Senate Committee Approves Wyoming Range; Full Vote and House Remain

Update on the Wyoming Range Legacy Act, which is our current Take Action.  From today's Jackson Hole News and Guide:

A pair of conservation bills that would protect the Snake River and Wyoming Range passed through the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday.

The Craig Thomas Snake Headwaters Legacy Act would protect 387 miles of rivers and streams in the Snake River drainage under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

The Wyoming Range Legacy Act would prohibit further energy leasing in the Wyoming Range south of Jackson Hole and would allow conservation groups to buy and retire existing energy leases.

Both bills now must go to the floor for a vote by the full Senate before moving to the House.

This is very good news!  We'll let you know when it goes to a full Senate vote, and then the House, so you can help your Congressperson to make the right vote. 

The Wyoming Range Legacy Act is part of a larger omnibus bill with a whole lot of good stuff for sportsmen and wildlife.  Here's the full rundown from today's E&E New's Land Letter:

Eric Bontrager, E&E Daily reporter

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee cleared 45 different land-use, historical and water bills yesterday along with two Bush administration nominees for posts at the Interior and Energy departments.

Members spent the majority of the two-hour markup debating legislation from the late Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.). S. 1281 would designate certain rivers and streams of the headwaters of the Snake River as additions to the National Wild and Scenic River System.

The Snake River, which starts in northwest Wyoming and flows into Idaho, is one of the cleanest sources of fresh water in the United States that supports several native trout fisheries.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who was appointed by Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) last year to fil Craig's seat, introduced a substitute version of the bill that he said would clear up technical concerns to allow its passage.

"The wild and scenic designation is the best of the best. It's the badge of honor," Barrasso said.

The bill was scheduled to be cleared during a similar markup last year but was held amid concerns from Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) that it could infringe on water rights in his state. The bill was the last Thomas introduced before he died last June after a long battle with leukemia.

Despite the changes, Craig claimed the designation would open the door to litigation that could restrict use of the water's resources. He offered two different amendments, one which sought to remove about 10 percent of the streams and lakes from the designation and a second that he said would strengthen the bill's claims that the designation would not affect water rights.

But Barrasso said the substitute version explicitly states that water rights would not be infringed, and committee staff said provisions in Craig's second amendment could possibly give Idaho river users greater power than their Wyoming counterparts. Both of Craig's amendments were defeated by roll call vote.

The bill itself was cleared by voice vote along with 42 other measures.

Fight over Wyoming Range

The committee approved legislation that would withdraw more than 1 million acres of land from future energy development, a contentious issue given record oil and gas prices.

S. 2229 from Barrasso and Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) would withdraw 1.2 million acres of the Wyoming Range -- part of the Bridger Teton National Forest that sits south of Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park -- from future energy development and would prohibit new oil and gas leasing on the land.

The legislation would provide a buy-out process for current leaseholders and would permit the remaining leases to be voluntarily purchased by conservation groups and other entities to retire the leases.

But Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said the bill was counterproductive because it would remove potential energy reserves at a time when the entire country is suffering from high gas prices. "This not a local issue, this is a national issue," Landrieu said.

The Bureau of Land Management estimates the land at stake contains 8.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas -- an amount roughly equal to one-third of a year's annual natural gas consumption for the entire nation -- and 331 million barrels of oil that are "technically recoverable using today's technology."

The bill cleared by roll call vote, much to the anger of industry observers.

"We find it outrageous that senators would be voting to reduce access to natural gas at a time when consumers all over the country are reeling from high prices, in this case, unnecessary high prices," said Paul Cicio, president of the Industrial Energy Consumers of America.

Forest restoration, wilderness

As part of the unanimous consent agreement, the committee approved legislation to establish a collaborative and science-based forest landscape restoration program that would prioritize and fund ecological restoration treatments.

Claiming that overaggressive fire suppression and development have impaired forest landscapes across the country, sponsors say S. 2593 would lead to an overall reduction of wildfire management costs by focusing funding on collaborative, sustainable projects that would offer the greatest protections against devastating wildfires.

Federal land managers would work with state and local authorities to identify parcels of at least 50,000 acres comprised mostly of national forest lands that need active ecosystem restoration. The projects must include several stakeholders representing multiple interests.

The panel also passed several wilderness bills, including S. 2833 would designate more than 517,000 acres in the Owyhee-Bruneau Canyonlands of southwestern Idaho as wilderness and nearly 315 mile of wild and scenic rivers. It would establish a science review to address management issues of rangelands in Owyhee County and closes 200 miles of roads and routes near the proposed wilderness areas to motorized vehicle use except in emergencies.

In exchange, about 190,000 acres of BLM lands treated as potential wilderness would be subject to "soft release," opening the door to multiple uses including off-road vehicle use and grazing following BLM land-use evaluations. The bill also provides for the sale or trade of private inholdings within these proposed wilderness areas.

S. 1380 would designate parts of the Rocky Mountain National Park as wilderness and adjust the boundaries of the Indian Peaks Wilderness and Arapaho National Recreation Area in Colorado's Arapaho National Forest.

S. 570 would create several new wilderness areas in Virginia's Jefferson National Forest as well as designate 11,000 acres as national scenic areas.

S. 2379 would authorize the cancellation of certain grazing leases on land in Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon, to provide for the exchange of certain monument land in exchange for private land, to designate certain monument land as wilderness.

H.R. 5151 would add about 37,000 acres of wilderness West Virginia's Monongahela National Forest through expansions of the Dolly Sods, Cranberry and Otter Creek wilderness areas as well as protecting three new wilderness areas across the forest.

S. 868 would designate 40 miles of the Taunton River as wild and scenic, from the headwaters all the way to Mount Hope Bay in Fall River, Mass.

DOI, DOE nominations

The two Bush administration nominees were also cleared under the en bloc vote.

Jeffrey Kupfer is nominated to be DOE's deputy secretary, the No. 2 position at the department. Kupfer is serving on an acting basis, replacing Clay Sell, who left the department at the end of February.

Kameran Onley, if confirmed, would become assistant Interior secretary for water and science. She has been in that position since July, while also serving as assistant deputy secretary since January 2006.

Parks, trails, historical areas, water bills

Other bills that passed yesterday by voice vote:

H.R. 523 would require the secretary of the Interior to convey certain public land located wholly or partially within the boundaries of the Wells Hydroelectric Project of Public Utility District No. 1 of Douglas County, Wash., to the utility district.

H.R. 2515 would authorize funding for the Lower Colorado River multispecies conservation program. The 50-year plan is designed to save 27 species by restoring wildlife habitat. Covering a 400-mile stretch of the river, the program aims to create more than 8,100 acres of riparian, marsh and backwater habitat for six federally protected species and 20 others native to the river system.

S. 1281 would amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate certain rivers and streams of the headwaters of the Snake River System as additions to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

S. 832 would to provide for the sale of approximately 25 acres of public land to the Turnabout Ranch in Escalante, Utah.

S. 900 would authorize the Boy Scouts of America to exchange certain land in Utah acquired under the Recreation and Public Purposes Act.

S. 2124 would convey land in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest to Jefferson County, Mont., for use as a cemetery.

H.R. 189 would establish a national historical park in the Great Falls area of Paterson, N.J. The park would recognize and preserve Alexander Hamilton's breakthroughs in industrial production by incorporating the Pierre L'Enfant-designed, Hamilton-commissioned water power system at the Passaic Great Falls into the park system. It would also lay claim to the nearby Hinchliffe Stadium, the host of historic Negro League baseball games.

H.R. 1528 would create a 220-mile national historic trail in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

H.R. 3998 is an omnibus public lands bill authorizing 10 studies of potential national parks or trails including a national trail alongside the Mississippi River from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico.

S. 617 would make the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass available for $10 to any honorably discharged veteran.

S. 2262 would authorize the Preserve America Program and Save America's Treasures Program.

S. 662 would authorize Interior to evaluate resources at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Brunswick, Maine, to determine the suitability and feasibility of establishing the site as a unit of NPS.

H.R. 3332 would provide for the establishment of a memorial within Hawaii's Kalaupapa National Historical Park to honor and perpetuate the memory of those individuals who were forcibly relocated to the Kalaupapa Peninsula from 1866 to 1969.

S. 783 would adjust the boundary of the Barataria Preserve Unit of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in Louisiana.

S. 1633 would authorize a special resource study to determine the suitability and feasibility of including the battlefield and related sites of the Battle of Shepherdstown in Shepherdstown, W.Va., as part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park or Antietam National Battlefield.

S. 2207 would authorize a study of the suitability and feasibility of designating Green McAdoo School in Clinton, Tenn., as a unit of the National Park System.

S. 2513 would modify the boundary of the Minute Man National Historical Park in Massachusetts.

H.R. 2197 would modify the boundary of the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Ohio.

H.R. 2627 would establish the Thomas Edison National Historical Park in New Jersey as the successor to the Edison National Historic Site.

S. 2804 would adjust the boundary of the Everglades National Park to include the Tarpon Basin property. The property contains habitat for the wood stork and the West Indian manatee, both of which are listed as endangered species. It also includes approximately 10 acres of subtropical hardwood hammock, found only in South Florida and the Florida Keys.

H.R. 1285 would convey National Forest System land in Kittitas County, Wash., to facilitate the construction of a new fire and rescue station.

H.R. 1311 would both convey the Alta-Hualapai Site in Nevada to the city of Las Vegas for the development of a cancer treatment facility.

H.R. 1483 would create six new national heritage areas, including one that would surround the entire city of Tucson, Ariz., and extend the funding authorization for nine others.

Proposals in the bill include the Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area, the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area in Alabama, the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area through historic battlefields in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

S. 827 would establish a heritage area that encompasses 36 communities in Massachusetts and eight communities in New Hampshire that have significance to U.S. history.

S. 2512 would establish the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area.

S. 2254would establish the Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area.

S. 2604 would establish the Baltimore National Heritage Area.

S. 2814 would authorize Interior to provide financial assistance to the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water Authority for the planning, design and construction of a rural water system.

H.R. 1725 would authorize the secretary to participate in the Rancho California Water District Southern Riverside County Recycled Non-Potable Distribution Facilities and Demineralization Desalination Recycled Water Treatment and Reclamation Facility Project.

S. 27 authorizes $217 million in direct spending for the implementation of the San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement.

S. 1171 would amend the Colorado River Storage Protect Act and Public Law 87-483 to authorize the construction and rehabilitation of water infrastructure in Northwestern New Mexico and other purposes.

S. 1929 would authorize Interior and the Bureau of Reclamation to study water augmentation alternatives in the Sierra Vista Subwatershed in Arizona.

S. 2370 would clear title to certain property in New Mexico associated with the Middle Rio Grande Project.

H.R. 123 would ensure that once $85 million in federal funds is appropriated for the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority and the Central Basin Municipal Water District the money would be subject to a 35 percent non-federal matching requirement from each entity.

H.R. 356 would remove certain restrictions on the Mammoth Community Water District's ability to use certain property acquired by that District from the United States.

H.R. 1855 would authorize Interior and the BLM to enter into a cooperative agreement with the Madera Irrigation District for purposes of supporting the Madera Water Supply Enhancement Project.

H.R. 2085 would authorize the secretary of the Interior to convey to the McGee Creek Authority certain facilities of the McGee Creek Project.

The committee voted by roll call to clear S. 27, which authorizes $217 million in direct spending for the implementation of the San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement.

Bills dropped

Three of the bills on the shortlist were held from the markup due to technical issues. They are:

S. 390 would trade about 40,000 acres of BLM lands for 42,000 acres of environmentally sensitive state lands, many of which have wilderness characteristics.

S. 1477 would authorize the rehabilitation of Colorado's Jackson Gulch.

H.R. 2381 would promote Interior efforts to provide scientific basis for the management of sediment and nutrient loss in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, due to concerns it would duplicate existing federal programs.