INTERIOR: Ashe skeptical about Congress' ability to work with administration on ESA improvements
Emily Yehle, E&E reporter
E&E: Friday, April 4, 2014
Fish and Wildlife Director Dan Ashe told lawmakers yesterday that Congress should work with the administration to update the Endangered Species Act, but he expressed skepticism that such an exercise in bipartisanship was possible.
"I believe it is appropriate for Congress to look at the law," Ashe told the House Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee. "My fear is that in this environment, it's very difficult to do that because taking up a law like the Endangered Species Act requires building consensus around objective, and I'm not certain there is consensus around objective."
Ashe's comments came amid Republican efforts to overhaul ESA, which they contend focuses too much on listing individual species. GOP lawmakers have begun to introduce piecemeal legislation, drawing from their February report on reforming the 40-year-old landmark law (E&E Daily, March 28).
At yesterday's hearing -- held to discuss the FWS fiscal 2015 budget -- Ashe said his agency was willing to work with the panel on reforming the act on a "bipartisan basis."
"I think we could find some opportunities to make incremental improvements," he said.
The hearing was one of two held yesterday by the Appropriations subcommittee responsible for the Interior Department's budget. Interior officials have testified all week on the department's funding priorities; National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis appeared before the panel hours before Ashe.
Ashe fielded several questions on potential ESA listings -- a pattern that often emerges when he faces Congress. But appropriators also indicated that they would be deviating from the agency's proposed budget for fiscal 2015.
Subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) questioned the agency's priorities, asserting that the panel views the FWS budget "through a different lens" from the Interior Department and the Office of Management and Budget. President Obama's budget proposes $1.5 billion for the agency, a nearly $50 million increase over current levels (E&E Daily, March 31).
But Calvert said appropriators would work with FWS "to enact a reasonable, though likely smaller budget, that better balances what appears to be competing administration and congressional priorities."
In particular, Calvert pointed to the agency's proposal to cut nearly $9 million from state and tribal wildlife grants, setting the program's budget at $50 million. Such grants, he asserted, enable states and tribes to avoid ESA listings through conservation.
"In my opinion, the service should put far more effort in prevention and recovery, rather than new listings," he said, later adding: "In the coming weeks, the subcommittee will be looking for offsetting cuts to restore this funding, along with considering whether or how to focus the program on the candidate species named in the 2011 settlement."
The 2011 settlements -- between FWS and the Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians -- require the agency to issue final listing determinations for about 250 species over six years. Republicans have long criticized them for setting FWS priorities, and Calvert reiterated such criticisms yesterday, questioning the "accelerated" pace of listings despite budget cuts.
For his part, Ashe framed his agency's budget request around one word: crisis. Drought, invasive species, wildlife trafficking -- all must be dealt with immediately to conserve wildlife, he said.
"Mr. Chairman, we work amid many crises, but I believe I've given you a budget that allows us to face the urgency of crisis but also be optimistic that we're addressing what is important," he said.
However, when pressed by Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.) on the cut to tribal grants, Ashe agreed that it weakened the program and was a hard choice to make.
"It should not make you comfortable at all. It doesn't make me comfortable," Ashe said, but "we have only so much that we have to work with."
NPS
House appropriators will have less control over major aspects of the National Park Service budget, which relies on an influx of new mandatory spending outside the committee's jurisdiction.
The so-called Centennial Initiative proposes that Congress authorize $200 million in annual mandatory funding for three years to improve park infrastructure, which suffers under a maintenance backlog that totals more than $11 billion. The proposal also requests $100 million each of the three years for "signature projects."
The aim, in part, is to restore some of the National Park Service's highest-priority assets ahead of its 100th birthday in 2016.
At yesterday's hearing, appropriators appeared supportive of paying down the maintenance backlog. And in a short interview after the hearing, Calvert said he was confident Congress would tackle the problem, pointing out that appropriators would work closely with authorizing committees.
Lawmakers also questioned Jarvis on the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, which allows NPS and other agencies to charge entrance and recreation fees. The law is up for reauthorization this year, and if Congress doesn't act, NPS will lose out on about $175 million annually.
But another topic closer to home -- and more within their control -- seemed foremost on some lawmakers' minds: the renovation of the National Mall.
The mall is undergoing a face-lift, with projects to better maintain the grass and proposals to redevelop Constitution Gardens near the Lincoln Memorial. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle emphasized the importance of upkeep -- and restricting access for big events that result in trampled grass, such as the Smithsonian's Folklife Festival.
"There are no sacrifice zones in the National Mall," Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) said. "We love the National Mall to death unfortunately."
Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) agreed.
"We're not going to invest $30 million in that grass, for example, and then have it killed in a one-time activity," Moran said.
