PUBLIC LANDS: Subpanel to debate bill allowing off-highway vehicles on national seashore
Jessica Estepa, E&E reporter
E&E: Monday, June 25, 2012
A Senate Energy and Natural Resources subpanel will tackle several public lands bills this week, including a measure that would allow off-highway vehicles to be used at a national seashore in North Carolina and another for the creation of a national park in commemoration of the Manhattan Project.
The National Parks Subcommittee will consider S. 2372, which would allow off-highway vehicle use at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Off-roading was originally banned in 2008 after an injunction was filed by Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society while the National Park Service worked to develop a final management plan for the area.
NPS implemented its final rules in February of this year.
"Restricting [off-highway vehicle] use on the Cape National Seashore has a negative impact on local communities and the local economy," said Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who is sponsoring the legislation with Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.). "We must ensure that our state's residents have access to North Carolina's scenic treasures, and I am confident we can come to a compromise that allows people to have access while at the same time addressing any potential environmental concerns."
The subcommittee will also tackle S. 3300, which would create the Manhattan Project National Park. Sponsored by Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), the measure would establish a national park to commemorate the creation of the atomic bomb at sites in Los Alamos, N.M.; Oak Ridge, Tenn.; and Hanford, Wash.
"The Manhattan Project was a difficult yet historically significant part of our nation's history," Bingaman said in a statement. "Establishing a National Historic Park will help us better understand the legacy the Manhattan Project left behind."
A House subpanel on Thursday will look at similar legislation offered by Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.),H.R. 5987 (see related story).
The Senate panel will also look at S. 2229, sponsored by Montana Democratic Sens. Jon Tester and Max Baucus, which aims to protect the natural gas supply for Kalispell, Mont. The National Park Service does not have the authority to allow pipeline owner Northwestern Energy to upgrade and maintain a pipeline that passes through Glacier National Park. The bill would allow NPS to issue a permit while maintaining the parklands.
"This is a common sense bill to make sure Kalispell can continue getting the natural gas it needs the same way it has for the past 50 years," Baucus said in a statement. "It's a no-brainer."
Identical legislation, H.R. 4606, was discussed at a House subcommittee hearing earlier this month. NPS has asked that the bill be amended so that permits and not legislation will be able to determine the width of the right of way (E&ENews PM, June 8).
The subcommittee will also discuss:
· S. 1897, which would revise the boundaries of Gettysburg National Military Park.
· S. 2158, which would establish the Fox-Wisconsin Heritage Parkway National Heritage Area.
· S. 2267, which would reauthorize the Hudson Valley National Heritage Area.
· S. 2273, which would designate a station in Alaska as the Walter Harper Talkeetna Ranger Station.
· S. 2286, which would designate parts of the Farmington River and Salmon Brook in Connecticut as wild and scenic.
· S. 2316, which would designate the Salt Pond Visitor Center at the Cape Cod National Seashore as the Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Salt Pond Visitor Center.
· S. 2324, which would designate parts of the Neches River in Texas to be potentially included in the National Wild and Scenic River System.
Schedule: The hearing is Wednesday, June 27, at 3 p.m. in 366 Dirksen.
Witnesses: TBA.
