House committee OKs conservation bills over GOP grumbling

February 17, 2022

The House Natural Resources Committee yesterday approved a slew of public lands and wildlife bills to address issues ranging from online wildlife trafficking to restoring fish habitat in the Great Lakes, improving water quality in Chesapeake Bay and saving dwindling kelp forests off the California coastline.

The majority of the 14 bills on the agenda passed with no debate. But the markup got bogged down at times when Republicans questioned the need to consider wildlife and conservation legislation at a time of increased inflation and an "energy crisis" highlighted by rising gasoline prices that President Biden warned this week would get worse if Russia invades Ukraine.

Arkansas Rep. Bruce Westerman, the committee's ranking Republican, joined Reps. Garret Graves (R-La.) and Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) in sharply criticizing Biden administration energy policies they said hamper the nation's ability to tap its oil and gas resources and mineral reserves.

"We're at a time when out-of-control spending has caused inflation to skyrocket to 40-year highs," Westerman said. "And yet today the committee is meeting to consider several pieces of legislation that authorize new government spending. Several bills on the agenda will only grow the national debt and contribute to our national inflation crisis."

He added, "I hope that someday soon we can all be back together, in person, in the hearing room, discussing the real crisis facing Americans."

Committee Chair Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) defended the focus of yesterday's markup, saying "the campaign trail debate" can wait for another time.

Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), chair of the Water, Oceans and Wildlife Subcommittee, echoed Grijalva.

"We've certainly heard a lot of campaign-style, partisan speeches this morning urging this committee to focus on all sorts of things that aren't even in our jurisdiction," Huffman said.

"But I think we all knew, when we signed up for the Natural Resources Committee, that the majority of our jurisdiction is about things like ecosystems and wildlife and watersheds and our environment," he added. "So thank you for having a hearing that includes some bills that are right in the wheelhouse of what this committee is supposed to do."

Wildlife trafficking

There wasn't much pushback to most of the bills under consideration.

Those included arguably the marquee measure approved yesterday, H.R. 1546, sponsored by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), which calls for targeting wildlife trafficking on the internet and through social media sites like Facebook.

It would reauthorize for five years the Presidential Task Force on Wildlife Trafficking, whose initial authorization expired in October. The bill would add a new requirement that the panel examine how wildlife is trafficked on internet sites and platforms.

Among other things, the task force would also be asked to identify methods for technology companies to help combat wildlife trafficking, as well as determine ways to improve public-private relationships (Greenwire, Jan. 21).

Carter's bill was part of a group of nine bills that were approved by unanimous consent.

'Help the kelp'

The four bills that generated debate yesterday included H.R. 4458, sponsored by Huffman, which would establish a grant program at NOAA to help kelp forest ecosystems. It passed 23-19.

Huffman, who urged his colleagues to "help the kelp," said 95 percent of kelp forests along California's coastlines "have collapsed" due to a variety of factors, including high ocean temperatures caused by climate warming. Less kelp means less fish, harming the fishing industry.

"We urgently need to restore these ecosystems," he said.

Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.) unsuccessfully proposed an amendment to reduce the federal cost share in kelp restoration grants to 50 percent from 80 percent, and to cap administrative costs.

The committee voted 24-18 to approve H.R. 4677, sponsored by Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), to help state and local governments fund projects to restore and protect New York-New Jersey watersheds and estuaries hydrologically connected to New York-New Jersey Harbor.

Specifically, it would allow the federal government to help support implementation of state and local restoration plans for the country's "most populated watershed," Tonko said.

In advancing the bill, the committee rejected an amendment by Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah) to add a seven-year sunset provision, as well as cap the federal cost-share on grants at 50 percent, from 75 percent. Moore said the sunset provision in 2029 was not "an unreasonable request."

"I hope we can recognize we have to be able to put constraints on these things," he said.

Other bills

The committee also debated and approved:

H.R. 5973, sponsored by Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.). It calls for reauthorizing the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act of 1990, which expired at the end of fiscal 2021, for five years through fiscal 2027. But the committee agreed not to advance the bill to the House floor — per an amendment by Moore — until the Fish and Wildlife Service submits to the committee a report, now overdue, detailing how the program is functioning.

H.R. 3540, sponsored by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.), to reauthorize the Chesapeake Bay Office at NOAA. Moore proposed an amendment, which was voted down, that would have capped administrative funding at 3 percent to help ensure "more money is spent in the field and on the water," he said. Grijalva argued against the cap, noting that it was so vague that it would cause "confusion."

The following passed by unanimous consent:

H.R. 3525, sponsored by Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), to establish a Commission to Study the Potential Creation of a National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture.

H.R. 6023, introduced by Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), to require the U.S. Postal Service to continue selling the Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp until all remaining stamps are sold.

H.R. 6142, sponsored by Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), to study the feasibility of designating the Buckeye Trail as a national scenic trail.

H.R. 6199, introduced by Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), to revise the boundary of Ste. Geneviève National Historical Park in Missouri.

H.R. 6201, sponsored by Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), to establish a commemorative work to honor enslaved and free Black persons who served in the American Revolution.

H.R. 6434, sponsored by Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.), to establish the Japanese American World War II History Network.

H.R. 6435, sponsored by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.). It would restore flexibility in how counties receive certain federal payments to support their local economies by making a technical correction to a three-year reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools Act that was tucked into the bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure package signed into law by President Biden last year (E&E Daily, Feb. 4).

H. Res. 641, sponsored by Rep. Dan Newhouse, to recognize the 75th anniversary of the National Association of Conservation Districts.

The committee delayed consideration of H.R. 6337, sponsored by Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.). It would require the secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to develop "long-distance bike trails" on federal lands. No reason was cited for postponing the bill, which carries bipartisan support, with two Republicans among the bill's six co-sponsors.

 


By:  Scott Streater
Source: E&E Daily