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The
Columbus Dispatch
www.dispatch.com
Conservation act:
Senate should add its OK to nonpartisan bill
Gov.
Bob Taft has joined with the 49 other state governors in
urging passage of the act.
Monday,
September 25, 2000
The
Conservation and Reinvestment Act is one of the few pieces
of legislation that would benefit many, many Americans in
all walks of life and one that Congress has just enough
time to pass before its pre-election adjournment.
The
House already has approved its version of this important
bill. The Senate version awaits a vote on the floor of that
chamber, having emerged in July from the Energy and Natural
Resources Committee. President Clinton on Thursday urged
approval of the measure, which has the nonpartisan backing
of nearly two-thirds of Senate members.
Both
versions would ensure that a variety of trust funds begin
receiving money again after years of going with little or
none. For years, Congress has been diverting money intended
for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, established in
1964, and other funds to the general budget to make the
annual deficit appear smaller than it would otherwise.
The
conservation and other funds provide money to create and
expand national parks and provide grants to state and local
governments to preserve open spaces, farmlands, battlefields
and coastlines and to build and expand state and local parks.
Congress once filled these funds with money collected through
annual fees on offshore drilling for oil and natural gas.
Thus, the depletion of two irreplaceable natural resources
was offset partially by the preservation and restoration
of other natural resources.
This
policy is as sound today as it was when the Land and Water
Conservation Fund was created, and the legislation would
restore the flow of money from these fees into this and
other funds.
Unfortunately,
much misinformation about the Conservation and Reinvestment
Act abounds. Some of it is propagated by an Ohio member
of Congress, Rep. Ralph Regula, R-Navarre. He seems interested
only in ensuring money for national parks and recreation
areas, such as the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area,
enjoyed by many of his constituents.
He has
said, in effect, that this "federal'' money -- the
fees from oil and gas drilling -- doesn't really belong
to all Americans but only those who can go to national parks.
And, he says only Congress and federal bureaucrats, not
state and local governments, should be able to decide how
to use these fees.
This
is a troubling view from a Republican, a member of a party
that purports to be an advocate of states' rights and the
transfer of power from the federal government to state and
local governments. Fortunately, Regula found few who agreed
with him in the House, where the conservation act passed
by a wide margin.
Of Ohio's
senators, George V. Voinovich, who is leaning toward a no
vote on this bill, should take a closer look; Mike DeWine,
who clearly recognizes the benefits to his home state, is
a co-sponsor.
Ohio's
share of the money provided by the act would be more than
$54 million per year. Gov. Bob Taft has joined with the
49 other state governors in urging passage of the conservation
act.
Voinovich,
a deficit hawk, appears concerned primarily about the potential
loss of cash that Congress can spend at its discretion.
The former Ohio governor, however, has pushed repeatedly
for other bills that properly would return large portions
of federal revenues to the states. This is just such a bill,
and Congress still would retain about $1.2 billion of about
$4 billion in annual oil and gas fees to spend in any manner
lawmakers wish.
Further,
the oil and gas leases and the conservation act would have
to be renewed in 15 years, when the leases expire. At that
time, Congress would have a good opportunity to see how
well the program is working. Back when Congress was funding
the Land and Water Conservation Act regularly, this money
helped build nine of the Metro Parks in Franklin County.
As The
Dispatch said in an earlier editorial urging passage of
this legislation, "Now that a booming economy has helped
fill federal coffers and put balanced budgets within reach,
Congress should begin to make amends for its bad management
of trust funds' money.''
Survey
after survey shows an overwhelming number of Americans support
the creation of parks and recreation areas and the conservation
of valuable natural resources. Congress and Clinton would
be hard-pressed to find a bill of such broad appeal to their
constituents, the American people.
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