A golden opportunity for the GOP: Protect America's estuaries and build environmental credibility
by REP President Martha Marks
published in the Austin American-Statesman, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Providence Journal, Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Asbury Park Press, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, Keene Sentinel, Concord Monitor, Boise Statesman, and other newspapers around the country in August and September, 2000.
The Republican Party is historically known as fiscally responsible, tough on crime, strong on defense, and protective of individual rights. In recent years, unfortunately, some in our party have abandoned the GOP’s once-proud tradition of conservation and protection of our natural resources.
The members of REP America, the national grassroots organization of Republicans for Environmental Protection, recall that under presidents from Teddy Roosevelt to Richard Nixon and legislative leaders from Barry Goldwater to John Chafee, our party proudly led the fight to protect our environment. We believe that if current party leaders hope to appeal to the large majority of Americans who want our natural resources protected, the GOP must begin to establish a record of solid legislative accomplishments. Fortunately, we don’t have to look far to find a golden opportunity.
Now Congress is considering the "Estuarian Restoration Partnership Act of 2000," a visionary piece of legislation to rebuild one of America's most precious natural resources. It has passed the Senate unanimously and has been voted out of two different committees in the House. Unfortunately, the bill is now being held up in the House by lack of cooperation among the leadership, and time is running out.
Estuaries--large regions of coastal areas where seawater meets fresh water--play a huge role in protecting our wildlife and food sources. According to the U. S. Department of Commerce, 75 percent of fish and shellfish caught in the United States by commercial fishing operations and 80-90 percent of fish caught by recreational anglers depend on estuaries for their survival. Moreover, these habitats—river deltas, sea grass meadows, forested wetlands, shellfish beds, marshes and beaches—support a large number of threatened and endangered species.
The "Estuarian Restoration Partnership Act of 2000" will protect and restore one of our most valuable natural resources. It will create jobs and economic opportunities in coastal communities while requiring only modest appropriations. Ultimately, it will provide built-in sustainability for America’s $150 billion-per-year commercial and recreational fishing industries. Through financial incentives and technical assistance for reclamation and protection projects, it will foster public-private partnerships, and encourage active involvement by local governments. Significantly, it will make restoration of estuaries one of the primary missions of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which despite some progress is still known more for environmental damage than protection.
In the end, this bill will generate more than $300 million in federal, state, local, and private investments over 10 years—all for a modest investment of $50 million.
This is a far cry from the huge bailouts that Congress has been forced to give the fishing industry as, one by one, fish stocks in New England, the Pacific Northwest, and along the California coast have collapsed. Since 1994, more than $160 million of the taxpayers’ money has been spent to compensate fishing communities for the ecological and economic impacts of fisheries mismanagement in their areas. Viable, productive estuaries will go a long way toward eliminating the need for future disaster assistance.
If ignored by Republican leadership, however, the estuaries bill could disappear at the end of the current session. GOP leaders need to step up to the plate and concentrate on results, not rhetoric, since Congress has little time to finish its business before heading home for the campaign season. Our congressional leaders can either adjourn with demonstrable proof of a fiscally-responsible approach to environmental protection, or they can go home empty-handed.
REP America believes that our Republican Party cannot hope to overcome the perception that it is indifferent, even hostile, to environmental protections, if we don’t seize this opportunity to pass a bill that provides so much for coastal communities, tourism, the environment and the fishing industry.
Let’s show the American people that the GOP is truly back in the business of preserving our priceless natural resources.
