Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today said he is pleased that the Obama administration is making public lands in New Mexico a priority in his 2010 budget proposal.  Bingaman chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. 

The White House in February unveiled its budget proposal, but it didn’t release details until today.  It includes funding to acquire and protect sensitive landscapes across New Mexico, including:

• $3 million to acquire 280 acres of land near La Cienega Area of Critical Environmental Concern in Santa Fe County;
• $1.5 million to acquire 2,555 acres within the Lesser Prairie Chicken Habitat Conservation Area of Critical Environmental Concern in Chaves County;
• $500,000 to acquire 25 acres of riparian land adjacent to Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in Socorro County;
• $1 million to acquire the Bear Creek Ranch in the Gila National Forest;
• $1.65 million to purchase a Forest Legacy Program conservation easement on the Vallecitos High Country property in the Carson National Forest in Río Arriba County; and
• $3.5 million for continued management of the Valles Caldera National Preserve.

The Department of Interior budget also provides for full funding of the ten-year average cost for wildfire suppression at $369.8 million and establishes a new $75 million Wildland Fire Contingency Reserve Fund that, coupled with reforms to the Department’s wildland firefighting program, will minimize the need for the transfer of funds from non-fire programs.

The Forest Service budget includes $1.129 billion for its10-year fire average and proposes a discretionary contingent reserve of $282,000,000 in its own Treasury account for firefighting should the Forest Service exhaust those funds. 

“Overall, I believe the White House proposal does a very good job of protecting our public lands and preparing for future fire seasons,” Bingaman said. 

Bingaman said he supports the water conservation initiatives funded in the budget, including an increase of $26 million for grants to promote conservation of western water by local communities through voluntary water banks, wastewater reclamation and reuse, and other market-based conservation measures and basin studies.

The budget request includes $6 million for the Navajo Nation Water Resources Development Trust Fund, the first payment of the recently enacted Navajo Water Settlement; $54 million for the Animas-La Plata Project; $23 million for the Middle Rio Grande Project and $1 million for the Jicarilla Rural Water Supply Project.

In other highlights, the budget would: 

•Invest an additional $75.4 million for the Nation’s New Energy Frontier initiative including $50.1 million to promote a clean energy future with a focus on renewable energy sources on Federal lands and waters. The Department’s comprehensive energy strategy also includes $16.9 million to continue producing conventional energy to help attain energy independence and invest $8.4 million to improve accountability and ensure that taxpayers receive a fair return from mineral production on Federal lands;

• Assist Interior land management agencies and States with $133.0 million in additional funding to monitor, adaptively manage, and assess the impacts of climate change on the Nation’s lands, waters, fish, and wildlife;

• Recommit to the promise of fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund. An increase of $95.2 million will be used to protect lands for wildlife and public enjoyment and to fund Land and Water Conservation Fund State grants; and

• Create a 21st Century Youth Conservation Corps, an energized Interior youth initiative that will invest in young people. An increase of $50.0 million will create educational and job opportunities and a new program to encourage them to hunt and fish responsibly.

Finally, the budget proposal also contains funding for the following programs Bingaman strongly supports:

• $15 million for the Environmental Protection Agency’s drinking water low-cost loans program
• $11.9 million for EPA’s wastewater low-cost loans