Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Committee Moves 45 Bills, 2 Nominees

Over the last 5 days, information about bills to protect the Wyoming Range, Snake River, deal with the Owyhee Country, etc. have been dribbling out.

May 7 was a big day for this kind of legislation in the U.S. Senate Committee. A lot of it was minor, but not all. I don’t just mean the bills posted about here either.

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So here is a summary of all the activity on that day.

Contact: David Marks
Phone: 202-224-8046

Committee Moves 45 Bills, 2 Nominees

May 7th, 2008

In a mark up today, Senate Energy Committee reported 45 public lands, forests, parks and water bills. Of those, 31 had amendments which were adopted en bloc after being worked out and cleared by staff on both sides. The committee also reported the nominations of Jeffrey Kupfer to be Deputy Secretary of Energy and Kameran Onley to be an Assistant Secretary of the Interior.

S. 27 – To authorize the implementation of the San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement.
S. 570 – To designate additional National Forest System lands in the State of Virginia as wilderness or a wilderness study area, to designate the Kimberling Creek Potential Wilderness Area for eventual incorporation in the Kimberling Creek Wilderness, to establish the Seng Mountain and Bear Creek Scenic Areas, to provide for the development of trail plans for the wilderness areas and scenic areas, and for other purposes.

S. 617 – To make the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass available at a discount to certain veterans.

S. 662 – To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study to evaluate resources at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Brunswick, Maine, to determine the suitability and feasibility of establishing the site as a unit of the National Park System, and for other purposes.

S. 783 – To adjust the boundary of the Barataria Preserve Unit of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in the State of Louisiana, and for other purposes.

S. 827 – To establish the Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area in the States of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and for other purposes.

S. 832 – To provide for the sale of approximately 25 acres of public land to the Turnabout Ranch, Escalante, Utah, at fair market value.

S. 868 – To amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate segments of the Taunton River in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

S. 900 – To authorize the Boy Scouts of America to exchange certain land in the State of Utah acquired under the Recreation and Public Purposes Act.

S. 1171 – To amend the Colorado River Storage Protect Act and Public Law 87-483 to authorize the construction and rehabilitation of water infrastructure in Northwestern New Mexico, to authorize the use of the reclamation fund to fund the Reclamation Water Settlements Fund, to authorize the conveyance of certain Reclamation land and infrastructure, to authorize the Commissioner of Reclamation to provide for the delivery of water, and or other purposes.

S. 1281 – To amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate certain rivers and streams of the headwaters of the Snake River System as additions to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

S. 1380 – To designate as wilderness certain land within the Rocky Mountain National Park and to adjust the boundaries of the Indian Peaks Wilderness and the Arapaho National Recreation Area of the Arapaho National Forest in the State of Colorado.

S. 1633 – To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study to determine the suitability and feasibility of including the battlefield and related sites of the Battle of Shepherdstown in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, as part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park or Antietam National Battlefield, and for other purposes.

S. 1929 – To authorize the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Commissioner of Reclamation, to conduct a feasibility study of water augmentation alternatives in the Sierra Vista Subwatershed.

S. 2124 – To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey certain land in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, Montana, to Jefferson County, Montana, for use as a cemetery.

S. 2207 – To direct the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of designating Green McAdoo School in Clinton, Tennessee as a unit of the National Park System, and for other purposes.

S. 2229 – To withdraw certain Federal land in the Wyoming Range from leasing and provide an opportunity to require certain leases in the Wyoming Range.

S. 2254 – To establish the Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area in the State of Mississippi, and for other purposes.

S. 2262 – To authorize the Preserve America Program and Save America’s Treasures Program, and for other purposes.

S. 2370 – To clear title to certain real property in New Mexico associated with the Middle Rio Grande Project, and for other purposes.

S. 2379 – To authorize the Secretary of Interior to cancel certain grazing leases on land in Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument that are voluntarily waived by the lessees, to provide for the exchange of certain Monument land in exchange for private land, to designate certain Monument land as wilderness, and for other purposes.

S. 2512 – To establish the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area in the State of Mississippi, and for other purposes.

S. 2513 – To modify the boundary of the Minute Man National Historical Park, and for other purposes.

S. 2593 – To establish a program at the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior to carry out collaborative ecological restoration treatments for priority forest landscapes on public land, and for other purposes.

S. 2604 – To establish the Baltimore National Heritage Area in the State of Maryland, and for other purposes.

S. 2804 – To adjust the boundary of the Everglades National Park, and for other purposes.

S. 2814 – To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide financial assistance to the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water Authority for the planning, design, and construction of the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System, and for other purposes.

S. 2833 – To provide for the management of certain public land in Owyhee County, Idaho, and for other purposes.

H.R. 123 – To authorize appropriations for the San Gabriel Basin Restoration Fund.

H.R. 189 – To establish the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park in the State of New Jersey and for other purposes.

H.R. 356 – To remove certain restrictions on the Mammoth Community Water District’s ability to use certain property acquired by that District from the United States.

H.R. 523 – To require the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain public land located wholly or partially within the boundaries of the Wells Hydroelectric Project of Public Utility District No. 1 of Douglas County, Washington, to the utility district.

H.R. 1285 – To provide for the conveyance of a parcel of National Forest System land in Kittitas County, Washington, to facilitate the construction of a new fire and rescue station, and for other purposes.

H.R. 1311 – To provide for the conveyance of the Alta-Hualapai Site to the Nevada Cancer Institute, and for other purposes.

H.R. 1483 – To amend the Onmibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996 to extend the authorization for certain national heritage areas, and for other purposes.

H.R. 1528 – To amend the National Trails System Act to designate the New England National Scenic Trail, and for other purposes.

H.R. 1725 – To amend the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to participate in the Rancho California Water District Southern Riverside County Recycle/Non-Potable Distribution Facilities and Demineralization/Desalination Recycled Water Treatment Facility Project.

H.R. 1855 – To authorize the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Reclamation to enter into a cooperative agreement with the Madera Irrigation District for purposes of supporting the Madera Water Supply Enhancement Project.

H.R. 2085 – To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey to the McGee Creek Authority certain facilities of the McGee Creek Project, Oklahoma , and for other purposes.

H.R. 2197 – To modify the boundary of the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in the State of Ohio, and for other purposes.

H.R. 2515 – To authorize appropriations for the Bureau of Reclamation to carry out the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program in the States of Arizona, California, and Nevada, and for other purposes.

H.R. 2627 – To establish the Thomas Edison National Historical Park in the State of New Jersey as the successor to the Edison National Historic Site.

H.R. 3332 – To provide for the establishment of a memorial within Kalaupapa National Historical Park located on the island of Molokai, in the State of Hawaii, to honor and perpetuate the memory of those individuals who were forcibly relocated to the Kalaupapa Peninsula from 1866 to 1969, and for other purposes.

H.R. 3998 – To establish a National Commission on the Infrastructure of the United States.

H.R. 5151 – To designate as wilderness additional National Forest System Lands in the Monongahela National Forest in the State of West Virginia, and for other purposes.

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Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan’s Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of “Hiking Idaho.” He also wrote “Beyond the Tetons” and “Backpacking Wyoming’s Teton and Washakie Wilderness.” He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.

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