Senate moved to break National Park maintenance funding logjam

In a key vote that brings vital upgrades to the country’s national parks system one step closer to fulfillment, the U.S. Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee overwhelmingly passed the proposed “Restore Our Parks Act.”

The October 2^nd bipartisan vote was even close: Nineteen to four, and included those from a Senate Independent, several Democrats and a number of Republicans, among them being Ohio’s junior senator, Rob Portman.

Behind the move is an effort to address the nearly $12 billion in deferred maintenance backlog of the National Park Service. Such a dam-burst in allowing money to flow to correct this infrastructural backlog would come from a so-called “National Park Service Legacy Restoration Fund.”

The Fund would be the recipient of moneys from existing “unobligated” revenues the federal government receives from on-shore and off-shore energy development.

Various other conservation-related accounts also tap into this fund, thus being “obligated.”

The dollars coming from this additional fiscal bit of government largress would henceforth flow into an account earmarked specifically for National Park Service maintenance projects that have been deferred on an on-going basis.

While that sounds like a no-brainer, note that every unspent in every unused federal government account is credited against the federal deficit. Consequently, if one billion dollars is not being spent from Account “X” than the federal deficit looks like its one billion smaller.

Such book-keeping slight of hand is a key reason that administrations of both parties like to keep those dollars where are, unspent.

Yet the needs clearly outstrips the perceived withholding of revenues, the program’s backers contend.

“This bipartisan legislation will help tackle the more than $100 million maintenance backlog alone at Ohio’s eight national park sites,” said Portman, who went on to thank his Senate committee colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

“We can no longer wait to fix the $12 billion maintenance backlog at our national parks and ignore the long-term effects of allowing these national treasures to simply crumble,” also said Senator Mark Warner from Virginia.

Heralding the committee vote as well was Theresa Pierno, President and CEO for the National Parks Conservation Association, a non-partisan organization designed to advocate for the country’s national parks system.

“The importance of preserving our history, culture and public lands is something we can all agree on,” Pierno said.

“Tackling the deferred maintenance in our national parks is not a political issue but an American one, and all who are supporting this important legislation recognize that. We commend the dedication and leadership of those senators for working in a bipartisan way to push this important bill through Congress, and making a strong investment in our national parks.”

The proposal now moves to the Senate where its fate will be determined by all of its 100 members and then will need to wind its way through the entire legislative labyrinth.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritect.net