Unanimous Consent Request -- S. 338

Floor Speech

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Mr. BENNET. I thank my friend from North Carolina for his efforts,
and I wish to echo a lot of the points he already made so well,
especially about how we stand here today having this fair, reasonable,
unanimous consent request that the Senator from North Carolina has asked for, as we stand here today when essentially what we are talking about is a promise that has been broken by this Congress to the American people for 50 years.

I thank, through the Chair, my colleague from North Carolina for
trying to rectify that.

I am disappointed that our unanimous consent request was objected to,
but I know this measure has plenty of support. As he mentioned, we led
an amendment on the floor last week with the exact same text of the
bill that we are discussing today. When the dust settled, that
amendment received 59 votes, but I have a hunch that it would
comfortably clear the 60-vote threshold were it to be considered again.
And it should be considered again.

The measure is simple. As Senator Burr said, it simply reauthorizes
the Land and Water Conservation Fund and ensures that a dedicated
portion of LWCF funds go to provide new access for our Nation's sports
men and women.

As most in this body know, LWCF is one of the country's best
conservation programs. It provides $900 million annually to preserve
our public lands and increase access to them. Not only do we need to
pass this bill to reauthorize the program, but we need to ensure that
we dedicate full and mandatory funding to the initiative, as Congress
intended when we created the program in 1964.

Historically, LWCF resources have been used for all types of
projects, ranging from building city parks to purchasing small parcels
of isolated land from willing sellers and all the way to preserving our
Nation's historic battlefields.

In Colorado, we have used LWCF for a wide variety of projects beyond
traditional conservation. For example, LWCF was of critical importance
to our State following a major natural disaster in 1976. That year an
intense rainstorm caused massive flooding around Colorado's Big
Thompson River. The flood claimed the lives of 145 Coloradans and
caused more than $35 million in damages.

Once the horrible tragedy passed, the community had to rebuild.
Rather than constructing houses back in the flood plain, Larimer County
turned to LWCF to acquire the affected land and compensated the
families whose homes were destroyed.

Those flood plains are now home to four new county parks--popular
destinations for birdwatchers, anglers, and family picnics--instead of
vulnerable structures. When another huge flood hit in the fall of 2013,
the rivers ran black and eventually surged over their banks, as we can
see from this photo I have in the Chamber.

Luckily, the flood plains, protected by LWCF and the creativity of
our local folks, saw much less damage this time. The floodwaters
inundated the open, undeveloped spaces instead of destroying homes and
businesses, and Larimer County avoided about $16 million in estimated
property damages.

It is incredible to think that an LWCF investment of just over $1
million in 1976 saved us more than 15 times that amount in 2013.

Beyond the example from Larimer County, communities all across
Colorado have used LWCF to preserve sensitive landscapes and to help
their local economies. This past summer, we completed a huge LWCF
project in the San Juan National Forest near the town of Ophir. I spoke
briefly about this project last week, and I will mention it again today
because the work of the town of Ophir and the people of Ophir, along
with their partners, the Trust for Public Land, were truly remarkable.

If memory serves, it is a project that took 12 years from start to
finish. It had to be done in phases. LWCF funds were used to acquire
several old mining claims above town, preserving the scenic beauty and
ensuring that the area will remain undeveloped forever.

In this picture, if you ignore the center with these people in front
of me, we can see how beautiful it is. This is a picture of the newly
preserved landscape in Ophir. A group of us gathered to celebrate the
accomplishment this past summer.

Most of these mountain communities get huge portions of their revenue
and business from recreation and tourism. It is for some of these
reasons that the town felt the Land and Water Conservation Fund
literally helped secure their economic future.

This is a small, rural community in my home State. It is far away
from this floor. LWCF has made a huge difference for Ophir.

These are two stories from Colorado, but I know they have been
replicated thousands of times across the country and in all 50 States.
Those stories and accomplishments alone make this bill worth
supporting.

As I mentioned earlier, Congress wrote and passed LWCF in 1964, and
it is beyond time to reauthorize it. Senator Burr has shown great
leadership in crafting a bill to do just that.

Conservation policies--from LWCF to farm bill easement programs, from
wilderness to national parks--are important to the American people. The
American people support this work. Protecting our land and water is
part of our everyday lives in Colorado, and I know our State is not the
only one.

Conserved lands and wide-open spaces are a huge economic driver
across the country, a huge part of our culture. They are who we are in
the West. We should do right by the American people and reauthorize
this program as soon as possible. Then we ought to work together to
ensure that LWCF gets the full and mandatory funding going forward that
was promised 50 years ago by Congress.

With that, I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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