H.B. 980 Creates Notable Controversy

H.B. 980 Creates Notable Controversy

Introduced into Congress, every year since 1992, the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA), although not a precedent setting move, is causing notable controversy between two strongly opposing groups. Both groups; those who support and those who are against the passage of the bill, will attend the House of Representatives Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands hearing scheduled for May 9, 2009.

It an age old debate; more than likely originating way back when, beginning with the disagreements between the American Indian and the Settlers who moved in and took over the West, to the current public land and natural resource protection and management discord of today. So what exactly will NREPA accomplish, if passed by Congress this go-round? More specifically and as stated by the Public Lands Auction Alert, NREPA will:

“Increase the wilderness acres in the lower 48 states by 50%; turn every inventoried roadless area in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming into a wilderness area; add thousands of miles to the wild and scenic river systems; add over three million acres of defacto wilderness in corridors and recovery areas; study every unroaded area over 1000 acres on all national forests in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon, and Washington and recommend for inclusion in the roadless inventory; and finally, it would prohibit all activities in these study areas that would affect future eligibility for wilderness.

Proponents of H.R. 980 indicate the bill was developed to protect our ecosystem and preserve the biological integrity of the Northern Rockies; assist in fighting global warming; will create jobs; and save taxpayers $245 million over a ten-year period via management of “wilderness” lands versus the cost of managing the public lands system. In addition to essentially protecting the environment, the creator’s of NREPA propose to restore the Northern Rockies habitat to their natural state, while eliminating subsidized development in the designated wilderness areas. Moreover and although sponsored by Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Representative Grijavala (D-AZ), as well as 69 representatives of both parties; advocates of this bill credit the creation of the proposed legislation to Montanans; one of the three states that will receive the major impact of the bill.