The National Park Service's
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
AS DIFFICULT AS POSSIBLE: THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE’S IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GOVERN- MENT SHUTDOWN JOINT HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM AND THE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION OCTOBER 16, 2013 Serial No. 113–116 (Committee on Oversight and Government Reform) Serial No. 113–48 (Committee on Natural Resources) ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov http://www.house.gov/reform http://naturalresources.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 88–621PDF WASHINGTON : 2014 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:23 Jul 23, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 C:\DOCS\88621.TXT APRIL COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM DARRELL E. ISSA, California, Chairman JOHN L. MICA, Florida ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland, Ranking MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio Minority Member JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of JIM JORDAN, Ohio Columbia JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts TIM WALBERG, Michigan WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts JUSTIN AMASH, Michigan JIM COOPER, Tennessee PAUL A. GOSAR, Arizona GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia PATRICK MEEHAN, Pennsylvania JACKIE SPEIER, California SCOTT DESJARLAIS, Tennessee MATTHEW A. CARTWRIGHT, Pennsylvania TREY GOWDY, South Carolina TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois DOC HASTINGS, Washington DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois CYNTHIA M. LUMMIS, Wyoming PETER WELCH, Vermont ROB WOODALL, Georgia TONY CARDENAS, California THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky STEVEN A. HORSFORD, Nevada DOUG COLLINS, Georgia MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM, New Mexico MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina Vacancy KERRY L. BENTIVOLIO, Michigan RON DESANTIS, Florida LAWRENCE J. BRADY, Staff Director JOHN D. CUADERES, Deputy Staff Director STEPHEN CASTOR, General Counsel LINDA A. GOOD, Chief Clerk DAVID RAPALLO, Minority Staff Director (II) VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:23 Jul 23, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\88621.TXT APRIL COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES DOC HASTINGS, WA, Chairman PETER A. DEFAZIO, OR, Ranking Democratic Member Don Young, AK Eni F. H. Faleomavaega, AS Louie Gohmert, TX Frank Pallone, Jr., NJ Rob Bishop, UT Grace F. Napolitano, CA Doug Lamborn, CO Rush Holt, NJ Robert J. Wittman, VA Rau´ l M. Grijalva, AZ Paul C. Broun, GA Madeleine Z. Bordallo, GU John Fleming, LA Jim Costa, CA Tom McClintock, CA Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, CNMI Glenn Thompson, PA Niki Tsongas, MA Cynthia M. Lummis, WY Pedro R. Pierluisi, PR Dan Benishek, MI Colleen W. Hanabusa, HI Jeff Duncan, SC Tony Ca´rdenas, CA Scott R. Tipton, CO Steven A. Horsford, NV Paul A. Gosar, AZ Jared Huffman, CA Rau´ l R. Labrador, ID Raul Ruiz, CA Steve Southerland, II, FL Carol Shea-Porter, NH Bill Flores, TX Alan S. Lowenthal, CA Jon Runyan, NJ Joe Garcia, FL Mark E. Amodei, NV Matt Cartwright, PA Markwayne Mullin, OK Vacancy Chris Stewart, UT Steve Daines, MT Kevin Cramer, ND Doug LaMalfa, CA Jason T. Smith, MO Todd Young, Chief of Staff Lisa Pittman, Chief Legislative Counsel Penny Dodge, Democratic Staff Director David Watkins, Democratic Chief Counsel (III) VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:23 Jul 23, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\88621.TXT APRIL VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:23 Jul 23, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\88621.TXT APRIL C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on October 16, 2013 .......................................................................... 1 WITNESSES Mr. Greg Bryan, Mayor, Town of Tusayan, Arizona Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 12 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 15 Ms. Anna Eberly, Managing Director, Claude Moore Colonial Farm, McLean, Virginia Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 21 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 23 Mr. Jonathan B. Jarvis, Director, National Park Service Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 32 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 34 Ms. Lisa Simon, President, National Tourism Association, Lexington, Ken- tucky Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 37 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 39 Mr. Myron Ebell, Director, Center for Energy and Environment, Competitive Enterprise Institute Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 43 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 45 Mr. Denis P. Galvin, Board of Trustees, National Parks Conservation Associa- tion Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 50 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 52 APPENDIX Opening Statement of Rep. Gerald Connolly ........................................................ 132 Additional Statement for the record by The Hon. Pedro Pierluisi ...................... 134 USA Article, ‘‘GOP asks: Why Were National Parks Shut Down, Anyway?’’ submitted by Chairman Issa ............................................................................... 137 AP News Archive ‘‘Annoyed Tourists Shut Out Of Monuments—Again,’’ sub- mitted by Chairman Issa ..................................................................................... 140 U.S. Dept. of Interior National Park System Closure Determination and No- tice, submitted by Chairman Issa ....................................................................... 142 A letter to Rep. Cummings from the Military Officers Assoc. of America, submitted by Rep. Cummings ............................................................................. 144 Statement from the Student Veterans of America submitted by Rep. Cummings ............................................................................................................. 146 A Statement by Blount County Mayor Ed Mitchell, submitted by Rep. Dun- can ......................................................................................................................... 148 Donation Agreement Between the NPS and the State of Arizona, submitted by Chairman Issa ................................................................................................. 150 A letter dated Mar. 27, 2013 to NPS and the April 19, 2013 response, submitted by Chairman Issa ............................................................................... 168 Statement by Alan O’Neill, submitted by Rep. Horsford ..................................... 172 A Feb. 28, 2013 letter from 300 businesses affected by NPS cuts, submitted by Rep. Lowenthal ............................................................................................... 175 Statement of Mary Hountalas ................................................................................ 179 Oct 15, 2013 letter to Rep. Cummings from the Reserve Offices Assoc. ............. 183 The Victoria Advocate article of Oct. 13, 2013 ...................................................... 184 Questions and responses from the NPS ................................................................. 186 (V) VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:23 Jul 23, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\88621.TXT APRIL VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:23 Jul 23, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\88621.TXT APRIL AS DIFFICULT AS POSSIBLE: THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE’S IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN Wednesday, October 16, 2013 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM, JOINT WITH COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES, Washington, D.C. The committees met, pursuant to call, at 9:30 a.m., in Room 2167, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Darrell E. Issa [chair- man of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform] pre- siding. Present for Committee on Oversight and Government Reform: Representatives Issa, Mica, Duncan, Jordan, Chaffetz, Walberg, Lankford, Amash, Gosar, Meehan, Gowdy, Lummis, Woodall, Massie, Meadows, Bentivolio, DeSantis, Cummings, Maloney, Nor- ton, Tierney, Lynch, Connolly, Pocan, Kelly, Davis, Horsford and Grisham. Present for the Committee on Natural Resources: Representa- tives Hastings, Young, Gohmert, Bishop, Lamborn, Wittman, Flem- ing, McClintock, Thompson, Benishek, Tipton, Labrador, Flores, Mullin, Stewart, Daines, LaMalfa, Smith, DeFazio, Faleomavaega, Napolitano, Holt, Grijalva, Bordallo, Costa, Tsongas, Pierluisi, Huffman, Shea-Porter, Lowenthal, Garcia, and Cartwright. Also present: Representative Noem. Staff present for Committee on Oversight and Government Re- form: Ali Ahmad, Senior Communications Advisor; Molly Boyl,