Proposal seeks to ban oil, gas drilling in monument
Copyright 2001 Scripps Howard News Service
June 21, 2001
By LES BLUMENTHAL
WASHINGTON - Oil and gas development in national monuments like the Hanford Reach would be barred under an amendment adopted by the House on Thursday.
The provision was attached to a $19 billion spending bill, which includes funding for the Department of Interior, the U.S. Forest Service, energy conservation programs and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The bill would provide an additional $95 million for projects, programs and land acquisition in Washington state, including $26 million to continue moving two dams on the Olympic Peninsula's Elwha River and restoring what was once one of the most abundant salmon runs in the region.
In a report earlier this spring, the U.S. Geological Survey said there could be significant quantities of natural gas beneath the Hanford Reach. The state has also reported higher interest in the Columbia Basin by drilling companies.
The 195,000-acre Hanford Reach National Monument was one of 21 national monuments created by the Clinton administration. The Reach includes the last free-flowing stretch of the Columbia River in the United States and provides spawning grounds for one of the largest salmon runs on the Columbia Basin.
The Bush administration, however, has raised the possibility of opening the monuments to energy development, including mining, oil and gas.
The amendment, adopted on a 242-173 vote, specifically prohibits funding for new energy leasing in the national monuments.
All three Republican House members from Washington state, Reps. Jennifer Dunn, Richard "Doc" Hastings and George Nethercutt, voted against the amendment. The state's six Democratic House members supported the amendment.
"Clearly these monuments are under threat," said Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W. Va., who offered the amendment. "Are we really that desperate (for energy) that we will allow coal mining or oil drilling in these monuments?"
Opponents, led by Western Republicans, said that with the nation facing a growing energy shortage, it made no sense to ban mining or drilling in the new monuments.
"This amendment is ill-advised, unnecessary and silly," said Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho.
Other Republicans charged that Clinton had misused the 95-year-old Antiquities Act when he established the new monuments.
"It is no more than an attempt by the Democrats to legitimize the action taken by President Clinton without public input and in the dead of night," said Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter, R-Idaho. "Eliminating options for this country's energy resources is not acceptable."
Democrats countered they were just trying to preserve the nation's "heritage and culture" for future generations.
"Ninety-five percent of our federal lands are already open to oil and gas exploration," said Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis. "We should be focusing on that, rather than the other 5 percent."
(Les Blumenthal is a Washington reporter for Scripps-McClatchy Western Service.)