NATIONAL PARKS: Revised Hatteras bill draws mixed reviews from greens, OHV boosters
Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
E&E: Wednesday, June 19, 2013
A revised bill to promote vehicular access to a North Carolina seashore drew mixed reviews yesterday from stakeholders on both sides of the issue, hours after the controversial measure was passed by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
For national parks and wildlife advocates, the new version of Sen. Richard Burr's (R-N.C.) S. 486 is the better of two evils but would still potentially roll back protections for birds and turtles at Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
But for the sport fishing industry, which has long warned that sportsmen have been shut out of prime beach areas, the amended bill still falls short of what is needed to protect anglers and the coastal businesses they support.
The bill is far less controversial than when it was introduced. Burr yesterday called it "a critical step forward in the effort to regain access to one of North Carolina's most scenic treasures" and said it was primed for Senate passage.
And Warren Judge, chairman of Dare County, who has long championed Burr's and co-sponsor Sen. Kay Hagan's (D-N.C.) efforts to push the bill through Congress, called yesterday's passage "a giant step in the right direction for a practical solution that balances reasonable recreational access with resource protection."
The bill was significantly amended from the original, which would have overturned a National Park Service plan in 2012 to limit off-highway vehicle access at the 67-mile seashore to protect endangered piping plovers and sea turtles.
The new bill calls for the agency to consider wildlife buffers that are for the shortest duration and cover the smallest area possible to protect the species, to consider changes to the final rule that would expand vehicle and pedestrian access, and to build additional vehicle access points. But it leaves the 2012 plan intact.
The American Sportfishing Association praised passage of the bill but said it is concerned it no longer provides the relief needed by fishermen and coastal businesses, some of which have experienced reduced visitors as a result of vehicle closures.
"The recreational fishing-dependent businesses in and around the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area should be encouraged by today's action," ASA Vice President Gordon Robertson said in a statement. "While we would have liked language included in this bill that provides more definitive public access improvements, we do appreciate the hard work by committee staff and the many Senators who helped usher this negotiated bill."
Mike Leonard, the group's ocean resource policy director, said the Senate's swift passage of the bill would provide the Park Service a "second chance" to provide a better balance at Cape Hatteras between access for people and wildlife.
But environmental groups said the Park Service has already struck that balance. While their opposition to the bill has softened, they are still fighting its passage.
Audubon North Carolina, Defenders of Wildlife, the National Parks Conservation Association and the Southern Environmental Law Center issued a joint statement yesterday opposing the revised bill.
"The existing wildlife protection measures are already based on the best available scientific information," said Julie Youngman, senior attorney at SELC. "We will work to make sure the plan remains scientifically sound. By requiring the National Park Service to redo what it's already done, the bill wastes taxpayer time and resources."
