PUBLIC LANDS: Panel to examine bill that would reopen Calif. area to off-highway vehicles
Jessica Estepa, E&E reporter
Published: Monday, May 19, 2014
Lawmakers this week will consider a bipartisan bill that would allow for off-highway vehicle use on thousands of acres of public lands that had been closed for years over health concerns.
H.R. 1776, sponsored by California Reps. Sam Farr (D), David Valadao (R) and Jeff Denham (R), would reopen the Bureau of Land Management's Clear Creek Management Area (CCMA) to recreational use. The agency closed about 31,000 acres of the 75,000-acre area -- a former mining and timber district -- to the public in 2008 because of a U.S. EPA report on potential airborne asbestos exposure.
According to a BLM document, EPA results showed that visiting this part of the area, known as the Serpentine Area of Critical Environmental Concern, for more than one day per year could put adults and children above EPA's "acceptable risk range for exposure" to carcinogens. Additionally, recreational activities could lead to an "increased lifetime cancer risk."
After completing an environmental assessment and public comment period, BLM reopened the area earlier this year. According to the Federal Register notice announcing the decision, the area would have "limited" vehicle use that required permits. It also limits the number of annual visitor-use days to "reduce human health risks."
The notice also says that the agency has identified about 5,070 acres of land within Clear Creek that have wilderness characteristics. There the agency would emphasize "non-motorized recreational opportunities."
That has drawn the ire of off-highway vehicle users, said Sky Murphy, the BLM Hollister Field Office's environmental and planning coordinator. Before the 2008 closure, the area was popular among OHV enthusiasts who would traverse the old mining and timber harvesting trails.
"Yes, it's open, but to people who want access to these roads that are now closed, it's not," he said.
He noted that the reopening of the area allows for recreation that ranges from hunting and birdwatching to hiking along the same trails that people used to ride OHVs on.
The measure from the California sponsors addresses that issue by specifically including language that allows for OHV use in the management area. In turn, it would designate 21,000 acres of BLM land next to Clear Creek as the Joaquin Rocks Wilderness.
"This bill brings environmentalist and off-road vehicle enthusiasts together in the common goals of reopening Clear Creek for the public to enjoy and creating new wilderness land for future generations to enjoy," Farr said in a statement when the bill was introduced last year. "This partnership between the two groups will allow us to achieve two victories to benefit to the local communities."
The legislation would require BLM to create a hazards education program to inform people about asbestos-related risks in the area.
But what may draw concern from the Obama administration is a provision that exempts the agency from the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan. According to the measure, the plan "shall not apply to the [Interior] Secretary's management of asbestos exposure risks faced by the public when recreating within" Clear Creek.
The committee will also examine:
H.R. 2175, sponsored by Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), to direct the Interior secretary to install a plaque or inscription with President Franklin D. Roosevelt's prayer from D-Day at the World War II Memorial in the District of Columbia.
H.R. 2489, sponsored by full committee ranking member Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), to modify the boundary of the Oregon Caves National Monument.
H.R. 3806, sponsored by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), to authorize payment of funds in accordance with the agreement entered into by the Tennessee Valley Authority; North Carolina; Swain County, N.C.; and the Interior Department.
Schedule: The hearing is Tuesday, May 20, at 9:30 a.m. in 1324 Longworth.
Witnesses: Reps. Sam Farr (D-Calif.), Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and Bill Johnson (R-Ohio); Denise Lago, deputy chief of business operations, Forest Service; Carl Rountree, assistant director, Bureau of Land Management's National Landscape Conservation and Community Partnerships; Bruce Sheaffer, comptroller, National Park Service; former Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), vice president of government relations, American Motorcycle Association; former Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.); and Steve Koretoff of Kerman, Calif.
