Bishop says Nev. monument bill violates earmark ban as panel passes 4 other bills

E&E News
By Phil Taylor
FEbruary 27, 2014

A bipartisan bill to designate a national monument north of Las Vegas and sell federal lands to spur economic development and raise conservation dollars in Nevada would have violated a House rule barring earmarks, a House Republican leader said today.

Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), chairman of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation, had proposed an amendment to H.R. 2015 to send land revenues to the U.S. Treasury, but the bill was yanked at the request of sponsor Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), according to the panel's top Democrat.

Bishop's amendment also drew opposition from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and national parks advocates who protested language that would have halted the monument's transfer to the National Park Service.

"Rob and Congressman Horsford have a good relationship, and Rob supports his bill," said Bishop spokeswoman Melissa Subbotin. "They chatted yesterday and agreed to work out some kinks."

While Horsford's bill was pulled from this morning's markup, the full committee by voice vote did pass H.R. 1259 to establish the Coltsville National Historical Park in Connecticut and three other measures addressing American Indian and Alaska Native issues in New Mexico and Alaska.

Horsford's bill, which is supported by the entire Nevada delegation, would designate the 22,650-acre Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument in the hills north of Las Vegas to protect and showcase the area's dense array of ice age fossils of mammoths, ground sloths, American lions, camels and horses.

More than 1,000 acres of public lands would be sold under the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act, allowing proceeds to be used for conservation, restoration and recreation in the Silver State.

The Interior Department last summer said it generally supported the bill's Senate companion but recommended the Park Service do a comprehensive study of the land's suitability as a park unit.

"This bill has a great deal of merit," said committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), though he noted there are "technical things" that need to be worked out.

If passed, it would mark one of the largest national parks bills to advance from the committee since Republicans took control of the House in 2011.

Reid yesterday fired off a statement accusing the committee of trying to "gut SNPLMA," which he said has raised more than $3 billion since 1998 through the sale of about 15,000 acres of land in the Las Vegas Valley.

"I will not allow nor support these efforts," said Reid, who co-sponsored the companion bill with Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.). "A bad bill is worse than no bill at all."

The National Parks Conservation Association also strongly opposed the Bishop amendment.

Committee ranking member Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said he's hopeful that the committee can soon pass the bill and that the Senate can pass a companion by unanimous consent. The Reid-Heller bill is already on the Senate floor.

"I like the old days of the [Rep.] Don Young [R-Alaska] rule, which I remember, which is if it's your state, even if we don't like what you're doing, you know, it's your state," DeFazio said.