richard Pombo’s most recent attempt
  to open the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling. So far the Senate has not tried to pass similar stand-alone Arctic Refuge drilling legislation.
• The House reversed its earlier vote on a previous amendment (#2 in the column at left) and passed a different bill by Pombo to remove the federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling.

During debate of Rep. Pombo’s offshore drilling bill, Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY and a member of REP’s Honorary Board) called the bill a “travesty” and said: “We should not be opening our coasts to oil drilling when we have not taken the first step, not the first step, to conserve oil.”

• The Senate passed legislation by Senators Pete Domenici (R-NM), Mel Martinez (R-FL) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) to open up an extra 8.3 million acres in the Gulf to oil and gas drilling.

Looking Ahead

With Congress in session for only a few more weeks before breaking in advance of the November election, it is hard to predict what will actually get done. The two biggest threats remaining are the efforts to advance offshore and Arctic Refuge drilling legislation.

Both the Senate and the House have passed offshore drilling legislation. The House version would severely weaken coastal protection nationwide, while the Senate bill is narrowly focused on the Gulf. As of this writing, the Senate is demanding that the House acquiesce to its bill and the House is predictably balking at that notion. With a little luck, they might squabble until the clock runs out.

Signs are pointing to another attempt to pass Arctic Refuge drilling legislation. Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA) has introduced a bill to drill in the Refuge and use revenue from that for funding some “alternative” energy programs. He admits that the bill was specifically crafted with Senate passage in mind.

It would seem a heavy lift to get such a measure up for a vote in both Houses before the October break, but there is ample reason to worry.

First, drilling proponents such as Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) are convinced that their best chance to open the Refuge is before the election. Second, last winter, the State of Alaska paid the PR firm Pac/West Communications $3 million to target swing senators and secure the few votes needed to override a filibuster.

Since then, Pac/West has established a fake grassroots organization called “Americans for American Energy” and launched an ad campaign focused on Senators up for re-election. REP has been in the forefront of crafting and implementing the environmental community’s strategy to effectively counter the Pac/West effort.