Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) are Federal payments to local governments that are designed to compensate rural communities for unrealized or lost property tax revenues due to land being in Federal ownership. The authorized level for PILT funding is about $250 million. Actual funding for PILT, however, has been about half of that level. The BLM has requested for FY 2001 PILT funding at $135 million.

Every cent of PILT money helps these local governments. Rural counties are often severely cash strapped due to a high percentage of Federal land within their borders and a consequently small taxable land base. Recently the Clinton Administration has announced a huge land acquisition initiative that promises to shrink that taxable land base even more. PILT should be fully funded at the authorized level.

Noxious Weeds

Noxious weeds throughout the country cause millions of dollars of damage to natural resources. They adversely affect water tables, they decrease the amount of forage for livestock and wildlife, they can make recreation much less enjoyable, and they cause numerous other problems. The BLM is vigorously trying to get a handle on the noxious weed problem. BLM is utilizing modern technology to map trouble areas, it is using biological, chemical and mechanical controls, and it is conducting extensive research on mitigating infestations. The Committee supports these efforts and feels that noxious weed control programs should be fully funded at BLM's requested level.

Wildland Fire Management

The BLM has requested an increase of $6.2 million for the Wildland Fire Management account. In the last century, through imprudent fire management practices, fuel levels on public lands have reached dangerous levels. The BLM faces a formidable task in its attempt to manage fires on the public lands. Additional funding will allow the BLM to conduct fuel treatments to reduce the frequency of uncontrollable wildfires. The Committee supports increased funding for Wildland Fire Management. The Committee believes this funding should be increased by approximately $20 million over the requested level.

Land and Water Conservation Fund

As discussed in general above, under the Administrations "Lands Legacy Initiative," the BLM is requesting a huge increase in LWCF funds for land acquisition. While land acquisition in individual situations is often a very good idea, and should be funded with LWCF dollars, a widespread initiative to increase the BLM's land holdings is not consistent with Federal policy as outlined in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). FLPMA directs the BLM to rearrange BLM land holdings into manageable blocks chiefly through land exchanges. The mandate is to make public lands more manageable, not to increase the public land base.

The Committee recognizes that LWCF funds are very important for acquiring inholdings within National Parks, and acquiring wildlife habitat within National Forests and National Wildlife Refuges. While BLM land acquisitions with LWCF funds are legal, the Committee does not feel that such an increase in LWCF funding for the BLM is appropriate or prudent. Additional LWCF funds would be better spent elsewhere, particularly on state-side LWCF. The Committee therefore recommends that LWCF funding for the BLM be reduced below FY 1999 levels.

Wilderness Management

The BLM has requested increased funding of over $11 million under the Recreation Management account to be used for wilderness planning in the States of Utah and Colorado. The Committee objects to any funding of these activities. Last year's Defense Appropriations bill prohibits any wilderness planning in the State of Utah. Moreover, these planning efforts were previously completed under FLPMA and final EISs were completed. To go back and attempt to re-inventory these States is a clear violation of the law and indeed is being litigated.

Protection of Designated Areas

The Committee recommends that none of the three new National Monuments designated early in 2000 should be funded until Congress approves those designations.

Realty and Ownership Management

The Committee recommends an increase in funding of $10 million over the requested levels to allow the BLM to address its backlog of exchanges, right of way applications, leases and other requests.

Energy and Minerals Program

BLM's energy and minerals program, funded within the Management of Lands and Resources appropriation account, provides for the lease management of onshore Federal oil, gas, coal, phosphate, sodium, potash, geothermal energy, and certain other mineral deposits on or beneath public lands. The leasing and subsequent production of these mineral deposits is the source of over one billion dollars of revenue annually, shared between the U.S. Treasury and the producing States, generally for the benefit of schools and/or local government.

For FY 2001, the Administration requests an increase for this activity of $5,573,000 to update existing land use plans for "reasonably foreseeable development" scenarios reflective of increased demands for public domain minerals.

For the oil and gas subactivity, an increase of $4.4 million is requested, resulting from concerns

that coalbed methane (CBM) development in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana, particularly, is lagging for want of funds to redo resource management plans for new cumulative impacts analysis. The Committee believes strongly that reducing barriers to CBM production, and conventional natural gas as well, is in the national interest. The public lands will play a very important role if we are to achieve a supply of 30 trillion cubic feet of natural gas per year by the end of this decade, as forecast by the Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy.

For the coal and other minerals subactivities the Administration is seeking an increase primarily to cover uncontrollable costs with little or no program changes.

In sum, the Committee agrees with the Administration's BLM energy and minerals management budget request and recommends an increase of $5.573 million from the FY 2000 enacted level.

Alaska Minerals Program

The Committee has no information with which to parse the Administration's FY 2001 request for the BLM's Alaska Minerals activity, a mineral resource assessment programs and minerals data analysis functions transferred from the dismantled U.S. Bureau of Mines in the FY 1996 appropriations conference report. The Committee believes this program is necessary to fulfill the commitment established by Congress in the Alaska National Interest Conservation Act of 1980 when so much of Alaska's public lands were closed to mineral development, but with a promise of governmental study of the mineral potential of these lands. The Administration is seeking a small increase from enacted FY 2000 levels, no doubt to keep pace with uncontrollable cost increases (pay raises). The Committee supports this increase of $62,000.

Mining Law Administration

The Committee has no information with which to examine the Administration's FY 2001 request for the BLM's administration of the Mining Law of 1872 -- the Act governing disposition of locatable (i.e., metals and certain non-metallic minerals) from the public lands, a program fully funded by mining claim maintenance fees levied on mining claimants which are retained by BLM, rather than sent to the Treasury. The 103rd Congress authorized BLM to collect a $100 per claim per year fee for five years in the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 and allowed the agency to spend the funds collected by each August 31" for mining surface management regulatory functions (less $5 million/year for fee collection itself) the following fiscal year. As a result, fewer funds were necessary in the BLM's Management of Land and Resources appropriation, ranging from approximately $27 to $32 million per year.

The Committee is concerned that expenditures of such fees may not be properly accounted for by agencies granted this type of funding mechanism to pay the costs of their programs. While this method provides room under the allocation caps for the Appropriations Committee to fund competing

programs, it is hardly a model for rigorous Congressional oversight. The existing fee collection authorization expires at the end of FY 2001, and the Committee believes the fee should not be reauthorized unless and until the impact of the imposition of this fee has been sufficiently evaluated by the Committee on Resources. BLM records from 1989 (pre-$100 fee) indicate approximately 1.2 million mining claims were being held under the recordation requirements imposed under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, whereas for the last several years less than 300,000 claims are of record. Furthermore, comparison of new claims filed each year (a better measure of ongoing exploration interest) in Alaska shows that Federal mining claim staking has lagged far behind that on State lands since imposition of the first BLM holding fee in calendar year 1992. For the years 1989-1991, new State claims averaged 3,300 per year and new Federal claims about 1,600 per year. But, from 1992-1996 when State claim staking accelerated to approximately 4,725 per year, new Federal claims dropped precipitously to only 720 per year! This is due, no doubt, because the annual rental on mining claims on Alaskan State lands initiates at 50 cents per acre per year, compared to the average of $5 per acre per year owed the BLM. In other words, despite similar geological prospectiveness, Federal lands have become noncompetitive with State lands as a base upon which to explore for gold, silver, lead, zinc and many other mineral commodities.

Furthermore, the Committee notes the Administration's FY 2001 budget request proposes enactment of a 5% net (read gross) proceeds royalty as it has for several prior years, but never has the Administration produced a draft bill for introduction in Congress. The Committee remains concerned the Administration has failed to analyze, in even the most perfunctory fashion, the cumulative impact of this proposal (and the proposed repeal of percentage depletion allowance provisions in the tax code for income derived from minerals produced on mining claims) on the domestic industry and the tens of thousands of mining and related jobs for our citizens. The $100 claim maintenance fee hits the exploration end of the business which can only be sustained by profits from the production end. There is no requirement to explore and mine on Federal lands, and the Administration's budget would hasten the exodus of capital that has already occurred in a misguided attempt to take away perceived undue benefits the industry receives from public lands. The Administration would penalize nearly all western mines by these proposals, yet leave eastern and mid-western mines untouched, despite no objective data whatsoever to back up assertions of "fairness." What price did Vice President Gore's family pay to acquire its zinc mine in Carthage, Tennessee? Or iron mines in Minnesota and Michigan, lead mines in Missouri, or gold mines in South Carolina, etc? Although, the tax proposal falls within the jurisdiction of the Ways and Means Committee, the Committee's jurisdiction over “mining interests generally" dictates these strong concerns be noted.

The Committee believes the Administration's request to continue the appropriations moratorium on patenting of mining claims will likely contribute to stalemate on the issue of reform of the Mining Law as it has for six fiscal years. The issue of the Treasury receiving fair market value for public land assets, such as the patenting of fully valid mining claims, was dealt with responsibly in the Balanced Budget Act

Lastly, the Committee remains alarmed that the concerns of western Governors have been ignored in proposed changes to the surface management regulations (43 Code of Federal Regulations 3809) governing hardrock miners operations on public lands. The National Academy of Sciences report issued last fall strongly recommends better enforcement of existing regulations rather than the wholesale changes proposed, yet indications are the Department of the Interior has interpreted the FY 2000 provisions in law as allowing practically all such changes rather than follow the clear intent of law to prohibit changes inconsistent with the National Academy's recommendations.

Fish and Wildlife Service

The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has principal responsibility and authority for migratory birds, threatened and endangered species, fish and wildlife and their habitats, and certain marine mammals. The FWS currently manages over 93 million acres encompassing a system of 521 national wildlife refuges, 38 wetland management and waterfowl production areas, 50 coordination areas, and 66 national fish hatcheries throughout the United States.

In FY 2000, Congress appropriated $1.505 billion for the operation of the FWS. This figure includes $876.3 million in current appropriations, which was an increase of $74.2 million from FY 1999, and $629 million in permanent appropriations. In FY 2001, the Administration has requested $1.12 billion in current appropriations and $623.9 million in permanent appropriations. This represents an increase of $250.2 million in new appropriations. At the same time, monies going into the permanent account for the Sport Fish Restoration Program (Wallop-Breaux) will decrease by $13.8 million in FY 2001.

In FY 2001, the Administration has requested increases for a number of programs under the jurisdiction of the FWS. These are reflected in the following chart: