Land and Water Conservation Fund: Congress finally passed an omnibus federal budget for 1999 with $325 million dollars for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). This provided more funds than the administration, the House or the Senate had originally proposed. However no funds were set aside for the program that provides matching grants to states for recreation and open space protection. $325 million is far less than $900 million which was promised to the American people when Congress allowed oil and gas companies to drill off the coast. Now, the Clinton Administration is in the final weeks of preparing their proposed budget for fiscal year 2000. While many in the Administration strongly support full funding for the LWCF, Historic Preservation Fund and the Urban Parks and Recreation Recovery program, the President and Vice President have not yet come through with a bold proposal. If the administration makes LWCF a top priority, it is more likely that Congress will do the same. The Vice President needs to hear from citizens now. Call Vice President Gore at 202-456-2326 or contact Bruce Babbitt, Secretary, Department of the Interior, 1849 C St. NW, Washington DC, 20240. Ask for full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund for 2000 and remind both men of the importance of providing funds to states for local and state projects.

Forest Legacy: After several years of receiving barely enough funds to keep this program alive, Congress appropriated $7 million to the Forest Legacy program in 1999. This program is of critical importance because productive, privately owned forests provide a growing percentage of the nation’s timber needs, while at the same time, the USDA reports that the country loses over 550,000 acres of productive forests each year to fragmentation and development. The Forest Legacy Program, if adequately funded, could ensure that our nation’s privately owned forests continue to support rural forest-based economies and a healthy environment. Ask your congressional representatives to appropriate $50 million for Forest Legacy. For more information, contact Eric Antebi 617-523-0655 ext. 353.

Air Quality:

Telecommunications Towers in National Parks: Efforts are afoot in Congress to pass legislation that would allow telecommunications towers (and the infrastructure to build and maintain them) within National Parks, wilderness areas and Wildlife Refuges. These proposals would make it impossible for park managers to prohibit the towers from being built within the parks, even in a designated wilderness area. Alternatives to the towers, such as satellite technology, exist and will soon become even more effective. Remind your Representative and Senators that National Parks and wilderness areas should be kept free of new telecommunications towers, by calling the Capitol Toll Free number: 800-522-6721.

Regional News:

Land Protection throughout the Region: During this month’s election, some significant initiatives to protect land throughout the northeast were overwhelming passed. In Rhode Island, over 65% of voters approved a bond for the acquisition of greenways. On Cape Cod, every town in Barnstable County voted to raise their property taxes to pay for land conservation on Cape Cod. Voters in New York’s Suffolk County approved a $62 million bond issue to buy open space. In New Jersey, voters approved by a two-to-one margin the dedication of sales tax revenue to provide $1.8 billion to help meet Governor Christine Todd Whitman’s goal of protecting one million acres of open space over the next decade.

Land Sales in Maine: Large land sales continue in Maine. Last month, the South African Pulp and Paper International closed a sale of 911,000 acres to Seattle based Plum Creek. One million acres of land owned by Bowater were sold to J. D. Irving and another 350,000 acres of Bowater’s land were sold to Macdonald Investment. 650,000 acres of Bowater lands around the Millinocket area are still for sale and another 180,000 acres of land owned by International Paper in the headwaters of the St. Johns River are also for sale. The state has yet to come up with an effective plan to protect the key recreational and scenic areas that are threatened by these large land sales. Ask Governor King to propose hundred million dollars for an open space bond bill by writing to Governor Angus King, State House, Station One, Augusta, ME 04333, or by calling 207-287-3531.

What you can do today: Call your Representative and Senators via the Capitol switchboard, 202-224-3121. Ask them to sign onto the letter to President Clinton supporting the Land and Water Conservation Fund. If they agree, their staff can contact Corrine Young in Congressman Delahunt’s office (202) 225-3111. Signatures need to be in by December 11^th.

Air Quality: Under the Clean Air Act, states are responsible for implementing measures to clean up the air in the most severely affected areas of their states by 1999. However, many states have found that single state plans can not adequately address smog that blows in from other states. To solve this problem, EPA and 38 states, mostly them from east of the Mississippi River, convened the Ozone Transport Assessment Group ("OTAG"), made up of state regulators, industry and public interests. By 1997, the group reached some agreement—by most stakeholders—on deep reductions in Nitrogen Oxide. The EPA developed and finalized a rule that requires 22 states plus DC to cap emissions at 28% lower levels. This is a big step for EPA and for clean air, although future, deeper reductions in NOx emissions will be needed in most areas. The rule has been challenged in the courts by Midwest’s utility industry group called the Midwest Ozone Group ("MOG"). AMC, together with other national and state groups, has filed as an intervenor in court to support EPA’s rule.