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2007 Legislative Update
We would like to update you briefly on some of the major end of the year legislative events. A number of these are benchmark events on which TU, and many of you, have invested considerable time and energy. As ever here in Washington, DC, some have turned out well, and some have not.
Energy Bill: A major disappointment for our efforts to restore some balance on the overheated pace of oil and gas development on federal lands. Good provisions were dropped from the final version of the Energy Bill which passed and was signed into law on December 19, and thus there is nothing in the Energy Bill that will help improve regulation of oil and gas development on public lands. We will try again to get good legislation next year. Many thanks to Bill Schudlich (NM TU), Ken Neubecker (CO TU), and all others who have come to Congress to lobby and have given much of themselves on this issue. To paraphrase General MacArthur: we will return on this issue. For more, read the press release (HTML - PDF - Word).
Farm Bill: Good news here. At long last, the Senate broke a stalemate and passed its version of the Farm Bill on December 14th. The Senate bill has a number of the key items we were seeking, although several of them are not as strong as the House's version of the bill. The House bill also has somewhat more conservation funding it its bill. The important thing is that House/Senate Conference to reconcile the two bills will occur in January, and if all goes well, a new Farm Bill will be passed into law in February, and provisions and funding in the new bill should start providing us with new conservation opportunities in 2008. Many thanks to Dan Wisniewski (WI TU), the NLC's Farm Bill workgroup, and many many of you who have helped lobby for the Farm Bill over the past two years. For more, read the press release (HTML - PDF - Word).
1872 Mining Law Reform: This old law, which gives hardrock mining dominance over all other uses of our federal lands, is undergoing a strong Congressional review and overhaul process. The House passed a good reform bill in November, and the Senate is holding hearings in preparation for drafting its own bill. If all goes well, the Senate will approve its version early in the year, a House/Senate Conference will reconcile their bills, and the President will sign the first significant overhaul of the legislation in 130 years. Many thanks to all of you, especially you TU westerners, who have worked hard on this issue. We'll have a lot of work to do in the coming year to make it happen. For more, read the press release (HTML - PDF - Word).
Climate Change Bill: Good news. On the day that TU released its climate change impacts report, December 5, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved a good climate change bill that we support, S. 2191, The Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act. It is a good bill, and certainly one of the most far-reaching conservation bills ever passed by a committee in Congress. This joint press release, from TU, NWF, AFWA, TNC and Defenders of Wildlife describes the bill and lauds its passage. It will come to the Senate floor in 2008 and we'll need to do a good bit of work in the early part of the year to aid its passage.
To help now, please send the group sign on letter (HTML - PDF - Word), authored and organized by NWF. I urge you to work with NWF on the letter and sign on as councils, and help get the chapters on board as well. The growing partnership that we have with NWF and the other groups on this most difficult issue is a very productive occurrence. Thanks to MN TU volunteers and others who have advocated in Congress already, to those who signed on to the letter already, and to the MT TU council who helped get Senator Baucus to support the bill, a key vote that enabled the bill to pass.
We look forward to working with you in 2008.
Regards,
Steve and Sara