Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 3210 and ask that it be reported by number.

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Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, there are a lot of good things in this bill that we are discussing. There are a lot of good amendments that have been brought to the floor.

There has been an awful lot of conversation over the past year about a program called the Land and Water Conservation Fund. It is a straightforward program that has been around for a long time. It takes money from revenue from offshore oil drilling and it uses that money to purchase land, usually next to a national park or in other areas, and that becomes Federal land.

The problem is that over the decades we have continued to accumulate more money in the Land and Water Conservation Fund and we have continued to accumulate more land onto the Federal roll but we are not taking care of what we have.

The issue with this particular version of the Land and Water Conservation Fund is that it is not a short-term extension the way it has always been in the past; it is a permanent program put in place-- permanent meaning there are no changes. So permanently we put in a structure that continues to purchase Federal lands without maintaining those lands. We all know it. We all see it.

Year after year, everyone has said we should add more to maintenance, but year after year we just buy more land using the Land and Water Conservation Fund and never use other budget funds for maintenance because, quite frankly, there are a lot of other vital Federal issues that need to be paid for.

The simple solution to this is to take the money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund and make sure that one simple thing is done: that when we purchase land, we also maintain that land with that funding. We also take care of the backlog.

This amendment is very straightforward: We use 50 percent to purchase land and 50 percent to maintain the land until we at least get down to a $1 billion backlog, and then we can reconsider. A $1 billion backlog is the goal. In some ways, this has become controversial. I can't believe it would be controversial to say: Let's try to work our Nation down to only a $1 billion backlog in our maintenance for all our Federal facilities.

We have record attendance at our national parks. They are beautiful national treasures, but if we can't maintain them, then we reinforce what is already true: that the Federal Government is the largest landowner, largest land controller, and the worst landowner in the country. Federal lands are maintained the least of any other large holder of land. Let's fix it.

This doesn't take away the Land and Water Conservation Fund; this makes sure we take care of what we have. When we purchase land and bring it in, we make sure we also set aside money to fix it. Frankly, it is straightforward.

Today my daughter turns 16 years old. She will at some point get a used car. I am sure it will be a doozy--we are thinking somewhere around a 1978 Volvo. Nice and tough. Indestructible. At some point she will end up with a used car, but the requirement is that she has to be a part of the purchase of it. When we buy that car, we will not use everything in our savings account, nor will we allow her to use all of her savings account. She has to have enough money to be able to put gas in it and maintain it when it breaks down because it is a car and it will break down. This change in the Land and Water Conservation Fund is as simple as that. Whenever we put new land in the inventory, we make sure we have money set aside to make sure we can actually take care of it. Why have a car if you can't put gas in it? Why continue to add land year after year if we are not going to maintain it? That is not good stewardship of our resources; that is bad stewardship of our resources.

This amendment says that before we make this program permanent, let's fix the structure of this program to make sure we are also watching out for the program long term as well.

One other quick note. Some of the land that has been purchased has been purchased for very high amounts, such as $1-million-per-acre types of amounts. This amendment puts a simple block in it that says: Before there is a purchase of land for more than $50,000 an acre, run that through Congress to make sure someone has had a second look at that. It is a straightforward provision to make sure the Federal taxpayer is not paying more than they should per acre for land in the Federal inventory.

I would urge the adoption of this amendment. This doesn't kill the program; it enhances the program. It allows us to take better care of our Federal land and to engage with that.

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Mr. LANKFORD. Madam President, it is a very straightforward Land and Water Conservation Fund amendment. We have common agreement on the Land and Water Conservation Fund--what it does, what it funds, how it is funded. Where we have some dispute is in whether we are we taking care of the land that we have. We continue to add more acres into the Federal inventory, and we are not taking care of them. The original plan of the Land and Water Conservation Fund is that someday, out of general budget, we will do maintenance on this, but let's keep adding land. We have all known for decades that has not worked. For decades we have added more land, and for decades we are not maintaining it.

The easiest way to identify this amendment is this: This amendment is about not only purchasing land but taking care of the land that we actually purchased. It splits half and half--half for the purchase of land and half for the maintenance.

My daughter's birthday is today. She is 16. She will get a car--an old used car--at some point. But the requirement for her is to not only help pay for the car but to actually have enough in her bank account that she can help maintain it and buy gasoline for it. She has to have a job so she can have income.

We have set aside the Land and Water Conservation Fund to continually get more land but not be able to maintain it. We wouldn't do that with our children. We wouldn't do that with our homes. But we have done it year after year with this.

Let's do something simple. Let's maintain what we actually purchased and make sure it comes into strict oversight of the Federal Government. We should take care of our Federal treasures that are these national parks and other Federal lands.

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Mr. LANKFORD. With that, I yield back.

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