House Dems Assail Interior and Environmental Funding Package

By Philip Bunnell

Democratic Reps. Jim Moran (Va.), Norm Dicks (Wash.) and Edward Markey (Mass.), gathered Monday to decry the GOP’s Interior and Environmental Appropriations bill, which they called highly anti-environment and tailored to special interest groups.

“This is a bad bill,” said Dicks, “perhaps the worst Interior and Environment Appropriations bill I’ve seen in my 35 years of service on the Subcommittee.” Moran agreed, calling the bill a “wishlist for special interests.”

Moran pointed to the 39 legislative riders in the bill. Among them are provisions that allow for uranium mining claims in the Grand Canyon, which the trio of lawmakers cautioned would endanger those who rely on the Colorado River for water. When families travel to the Grand Canyon and stop to enjoy the sunset, Markey quipped, “the glow won’t only be from the sunset.”

The bill also removes funding for the EPA to designate new species as endangered, which led Moran to dub it the “extinction rider.”

Markey offered different names for the bill, such as the “Are You Living on the Same Planet?” act and the “Have You Been Outside?” act. Markey brought a copy of the bill wrapped in caution tape and called it the “most egregious assault on our environment in the history of Congress,” and dismissed House Republicans who, he said, “have no idea what’s going on outside of their tea parties.”]

All three Democrats were concerned that the bill would be overlooked in light of the debt ceiling debates and warned that there are “plenty of Senate Democrats,” who would allow the anti-environment provisions to go through.