House passes full funding for LWCF; Now funding is before the Senate
The House of Representatives passed HB 3534, The Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act of 2009 (CLEAR) last week with 8 of the 13 NC Congressional Delegation voting for the bill. This bill includes full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund at $900 million per year from offshore oil and gas leases. It also creates a new industry-funded endowment to protect our oceans, and a restoration program to rehabilitate the Gulf of Mexico. Thanks for your support and for contacting your Representative.
Now the companion bill, SB 3663, The Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Accountability Act, is coming up in the Senate for a vote this week. The Senate bill also provides full and permanent funding for the LWCF at the $900 million mark each year for conservation projects at the national and state levels. Public lands for wildlife and water quality will be enhanced through these projects.
LWCF is included in this energy bill because it is funded by offshore oil and gas leases. The Fund is not a tax; it is a lease fee paid by private companies for the right to explore for oil reserves. The annual total of these leases averages around $7 billion, so $900 million is not an unreasonable amount to put back into conservation programs. This is a generational opportunity to secure funding for a strong conservation program from this appropriate source.
For more information on this and other topics related to North Carolina Wildlife visit the following links for the North Carolina Wildlife Federation: