Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
Our Klamath Basin
Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
|
http://www.landrights.org/
Giant Land Acquisition Trust Fund
LWCF / Land and Water Conservation Fund
3/9/12
Land Rights Network Latest Updates On LWCF Massive Land Acquisition Sneak Attack. New Congressional contact information, e-mails, fax and phones. Urgent Action Required. This is an all out call to action NOW The Gulf Oil Spill penalty money to be giant Land Acquisition Trust Fund. It gives billions of dollars to the Federal land agencies without having to go through the appropriations process. That means there is no oversight. No accountability. It gives the Park Service, Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and BLM and blank check to take private land. There is no way these agencies should have a blank check to convert private land into Federal government ownership with the deficit at current levels. The Senate Transportation Bill is an all out attack on Rural America. Stop The LWCF Transportation Bill Land Grab, Go To www.landrights.org for details. Solution: (Updated Action Items) (The Problem is restated below) -----1. Deluge your Congressman with calls, faxes and e-mails. Call any Congressman at (202) 225-3121. You must make his or her phone come off the hook. Make sure he or she understands that you will remember the vote on the LWCF Land Grab in November. Ask him or her to oppose any version of the Transportation bill that has LWCF land acquisition funding inside. While the Senate added the LWCF provision to a bill called the “Restore Act”, the Restore Act in the House does NOT have this LWCF provision and has already passed the House as a separate bill. It did does not have the LWCF inside it. The Senate added the LWCF. The House must stop it. If the Senate Transportation Bill (S 1813) (With LWCF inside) passes the Senate it is likely the House will vote on the Senate bill instead of passing its own bill. That would be a disaster. -----2. Deluge the Speaker of the House John Boehner at (202) 225-0600 or the Capital Switchboard at (202) 225-3121. Urge him to pass a separate Transportation Bill with the House version of the RESTORE Act, which does NOT include money for LWCF funding and which actually includes an explicit prohibition on federal land acquisition. E-mail: Michael.catanzaro@mail.house.gov -- bill.greene@mail.house.gov
-----3. Call, fax and e-mail the offices of other House Leaders: Rep. Eric Cantor House, Majority Leader (202) 225-4000 Fax: (202) 226-1115. E-mails: steve.stombres@mail.house.gov Rep. Kevin McCarthy, House Majority Whip (202) 225-0197 Fax: (202) 225-0781 E-mails: brian.worth@mail.house.gov Natalie.Buchanan@mail.house.gov Urge them not to vote on the Senate Bill (S 1813) if it passes the Senate and comes over to the House. That bill includes the massive land acquisition LWCF Trust Fund money. The House should come up with its own bill. The Restore Act already passed the House. So if the House votes on the Senate bill there may be no Conference Committee. It is critical that your Congressman add Amendments to the Transportation bill to force it into a House-Senate Conference Committee. ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) drilling bill would be a good choice. The House will not be in session this week. Your Congressman will likely be in your district this week (March 12-18). Find out where he or she will be and go to any public meetings being held. Call at the numbers above to find out. You have time to contact your Congressman when he or she comes home as well as call his or her Wash. DC office at (202) 225-3121. -----You must jump on your Congressman quickly and keep the pressure on for at least the next two weeks. It takes time, but it will save you a lot of suffering later. So call, call and call again. Call your friends. Call your neighbors. Get them to call. You must get your Congressman to oppose the Senate passed version when it comes to the House. The Senate will still vote on the full Transportation Bill (S 1813) including the Restore Act (LWCF) funds this week. -----2. Stop the Senate Transportation Bill, (S 1813) with the LWCF inside. Deluge both your Senators immediately to oppose the full Transportation Bill that includes the Restore Act and the huge multi-billion dollar LWCF land acquisition funding. It is CARA all over again. The Senate is expected to vote on the full bill Wednesday, Thursday or later this week. It could be delayed. Call, fax and e-mail your Senators every day this week to bury them in contacts. Look below to see how your Senator voted on the Restore Act Amendment that included the LWCF land acquisition funding. The vote results are at the bottom of this e-mail. When you call, make sure your Senators know you know how they voted. If your Senator voted against the Restore Amendment, thank him and urge him to block the Senate Transportation bill any way he can. They have lots of ways to slow up the system in the Senate. Call any Senator at (202) 224-3121. Ask for the staff person who handles the Transportation Bill or LWCF. Ask for his or her e-mail. Do not make threats. Be respectful. But make sure your Senators understand that the Senate Transportation bill is an attack on Rural America and all landowners if it includes funding the LWCF (Land and Water Conservation Fund) with Gulf Oil Spill Penalty money in the final version. Ask your Senators to promise to vote against the Transportation Bill when it comes to the Senate floor this week if it includes the LWCF. Call every day this week. -----3. Go to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and all other social networking sites to get this issue networked out quickly. You can stop this huge land grab and put the money to reducing the deficit. The Problem: Background: The Senate just passed an Amendment to the Transportation Bill (S 1813) that added the Restore Act. The Restore Act provides billions of dollars of the Gulf Oil Spill penalty money to the Gulf States but it also adds billions of dollars to the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) to buy private land and convert it into government ownership. It is CARA all over again. In a historic vote, the Senate added the Nelson LWCF Amendment (Restore Act) to the Senate Transportation Bill and takes billions of dollars of the Gulf Oil Penalty Money and gives it to the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). This is an attack on Rural America. It is an attack on you. The LWCF is used to buy private land. Please send an e-mail to ccushman@pacifier.com to let us know what you did or a copy of what you sent. That will help give us more ideas. -----From Energy and Environment Newsletter: “The result is an amendment that supporters now say would provide perhaps the largest-ever federal boost to conservation and environmental efforts in the nation.” "This could be the biggest infusion of conservation dollars in history," said Joshua Saks, legislative director for the National Wildlife Federation. "This would be a remarkable achievement." (Revised) What’s wrong with the LWCF Amendment to the Transportation Bill (Restore Act)? -----A. None of this money will be used to create jobs. -----B. None of this money will be used to reduce the deficit. -----C. It doubles funding for the LWCF adding $700 million for each of the next two years. It funds a CARA like Land Acquisition Trust Fund that will be a threat to all private property owners and Rural America for many years. -----D. The funds that go to LWCF from the Gulf Oil Spill Penalty money do not have to go through the appropriations process. It is a trust fund. There is no Congressional oversight. The money is immediately available to the land buying agencies like the Park Service, Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and BLM. -----E. The Park Service bought land by condemnation or under threat of condemnation from nearly 100,000 people during the 70’s and 80’s when they were given too much money. Whole communities disappeared. You can still see the sidewalks, driveways and empty foundations in many national parks where people used to live. There is an old saying, “Those that fail to remember history are bound to repeat it.” -----F. The Transportation Bill (S 1813) extends the LWCF until 2022 from the present law of 2015. -----G. The LWCF money will be a dagger in heart of the economy. -----H. A fully funded LWCF is an all out attack on Rural America. -----I. A fully funded LWCF is an attack on local communities. -----J. Inholders and landowners are in grave danger. -----K. The LWCF Transportation Bill will lead to a massive expansion of Federal lands thereby reducing your access and use. The green groups will work to get the new Federal lands into Wilderness status. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Below is the analysis about the Amendment from Energy and Environment Newsletter before it was passed by the Senate and added a double funded LWCF in the Senate Transportation Bill in a back door move with old time dark of night politics. -----From Energy and Environment Newsletter GULF SPILL: Amendment would send penalty money to Gulf, devote historic amount to conservation Paul Quinlan and Phil Taylor, E&E reporters A measure to send most of the Deepwater Horizon spill penalties to the Gulf Coast and boost land acquisition funding could be voted on by the Senate this afternoon, potentially providing the largest single federal contribution to conservation in history. The proposal, introduced as an amendment to the Senate transportation bill by Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.), would send 80 percent of the potentially tens of billions of dollars in Clean Water Act fines to the five Gulf states. The money would be used to pay for economic and environmental restoration projects in Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas and to fund Gulf Coast ecological research and national oceans research endowment (E&E News PM, July 21, 2011). In a bid to attract the necessary 60 votes, which supporters say the amendment now has, the measure includes a massive infusion of cash into a popular federal conservation program called the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). The provision would double current funding levels for the LWCF program to $700 million for each of the next two years and reauthorize it until 2022, at $1.4 billion total. Injecting cash into and extending the LWCF appeared intended to attract support from key Senate leaders who favor the program -- such as Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) -- as well as others outside the five-state Gulf region. The result is an amendment that supporters now say would provide perhaps the largest-ever federal boost to conservation and environmental efforts in the nation. "This could be the biggest infusion of conservation dollars in history," said Joshua Saks, legislative director for the National Wildlife Federation. "This would be a remarkable achievement." To pay for it all, architects of the amendment have agreed to delay for an additional year, until 2022, implementation of a law that would relax rules under which multinational corporations may claim tax deductions on interest expenses incurred overseas. Essentially a corporate tax loophole in waiting, the rule change has been repeatedly delayed to pay for various programs over the years. Lawmakers yesterday had considered a different way of offsetting the $2.8 billion cost -- $1.2 billion for the RESTORE Act plus $1.4 billion for the LWCF -- through a fee on mortgage transactions. That caused an uproar among some Democrats and was scrapped. Landrieu had previously suggested extending a per-barrel oil drilling tax for three years but that, too, was scrapped. Nelson urged passage of the amendment in a speech on the Senate floor this morning. The House approved a stripped-down version of the "RESTORE Act" last month (E&E Daily, Feb 17). "In the U.S. Senate today, we have a chance to take a step that will make the Gulf whole," Nelson said. Nelson noted that without a change in the law, most of the spill penalties would likely be spent in any number of ways, unrelated to the spill. "Otherwise the money is going to end up in the federal Treasury, and there's no telling where it will be spent," he said. Doubling LWCF funds The amendment would also roughly double funding for LWCF over the next two fiscal years. Its adoption would be a major victory for the Obama administration and conservationists, who have argued the account has been shortchanged for decades. The program allows up to $900 million in offshore oil and gas revenues to be spent annually on land acquisitions, conservation easements and grants to states to promote urban parks. While the Obama administration requested full funding for fiscal 2012, it received about $350 million. Today's amendment would provide $700 million in each of the next two fiscal years, significantly higher than the administration's most recent request. "We are essentially trying to right what has been a 50-year wrong," said Alan Rowsome, who directs conservation funding for the Wilderness Society. The amendment would also require 1.5 percent of the LWCF money promote land access for sportsmen, a provision that appears similar to a proposal by Montana Sen. Jon Tester (D) (E&E Daily, June 24, 2011). "That's a critical piece of this because we want to make sure our public lands stay open and accessible," Rowsome said. The fund has enjoyed a resurgence under the Obama administration after facing multiple years of declining appropriations. But the program faces many skeptical lawmakers, mostly Republicans, who oppose enlarging the federal estate during times of fiscal constraints. Yet, Republican Sens. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Richard Burr of North Carolina and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have signed onto a separate measure by Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Bingaman to provide full funding for LWCF. ###OLL CALL VOTES > Senate Vote #32 (Mar 8, 2012) Amendment (Nelson (FL) (Restore Act including LWCF) Amdt. No. 1822) Number: Senate Vote #32 in 2012 Date: Mar 8, 2012 3:24PM Result: Amendment Agreed to Amendment: to S. 1813: MAP-21
VOTE DETAILS Alabama Yea AL Sessions, Jefferson [R] Yea AL Shelby, Richard [R]
Alaska Yea AK Begich, Mark [D] Yea AK Murkowski, Lisa [R]
Arizona Nay AZ Kyl, Jon [R] Nay AZ McCain, John [R]
Arkansas Yea AR Boozman, John [R] Yea AR Pryor, Mark [D]
California Yea CA Boxer, Barbara [D] Yea CA Feinstein, Dianne [D]
Colorado Yea CO Bennet, Michael [D] Yea CO Udall, Mark [D]
Connecticut Yea CT Blumenthal, Richard [D] Yea CT Lieberman, Joseph [I]
Delaware Yea DE Carper, Thomas [D] Yea DE Coons, Chris [D]
Florida Yea FL Nelson, Bill [D] Nay FL Rubio, Marco [R]
Georgia Yea GA Chambliss, Saxby [R] Yea GA Isakson, John [R]
Hawaii Yea HI Akaka, Daniel [D] Yea HI Inouye, Daniel [D]
Idaho Yea ID Crapo, Michael [R] Nay ID Risch, James [R]
Illinois Yea IL Durbin, Richard [D] Not Voting IL Kirk, Mark [R]
Indiana Nay IN Coats, Daniel [R] Nay IN Lugar, Richard [R]
Iowa Nay IA Grassley, Charles [R] Yea IA Harkin, Thomas [D]
Kansas Yea KS Moran, Jerry [R] Yea KS Roberts, Pat [R]
Kentucky Nay KY McConnell, Mitch [R] Nay KY Paul, Rand [R]
Louisiana Yea LA Landrieu, Mary [D] Yea LA Vitter, David [R]
Maine Yea ME Collins, Susan [R] Yea ME Snowe, Olympia [R]
Maryland Yea MD Cardin, Benjamin [D] Yea MD Mikulski, Barbara [D]
Massachusetts Yea MA Brown, Scott [R] Yea MA Kerry, John [D]
Michigan Yea MI Levin, Carl [D] Yea MI Stabenow, Debbie Ann [D] Minnesota Yea MN Franken, Al [D] Yea MN Klobuchar, Amy [D]
Mississippi Yea MS Cochran, Thad [R] Yea MS Wicker, Roger [R]
Missouri Yea MO Blunt, Roy [R] Yea MO McCaskill, Claire [D]
Montana Yea MT Baucus, Max [D] Yea MT Tester, Jon [D]
Nebraska Nay NE Johanns, Mike [R] Yea NE Nelson, Ben [D]
Nevada Nay NV Heller, Dean [R] Yea NV Reid, Harry [D]
New Hampshire Yea NH Ayotte, Kelly [R] Yea NH Shaheen, Jeanne [D]
New Jersey Yea NJ Lautenberg, Frank [D] Yea NJ Menendez, Robert [D]
New Mexico Yea NM Bingaman, Jeff [D] Yea NM Udall, Tom [D]
New York Yea NY Gillibrand, Kirsten [D] Yea NY Schumer, Charles [D]
North Carolina Nay NC Burr, Richard [R] Yea NC Hagan, Kay [D]
North Dakota Yea ND Conrad, Kent [D] Yea ND Hoeven, John [R]
Ohio Yea OH Brown, Sherrod [D] Yea OH Portman, Robert [R]
Oklahoma Nay OK Coburn, Thomas [R] Yea OK Inhofe, James [R]
Oregon Yea OR Merkley, Jeff [D] Yea OR Wyden, Ron [D]
Pennsylvania Yea PA Casey, Robert [D] Nay PA Toomey, Patrick [R]
Rhode Island Yea RI Reed, John [D] Yea RI Whitehouse, Sheldon [D]
South Carolina Nay SC DeMint, Jim [R] Nay SC Graham, Lindsey [R]
South Dakota Yea SD Johnson, Tim [D] Not Voting SD Thune, John [R]
Tennessee Yea TN Alexander, Lamar [R] Nay TN Corker, Bob [R]
Texas Yea TX Cornyn, John [R] Yea TX Hutchison, Kay [R]
Utah Nay UT Hatch, Orrin [R] Nay UT Lee, Mike [R]
Vermont Yea VT Leahy, Patrick [D] Yea VT Sanders, Bernard [I]
Virginia Yea VA Warner, Mark [D] Yea VA Webb, Jim [D]
Washington Yea WA Cantwell, Maria [D] Yea WA Murray, Patty [D]
West Virginia Yea WV Manchin, Joe [D] Yea WV Rockefeller, John [D]
Wisconsin Nay WI Johnson, Ron [R] Yea WI Kohl, Herbert [D]
Wyoming Nay WY Barrasso, John [R] Nay WY Enzi, Michael [R]
-----Please forward this message as widely as possible. The more allies ALRA is able gather the better to help save Rural America and landowners from massive land acquisition. Chuck Cushman Look Chuck Cushman and American Land Rights up on Google by typing in the following search terms: Chuck Cushman, Charles Cushman, Charles S. Cushman, American Land Rights Association, National Inholders Association and League of Private Property Voters. Go to www.landrights.com for more information. Social Networking Update: The American Land Rights Association has a Page on Facebook. Please be sure to hit the Like button. Also Executive Director Chuck Cushman is on Facebook.com. You can also find American Land Rights Association and Chuck Cushman on LinkedIn.com. We are especially active on LinkedIn.com so send an invitation to connect and join up. American Land Rights is on Twitter as AmLandrights. Chuck Cushman is also on Twitter under ccushman98604 &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Sent: Friday, March 09, 2012 6:54 AM To: Charles Cushman Subtitle G--Land and Water Conservation Fund SEC. 1701. LAND AND WATER CONSERVATION FUND. (a) Authorization.--Section 2 of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l 5) is amended-- (1) in the matter preceding subsection (a), by striking ``September 30, 2015'' and inserting ``September 30, 2022''; and (2) in subsection (c)(1), by striking ``through September 30, 2015'' and inserting ``September 30, 2022''. (b) Funding.--Section 3 of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l-6) is amended to read as follows: ``SEC. 3. AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS. ``(a) Funding.-- ``(1) FISCAL YEARS 2013 AND 2014.--For each of fiscal years 2013 and 2014-- ``(A) $700,000,000 of amounts covered into the fund under section 2 shall be available for expenditure, without further appropriation or fiscal year limitation, to carry out the purposes of this Act; and ``(B) the remainder of amounts covered into the fund shall be available subject to appropriations, which may be made without fiscal year limitation. ``(2) FISCAL YEARS 2015 THROUGH 2022.--For each of fiscal years 2015 through 2022, amounts covered into the fund under section 2 shall be available for expenditure to carry out the purposes of this Act subject to appropriations, which may be made without fiscal year limitation. ``(b) Uses.--Amounts made available for obligation or expenditure from the fund may be obligated or expended only as provided in this Act. ``(c) Willing Sellers.--In using amounts made available under subsection (a)(1)(A), the Secretary shall only acquire land or interests in land by purchase, exchange, or donation from a willing seller. ``(d) Additional Amounts.--Amounts made available under subsection (a)(1)(A) shall be in addition to amounts made available to the fund under section 105 of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 (43 U.S.C. 1331 note; Public Law 109 432). ``(e) Allocation Authority.--Appropriation Acts may provide for the allocation of amounts covered into the fund under section 2.''. (c) Allocation of Funds.--Section 5 of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l 7) is amended-- (1) in the first sentence, by inserting ``or expenditures'' after ``appropriations''; (2) in the second sentence-- (A) by inserting ``or expenditures'' after ``appropriations''; and (B) by inserting before the period at the end the following: ``, including the amounts to be allocated from the fund for Federal and State purposes''; and (3) by striking ``Those appropriations from'' and all that follows through the end of the section. (d) Conforming Amendments.--Section 6(b) of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l 8(b)) is amended-- (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by inserting ``or expended'' after ``appropriated''; (2) in paragraph (1)-- (A) by inserting ``or expenditures'' after ``appropriations''; and (B) by striking ``; and'' and inserting a period; and (3) in the first sentence of paragraph (2), by inserting ``or expenditure'' after ``appropriation''. (e) Public Access.--Section 7 of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 460l-9) is amended-- (1) in subsection (a)-- (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by inserting ``or expended'' after ``appropriated''; and (B) in paragraph (3), by inserting ``or expenditures'' after ``such appropriations''; (2) in subsection (b)-- (A) in the first sentence, by inserting ``or expenditures'' after ``Appropriations''; and (B) in the proviso, by inserting ``or expenditures'' after ``appropriations''; (3) in the first sentence of subsection (c)(1)-- (A) by inserting ``or expended'' after ``appropriated''; and (B) by inserting ``or expenditures'' after ``appropriations''; and (4) by adding at the end the following: ``(d) Public Access.--Not less than 1.5 percent of the annual authorized funding amount shall be made available each year for projects that secure recreational public access to existing Federal public land for hunting, fishing, and other recreational purposes.''.
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