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Jim: jdipeso@rep.org
(253) 740-2066 / 2010
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Keeping the Land and Water
Conservation Fund Promise
July 16, 2010
A
generation ago, Congress made a promise to the citizenry. In exchange
for authorizing production of depletable oil and gas from the nation's
marine waters, some of the royalty revenues would be set aside to buy
land for permanent protection and to fund outdoor recreation projects
that meet local priorities.
It’s a popular idea – both Republicans and Democrats support using
offshore oil and gas royalties for conservation and recreation projects.
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Assateague Island National
Seashore, a beneficiary of LWCF (Photo: NPS) |
An
important part of the deal was that $900 million per year in royalties
would be reserved for those conservation and recreation purposes in the
Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).
Since the fund’s inception in 1965, it has paid for acquiring 7.6
million acres of land and more than 41,000 recreation projects. LWCF
has funded everything from neighborhood playgrounds in the cities to
wild lands for backcountry national parks.
There is plenty of money to keep the fund topped up. In 2008, for
example, the oil and gas industry paid the federal government $13
billion in royalties.
The problem is that Congress hasn’t fully kept its promise.
Lawmakers took advantage of a convenient catch. For the LWCF money to be
actually spent for its dedicated purposes, it must be appropriated each
year through an act of Congress. Over the past 10 years, Congress
has appropriated an average of only $313 million annually from the
fund,
far below the $900 million authorization.
The fund has been raided for other priorities – sort of like a family
dipping into the kids’ college fund to remodel the bathrooms.
On July 15, the House Natural Resources Committee reported out a bill
to fix this state of affairs. Legislation to reform management of
energy leasing offshore and onshore also would ensure full funding of
LWCF, by eliminating the requirement for annual congressional
appropriations.
In other words, the $900 million would be available in the LWCF every
year for its intended purpose, without congressional meddling.
Likewise, $150 million would be permanently appropriated for historic
preservation.
The bill also specifies that 10 percent of royalties would be spent on
ocean and Great Lakes conservation projects, from a new fund with the
clever acronym of ORCA (which stands for Ocean Resources Conservation
and Assistance).
The committee’s action was a positive development, but there are potent
obstacles ahead.
Ideologues and poseurs who call themselves conservative but oppose
conservation will try to strip away full funding of LWCF from this or
any other bill.
The barons who run congressional appropriations committees don’t like
giving up any power to spend money to suit their political agendas,
regardless of past promises made to the taxpayers.
Citizens, please pay attention. It will take a concerted push to move
full funding of LWCF – the keeping of a promise - from committee action into enacted law.
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