U.S. Senator Ken Salazar

Member of the Agriculture, Energy and Veterans Affairs Committees

 

2300 15th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

 

 

For Immediate Release

March 2, 2006

CONTACT:    Cody Wertz – Comm. Director

                        303-455-7600

Andrew Nannis  – Press Secretary

                        202-224-5852


 Sen. Salazar Questions Secretary of the Interior on Lackluster Support for Rural Communities

WASHINGTON, D.C. – United States Senator Ken Salazar questioned Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton today about the Administration’s budget from his seat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Senator Salazar said, “Rural America is withering on the vine and the Administration’s budget appears to turn a blind eye to the problem. Cutting the PILT program sends the wrong message to rural America. We should be focused on revitalizing our rural communities and the 50 million Americans who call them home.”

Specifically, Salazar asked Secretary Norton to clarify why the Department of the Interior would cut 16% of the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program. In 2005, this program provided approximately $17 million to 57 counties in Colorado. The Administration’s budget would cut this program by $198 million. Secretary Norton explained that there was a competing need to pay Department of the Interior employees and the cuts were necessary.

Salazar also pressed the Secretary about the proposed elimination of Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) stateside grants. From 1965-2005, LWCF funded over 1,000 projects in Colorado in 59 of 64 counties for a total of $56 million. These projects have helped preserve open spaces, preserve wildlife habitat, and create parks and recreation opportunities. In its own assessment of the program this year, the Park Service acknowledges that the stateside grants program delivers excellent results.

Finally, Salazar queried Norton on proposed changes to National Parks Service rules. Visitor satisfaction to the National Parks is at 95 percent, yet the Administration is proposing drastic rule changes that would end the 100-year Park Service principle of ‘First Do No Harm,’ eliminate guidelines limiting the impact of motor vehicles on air quality, views, and soundscapes, and allow greater levels of noise and air pollution.

Salazar recently wrote to Secretary Norton on this subject noting, “Given that the Park Service’s core mission of conservation has effectively protected our national treasures for almost 100 years and that visitor satisfaction at the National Parks is overwhelmingly positive, I see no need to cast aside the core mission and tested policies in favor of unneeded, risky and ambiguous revisions.”

###