WASHINGTON--Earlier this week, President Bush signed the 2004 Interior Appropriations Bill, which continues a troubling trend of cutting funding for protecting public lands.
"With a stroke of his pen this week, President Bush continued to burnish his legacy as a friend of the special interests and a foe of natural resource protection. Instead of protecting our scenic and historic places, there is a flood of money washing toward those same old big business interests: oil and gas developers," commented Democratic presidential candidate Governor Howard Dean, M.D.
Since President Bush took office, funding for the conservation of pristine lands has dropped 60 percent, while funding for oil and gas development on public lands has increased by 25 percent.
This massive shift in funding priorities severely underfunds the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which provides key funding for protecting America's special places. In addition, this gutting of the LWCF breaks a promise made by then-Governor Bush when he was running for president to "fully fund" the program--and it breaks a deal between the Clinton administration and Congress to provide increased funding for federal land acquisition through FY 2006.
"In 2000, President Clinton and Congress agreed that this country needed a renewed commitment to protecting our nation’s natural heritage. They established a Conservation Trust Fund to guarantee enhanced spending each year on land conservation and related activities. The Bush Administration has unfortunately broken this important promise in its ongoing zeal to pay off big contributors at the public's expense," Dean said.
http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=10457&news_iv_ctrl=1301
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