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Natural Resources Defense Council's

LEGISLATIVE WATCH 

May 28, 1998

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Contents:

1)LEGISLATIVE WATCH 
2)ABOUT OUR BULLETINS

The information in this bulletin -- and more -- is also available at
our
World Wide Web site -- http://www.nrdc.org. The web version links to
the
text of bills and Congressional web pages.

1)LEGISLATIVE WATCH

This is a status report on Congressional action on the environment. To
make
the changes from week to week easy to find, we've highlighted them
with:
= N O T E ! =

Congress is out for a one-week Memorial Day recess, returning to
action on
Monday, June 1st.

Ancient Forests

On 5/1, President Clinton signed into law a controversial forest rider
attached to the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill, Pub. Law
105-174. The provision added by Sen. Craig (R-ID) attacks the
Administration's recently announced time-out on road building in
national
forests. The rider encourages the Forest Service to find new timber to
cut
elsewhere if the lack of new roads precludes cutting in areas already
designated for logging. Unfortunately, the
willingness of the Clinton Administration to abide this and several
other
environmental attacks in the bill will likely encourage
anti-environment
zealots in Congress to pursue even more ugly riders.

...........

Clean Air

= N O T E ! =
Another controversial rider is likely to become law as part of the
bill,
H.R.2400, reauthorizing the Intermodal Surface Transportation
Efficiency
Act. This provision, approved by both the House and Senate on 5/22,
would
undermine a  critical clean air program to protect air quality in
national
parks. It delays for almost a decade state action to address the haze
that
pollutes the nation's parks. The provision was never debated or voted
upon
previously but added into the transportation bill in conference at the
last
minute.

...........

Clean Water

= N O T E ! =
On 5/20, the House Budget Committee approved a budget resolution that
lays
out the assumptions and spending caps that will shape this year's
appropriation bills. The resolution as adopted could result in
significant
cuts for environmental spending. An amendment offered in committee to
fund
some of President Clinton's environmental spending initiatives failed
by a
vote of 17 to 22. The amendment would have provided new money to fund
the
Clean Water Action Plan, continued funding the Drinking Water and
Clean
Water State Revolving Fund, and increased funding for Superfund and
the Land
Water and Facility Restoration Initiative. 

= N O T E ! =
Given that the House and Senate have yet to agree on a budget
resolution,
many appropriation committees have already begun work based on interim
allocations.

...........

Electric Utility Restructuring

On 3/25, the Clinton Administration released its legislative proposal
to
restructure the nation's electric industry. The plan falls short of
what
many environmentalists believe is necessary to reduce air pollution
from
electric utilities that is a dominant cause of smog, deadly soot,
global
warming, pollution in our National Parks, toxic  contamination of fish
and
polluted estuaries.

...........

Endangered Species

Reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act remains bogged down in
controversy. The most recent dispute involves funding issues. A
provision in
the budget resolution, S. Con. Res 86, would have provided $350
million over
the next five years for landowner incentive programs. However, the
money was
to come from the sale of public lands overseen by the Bureau of Land
Management. Both Sen. Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Baucus (D-MT) opposed the
provision but their efforts to strip it from the resolution failed. 

...........

Grazing

Sen. Lott (R-MS) has not included grazing legislation in his list of
potential items for consideration before Memorial Day.  This does not
mean,
however, that the supporters of Rep. Smith's (R-OR) bill, H.R. 2493,
that
passed the House in October are not actively trying to move it through
the
Senate. Sen. Craig (R-ID) has agreed to spearhead the effort to either
work
with Smith's bill or craft his own legislation.

...........

National Parks and Refuges

= N O T E ! =
On 5/19, the House approved a compromise wildlife refuge bill, H.R.
512, by
voice vote. As originally proposed, the bill would have required
specific
Congressional approval before establishing new wildlife refuges. In
response
to opposition from both the Clinton Administration and environmental
groups,
the bill was changed to simply require the Fish and Wildlife Service
to
provide notice to interested parties before making a designation.

= N O T E ! =
On 5/20, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee unanimously
approved a bill, S. 1693, to provide new sources of revenue for
national
parks. The bill, introduced by Sen. Thomas (R-WY), is intended to
increase
competition in the operation of private concessions like food and
lodging
within the parks. It also extends the existing fee demonstration
program
which has allowed most of the fees collected in certain parks to be
spent in
those parks; sets out criteria for adding new parks; and establishes a
new
fee for commercial filming in the parks.

...........

Nuclear Waste

= N O T E ! =
Differences still must be resolved between a Senate bill, S. 104, and
an
even more extreme House bill, H.R. 1270, providing for the transport
of
nuclear waste from utilities across the country to an interim storage
site
near Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Although the bill still apparently lacks
the 67
votes needed to override the President's threatened veto, a cloture
motion
to limit debate and force a floor vote had been scheduled in the
Senate for
6/2.

...........

Oil Drilling

One of the anti-environmental riders added at the last minute to the
Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill, Pub. Law 105-174,
perpetuates
government subsidies for oil companies drilling on public lands. The
rider,
added by Sen. Hutchison (R-TX) blocks an important Department of
Interior
rule to ensure that taxpayers receive fair market value for the oil
extracted from their public lands. Each year, major oil companies
underpay
royalties on oil --produced both
on and off shore -- by at least $100 million. Sen. Boxer (D-CA),
together
with Rep. Miller (D-CA) and Rep. Maloney (D-NY), have introduced a
bill, S.
2043/H.R. 3820, to repeal the rider.

...........

Population

On 4/28, the Senate approved language that would prohibit U.S. funding
for
international family planning organizations that use their own funds
to
perform abortions or lobby on abortion-related issues. This "global
gag
rule" was added to the conference report for the State Department
Authorization bill, H.R. 1757, which was approved by a vote of 51 to
49. The
House also passed the bill, but President Clinton is expected to veto
it.

...........

Regulatory Reform

= N O T E ! =
On 5/19, The House approved Rep. Condit's (D-CA) bill, H.R. 3534, the
Mandates Information Act, by a vote of 279 to 132. The bill would
establish
a new point of order against bills that impose costs exceeding $100
million
on the private sector. This new procedural obstacle could impede
critical
new environmental protections like the proposal to expand the public's
right
to know about toxics in their communities. The Senate Governmental
Affairs
Committee has scheduled a hearing on the bill for 6/3.

= N O T E ! =
Rep. Waxman (D-CA) offered an amendment to H.R. 3534 that would have
extended the bill's procedures to riders that weaken protections for
health,
safety and the environment. Lacking the public support to openly roll
back
fundamental environmental protections, some members of Congress
continue to
insert destructive provisions into unrelated, widely supported bills.
The
Waxman amendment, drawn from H.R. 1404, the "Defense of the
Environment
Act," would ensure Members a separate vote on these riders by creating
a
point of order against a bill that contains them. Despite the support
of 22
Republicans, the amendment failed 190 to 221.

= N O T E ! =
On 5/21, The House Government Reform Committee approved a bill, H.R.
1704,
that would create a new Congressional Office of Regulatory Analysis
(CORA)
to analyze and review agency rules. The bill, introduced by Rep. Sue
Kelly
(R-NY), could become yet another vehicle to elevate costs to industry
above
the public health, safety and environmental concerns that the nation's
regulatory safeguards are designed to address. It has already been
approved
by the House Judiciary Committee and now moves to the House floor.

...........

Superfund

= N O T E ! =
Three proposals, S.8, H.R. 2727 and H.R. 3000, to rewrite the
Superfund law
remain on the table, but none has the bipartisan support necessary to
make
Superfund reauthorization a reality this year. Industry continues to
promote
legislative changes that neither the environmental community nor the
Clinton
Administration can support.

...........

Takings

The Senate remains poised to act on legislation that would create new
opportunities to bring "takings" claims, wherein developers and other
private landowners seek compensation for not polluting or not building
on
protected land. In late February, the Senate Judiciary Committee
approved
substitute language to H.R. 1534 which incorporates both of the
takings
bills that have now passed the House, H.R. 1534 and H.R.  992. Despite
some
negotiations, no changes have yet been made to the bill to address the
serious concerns raised by both Democrats and Republicans on the
Judiciary
Committee.

...........

Transportation

= N O T E ! =
On 5/23, the House and Senate both overwhelmingly passed the
conference bill
to reauthorize the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act
(ISTEA).
The base bill marks a tremendous victory for the environment.
Dedicated
funding for ISTEA's clean air and transportation "enhancements"
programs
were increased and the critical transportation planning process -- in
serious jeopardy just twelve months ago -- was retained. The President
has
indicated that he will sign the bill. 

= N O T E ! =
Unfortunately, in what is becoming an increasing pattern, the bill
became a
vehicle for unrelated, controversial anti-environmental riders. One
rider
will undermine a critical clean air program to protect air quality in
national parks; another will admit motorized boats to the otherwise
pristine
Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area. Neither had been debated or
included
in the House or Senate ISTEA bills.

...........

Wilderness

On 5/7, the House Parks Subcommittee approved a bill, H.R. 3625 that
seriously threatens the health of Utah public lands. The bill affects
the
San Rafael Swell area in Utah, eliminating 141,000 acres currently
protected
as Wilderness Study Areas. The bill not only excludes unique,
irreplaceable
natural wonders from wilderness protection, but also waters down what
wilderness protection means. The bill would allow such destructive
activities as roadbuilding and recreation vehicle use in wilderness
areas.
H.R. 3625 would also validate questionable rights of way assertions
made for
jeep and livestock trails inside existing Wilderness Study Areas.

The Senate will soon consider two bills that threaten Alaska's
spectacular
public lands and establish dangerous precedents for the management of
wilderness and public lands across the country. S. 660 would permit
the
transfer of up to 500,000 acres of federal public land along the coast
of
Alaska to the University of Alaska for development. Lands with the
greatest
timber, oil and land development values would likely be selected from
currently protected areas, including the Tongass and Chugach National
Forests and Outer Continental Shelf areas adjacent to the Arctic
National
Wildlife Refuge. 

S. 1092 would permit the unprecedented construction of a road through
a
Congressional designated wilderness area (Izembek National Wildlife
Refuge
and Izembek Wilderness), override environmental laws, and heavily
impact
habitat for migratory birds, as well as brown bear, caribou and other
species.

2)ABOUT OUR BULLETINS

The Natural Resources Defense Council distributes two bimonthly
bulletins by
mailing list: LEGISLATIVE WATCH, which tracks bills moving through
Congress,
and EARTH ACTION, which calls out urgent environmental issues
requiring
grassroots action.

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