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(\ ,. ., '"" I "'5 /'. :' _ {J . 0.. ,j!5!c}'Y' ~ WESTERN . ---- STATE WATE RECEIV&D Issue No. 1105 JUl ~1995 CoIor'-'" onserva~a,.d i. r~cycled paper crrerves water THE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER OF THE WESTERN STATES WATER COUNCIL Creekview Plaza, Suite A-201/942 East 7145 So. / Midvale, Utah 84047 / (801) 561-5300 / FAX (801) 255-9642 Chairman - Larry Anderson; Executive Director - Craig Bell; Editor - Craig Bell; Typist - Alona Banks CONGRESSIONAL UPDATE Grazing Reform On July 19, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 11-8 to report S. 852 and codify current Bureau of Land Management grazing policies. The bill would also change Interior's plan for ~grazing reform, due to take effect on August 21. The ~ measure does raise grazing fees, but not as much as the Administration has proposed. Further, it would give more authority to local resource advisory boards. Interior is also directed to establish uniform standards and guidelines for grazing on a state or regional level with the help of state agriculture departments and land- grant universities. Regulatory Reform The Senate continues to debate a comprehensive regulatory reform bill (S. 343), as the majority leaderShip has twice failed to muster enough votes to invoke closure. As amended, the bill's new requirements apply only to rules with an annual economic cost of over $100M, and a ten-year sunset provision was added. Key amendments include: a requirement that health, safety and environmental rules be prioritized; an exemption for bills proposed before April 1; a statement that nothing in the bill is intended to delay regulations affecting human health and safety threats; and an open procedures requirement for public accountability. Last March, the House passed its version of a comprehensive regulatory reform package (H.R. 9). ~ However, on July 18, the House Government Reform Committee approved a supplemental bill (H.R. 944) by /a 39-7 vote, with strong bipartisan support. Rescissions On July 12, a frustrated Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-KS) exclaimed, "I'm finished with this bill." The prospects for a new agreement on a rescissions package are now uncertain. Dole had hoped to finally act on H.R. 1944, a packageof$16.3 billion in spending cuts, but continuing minority demands to debate amendments to restore funding for various programs led. Dole to drop the bill. Last month, President Clinton vetoed a similar bill. H.R. 1944 would cut funding for many federal programs, including a Safe Drinking Water Act revolving loan fund (WSW #1 099 and #1085). ENVIRONMENT Endangered Species Act The Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Drinking Water, Fisheries and Wildlife is holding a series of hearings on the Endangered Species Act (ESA). At last week's hearing, all of the witnesses supported the ESA's emphasis on using the best available science and a strengthened role for states in ESA implementation. Most of them also stressed the need for a degree of federal oversight and standards. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt affirmed that the ESA must be amended to constructively shift the ESA's focus from a single species to a multi-species approaCh, to provide more incentives and certainty for private landowners, and to increase the states' role against a flexible federal framework. He also emphasized that the House Interior appropriations bill cutting ESA funding would undermine beneficial reforms now contemplated, such as funding for state acquisition of species' habitat, enhancing state activities in species' recovery, and the Departmenfs cooperative efforts with state, local and tribal governments and private landowners in eliminating the need for listings. John Ha~a, chairman of WGA's staff working group on ESA reauthorization, presented the WGA's "essential