By a vote of 377-46 on Wednesday, July 17, 2002, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5093, the FY03 Appropriations for the Department of Interior and Related Agencies. During floor consideration, an amendment was adopted to prohibit the Department of Interior from issuing drilling permits for 36 sites off the coast of Santa Barbara, CA. The Committee report accompanying the bill is H.Rpt. 107-564. The $19.8 billion bill is $546 million above the FY02 enacted level, and about $717 million over the President's request.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

California Desert Conservation Plan

The Committee report states: "The Committee is aware that the BLM is completing the regional plan amendments to the California Desert Conservation Plan required by a lawsuit settlement involving the Endangered Species Act. These plans, to be completed in fiscal year 2003, will require increased funding to implement and to avoid further litigation risk. Therefore, the Committee strongly advises the Department and the Bureau to fund this plan in the 2004 budget."

Transportation and Facilities Maintenance.

The Committee recommends $84,278,000 for transportation and facilities maintenance, $6,320,000 above the budget request and $6,411,000 above the 2002 enacted level including increases above the 2002 level of $100,000 for the Pacific Crest Trail, and $1,000,000 for California desert communications. The report states: "the Committee recognizes the significance of the national scenic and historic trails administered by the Bureau, and has provided an additional

$100,000 for maintenance of sections of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail in California and Oregon."

The Committee recommends $105,633,000 for the Oregon and California grant lands, the same as the budget request and $468,000 above the 2002 enacted level, including an increase from the 2002 level of $1,068,000 for fixed costs and a decrease of $600,000 for travel. These funds are provided for construction and acquisition, operation and maintenance, and management activities on the revested lands in the 18 Oregon and California land grant counties of western Oregon.

Wildland Fire Management

The Committee recommends $655,332,000 for wildland fire management; $1,578,000 above the budget request and $23,089,000 below the 2002 enacted level. Within the funds provided for wildland fire the Committee has included $152,000 to reimburse Trinity County, CA for expenses incurred in the 1999 Lowden Fire. The Committee directs that the native plant restoration program and funding should be maintained at the fiscal year 2002 level.

Land Acquisition

The Committee recommends $49,286,000 for land acquisition, an increase of $4,600,000 above the request and $634,000 below the enacted level. Included in that funding are the following:

Black Forest Lake (CA) 650,000

Carrizo Plain National Monument (CA) 4,350,000

Cosumnes River Watershed (CA) 2,500,000

El Dorado Preserve (CA) 3,600,000

King Range National Conservation Area (CA) 2,000,000

Otay Mountains (CA) 500,000

Patterson Bend (CA) 1,000,000

Potrero Creek (CA) 3,000,000

Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument (CA) 1,000,000

(The money for the Consumnes River Watershed is restricted to conservation easements.)

U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

Salton Sea

A total of $998,000, the budget request, is recommended to continue the Salton Sea recovery program, contingent on matching funds from the State of California. The report states: "The Committee does not object to including this program in the regular operations account in fiscal year 2004 and beyond."

- $1,000,000 - For water supply and management in the Klamath Basin NWR complex in California;

- $200,000 - For seismic safety rehabilitation of shop building in the Sonny Bono Salton Sea NWR, CA.

Land Acquisition

San Diego NWR (CA) 2,000,000

San Joaquin River NWR (CA) 2,500,000

Historic Preservation Fund

Death Valley NP, CA (rehabilitation) .................................................. 2,007,000

Death Valley NP, CA (Scotty’s Castle) ................................................ 547,000

Golden Gate NRA, CA (Alcatraz barracks) ......................................... 1,210,000

Golden Gate NRA, CA (building 640) .................................................. 600,000

Golden Gate NRA, CA (Cliff House) ....................................................1,914,000

Land Acquisition and State Assistance

Golden Gate NRA (Picardo Ranch) (CA) 2,500,000

Pinnacles National Monument (CA) 1,000,000

Point Reyes National Seashore (CA) 1,500,000

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (CA) 2,500,000

Joint Ventures

The Committee provides $471,000 for the Central Valley Joint Venture Habitat Program.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

The Committee recommends $252,000,000 for forest and range-land research, $9,202,000 above the budget request and $10,696,000 above the 2002 funding level. Included in this amount is a $500,000 increase for research on sudden oak death in the west. The Committee also provides full funding at the 2002 level for previously designated Congressional priorities including urban forestry at Syracuse, NY and Davis, CA.

Economic Action Programs

The Committee recommends $19,890,000 for economic action programs, $15,790,000 below the 2002 level and $19,890,000 above the request. Included in the funding is $2,000,000 for Lake Tahoe erosion control grants.

Capital Improvement And Maintenance

The Committee recommends $572,731,000 for capital improvement and maintenance, $26,543,000 above the FY02 enacted level and $20,643,000 above the request, including funding for the following:

Angeles NF, Rubio Canyon rehabilitation, CA 1,000,000

Big Bear center, CA 550,000

San Bernardino NF dogwood campground rehab, CA 1,500,000

Stanislaus NF Emigrant impoundments rehab, CA 80,000

Language is also included under the Forest Service Administrative provisions to allow for payments to Del Norte County, CA.

Land Acquisition

Los Padres NF: Big Sur Ecosystem (CA) 3,000,000

San Bernardino NF (CA) 3,500,000

Recreation, Heritage, and Wilderness

The Committee recommends $254,444,000 for recreation heritage and wilderness, $2,000,000 above the request and $8,944,000 above the 2002 level. The Committee report states: "funding for those parts of the Appalachian, North Country and Ice Age National Scenic Trails and the Lewis & Clark, Santa Fe, Anza, Iditarod, Oregon, California, Mormon pioneer, Pony Express, Over-mountain Victory and Trail of Tears National Historic trails managed

by the Forest Service should be funded $400,000 above the President’s request."

The Committee recommendation includes the full funding requested by the Administration for the Quincy Library Group project in California.

Vegetation and watershed management - The Committee recommends $192,244,000 for vegetation and watershed management, $1,600,000 above the budget request and $2,131,000 above the 2002 funding level. The increase above the request includes $600,000 for watershed improvement activities in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Inventory and Monitoring - The Committee recommends $175,306,000 for inventory and monitoring, $1,000,000 below the request, and an increase of $1,990,000 above the 2002 level. Within the allocation the Committee has included increases of $500,000 for the Lake Tahoe basin for "Watershed assessments and adaptive management activities to develop long- term, scientifically valid management for these ultra-oligotrophic watersheds."

Land Acquisition - The Committee recommends $146,336,000 for land acquisition, an increase of $15,826,000 above the request and $3,406,000 below the enacted level. Included in this funding is $3.25 million for land acquisition in the Tahoe National Forest, North Fork American River.

The Committee report states: "the Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves are managed by the Department of Energy to achieve the greatest value and benefit to the Government. In fiscal year 1998, NPR–1 (Elk Hills) was sold as mandated by the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 1996. That Act also directed the Department to conduct a study of the remaining properties—3 Naval Oil Shale Reserves and NPR–2 and NPR–3. The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 1998 directed the transfer of two of the oil shale reserves (NOSR–1 and NOSR–3) to the Department of the Interior. On January 14, 2000, the Department announced it would return a portion of the NOSR–2 property in Utah to the Ute Indian Tribe. Two properties remain under the jurisdiction of the Department of Energy. They are NPR–2 in Kern County, CA and NPR–3 in Natrona County, WY. The DOE continues to be responsible for routine operation and maintenance of NPR–3, management of the Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center at NPR–3, lease management at NPR–2, and continuing environmental and remediation work at Elk Hills. For several years after the sale of Elk Hills, these programs were operated largely with prior year unobligated balances. Those balances were mostly exhausted by fiscal year 2002 and appropriations to the account were restored in that year. The bill provides $20,831,000 for this program, as opposed to the $17,371,000

The Committee recommends $36,000,000 for the Elk Hills school lands fund, which is equal to amount available for fiscal year 2002. The Committee recommends that these funds be made available on October 1, 2003, rather than on October 1, 2002 as proposed in the budget. The report states: "The Committee’s recommendation is consistent with the payment of these funds in each of the past few years. This represents the fifth of seven payments to the fund, which was established as a part of the sale of the Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve in California (to settle school lands claims by the State)."

The Committee recommends $21,327,000 for the Presidio Trust, the same as the budget request and $1,798,000 below the enacted level. The report states: "In the four years that it has managed the Presidio, the Trust has made significant progress in achieving the key goals outlined in the Trust’s authorizing legislation: preserving natural resources, restoring historic buildings, improving recreational facilities, upgrading park infrastructure, and making the park financially self-sustaining by 2013. At this juncture in the Trust’s organizational evolution, the Committee directs the Trust to contract with the National Academy of Public Administration. The scope of work should focus on finance and business management practices, including financial assumptions and projections; a review of major capital construction projects; and the management and use of government loan authorities."

The House bill restores the $45 million cut from the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program in the President’s request and adds an additional $20 million, for a total of $230 million in FY03 funding. PILT provides for payments to local units of government containing certain federally owned lands. These payments are designed to supplement other Federal land receipt sharing payments that local governments may be receiving. Payments received may be used by the recipients for any governmental purpose.

Language is included under General provisions, Department of the Interior, restricting various oil and gas preleasing, leasing, exploration and drilling activities within the Outer Continental Shelf in the Georges Bank-North Atlantic planning area, Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic planning area, Eastern Gulf of Mexico planning area, North Aleutian Basin planning area, Northern, Southern and Central California planning areas, and Washington/Oregon planning area.

During floor consideration of the bill, an amendment was adopted prohibiting the Department of the Interior from spending money to issue permits allowing drilling on 36 pre-leased drilling sites off the Santa Barbara coast. The amendment, authored by Rep. Lois Capps and supported by 42 members of the California congressional delegation, was adopted by a vote of 252-172.

Return to California Institute Home Page