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[ft-l] [AHS] Capitol Trails Broadcast, 10/01 - BART Rule & Fee Demo
- Subject: [ft-l] [AHS] Capitol Trails Broadcast, 10/01 - BART Rule & Fee Demo
- From: ft-l@mailman.backcountry.net (Kent Wimmer/NONFS/USDAFS)
- Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2001 11:19:28 -0400
FYI - an advocacy alert from the American Hiking Society.
Kent
**************************************************************************************************
Kent L. Wimmer, AICP
Florida National Scenic Trail Liaison
Florida Trail Association, Inc.
kwimmer@fs.fed.us
(850) 942-9376 (w)
(850) 942-9378 (fax)
(850) 386-8442 (h)
Mailing address:
USDA Forest Service
National Forests in Florida
325 John Knox Rd, F-100
Tallahassee, FL 32303-4160
**************************************************************************************************
----- Forwarded by Kent Wimmer/NONFS/USDAFS on 10/03/2001 11:17 AM -----
Capitol_Trails@american
hiking.org To: Capitol_Trails@americanhiking.org
Sent by: cc:
<Capitol_Trails@c-t-g.c Subject: [AHS] Capitol Trails Broadcast, 10/01 - BART Rule & Fee Demo
om>
10/03/2001 10:43 AM
Capitol Trails Broadcast for AHS Alliance Members & Partners
HELP IMPROVE AIR QUALITY IN PARKS AND WILDERNESS
Speak out in support of improving air quality in national parks and
wilderness areas. Interested individuals and organizations are invited to
submit written comments on the Environmental Protection Agency's BART (Best
Available Retrofit Technology) rule by October 5, 2001.
EPA recently published national park/wilderness area visibility protection
guidelines, known as the BART rule. BART benefits these natural areas by
helping states control haze-causing emissions from older power plants. The
EPA held a short series of public hearings--at which American Hiking and
Hikers for Clean Air testified--and is inviting public comments on the BART
Rule.
Pollution from antiquated power plants and industrial facilities
contributes
to impaired visibility, threats to human/hiker health, and alters the
ecosystems of the natural areas hikers and other recreationists visit and
cherish. Visibility has deteriorated dramatically in many national parks in
recent decades, fine particulate pollution damages lungs and jeopardizes
hikers' health, and acid rain is killing trees, plants, water bodies, and
aquatic life--notably in the Northeast and Appalachian range, although
adverse effects are evident nationwide.
To read the BART rule, visit <http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/t1pfpr.html> or
go to <http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/t1/fact_sheets/bartfs.pdf> for a
summary. Let EPA know why cleaning up the air at national parks and
wilderness areas is important to hikers.
Send comments to: Air and Radiation Docket Information Center (6102),
Attention: Docket No. A-2000-28, US Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20460.
Or submit comments via email at: A-and-R-Docket@epamail.epa.gov and refer
to
docket number A-2000-28. Email comments must be submitted as an ASCII (i.e.
text/non-html) file.
...
COMMENT NOW ON FEE DEMO
Contact the House Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health by October 5,
2001 to officially comment on the Fee Demo program in the Forest Service.
On
September 25, 2001, the Forests Subcommittee held an oversight hearing on
permanent extension of the Forest Service's Fee Demo program-the first such
hearing since the program began in 1996.
The House-passed Interior bill includes a four-year extension of Fee Demo.
Fee Demo has been continually extended through the appropriations process
without the hearings and legislative oversight afforded most government
programs. American Hiking supports a one-year extension to give the
authorizing committees time to hold public hearings, conduct an extensive
review of the successes and failures of the program, and examine the future
of fees on public lands.
The agencies manage and implement Fee Demo inconsistently, resulting in
limited inter- and intra-agency coordination, confusing fee policies, and
multiple fees. Equity concerns persist, as the federal agencies often fail
to correlate fees to the cost or level of service provided or type of
recreation and impacts created. Fees may create a barrier to use for lower
income populations. Despite the requirement that fee revenues supplement,
not supplant, appropriations, the agencies admit to dependence on the
program for an increasingly significant portion of recreation funding.
Send your letter or comments to: Congressman Scott McInnis, Chair,
Subcommittee on Forests & Forest Health, 1337 Longworth HOB, Washington, DC
20515. ATTN: Teresa Fierro
Or, email: Forest.Health@mail.house.gov
Fax #: (202) 225-0521
Congress established Fee Demo in 1996 as a three year experiment (and
subsequently extended it through September 2002) to raise supplemental
revenues for the National Park Service, USDA Forest Service, Bureau of Land
Management, and Fish and Wildlife Service for maintenance backlogs,
resource
management needs, and visitor services.
**************
To call your Member of Congress:
US Capitol Switchboard
(202) 224-3121
To write your Senator:
The Honorable ______________
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
To write your Representative:
The Honorable ______________
US House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
To locate your Member on-line:
<http://thomas.loc.gov/>
Celina Montorfano
Alliance Policy Manager
American Hiking Society
1422 Fenwick Lane
Silver Spring, MD 20910
(301) 565-6704 x205
(301) 565-6714 (fax)
cmontorfano@AmericanHiking.org
http://www.AmericanHiking.org
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