Dear Senator: Our nation faces a record deficit of more than $450 billion for FY03. This places an even greater responsibility on lawmakers to exercise fiscal restraint during consideration of the FY04 Interior Appropriations bill, S. 1391. Taxpayers for Common Sense Action (TCS Action) urges you to consider cutting the following examples of unnecessary spending from this bill.
U.S. FOREST SERVICE - FOREST PRODUCTS: The Government Accounting Office estimates that the federal timber program lost $2.5 billion from 1992-1997; a TCS Action analysis documented a loss of $407 million in fiscal year 1998 alone. Many programs funded through the Forest Products line item provide unnecessary subsidies to private timber companies at the taxpayer's expense.
* The Forest Service Forest Products line item should be significantly reduced. Specifically, the $5 million above the normal regional allocations for the Tongass National Forest timber supply pipeline should be eliminated.
Section 334 of this bill provides for the cancellation and return of timber sale contracts in Alaska if the sale in question is deemed uneconomical to perform and timber purchasers terminate their rights under the contract, releasing the United States from related liabilities.
* If the number of "uneconomical" timber sales in Alaska is high enough to necessitate inclusion of Sec. 334 in this bill, taxpayers should certainly not be expected to provide $5 million above the timber sale pipeline baseline to push timber sales in the same region.
* This provision could open the door to taxpayer-funded market speculation by the timber industry and increased overhead costs of the federal timber program.
* Instead of allowing timber companies to opt-out of timber sale contracts in Alaska when they are deemed uneconomical, the Forest Service should reduce the overall volume of timber offered for sale in this region. The overall reduction in available timber would save taxpayers from paying overhead costs for timber sales that might ultimately be cancelled.
FOSSIL ENERGY RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT: Fossil fuel extraction and energy generation is a mature industry that has been receiving government subsidies for decades. Providing $593 million for fossil energy research and development will give millions of taxpayer dollars to an industry that can afford to fund research and development efforts internally.
* We urge you to reduce funding for these programs by a minimum of 15 percent.
THE CLEAN COAL POWER INITIATIVE: A component of fossil energy research and development, the Clean Coal Power Initiative Program is poised to give away $130 million in grants to the private sector for "clean coal" research and development. This is little more than corporate welfare to companies that do not need government incentives for industry ingenuity.
* We recommend elimination of this program.
RANGELAND IMPROVEMENTS: Funding for rangeland improvements should be borne by federal grazing permitees, not taxpayers. Specifically, a congressionally mandated increase in the federal grazing fee should be enacted so that taxpayers no longer have to subsidize range improvements from which they receive little benefit.
* We recommend either adoption of closed, competitive bids for federal grazing permits with a minimum base-price equivalent to that charged on comparable state and private grazing lands, or adoption of a grazing fee that covers the management costs of the federal grazing program and related rangeland improvement programs.
Taxpayers for Common Sense Action urges you to oppose unnecessary and irresponsible spending provisions in the FY04 Interior Appropriations bill, S.1391. For more information on these requests please contact Shannon Collier at (202) 546-8500 x127 or email
Sincerely,
Steve Ellis
Vice President for Programs
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