House panel to vote on Colo. wilderness, dam bills

E&E News
By Phil Taylor
September 17, 2014

A new measure designed to safeguard snowmobile access to a high mountain pass in southwest Colorado has raised the ire of wilderness advocates and could complicate future passage of a bipartisan conservation and recreation bill set for markup tomorrow before a House panel.

A substitute amendment to Rep. Scott Tipton's (R-Colo.) H.R. 1839 will be marked up by the Natural Resources Committee along with two dozen other measures addressing Western water, national forest cabins, geothermal energy and other public lands issues.

Committee leaders yesterday said members would vote on the amendment to Tipton's "Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act," a bill that would strengthen land protections for nearly 108,000 acres in the San Juan National Forest. It would designate some 37,000 acres of wilderness, while preserving motorized and mountain bike use in other areas.

Josh Green, a Tipton spokesman, said the proposed changes are "very minor" and are meant to ensure that snowmobile access is maintained forever in the Molas Pass Recreation Area near Silverton, as the original bill intended.

But some wilderness advocates are considering withdrawing their support, saying the "hard release" language would prohibit the Bureau of Land Management from ever managing the pass for wilderness values, including quiet recreation and wildlife.

"Hard release" generally refers to legislation that releases an area that is currently managed for wilderness into multiple use, but stipulates that the area can no longer be administratively studied or managed for wilderness in the future. In the case of Tipton's amendment, 461 acres of the West Needles Contiguous Wilderness Study Area would be released.

Democrats on the committee say they, too, are concerned by the proposed amendment, which also includes language restricting the government's ability to close roads in the proposed 68,000-acre Hermosa Creek Special Management Area.

It's the latest legislative tussle between Natural Resources leaders and conservationists over which lands to preserve as wilderness, the strictest form of public lands protection, and how to share the rest of the federal estate among hikers, bikers, snowmobilers, ranchers and other users.

"Historically, this has been a multiple-use area open to visitors for recreation, specifically relating to motorized vehicles," said Mallory Micetich, a spokeswoman for committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.). "Unfortunately, the Obama administration has tried to take away this use and has driven recreationists out of the area. This amendment would create a permanent recreation area and apply the same protection that the wilderness area receives."

According to Scott Jones, vice president of the Colorado Snowmobile Association, which backs the bill, the diverse coalition that crafted Tipton's bill remains "stronger than ever" in support of the revised bill.

Without legislative changes, BLM is slated to close the 461-acre Molas Pass to snowmobiles, he said. The area is a valuable asset for local snowmobile businesses as well as families and beginning riders because it is relatively flat and free from avalanches, despite being at 10,000 feet in elevation.

"It's important to the Silverton winter economy," he said.

But the Wilderness Society, which supported the bill as introduced, in addition to companion legislation sponsored by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), may withdraw its support, said Paul Spitler.

"What's more troubling is [the bill] is saying this area will never again be studied or looked at for its wilderness values," Spitler said. "This is another example of undermining a locally supported initiative and adding controversy and opposition to a bill that has none."

The Obama administration supported Tipton's bill in earlier Senate and House hearings.

Spitler said committee leaders earlier this year added similar hard release language to a Nevada lands package designating some 75,000 acres of wilderness. But the language was removed in a later version that passed the House by voice vote earlier this week.

Congress has only passed one wilderness bill in the past five years, preserving 32,000 acres in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan.

Wilderness bills have stalled in Congress largely due to unrelated partisanship, but Republicans and Democrats have also struggled to agree on the finer points of conservation bills.

The Nevada lands bill, sponsored by Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), is a prime example.

Democrats eventually backed it, but they and their conservationist supporters remain opposed to language that would allow mechanized timber cutting within wilderness. Republicans say the language is necessary to prevent catastrophic wildfires.

Calif. drought

With California reeling from an entrenched drought, the committee will also mark up several measures aimed at spurring construction of new federal dams and reservoirs.

Two of the measures -- H.R. 3980 from Water and Power Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) and H.R. 5412 from full committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) -- are intended to speed up the environmental review process, which committee Republicans argue is the main hurdle to new projects.

They hailed the Hastings measure as common-sense, pointing out that it would simply apply a suite of environmental streamlining provisions already approved by Congress for projects built by the Army Corps of Engineers to the nation's other primary dam builder, the Bureau of Reclamation. Among the provisions are limits on public comment periods for environmental analyses under NEPA and financial penalties for agencies that miss deadlines for opinions, permits or other items.

But those provisions sparked an outcry from environmentalists during debate on the corps measure, and Democrats spoke strongly against the Hastings bill at a hearing last week, contending that it's not environmental reviews that are blocking new projects but their skyrocketing price tags and the dearth of new appropriations (E&E Daily, Sept. 11).

Another measure being marked up tomorrow aims to get at that problem. H.R. 3981 from Hastings would allow water users to pay in advance contracts they have with the U.S. government -- something they're not currently allowed to do. The primary goal is to use the extra money to fund new surface storage projects (E&E Daily, Feb. 6).

The committee will also mark up:

H.R. 69, by Del. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam), to strengthen enforcement mechanisms to stop illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and to amend the Tuna Conventions Act of 1950 to implement the Antigua Convention.
H.R. 706, by Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), to establish the Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park, to dedicate the park to John H. Chafee, and for other purposes.
H.R. 712, by Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), to extend the authorization of the Highlands Conservation Act through fiscal 2024.
H.R 1363, by Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), to promote timely exploration for geothermal resources under existing geothermal leases and for other purposes.
H.R. 1811, by Rep. Curt Clawson (R-Fla.), to remove from the John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System areas included in Florida System Unit P-16 and for other purposes.
H.R. 3226, by Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.), to remove from the John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System certain properties in South Carolina.
H.R. 3227, by Rice, to remove from the John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System certain properties in South Carolina.
H.R. 3326, by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), to provide for an exchange of land between the United States and the Trinity Public Utilities District of Trinity County, Calif., involving a parcel of National Forest System land in Shasta-Trinity National Forest.
H.R. 3608, by Rep. Rick Nolan (D-Minn.), to amend the Act of Oct. 19, 1973, concerning taxable income to members of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.
H.R. 4166, by Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), to transfer recreational management authority for Lake Berryessa in California from the Bureau of Reclamation to the Bureau of Land Management and for other purposes.
H.R. 4534, by Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), to amend the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act to require background checks before foster care placements are ordered in tribal court proceedings and for other purposes.
H.R. 4846, by Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), to adjust the boundary of the Arapaho National Forest in Colorado and for other purposes.
H.R. 5003, by Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), to adjust the boundary of the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park to include the Wallis House and Harriston Hill and for other purposes.
H.R. 5040, by Labrador, to require the Interior secretary to convey certain federal land to Idaho County, Idaho, and for other purposes.
H.R. 5049, by Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), to exchange trust and fee land to resolve land disputes created by the realignment of the Blackfoot River along the boundary of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation and for other purposes.
H.R. 5050, by Simpson, to repeal the Act of May 31, 1918, and for other purposes.
H.R. 5162, by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), to amend the act titled "An Act to allow a certain parcel of land in Rockingham County, Virginia, to be used for a child care center" to remove the use restriction and for other purposes.
H.R. 5167, by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), to direct the administrator of General Services, on behalf of the Interior secretary, to convey certain federal property located in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska to the Olgoonik Corp., an Alaska Native corporation established under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
H.R. 5476, by Hastings, to modify the Forest Service Recreation Residence Program as the program applies to units of the National Forest System derived from the public domain by implementing a simple, equitable and predictable procedure for determining cabin user fees and for other purposes.
S. 363, by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), to expand geothermal production and for other purposes.
S. 609, by Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), to authorize the Interior secretary to convey certain federal land in San Juan County, N.M., and for other purposes.

Schedule: The markup is Thursday, Sept. 18, at 11 a.m. (or after the conclusion of the Joint Session of Congress, whichever occurs later) in 1324 Longworth.