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By Jeff Arnold
associate legislative director
(in photo at right: Green Scissors '97 would entangle PILT payments with below-cost timber sales.)
A nationwide campaign dubbed "Green Scissors '97," which describes itself as the "product of an unusual collaboration between environmentalists, taxpayers and deficit hawks," has seized the imagination of national media outlets and Capitol Hill members - including House Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich (R-Ohio) - with its goal of eliminating private sector subsidies, while improving the environment and saving federal taxpayers billions of dollars.
The participants in Green Scissors '97 come from distinctly different perspectives. The environmental community is supporting reductions in federal programs that they believe harm the public health and the environment, and they advocate fundamental changes in agency budgets to address their agenda.
The "deficit hawks" are looking to shrink the federal budget and reduce taxpayer angst and the perceived economic harm caused by these "wasteful" programs. While the Green Scissors '97 Campaign may have reached consensus on programs to cut and ways to raise fees from "users" of public land, they have not considered all of the implications of their proposals for public land counties.
(in photo at left: Grazing fees would
be raised sharply under proposal.)
Historically, the primary goal of public lands management in the United States has been to encourage development of their resources.
This is true of activities which are usually considered traditional, such as timber harvesting, oil and gas production, mining, and grazing, but has also been valid for such activities as increasing wildlife, fish hatcheries and recreation. This has resulted in the long-term establishment of local economies based on these principles and practices.
Traditionally, multiple-use management is the primary concept by which federal land-use decisions have been made. Public land counties strongly support this philosophy as the best manner to provide a wide diversity of compatible activities on public lands. Healthy communities are essential to the management of the public lands.
For communities to survive, a level of natural resource production must be established that provides certainty to the industry and is sufficient to allow communities to continue to exist. True sustainability can only come as a partnership.
Some of the proposals in the Green Scissors '97 report support public land counties' interests in receiving a fair return to their taxpayers. Yet at the same time, others ignore the fact that federal taxpayers are also county taxpayers, and that returning some of the receipts from federal activities to the county in which the activities occurred (and for which these counties have provided services) is not a subsidy.
The report also does not take into account the severe economic dislocations and the costs associated with those changes when they are calculating their figures on a ledger.
Space does not allow a complete review of each proposal, but here are some of the proposals for which NACo has adopted policy in its American County Platform:
Green Scissors '97 proposes to:
Projected potential savings: $50 million per year.
Public land counties strongly support enhancing the rangeland livestock industry as an essential component in the nation's economy and as vital to affected communities. Eliminating "fees" returned to counties from federal grazing permit activities places further pressures on county budgets already short of funds because of the presence of federal lands in their counties, and ignores the counties' contributions to the support of these activities.
Through NACo's Public Land Steering Committee, counties have indicated a willingness to consider a phased-in increase of grazing fees that are based on a realistic measure of the grazing value of the public lands and their benefit to the ranching community, not an illusory figure based on questionable value comparisons.
It is important to note that public land counties expect their ranching communities to be prudent, thoughtful and creative in the management of their livestock on public lands to assure the viability of those lands for future generations. Public land counties believe that local environmental conditions should dictate which lands are "allowed to rest," and the management decisions should be made by the local federal land manager in consultation with local stakeholders.
Green Scissors '97 proposes to:
Projected potential savings: $200 million per year.
Public land counties, through NACo's Public Lands Steering Committee, support the basic principles of the 1872 mining law that provide for self-initiation for mine exploration and a system of patented and unpatented claims as mining incentives, particularly for small independent miners.
They believe existing public land laws now provide for comprehensive and continuous oversight of the administration of this mining system which is important for the economic well-being of public land counties throughout the country.
The Green Scissors '97 proposal on royalties has serious implications for the mining industry, and thus the jobs, tax revenues and returned receipts needed to bolster county economies.
It may be possible to fashion a royalty program that will serve to provide a fair return to taxpayers, while not making the extraction of critical minerals uneconomic, and eliminate the resources public land counties need to maintain essential services in support of the federal lands.
NACo opposes the repeal of the 1872 mining law or modification of its fundamental principles unless an acceptable compromise can be developed.
Green Scissors '97 proposes to:
Proposed projected savings: $20 million.
This is an issue that has not been fully considered within the policy framework of NACo. However, one of the major concerns of public land counties has been, and continues to be, the substantial reduction in appropriated resources available to manage and maintain America's public lands.
Counties have a significant stake in the quality of the experience people have when visiting public lands. User fees can be one way to provide the necessary resources to make this experience noteworthy.
However, if the fees are so high as to reduce visitor interest, or they are used as an excuse to further erode the appropriations base for public lands, counties would likely be forced to oppose them.
Green Scissors '97 proposes to:
Proposed projected savings: $204 million per year.
This is one area where counties must absolutely part company with the Green Scissors '97 projected savings analysis. In their report, they state that the U.S. Forest Service, in its calculations of net profit, "did not include the $164 million redistribution of revenues to counties [emphasis added]. If these are incorporated, the commodity timber program lost $38 million." Federal taxpayers are county taxpayers, and every dollar returned to counties reduces the pressure on county-specific revenues from property taxes. Over the last several years, counties have seen a precipitous loss of timber receipts, primarily for environmental protection. While this may be an appropriate goal, it has had serious effects on public land counties.
The federal government has long recognized and accepted that federal land holdings are a burden on local governments, and that funding is necessary to provide the types of services needed to access and use those lands. Counties have historically and traditionally shared in the benefits of economic activity on public lands through statutory formulas which guarantee a percentage of all gross receipts to be returned to the counties where the activity occurs. Shared natural resource payments to counties from economic activities such as timber sales, mineral leasing, grazing and others are absolutely vital to county road and school budgets.
In return for their shared receipts, counties provide vital services as a result of long-standing intergovernmental agreements with the federal government. Reliable and effective local road systems, emergency services and law enforcement as provided by local governments enable the public to utilize and enjoy federal lands.
NACo, through its Public Lands Steering Committee, has strongly opposed any attempts to change or alter the formulas for distribution of natural resource payments to counties which would lessen revenues necessary to provide basic governmental support.
Green Scissors '97 proposes to:
Proposed projected savings: $150 million.
The salvage fund has been under fire because environmental groups have charged that salvage has been used as a ruse to get at green, old-growth timber that would not otherwise be subject to commercial sales. However, the salvage fund remains one of the most important tools the Forest Service has to promote viable, sustainable forests for America's future.
It has proven to be an important resource bridge for numerous counties relying on a steady flow of timber for their communities' mills. NACo's Western Interstate Region Board and the Public Lands Steering Committee have been taking informal testimony from timber experts for several years about the health of our national forests. By all accounts, they are in serious danger from mismanagement, pests, disease and benign neglect. NACo's policy-makers will likely object to any effort to reduce this fund.
These are only some of the proposals put forth by the Green Scissors '97 coalition for public lands, and only a fraction of their 57 recommendations. They believe these reductions in federal spending and "subsidy" programs could net taxpayers more than $36 billion over five years.
While the goal of a balanced federal budget remains a high priority with
virtually every American county, how Congress meets that goal may have serious
implications for the future of public land counties.