S. HRG. 112–392 Senate Hearings Before the Committee on Appropriations Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Fiscal Year 2012 112th CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION H.R. 2584 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY NONDEPARTMENTAL WITNESSES Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations, 2012 S. HRG. 112–392 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2012 HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION Department of Agriculture Department of the Interior Environmental Protection Agency Nondepartmental Witnesses Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/ committee.action?chamber=senate&committee=appropriations U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 64–606 PDF WASHINGTON : 2012 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 COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii, Chairman PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi, Ranking TOM HARKIN, Iowa MITCH MCCONNELL, Kentucky BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama HERB KOHL, Wisconsin KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas PATTY MURRAY, Washington LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California SUSAN COLLINS, Maine RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana MARK KIRK, Illinois JACK REED, Rhode Island DANIEL COATS, Indiana FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey ROY BLUNT, Missouri BEN NELSON, Nebraska JERRY MORAN, Kansas MARK PRYOR, Arkansas JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota JON TESTER, Montana RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin SHERROD BROWN, Ohio CHARLES J. HOUY, Staff Director BRUCE EVANS, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES JACK REED, Rhode Island, Chairman DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi HERB KOHL, Wisconsin SUSAN COLLINS, Maine TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin BEN NELSON, Nebraska ROY BLUNT, Missouri JON TESTER, Montana JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii (ex officio) Professional Staff PETER KIEFHABER GINNY JAMES RACHEL TAYLOR RYAN HUNT LEIF FONNESBECK (Minority) REBECCA BENN (Minority) BRENT WILES (Minority) Administrative Support TERI CURTIN COURTNEY STEVENS (Minority) (II) CONTENTS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2011 Page Department of the Interior ..................................................................................... 1 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2011 Environmental Protection Agency .......................................................................... 71 THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2011 Department of Agriculture: Forest Service ............................................................ 135 Nondepartmental Witnesses ................................................................................... 183 (III) DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRON- MENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPRO- PRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2012 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2011 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met at 3:45 p.m., in room SD–124, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Jack Reed (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Reed, Tester, Landrieu, Murkowski, Cochran, Collins, and Blunt. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STATEMENT OF HON. KEN SALAZAR, SECRETARY ACCOMPANIED BY: DAVID HAYES, DEPUTY SECRETARY PAM K. HAZE, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR BUDGET, FI- NANCE, PERFORMANCE, AND ACQUISITION OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JACK REED Senator REED. Let me call the hearing to order. I want to thank the Secretary for joining us this afternoon. I also appreciate your consideration of our schedule, Mr. Secretary, but you have had some experience here with the Senate schedule, so I think you were not shocked and surprised when we had to delay this 30 minutes. We certainly appreciate your taking time from your very hectic schedule to come up and talk about the administration’s fiscal year 2012 budget for your Department, the Department of the Interior. And before I begin, I would like to commend and thank Senators Feinstein and Alexander for their great leadership of the sub- committee. As you know, they have shifted their focus now to the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, but they still retain their membership on this subcommittee. They are valuable mem- bers, and we look forward to their insights and to their assistance as we go forward. Now, I want to just, from the beginning, prove that the Senator from Alaska and I are not a force to be taken lightly. I would just point out the fact that between our two States, we have more than half of the land in the National Park System. Now, you could quibble over whether 41 million acres and 5 acres is—there is a difference, but together we are 51.5 percent of the (1) 2 park system. So you have got a majority right here before you, Mr. Secretary. Let me just say that I am delighted to be able to work with Sen- ator Murkowski. She is an extraordinarily talented and dedicated representative not only of Alaska, but of commitment to the issues that are important to the Nation as a whole. So thank you, Sen- ator, for your help and your assistance. And also I recognize—and she has done a good job of educating me already—that many of these issues are central to the commu- nities of her State, vitally central, and I do recognize that and I look forward to working with her for her constituents as well as the Nation. These programs have impacts everywhere, though. In my home State of Rhode Island, we have a rich, historic heritage. The Na- tional Park Service—we have what I used to think was the small- est park in America, but apparently there is a park in Philadel- phia, the Pulaski Park, that is smaller. It is less than 5 acres, but we have a national park. We have the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley Corridor. So we have a national park influence and impacts, and I appreciate that very much. We also have a wildlife refuge complex. We have many things that we treasure deeply in Rhode Island that are governed by your Department. We are involved in offshore wind development. You and I, Mr. Secretary, had discussions about that several times. So the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is central not only to the gulf and Senator Landrieu, but up in Rhode Island, in New Eng- land, New Jersey, both coasts, every waterway. And I really want to say how I look forward to working with you. Every area of this country is affected by what you do. The issues are critical, and as we go forward, I will continue to ask for your advice, assistance, and help, as I have in the past. The administration for the Department of the Interior is seeking approximately $11.175 billion. That is an increase of about $100 million, or about 1 percent above the equivalent 2010 enacted level. That might not seem like a lot, but it covers so many vital pro- grams. For example, the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) would be increased. Funding necessary to complete the very important reorganization of the BOEM would be included. Landsat operations are proposed for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in fact, an increase of about $61 million for those oper- ations. Some of these changes are laudable, in fact overdue, but in this fiscal environment, I do not have to tell you, Mr. Secretary, every- thing has to be weighed very carefully and very tough choices have to be made among programs. There are also in your budget reductions: $151 million for man- agement efficiencies. I applaud those proposals, and we want to help you achieve those reductions. I know, Mr. Secretary, you recognize that this is a difficult budg- et. I also know and expect that you will be there to help us make these decisions. And as I begin my tenure here, it is our commit- ment to work with you to ensure that our public lands are pro- tected, that we uphold our responsibility to Native Americans, that 3 the Department has its resources in so many different ways to carry out its critical missions. Senator REED. With that, Mr. Secretary, I would like to recognize the ranking member, Senator Murkowski. STATEMENT OF SENATOR LISA MURKOWSKI Senator MURKOWSKI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is indeed a pleasure to be working with you on this subcommittee. We laugh about this kind of odd couple pairing, the largest State in terms of geographic size with the smallest, but as you point out, we have some shared issues. We have a lot of commonality, and I look for- ward to working with you. We have already decided that during our August break, we are going to visit some national parks in my State and do the same in Rhode Island and get to know the differences just a bit better. But I think one of the things that is important to recognize is that we both share a common interest in ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely, that the agencies under our jurisdiction are accountable to the Congress and to the public. We will work forward with that. I would also like to recognize the members of our subcommittee. We have got three new folks on the Republican side who are new to the Senate, much less the subcommittee: Senator Blunt, Senator Hoeven, and Senator Johnson. Senator Landrieu and I have worked on so many of these issues over the years. You recognized the work of Senator Feinstein and Senator Alexander as the former chairman and the ranking member, respectively, on this sub- committee, and we do appreciate their leadership and their guid- ance. Secretary, I am pleased to have you before us.