According to the American Land Rights Association (ALRA), a hearing to be held before the Senate Subcommittee on National Parks (click here or members) this Wednesday is a solid indicator that another Omnibus Federal Lands Bill could be in the works.
Chuck Cushman, Founder and Executive Director of the ALRA, told us why they believe this is the case on Friday.The ALRA has listed the following concerns:
1. Some of the bills, particularly those that create new National Parks or Wildernesses, should have the benefit of a hearing with more witnesses than one person from the Administration.
2. Outside witnesses who live near or represent the affected areas should be sought and allowed to testify.
3. Bundling 21 bills into the same hearing does not give Senators and their Legislative Assistants adequate time to prepare and will not allow Senators adequate time to ask questions.
4. With a hearing date of Wednesday, May 11th, people who live in the West may not be able to schedule flights to get to the hearing in time even if they are allowed to testify. And the cost of getting to Washington DC on short notice is prohibitive. The Committee is not allowing enough time and notice.
5. Some of these bills had a quickie hearing in the last Congress. Many of them had hearings and mark-up that was boycotted by the Republicans. There is no excuse to ram through bills is this manner.
The purpose of Wednesday’s hearing is to receive testimony on the following bills:
S. 114, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to enter into a cooperative agreement for a park headquarters at San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, to expand the boundary of the Park, to conduct a study of potential land acquisitions, and for other purposes;
S. 127, to establish the Buffalo Bayou National Heritage Area in the State of Texas, and for other purposes;
S. 140, to designate as wilderness certain land and inland water within the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in the State of Michigan, and for other purposes;
S. 161, to establish Pinnacles National Park in the State of California as a unit of the National Park System, and for other purposes;
S. 177, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to acquire the Gold Hill Ranch in Coloma, California;
S. 247, to establish the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in Auburn, New York, and the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park in Caroline, Dorchester, and Talbot Counties, Maryland, and for other purposes;
S. 279, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to carry out a study to determine the suitability and feasibility of establishing Camp Hale as a unit of the National Park System;
S. 302, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to issue right-of-way permits for a natural gas transmission pipeline in nonwilderness areas within the boundary of Denali National Park, and for other purposes;
S. 313, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to issue permits for a microhydro project in nonwilderness areas within the boundaries of Denali National Park and Preserve, to acquire land for Denali National Park and Preserve from Doyon Tourism, Inc., and for other purposes;
S. 323, to establish the First State National Historical Park in the State of Delaware, and for other purposes;
S. 403, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate segments of the Molalla River in the State of Oregon, as components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, and for other purposes;
S. 404, to modify a land grant patent issued by the Secretary of the Interior;
S. 508, to establish the Chimney Rock National Monument in the State of Colorado;
S. 535, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to lease certain lands within Fort Pulaski National Monument, and for other purposes;
S. 564, to designate the Valles Caldera National Preserve as a unit of the National Park System, and for other purposes;
S. 599, to establish a commission to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War;
S. 713, to modify the boundary of Petersburg National Battlefield in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and for other purposes;
S. 765, to modify the boundary of the Oregon Caves National Monument, and for other purposes;
S. 779, to authorize the acquisition and protection of nationally significant battlefields and associated sites of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 under the American Battlefield Protection Program;
S. 849, to establish the Waco Mammoth National Monument in the State of Texas, and for other purposes; and
S. 858, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study to determine the suitability and feasibility of designating the Colonel Charles Young Home in Xenia, Ohio as a unit of the National Park System, and for other purposes.
Source: American Land Rights Association
Posted by Haylie Shipp
