Santa Fe New Mexican
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Landmark conservation act closer to approval

The New Mexican Editorial7/26/2000

Long an under-utilized source of conservation investments, the Land and Water Conservation Fund is drawing increased attention from Capitol Hill's leading environmentalists.

For years, revenues from off-shore oil drilling and other sources have flowed into a trust fund - against which, money would be borrowed for all manner of congressional spending, rather than being invested directly in land and water preserves and other conservationist ventures.

This year, New Mexico's Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat, joined Alaska Republican Frank Murkowski in an effort to use LWCF money for its original purpose. They're Senate co-sponsors of a $3 billion Conservation and Reinvestment Act.

This being an election year, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are proving responsive to the conservation concerns of Americans nationwide.

The House of Representatives already has passed its version of the act. The Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved the bill yesterday.

Both of New Mexico's senators sit on that committee. Democrat Jeff Bingaman is one of the 13 who voted in favor. Republican Pete Domenici and six others opposed it, Domenici on budgetary grounds. He notes that the act would support some projects year in and year out without regard to the annual appropriations process.

The fiscal objections of Domenici, chairman of the Budget Committee, have some validity. His colleagues should respond to them in the course of approving long-overdue investment in land and water conservation.

Nationwide, the money would go into urban parks and forests, among other investments in open land and other wildlife habitat.

For New Mexico, the bill would mean $57 million, including:

· Nearly $10 million for land purchases.

· $30 million to county governments to replace property taxes on land removed from the tax rolls.

· $2.1 million for historic preservation.

· $1.5 million for farm and ranchland protection.

· $1.6 million for Youth Conservation Corps programs.

· $5.3 million for wildlife conservation.

In the House, this measure drew support from Domenici's Republican protege, Rep. Heather Wilson. Her fellow New Mexicans might hope Wilson will prove persuasive with her Senate mentor in helping overcome his objections.

Sen. Bingaman sees the bill as one of the two most important things Congress could accomplish this year - the other being the recently approved purchase of New Mexico's Baca Ranch.

That purchase, carried out with Domenici's strong influence on Congress' Republican majority, was an indicator of Americans' deep concern for the national patrimony of open space - and the need to protect it for future generations.

The landmark Conservation and Reinvestment Act is a logical extension of that concern - and deserves congressional approval.