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Washington Watch, 11/19/2009

FY 2010 Interior Appropriations Bill is Finalized

Full Funding Land and Water Bill Introduced

Senate Takes Action on Climate Change Legislation

Senator Jeff Bingaman Introduces Bill to Reauthorize the FLTFA

Extension of Conservation Tax Incentive Nears End of Year Deadline

Senate Approves Funding for CELCP in FY2010

FY 2010 Interior Appropriations Bill is Finalized

On October 29, Congress wrapped up the fiscal year 2010 Interior Environment and related agencies appropriations bill (HR 2996) that provides major increases for key land conservation programs. The President signed the bill into law the next day.

Here are some highlights from the bill:

• The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), received a boost in spending across-the-board. Funding for land acquisition of critical inholdings and other important lands through the federal portion of LWCF totals $265 million, compared with $152 million last year, and is the highest level of funding for the program since FY 2004. Each federal land management agency (Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Fish and Wildlife Service) received varying levels of increases over both last year's enacted levels and the President's budget proposal, highlighted by the US Forest Service allocation, which more than doubled over the President's budget.
• The stateside grant portion of LWCF also doubled from about $20 million last year to $40 million, the highest level of funding for that program since FY 2006.
• The Forest Legacy Program received $77 million, a $20 million increase over last year and the highest appropriated level in the history of this program.
• The North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant program received $47.6 million, an increase of slightly over $4 million from FY 2009.
• The Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund received $85 million, an almost $10 million increase over FY 2009 levels.
• State and Tribal Wildlife Grants received $90 million, $15 million above the enacted level in FY 2009.

Full Funding Land and Water Bill Introduced

On Friday, November 6, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mt., introduced a bill, which would fully and permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

The Land and Water Conservation Authorization and Funding Act of 2009 (S. 2747) would ensure that the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), the federal government's principal means of assisting in the preservation of outdoor recreation resources including parks, trails, and wildlife lands, would receive full funding at its congressionally authorized level of $900 million without further appropriation.

The legislation will revitalize the beleaguered program, which has been poorly funded and unable to address backlogged conservation and recreation needs at the state and federal level.

The Trust for Public Land is part of a coalition working to ensure more consistent funding for the program. Please check out the coalition's facebook page to see what is going on in the campaign to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Here are TPL's press releases praising the bill and Senators Bingaman and Baucus:

TPL Applauds Full Funding of Land and Water

Bingaman Introduces Landmark Land and Water Bill

Baucus Introduces Landmark Land and Water Bill

Senate Takes Action on Climate Change Legislation

On October 23, Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) released a version of their comprehensive climate change legislation (S. 1733), the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act). After introduction, the Senate Environment and Public Works committee, chaired by Sen. Boxer, held three consecutive days of hearings on the proposal. The bill was considered by the committee on November 5 and approved by vote of 10-1, making it ready for full Senate consideration at some point in the future.

The House has already passed climate change legislation titled the American Clean Energy Security (or ACES) Act (H.R. 2454). It was introduced by Congressmen Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Edward Markey (D-MA), approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee and then approved by a vote of 219-212 by the full House on June 26th. See Washington Watch, 7/15/09 for more information on the House bill.

Here are a few details from the Kerry-Boxer bill:

• Natural resource adaptation - The bill affirms the investment in adaptation programs established in the House-passed bill with little substantive change -- proposing 1% of allowances, escalating in out years to 4%, and keeping intact the basic structure of where that funding goes, thus ensuring a growing pot of funds for natural resource adaptation activities at the federal and state level. This includes specific funding for federal land acquisitions, the Forest Legacy Program, and other conservation related programs. Through 2030, the estimated average annual funding for the natural resources adaptation section of the bill would be about $1.5 billion.
• Forest Carbon Incentives - The Kerry-Boxer bill includes specific provisions to create economic incentives for forest and agriculture projects that sequester and store carbon. First, the draft establishes establish a federal offset market that will include a range of forest, farm, and grassland projects. Second, the draft establishes a new program to pay forest and agriculture landowners for additional carbon reduction and protection activities on their land, including conservation easements, that might not qualify for offset markets. To fund this supplemental incentives program, Kerry-Boxer provides 1% of allowances per year from 2012 through 2050--equivalent to approximately $500 million per year. Both the program language and the allowance allocation for supplemental incentives are significant improvements over the House bill, which had only vague placeholder language for a supplemental incentives program and a temporary allocation of .28% of allowances from 2012-2016.
• Smart growth/transportation - The Kerry-Boxer bill sets aside an average of 2.4 percent of allowances to help states and metropolitan areas reduce greenhouse gas emissions as they grow and change in the years to come. Half of the funds would support a competitive grants program for transportation projects and smart growth strategies that help reduce emissions and the planning needed to better account for and curb emissions. The other half would support the expansion of public transportation.

Following the introduction of the Kerry-Boxer bill, Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Max Baucus (D-MT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Tom Udall (D-UT) introduced new federal legislation (S. 1933) that reinforces the importance of protecting America's natural resources from the impact of climate change. The Natural Resources Climate Adaptation Act, introduced on October 27, provides a slightly revised blueprint for how adaptation funding would be directed to conserve and restore critical landscapes and the fish, wildlife and other natural systems they support. Most importantly, it reaffirms the same principles for natural resources adaptation established in the House bill and Kerry-Boxer bill.

A marker bill (S. 2729) was introduced to energize forest and agricultural carbon sequestration led by Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), along with Senators Max Baucus, (D-MT), Amy Klobuchar, (D-MN), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Mark Begich (D-AK), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Tom Harkin (D-IA) on November 4. This bill expands the role of forests in fighting climate change by increasing financial incentives for domestic carbon sequestration.

Key provisions of the Stabenow bill include:

• A strong role for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which houses the U.S. Forest Service, in the development and implementation of forest offset markets.
• Recognition of improved forest management projects, including appropriate crediting for harvested wood products. While tree planting is often viewed as the typical offset, the fact is that the most significant carbon gains in woodlands can be made by adjusting management of existing woodlands to improve their carbon storage capacity.
• Rewards for early adopters who participate in voluntary offset markets, such as the Chicago Climate Exchange, if the market standards meet federal standards.
• Flexible contracting tools for landowners to engage in offset markets. This could include allowing carbon contracts of varying lengths, as a way to significantly broaden participation.
• An allowance-funded Carbon Conservation Program, with forest provisions administered by the U.S. Forest Service, to provide a range of flexible incentives to encourage carbon reductions from woodland owners, farmers, and ranchers, including funding to pay for conservation easements. This will most notably benefit America's millions of small woodland owners-often holding parcels of 100 acres or less-who will be largely unable to participate in offset markets but who can still provide significant carbon sequestration and storage benefits on their lands.

Next Steps for Climate Legislation

Now that the climate bill has been approved by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, it will get continued attention from the five other committees with jurisdiction over the bill (Agriculture, Commerce, Energy and Natural Resources, Finance and Foreign Relations). This will include hearings, such as this week's hearing on forest adaptation and sequestration in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and possibly mark-up in committees such as Agriculture and Finance where many Senators have already expressed strong reservations with the bill as passed by the EPW Committee. Leadership has newly announced that this multi-committee consideration will continue at least into spring 2010, with a floor vote sometime thereafter.

Further, efforts by Senators Kerry, Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) to forge a compromise proposal will likely lead to yet another version of climate change legislation that aims to address key priorities for "fence sitting" Senators. This could help speed the long-term effort to create a bill that can gain broad enough support for passage. An initial proposal is expected from the three Senators in early December.

Stay tuned!

Senator Jeff Bingaman Introduces Bill to Reauthorize the FLTFA

Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico introduced legislation, S. 1787, on October 14 to reauthorize the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA). Senator Bingaman chairs the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, which has jurisdiction over this legislation. He was also one of the sponsors of the original bill in 2000 that established FLTFA.

Earlier this year, Congressman Martin Heinrich, also of New Mexico, introduced a bill (H.R. 3339) in the House of Representatives to reauthorize FLTFA, and a hearing on that bill is scheduled for November 17. The original legislation is set to expire in July, 2010, thus requiring reauthorization. Supporters of FLTFA are pushing for permanent reauthorization of the program. To date 49 conservation organizations have publicly voiced support for such legislation.

FLTFA is an important funding source that complements the Land and Water Conservation Fund. It helps protect natural lands that are significant for fish and wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation, historic preservation, and public access. It utilizes the principle of "land for land" by dedicating the revenues from federal land disposals to the conservation of inholdings and critical edge holdings of our national parks, refuges, forests and other designated federal land units.

More information on the FLTFA reauthorization effort is available here.

Extension of Conservation Tax Incentive Nears End of Year Deadline

The existing tax incentive for conservation easement donations is set to expire at the end of the year unless Congress acts to preserve the provision. Sponsors of legislation to enact a permanent extension of the incentive are pressing House leadership to schedule a vote on the legislation. If the current law is permitted to expire, then donations of conservation easements will be treated the same as other charitable donations, subject to the 30% limit of adjusted gross income with a carryover period of only five years.

Bills introduced in the House and Senate will allow taxpayers to continue to deduct up to 50% of adjusted gross income (AGI) for donations or bargain sales of qualified conservation easements. Eligible farmers and ranchers can deduct up to 100% of AGI, and taxpayers are able to carry forward these deductions for 15 years. This special incentive for conservation easement donations addresses the needs of landowners whose wealth is in land rather than in cash.

More than half of the House of Representatives—257 as of November 4—have signed on to H.R. 1831, introduced by Congressman Mike Thompson of California and Congressman Eric Cantor of Virginia. The Senate bill, S. 812 introduced by Senator Max Baucus of Montana, is sponsored by a total of 35 senators—more than a third of the entire Senate.

Other unrelated tax provisions are also scheduled to expire at the end of the year and the tax-writing committees are faced with a dwindling amount of time to take action. Health care legislation has occupied much of the committees' time in the past weeks and months. Action to extend the expiring provisions could happen at the eleventh hour as Congress adjourns in December, but it would not be unprecedented for Congress to act after the provisions have expired. If H.R. 1831 or similar legislation passes in 2010, the provisions would no doubt be made retroactive to cover donations made at any time during the year.

Because waiting until next year would have a chilling effect on landowners contemplating donations, bill sponsors hope to provide greater certainly through passage this year of a permanent extension of this very important land conservation tax incentive.

Senate Approves Funding for CELCP in FY2010

Congress is one step closer to completing its work on the Commerce, Science, Justice (CJS), and Related Agencies Appropriations bill for fiscal year (FY) 2010. The CJS Appropriations bill, which sets the spending level for NOAA's Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program (CELCP), passed the Senate on November 5, 2009, by a vote of 71 to 28. The Senate version of the spending bill sets CELCP funding at $20 million for the upcomming fiscal year, while the House-passed version of the bill, approved in June of this year, set CELCP funding at $21.5 million. House and Senate Appropriators must now reconcile the two versions of the bill in conference to produce a single, identical version for each chamber to approve. Legislators have until December 18th to pass the appropriations bill at which time the most recent continuing resolution funding the federal government expires.

The Omnibus Public Lands Management Act authorized an annual appropriation of $60 million for CELCP, fifteen percent of which will be directed to CELCP projects that benefit the National Estuarine Research Reserve System. While Congress is poised to increase CELCP funding by roughly 25 percent over FY2009 funding levels, overall funding for the program still falls far short of meeting demand. Addressing the nation's coastal conservation needs will require funding CELCP at its fully authorized level of $60 million per year.

Working toward this goal, the Trust for Public Land, the Coastal States Organization, The Nature Conservency, the Conservation Fund and nearly sixty local conservation organizations sent a letter to House and Senate appropriators in support of strong funding for the CELCP program in FY2010. The letters are attached at the bottom of the page.

CECLP House Letter

CECLP Senate Letter