Reid pushing new funding source for national parks

Scott Sonner

Tuesday, April 20, 1999 | 9:07 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Sen. Harry Reid said Monday he'll push a proposal this year to dedicate $500 million in annual royalties from offshore oil drilling to a special fund to protect and preserve national parks.

"The National Park system is one of the great things government has done for the world. It is in jeopardy," Reid, D-Nev., said in a telephone interview from Washington.

"We need a certain, constant source of funding for the parks. We haven't had that," he said, noting a $4 billion backlog in maintenance and repair needs at national parks.

Oil drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf generates about $4 billion in royalties annually for the U.S. government, most of which currently goes directly to the federal treasury, aides to the senator said.

Reid, the minority whip and a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he is optimistic the Clinton administration and a majority of Congress will go along with the idea of setting $500 million aside for parks.

"I think we will find significant support," he said Monday.

"We have an $80 billion surplus this year. We have 65 million Americans that visit the parks each year, including the one in Nevada."

About 90,000 visit Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada annually and that is on the rise, he said.

Reid is joining with Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., to introduce the National Park Preservation Act of 1999 in the Senate on Tuesday to establish the separate account.

"This would be an appropriate time for the nation to recommit itself to these international treasures that we have in the national parks of the United States," Graham said Monday.

The measure also will be discussed at the National Press Club on Tuesday when Reid and Graham join leaders of the National Parks and Conservation Association to unveil the non-profit group's list of the 10 Most Endangered National Parks in the country.

Graham said a number of bills have been introduced in Congress already this year to raise more money for urban parks, coastal areas and other ecologically significant lands.

"We are introducing our bill to put another marker down. The national parks are probably the most visible area of federal land management," he said from Washington.

"We want to have the national parks sitting at the table when these decisions are made," he said.

Under their proposal, the new fund would finance projects such as land acquisition, construction and grants to state or local governments for use in combating threats to ecosystems, wildlife habitat and cultural resources within the national park system.

It also would set aside $150 million specifically for land acquisition annually from 2000 through 2015 in the Everglades.

Graham said he has discussed the proposal with Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and National Park Service Director Bob Stanton.

President Clinton has offered his own broad proposal, a $1 billion-a-year "land legacy" program to set aside treasured lands and open spaces.

Babbitt and Stanton remain "loyal to the administration and pushing their program," Graham said. "But I think they are personally supportive of the idea and will be helpful when negotiations start."