Senators Wyden and Reid Planning 2013 Omnibus Federal Lands Bill

Hey Folks,
In this message I've listed the links for the reauthorization legislation for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the committee's that the bills will have to go through.  Then, the Public Land News just released the following article stating what most of us already knew, Wyden is behind the land grabs occuring in the state......Rob T. 

H.R. 263: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Reauthorization Act of 2013

House Committee on Natural Resources

House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands

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S. 51: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Reauthorization Act of 2013

Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works

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Senators Wyden and Reid Planning 2013  Omnibus Federal Lands Bill
Please read this excerpt from Public Lands News  (Jan. 18, 2013):

Conservation legislation at the top of Wyden’s  list

Despite the failure of the last Congress to act on dozens if  not hundreds of conservation bills, new Senate Energy Committee Chairman Ron  Wyden (D-Ore.) intends to tackle the backlog first thing this  year.

“To that end, one of Sen. Wyden’s first priorities will be to  pass the dozens of lands bills left over from last Congress,” said Wyden’s press  assistant Samantha Offerdahl. “As you may know,  Sen. Wyden introduced  several wilderness bills that didn’t move last year,  including proposals to  protect thousands of acres of wilderness land near Devil’s Staircase, Cathedral  Rock, Horse Heaven and Wild Rogue in Oregon.”

As usual the obstacle  last year was the Senate’s filibuster rule.Faced with the press of other  business, such as Hurricane Sandy
relief, Senate leaders did not choose to offer  either an omnibus wildlife bill,  an omnibus lands bill or a combination of the  two on the floor.

 Wyden intends to meet that Senate impasse head  on. “Generally, Sen. Wyden has said that he would like to restore the  Energy and Natural Resources Committee to something resembling the success of  the committee in the past,” said Offerdahl.
“That means routinely passing public  lands bills important to the nation, and moving through the gridlock that halted  the progress of public lands bills many members of the Senate introduced in  previous years.”

House members have already begun reintroducing  park and rec bills this month for the 113th Congress, with a handful of minor  measures in the hopper. For instance Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) introduced a  bill (HR 250) January 15 that would
require Congressional approval of any  national monument designated by a President. Senators will begin introducing  their bills January 22.

Last year the Senate Energy Committee,  under former chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.),  did not get around to going public  with an omnibus lands bill that was expected to include 100 or so individual  bills, although it reportedly assembled a measure. Those individual bills would  have designated new national parks,  designated wild and scenic rivers,  designated wilderness areas, authorized land exchanges and much  more.

A wildlife bill composed of 19 individual measures promoted  by sportsmen effectively expired on the Senate floor Nov. 26,
2012, when Sen.  Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) demanded a procedural vote on the budget impacts of the  bill (S 3525). Sixty votes were needed to keep the bill alive, but only 50  senators voted for it.

Some of the items in the wildlife bill were  also candidates for the omnibus lands bill, if not the whole measure.

All the conservation legislation will have to start over  in this 113th Congress; however, the odds will be slightly more favorable  because Wyden intends to move aggressively on them. In addition Democrats who  tend to support omnibus land bills and omnibus wildlife bills made modest gains  in the November 6 elections.

The Senate Energy Committee had been  taking the lead in assembling an omnibus bill but Senate Democratic leaders did  not give clearance for floor consideration. For its part the House Natural  Resources Committee moved more than 100 land bills through the House floor, only  to see them die in the Senate.

End of Public Lands News article  excerpt.
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