CAPITOL FLYER

This Friday, representatives of national wildlife refuges Friends groups from all over the United States will arrive in Washington, DC, for a weekend of skills building, networking and the celebration of the 2005 Friends Group and Volunteer of the Year awards at the 2005 National Refuge Friends Conference.

This will be the 3rd national conference for Friends of the National Wildlife Refuge System - "Friends in Action" - hosted by the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). This year's conference will further develop the theme of a stronger National Wildlife Refuge System through partnerships explored during the 2004 Conservation In Action Summit. As always, the goal of this conference is to provide the tools and skills essential to the work of Friends as part of a national force for a stronger Refuge System.

The 2005 National Refuge Friends Conference will take place February 4-6 at the Grand Hyatt Washington.

After officially convening January 4, the 109th Congress began addressing tedious organizational issues. Although many issues still exist, legislative work is slowly beginning. For example, the Senate has begun approving many of the president's appointees.

Committees and subcommittees in the Senate have finalized their rosters. However, the House continues to work out member assignments for committees and subcommittees.

Below are rosters for Senate committees and subcommittees in the 109th Congress directly affecting the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee

Republicans:
James Inhofe (OK) - Chairman
John Warner (VA)
Christopher Bond (MO)
George Voinovich (OH)
Lincoln Chafee (RI)
Lisa Murkowski (AK)
John Thune (SD)
Jim DeMint (SC)
Johnny Isakson (GA)
David Vitter (LA)
 
Democrats:
Max Baucus (MT)
Joseph Lieberman (CT)
Barbara Boxer (CA)
Thomas Carper (DE)
Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY)
Frank Lautenberg (NJ)
Barack Obama (IL)
 
Independent:
James Jeffords (VT) - Ranking Member

Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Water

Republicans:
Lincoln Chafee (RI) - Chairman
John Warner (VA)
Lisa Murkowski (AK)
Jim DeMint (SC)
David Vitter (LA)
 
Democrats:
Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) - Ranking Member
Joseph Lieberman (CT)
Frank Lautenberg (NJ)
Barack Obama (IL)

Senate Appropriations Committee

Republicans:
Thad Cochran (MS) - Chairman
Ted Stevens (AK)
Arlen Specter (PA)
Pete Domenici (NM)
Christopher Bond (MO)
Mitch McConnell (KY)
Conrad Burns (MT)
Richard Shelby (AL)
Judd Gregg (NH)
Robert Bennett (UT)
Larry Craig (ID)
Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)
Mike DeWine (OH)
Sam Brownback (KS)
Wayne Allard (CO)
 
Democrats:
Robert Byrd (WV) - Ranking Member
Daniel Inouye (HI)
Patrick Leahy (VT)
Tom Harkin (IA)
Barbara Mikulski (MD)
Harry Reid (NV)
Herb Kohl (WI)
Patty Murray (WA)
Byron Dorgan (ND)
Dianne Feinstein (CA)
Richard Durbin (IL)
Tim Johnson (SD)
Mary Landrieu (LA)

Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior

(Not Yet Available)

As reported in the January issue of Capitol Flyer, the FWS signed an annual funding agreement (AFA) with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation (CSKT) on December 15 that transfers approximately half of the refuge staff positions and budget at the National Bison Range in Montana to the tribes.

Unfortunately, the signed agreement will result in added costs to the refuge, make effective management by the FWS difficult and expose refuge volunteers to lawsuits. The NWRA is strongly urging Congress to reject the Bison Range agreement if it is not significantly modified from its current form. Along these lines, the Association is urging Congress to hold hearings on the National Bison Range AFA.

By law, Congress has 90 days to evaluate the AFA and respond. The end of this 90-day period is mid-March. If Congress fails to act, the agreement will go into effect immediately following the review period.

In January a bill was introduced by House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA) and Ranking Member Nick Rahall (D-WV) that would allow access by Ham radio operators to refuges closed to public use. As of press time, information on the bill was unavailable on the legislative information Web site thomas.loc.gov.

Ham radio operators are pushing for access to certain refuges - island refuges in particular - where they will set up temporary broadcasting stations to communicate with radio operators in other states and countries. Some of these refuges are currently closed to the public and have denied access to radio operators.

Although the new Congress is still sorting out committee assignments and other housekeeping tasks, members on both sides of the issue of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge are already ramping up their efforts.

A large coalition of national and local environmental groups are working to shore up support opposing opening the Arctic refuge to oil and gas drilling. At the same time, pro-drilling forces are devising plans for how to pass legislation allowing drilling in the refuge early in this Congress.

Lacking the 60 votes needed to end the filibuster that defenders of the Arctic refuge have threatened to block drilling, pro-drilling forces in the Senate have sought a way to win with a simple majority. Citing possible revenues from oil operations, they now plan to include drilling in the budget bill, which cannot be filibustered.

In 2003, the Senate voted down drilling in the Arctic refuge with a 52-48 vote.

In a memo released January 5, a newly retired FBI agent who led the 1989 raid at the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant said the activities there "should result in extreme skepticism about current government assurances that the cleanup of dangerous contamination at Rocky Flats is protective of public health."

The retired FBI agent, Jon Lipsky, claims the Department of Energy and private contractors illegally dumped toxic waste at the facility, improperly used an incinerator to burn toxic waste and dumped radioactive waste on an area called the East Spray Fields. Federal officials claim the charges are groundless.

The Federal government decommissioned Rocky Flats in 1989 and announced in August 2003 the completion of a $7 billion project to remove 12 tons of weapons-grade plutonium from the former weapons plant. After contractor Kaiser-Hill removes 800 buildings from the 385-acre industrial complex by 2006, the site will be turned over to the FWS to be a national wildlife refuge.