[env-trinity] Dirk Kempthorne On The Issues

[Byron]

Dirk Kempthorne on Energy & Oil 

 

*  Voted YES on approving a nuclear waste repository. (Apr 1997) 

*  Voted YES on do not require ethanol in gasoline. (Aug 1994) 

*  Voluntary partnerships reduce greenhouse gases economically. (Aug 2000) 

*  Kyoto Treaty must include reductions by all countries. (Aug 2000) 

*  Federal tax incentives for energy, with state decisions. (Aug 2001) 

 

Dirk Kempthorne on Environment 

 

*  Supports salmon recovery without breaching Snake River dams. (Jan 2001) 

 

Despite the years of conflict over salmon recovery, we produced the Four
Governors' Agreement. With our neighbors from Washington, Oregon and Montana
we have provided a roadmap for salmon recovery. It represented consensus. It
respected states' water rights and property rights. It did not call for
breaching the lower Snake River dams. It has empowered the states to set
their own priorities for salmon recovery, instead of reacting to federal
dictates. 

Source: State of the State address to the Idaho legislature Jan 8, 2001 

 

*  States' rights: no grizzly bears; no roadless forests. (Jan 2001) 

 

Its time to move command and control away from Washington, D.C. and get the
decision-making down to where it should be - on the ground and in the hands
of the land managers - our national forest supervisors and our state
foresters. 

Can you believe the Clinton Administration proposal to re-introduce
flesh-eating grizzly bears into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness? Folks,
this could be the first land management action in history to result in sure
death and injury of citizens. We will challenge this blatant confrontation
to our state sovereignty in federal court.

And just last week, in its waning days, the Clinton Administration announced
its intent to implement its roadless plan, ignoring the Idaho Land Board. We
will go to court once again to prevent this misguided and flawed federal
policy from taking effect. 

Source: State of the State address to the Idaho legislature Jan 8, 2001 

 

*  Voted YES on transportation demo projects. (Mar 1998) 

*  Voted NO on reducing funds for road-building in National Forests. (Sep
1997) 

 

Vote on an amendment to cut the $47.4 million provided for Forest Service
road construction by $10 million, and to eliminate the purchaser credit
program [which provides credits to timber companies to offset what they owe
the government]. 

Bill HR.2107 <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c10X:S.9999:>  ; vote
number 1997-242
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cf
m?congress=105&session=1&vote=00242>  on Sep 17, 1997 

 

*  Voted NO on continuing desert protection in California. (Oct 1994) 

*  Voted YES on requiring EPA risk assessments. (May 1994) 

*  More state autonomy on brownfields & Superfund cleanups. (Aug 2001) 

 

Kempthorne adopted the National Governors Association position paper: 

The Issue

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of
1980 (CERCLA), otherwise known as Superfund, was created to clean up the
worst hazardous waste sites across the country and to recoup expenses from
responsible parties. Since the law was enacted in 1980, the Superfund
program has caused significant amounts of litigation, while cleanup of
hazardous waste sites has not been as fast or effective as the statute
envisioned. In addition, states have not had the necessary tools or funding
from the federal government to adequately clean up state sites.
"Brownfields" sites-abandoned or undeveloped non-Superfund industrial or
commercial sites under state jurisdiction-have gained increasing attention
from Congress in recent years as passage of a comprehensive Superfund
package has become increasingly unlikely. 

NGA's Position

NGA supports the reauthorization of the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980. NGA policy calls for more
opportunities for states to take authority for cleanup of National
Priorities List (NPL) sites, increased autonomy and funding over brownfield
sites, and the concurrence of a Governor before a site can be listed on the
NPL. 

Source: National Governors Association "Issues / Positions" 01-NGA15
<http://www.nga.org/nga/lobbyIssues/1,1169,D_1252,00.html>  on Aug 1, 2001 

 

*  Support State Revolving Loan Fund for flexible Clean Water. (Aug 2001) 

 

Kempthorne adopted the National Governors Association position paper: 

The Issue

The Clean Water Act (CWA) has not been reauthorized since 1987. At that
time, provisions were added to address nonpoint source pollution, pollution
from diffuse sources such as runoff of fertilizers and pesticides,
stormwater runoff, and sediment. Governors and the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) disagree on the best approach to addressing the problem of
nonpoint source pollution. 

NGA's Position

NGA supports the reauthorization of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act
of 1972 (the Clean Water Act). The Governors support an increased focus on
watershed management planning, including funding for the State Revolving
Loan Fund (SRF) and nonpoint source pollution programs. States should have
the flexibility to develop plans for attaining federally approved water
quality standards in impaired waters - in consultation with local government
officials and stakeholders - and to allocate responsibility for cleanup
among contributors. The TMDL regulations should be revised, by legislation
if necessary, to give states adequate flexibility, funding, and time to
address impaired waters. 

Source: National Governors Association "Issues / Positions" 01-NGA9
<http://www.nga.org/nga/lobbyIssues/1,1169,D_1294,00.html>  on Aug 1, 2001 

 

*  Focus on prevention and states for Endangered Species. (Aug 2001) 

 

Kempthorne signed the Western Governors' Association resolution: 

1.	Preventative conservation on both public and private lands is
essential. Western states are actively developing conservation plans to
restore declining species before they need the protections of the Endangered
Species Act [ESA]. Most declining species can be restored to health only
through a federal-state partnership that involves private landowners and
interested parties. 
2.	The purposes of the ESA are undermined if the Act must be so
narrowly interpreted that, in order to defend its application against legal
challenge, the very species the Act was enacted to protect are
disadvantaged. [For example], the decision in Oregon Natural Resources
Council v. Daley, holds that the requirement under the ESA for federal
agencies to consider state conservation plans means almost nothing. If
decisions like the one in Oregon stands, the Western Governors believe there
is a problem with the Act itself requiring amendment or regulatory
clarification. 
3.	In addition, the Governors have long supported the reauthorization
of the ESA based on three goals: to increase the role of states, to
streamline the ESA, and to increase certainty and technical assistance for
landowners and water users. And the governors call for the ESA to have the
recovery of species as its central focus. 
4.	The Western Governors believe that the courts, and the Congress,
when writing the reauthorization of the ESA, should reaffirm the Secretary's
ability to defer the listing of a species when the actions of a state
conservation agreement eliminates the need to list a species. The courts and
Congress should also clarify that voluntary actions that the Secretary finds
will help restore a declining species and which have performance standards,
implementation plans, and monitoring and reporting provisions, and are
properly financed, are valid conservation tools. 

Source: WGA Policy Resolution 01 - 11: Endangered Species Act 01-WGA11
<http://www.westgov.org/wga/policy/01/01_11.pdf>  on Aug 14, 2001 

 

*  Collaborative, incentive driven, locally-based solutions. (Aug 2001) 

 

Kempthorne signed the Western Governors' Association resolution: 

1.	Water quality restoration is essential for economic and
environmental sustainability of forestry, agriculture, fisheries,
manufacturing, recreation and public water supply. 
2.	The Western Governors favor collaborative, incentive driven, locally
based solutions to environmental and natural resource problems such as water
quality restoration. 

3.      The governors continue to endorse the Park City Paradigm to guide
water management. Its guiding principles are: 

*	Recognition of diverse interests in water resource values. 
*	Problems should be approached in a holistic or systemic way that
recognizes cross-cutting issues, cross-border impacts and concerns, and the
multiple needs within the broader "problemshed" - the area that encompasses
the problem and all the affected interests. 
*	The policy framework should be responsive to economic, social and
environmental considerations. Policies must be flexible and yet provide some
level of predictability. 
*	Authority and accountability should be decentralized within national
policy parameters. This includes a general federal policy of recognizing and
supporting the key role of states in water management. 
*	Negotiation and market-like approaches as well as performance
standards are preferred over command-and-control patterns. 

3.	Implementing these water management principles can be expensive and
beyond the ability of some states to fund. However, the benefits of managing
the resource in this manner are significant. Therefore, the Western
Governors encourage federal agencies to look for opportunities to use
existing authority to provide funding, flexibility in funding, and/or shared
or loaned personnel to states to help them address specific watershed
problems. 

Source: WGA Policy Resolution 01 - 12: Watershed Partnerships 01-WGA12
<http://www.westgov.org/wga/policy/01/01_12.pdf>  on Aug 14, 2001 

*  Apply "Good Samaritan" rules to abandoned mine cleanup. (Aug 2001) 

 

Kempthorne signed the Western Governors' Association resolution: 

Good Samaritan

1.	The Western Governors believe that there is a need to eliminate
disincentives, and establish incentives, to voluntary, cooperative efforts
aimed at improving and protecting water quality impacted by abandoned or
inactive mines. 
2.	The Western Governors believe the Clean Water Act should be amended
to protect a remediating agency from becoming legally responsible for any
continuing discharges from the abandoned mine site after completion of a
cleanup project, provided that the remediating agency -- or "Good
Samaritan"-- does not otherwise have liability for that abandoned or
inactive mine site and attempts to improve the conditions at the site. 
3.	The Western Governors believe that Congress, as a priority, should
amend the Clean Water Act in a manner that accomplishes the goals embodied
in the WGA legislative package on Good Samaritan cleanups. S.1787 from the
106 th Congress is a good starting point for future congressional
deliberations. 

Cleanup and Funding 
4.	The Governors encourage federal land management agencies to
coordinate their abandoned mine efforts with state efforts to avoid
redundancy and unnecessary duplication. 
5.	Reliable sources of funds that do not divert from other important
Clean Water programs should be identified and made available for the cleanup
of hardrock abandoned mines in the West. 
6.	The Western Governors continue to urge the Administration and
Congress to promptly distribute to states abandoned coal mine land funds in
the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Trust Fund , including accumulated interest,
collected under Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (see WGA
Policy Resolution 00-012). 

Source: WGA Policy Resolution 01 - 15: Cleaning Up Abandoned Mines 01-WGA15
<http://www.westgov.org/wga/policy/01/01_15.pdf>  on Aug 14, 2001 

 

*  State primacy over water quantity & quality issues. (Aug 2001) 

 

State primacy over water quantity & quality issues.

Kempthorne signed the Western Governors' Association resolution: 

1.	The states should retain primary jurisdiction over water quantity
issues -- specifically water resource allocation and the determination of
beneficial uses. 
2.	Control of pollutants from stormwater needs to be addressed with
application of Best Management Practices. The Clean Water Act (CWA) should
allow flexibility in both water quality criteria and beneficial use
designations for receiving waters. Stormwater discharges to dry streams in
arid regions pose substantially lower environmental risks than do the same
discharges to perennial surface waters. 
3.	CWA reauthorization must take into account the environment in the
arid West. Specifically, the CWA should recognize and Congress should
provide adequate resources for the development of water quality criteria for
non-perennial and effluent dependent streams. 
4.	The CWA reauthorization should include two new statements of
purpose: 
(A) To recognize the need to establish water quality criteria for the wide
variety of ecosystems that exist in the U.S. 
(B) To allow states to encourage the reuse of treated wastewater, as a
component of water quality control. 
5.	The CWA should allow states flexibility in the designation of
beneficial uses and establishment of criteria for certain waters, such as
non-perennial and effluent dependent streams and man made water
transportation canals. 
6.	Non-point source funding should enable states to balance program
elements and focus, as needed, on technology development and transfer,
monitoring, assessment, etc. Federal agency activities should also be
required to comply with state non-point source management plans. 
7.	The Governors endorse the authorization of a regional water quality
research project to design and develop water quality standards appropriate
to unique conditions in the western states.

 

 

Byron Leydecker

Chair, Friends of Trinity River

Advisor, California Trout, Inc

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810 ph

415 383 9562 fx

bwl3 at comcast.net

bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org

http://www.fotr.org

http:www.caltrout.org 

 

 

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