REDWOOD NEEDLES

Presented by the Sierra Club Redwood Chapter Newsletter, The REDWOOD NEEDLES

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Congressman George Miller, eminent environmental advocate

By Jim DeKloe, Solano Group Chair

Congressman George Miller represents the southern end of the Redwood Chapter. Rep. Miller represents Vallejo, Benicia, old town Suisun, and the Cordelia Villages section of Fairfield, and he is arguably one of the strongest champions of the environment in Congress today. To celebrate the most recent Earth Day, Congressman George Miller held a town hall meeting, without the hall, at Solano County's Rush Ranch.

In an informal talk punctuated by a screeching red-shouldered hawk, he focused on environmental issues and described the recent successes and set-backs of pro-environment legislators in Washington. The beautiful day and wide-open vistas served as the perfect backdrop for Rep. Miller's comments.

Rep. Miller focused on his current efforts to secure greater funding for the preservation and acquisition of wildlife habitat and new recreation areas. He has introduced the Resources 2000 Act (HR 798) that would provide $2 billion dollars each year for this purpose by strengthening existing programs like the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Miller and others would like to pass legislation that would make the Land and Water Conservation Fund live up to the promise that Congress made when it first passed in the 1964-65 session. Congress set up this Fund to use fees from offshore oil drilling royalties to purchase and maintain public lands. The federal government currently collects about $900 million a year for the Fund. Since the sixties the National Park Service has used this money to preserve over 5 million acres to create or expand Redwood, Cape Cod, the Everglades, Denali, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Olympic, and the Grand Canyon National Parks. Half of the money was designated to go into state programs.

The problem is, since the early 1980's, more and more of the fund has been rolled into the general fund and used to make the federal deficit appear smaller. Right now, only about one quarter of the money appears to accomplish its intended purpose, and the other three quarters gets swallowed into the abyss that is the federal budget.

George Miller is trying to change that situation. At the town meeting, he expressed confidence that his proposed solution could gather enough support in both houses to pass. His Resources 2000 Act would channel all the LWCF monies for their rightful purposes, and would also safeguard the funds from other programs. Senator Boxer has introduced a companion bill into the Senate. When combined, all of these programs would earmark about $2 million every year for deserving projects such as:

• Land and Water Conservation Fund $ 900 million

• Urban Parks $ 100 million

• Historic Preservation Fund $ 150 million

• Lands Restoration $ 250 million

• Farmland and Open Space Preservation $ 150 million

• Endangered and Threatened Species Recovery $ 100 million

• Marine Resources $ 300 million

• Native Fish and Wildlife Resources $ 350 million

George Miller outlined other pieces of environmental legislation that he has championed. He is the prime author of the bill that would renew and improve the Endangered Species Act (HR 980). When I asked him about the status of that bill, he candidly replied, "the Republicans have placed it into the deep freeze. We've been able to block their bad bills, and the status quo is that the ESA is still operating. He has also sponsored legislation that would make sure that the taxpayers received reasonable fees from resource extraction industries for mining or loggin on federal lands.

While George Miller was speaking, a loggerhead shrike, the smallest bird of prey, swooped up a mouse right behind him. That seemed like an apt metaphor for what special interests are constantly trying to do to our federal lands, and for the struggle that Miller fights on our behalf.

Other portions of the Redwood Chapter are represented by Mike Thompson. A vast improvement over his predecessor Frank Riggs, although Mike probably needs a little urging from us to increase the strength of his environmental advocacy. As far as I know, neither he nor Lynn Wolsey have signed on as a cosponsor of Rep. Miller's critical bills.

George Miller should be commended for his tireless efforts on behalf of the environment. We are fortunate to have him represent this portion of the Redwood Chapter. We can lend a hand by urging the other members of Congress in our district to assist him in his efforts to protect the environment.

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