Good News: House of Representatives Passes New Funding to Support Key Environmental Agencies!

The League of Conservation Voters sent a letter last month (download-able below) to the House of Representatives, outlining key environmental amendments included in HR 2643, “The Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill”.  This legislation, which ultimately passed the House, provides critical funding to the Interior Department in next year’s federal government funding cycle.

Unfortunately, Montana’s representative, Dennis Rehberg, voted against these sound environmental amendments.  He did vote for passage of the final appropriations bill, which included a House declaration recognizing the “reality” of global climate change (though he did vote against the amendment to include the declaration in the bill). 

First, read below for a synopsis of where Representative Rehberg took many a wrong turn on the environment:

As explained to Congress by the League of Conservation Voters, during the last several years, many important public health and environment programs within the Department of Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency have suffered significant funding cuts.  HR 2643 was an effort to restore important funding to these programs. 

The bill increased funding for the Environmental Protection Agency by $900 million, providing needed funds for programs ranging from clean water infrastructure to clean air protections and scientific research.  The legislation also made crucial investments in public lands protection, providing more than $450 million for the National Wildlife Refuge System and $2.5 billion for the National Park Service. 
Finally, the bill established a scientific commission to address the challenges of, and solutions to, global warming. 

Some of the key pro-environment amendments supported by LCV and many other conservation and environmental groups are listed below, in addition to information on how Representative Rehberg voted on the measures:

• The Andrews (D-NJ) Chabot (R-OH) Amendment to End Taxpayer Subsidies of Logging Roads in the Tongass National Forest: Taxpayer subsidized logging in the Tongass has cost taxpayers more than one billion dollars since 1982.  This amendment, which passed the House in 2004 and 2006, prevents the Forest Service from spending taxpayer dollars on logging roads in one of America’s most pristine and largest rainforests.  This amendment passed in the final legislation.  Rehberg voted against the it.
• The Udall (D-CO) Oil Shale Amendment to Protect the Intermountain West and Require Careful Study of Commercial Oil Shale Development: This amendment prohibits the Department of Interior from expediting commercial oil shale leasing throughout the Intermountain West.  The amendment ensures a more measured approach that affords the time and research to fully assess the impacts of oil shale development on air, water, and wildlife.  This amendment passed in the final bill.  Rehberg voted against it.
• The Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) Amendment to Prevent the Environmental Protection Agency From Allowing an Increase in Toxic Air Pollution: This amendment prohibits the Environmental Protection Agency from expending funds on a proposed rulemaking to weaken the Clean Air Act rules covering toxic air pollution from industrial facilities.  This amendment passed in the final bill.  Rehberg voted against it.
• The Peterson (R-PA) Amendment to End the Moratorium on Drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf:  This amendment threatens pristine coastlines that have been protected with broad, bipartisan support for more than twenty-five years, by lifting the longstanding ban on oil drilling in critical coastal habitat.  This anti-environment amendment failed in the final bill.  Rehberg voted in support of ending the moratorium and against the conservation position.

Contact Congressman Rehberg and ask him to explain his failure to support common-sense conservation measures!

For a full list of the other environmental amendments that were included in HR 2643 - and to learn how Representative Rehberg and other members of Congress voted on them - visit www.lcv.org