(WASHINGTON) - The $11 billion budget proposed for the
Department of the Interior in fiscal year 2005 would fulfill
the President's commitments to protect communities against catastrophic
wildfire, repair and replace Indian schools, and address the National Park
Service maintenance backlog, Secretary Gale Norton said today. The proposal
also calls for reforming the Abandoned Mine Lands program to speed the
elimination of these deadly hazards and provides increased funding for both
Water 2025 and Klamath Basin initiatives that address
chronic water supply problems in the West.
"The President's budget would
enable us to build stronger conservation partnerships with states, tribes, local communities, and citizens to develop
healthy lands, thriving communities, and dynamic economies," Secretary Norton
told members of the House Committee on Appropriations. "President Bush's budget
reflects his vision of a new environmentalism--one based on the principles of
entrepreneurship, local action and respect for private property."
Interior's $11 billion request for FY 2005
current appropriations is a 2.3 percent increase over the 2004 enacted level.
The department anticipates collecting $10.1 billion in receipts in 2005,
equivalent to 92 percent of its current appropriations request. Major
initiatives in the budget include the following:
Removing Dangerous Abandoned
Mine Sites: The budget
includes $243.8 million for the abandoned mine lands program, including a $53
million increase. The budget proposal would use increased funds and a
reauthorized Abandoned Mine Land Act to speed the cleanup of the most dangerous
abandoned mine sites in the nation. The statutory allocation formula in the
current law limits the ability of the Office of Surface Mining to meet its
primary objective of abating the highest priority abandoned coalmines. Some
states are decades away from completing work on the most critical,
high-priority sites.
Indian Trust Programs: A
total of $614 million is requested for the Unified Trust budget, a net increase
of $161 million. The budget proposes $75 million for Indian land consolidation,
an increase of $53.3 million, to expand efforts to address the problem of
fractionation, or continuing subdivision, of individual Indian interests in the
land that the federal government holds in trust. $109.4 million also is requested
for historical accounting, an increase of $65 million over the 2004
appropriation. The funds include $80 million targeted for Individual Indian
Money accounting and $29.4 million targeted for tribal accounting. The budget
proposes a net increase of $7.2 million, including funding for 85 new
trust-related positions at the local level. The proposal requests an additional
$4 million to quicken the pace at which probate cases are resolved.
Healthy Forests and Rangelands: As part of the $743.1 million wildland fire
proposal, the budget includes $209.3 million, a $25 million increase over 2004,
to conduct fuels reduction projects and to monitor the results. In combination
with forest and range improvement activities funded in other Interior programs,
the 2005 budget includes over $300 million to advance the goals of the Healthy
Forests Restoration Act. Including
funding for the Forest Service, the 2005 budget includes $760 million to meet
the goals of the Act.
The
request for the wildland fire program also includes $221.5 million, an increase
of $28.6 million, to fund suppression activities, based on the 10-year average,
and an increase of $6.5 million for preparedness to address increasing costs in
aviation contracts and for the fire program analysis system.
Cooperative
Conservation: Conservation today depends increasingly on
partnerships across a mosaic of land ownerships. Our
ability to achieve national conservation goals is significantly increased
through collaborative partnerships with adjacent land-owners, states, tribes
and communities. Rather than relying on
additions to the Federal land base, the budget proposes cooperative
conservation as an approach that partners our efforts with those of local
communities to protect resources and improve the quality of life for
people. The budget proposes to
spend $507.3 million, a 20 percent increase, to expand opportunities for
conservation partnerships with citizens, organizations and communities. The
Cooperative Conservation Initiative, which builds on existing conservation
partnership programs with productive relationships with local communities and
citizens, will provide $129.5 million, an increase of $25.5 million, for a
suite of seven programs. The budget proposes $29.6 million for challenge
cost-share activities, an increase of $8.4 million over 2004, for natural
resource restoration and species protection projects on or affecting federal
lands.
Endangered
Species Grant Programs: Interior's
cooperative conservation efforts also include a number of grant programs that
provide expanded opportunities for state, tribal, local, and private partners
to participate in conservation and protection of endangered, threatened, and
at-risk species. These include the Landowner Incentive Program ($50 million, an
increase of $20.4 million); Private Stewardship Grants ($10 million, an
increase of $2.6 million); Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund
($90 million, an increase of $8.4); and State and Tribal Wildlife Grants ($80
million, an increase of $10.9 million).
Full Funding for Land and Water Conservation
Fund: Interior's budget
includes $660.6 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund for 2005,
including $153.3 million for land acquisition and $93.8 million for the state
grant program. The Department's request, combined with the request for the U.S.
Forest Service, brings total government wide LWCF funding to $900.2 million.
Park
Maintenance Backlog: The Budget request includes $1.1
billion for maintenance, rehabilitation and road repair funding to improve the
condition of National Park Service facilities and resources and fulfill the
President's pledge to improve the condition of park facilities. The NPS budget
includes $724.7 million for park facility maintenance and construction, a $25
million increase over 2004. An additional $310 million for park roads is
included in the Administration's legislative proposal to reauthorize the
Highway Bill. The 2005 request continues to provide critical tools to improve
accountability, including an estimated facility condition index, an industry
standard for quantifying the condition of facilities.
Invasive
Species: The budget includes $58.3 million for a
multiagency effort to address invasive species challenges. Funding will be used
to control invasive species such as saltcedar in the southwest and the brown
tree snake population on Guam to prevent its establishment on other
Pacific islands and the U.S. mainland. In addition, Interior agencies
will focus on early detection and rapid response and conduct research to
develop test methods and control strategies. The priorities for the use of
invasive species funding are established by the National Invasive Species
Council.
Klamath
Basin: Interior's 2005 budget includes $67.6 million
to restore habitat, remove fish migration barriers, acquire land, use water
banking, and conduct research into the ecology of federally-listed fish species
in the Klamath Basin. This is a $17.9 million increase over 2004 funding
levels. Other government agencies will provide an additional $38 million to the
Klamath Basin initiative, bringing a total of $105
million to this effort.
Payments in Lieu of Taxes: The request for PILT in the 2005 budget is
$226 million, a $1.3 million increase over the 2004 enacted level, and the
highest level ever for the program. This
program provides payments to local governments in counties where federal lands
are located within their boundaries in lieu of tax revenues and to supplement
other federal land receipts shared with local governments. Local governments
use payments to improve local school, water, and road systems, as well as for
other necessary infrastructure.
Energy: To help meet the nation's energy needs by
focusing on timely access to oil and natural gas resources on public lands,
consistent with publicly developed land-use plans, the budget would maintain
Bureau of Land Management oil, gas, and coal programs at the 2004 funding level
of $104.4 million through a combination of appropriated funds and $4 million in
additional user fees generated through a proposed rulemaking to bring fees
closer to costs for certain services. This funding level preserves significant
increases that were appropriated over the last few years to continue making
significant progress in reducing permitting backlogs and expediting access to
energy resources. The MMS budget
includes an increase of $4.3 million for the Outer Continental Shelf Connect
E-government initiative, the third year of a six-year project to reform and streamline
offshore business operations by improving connectivity between the government
and the public. The initiative will create a citizen-centered web presence and
build an E-government infrastructure across agencies. Total funding for the initiative in 2005 will
be $16 million.
Improving Law Enforcement and Security: The
2005 budget includes a $39.2 million increase over the 2004 level for law
enforcement and security to improve protection of employees, visitors, and
facilities at the nation's parks, refuges, public lands and facilities. To
enhance security at major NPS icons, the budget includes increases of $3.3
million for the U.S. Park Police and an additional $2 million to complete
security improvements at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. It includes $5.3 million in the budgets of
the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs,
Bureau of Land Management and the Office of Law Enforcement and Security to
improve law enforcement efforts in border areas. The budget also requests $5.2
million for implementing an off-the-shelf reporting system for law enforcement
incidents to be used by DOI agencies; $2.8 million for increases in the
National Park Service and Fish and Wildlife Service for law enforcement
management reforms; and $7.8 million for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to
operate eight new detention facilities serving Indian populations.
The FY 2005 DOI Highlights Book is online at http://www.doi.gov/budget/2005/05Hilites/toc.html.
A link to 2005 Highlights is on the Office of Budget home page at http://www.doi.gov/ budget .