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Show Westfern Resources WRAP-UP 1983 natural resource budget By Helene C. Monberg '' washington-The fiscal 1983 federal ' hndcetfor natural resources programs surprisingly robust, even in these dget-cutting times. The 1983 fiscal year begins on Oct. 1, ,082 The federal budget for fiscal 1983 :me available to the press last ' weekend. ' Rnth the Bureau of Land ' uSagemmt (BLM) and the U.S. ' Forest Service (USFS) budgets for 1982 are higher than the 1982 estimates. irLe will be more leasing of minerals-particularly oil and gas on ' federal lands in 1983. More federal r Hmber will be offered for sale, if i Congress goes along with the Ad-; Ad-; : ministration's 1983 budget requests. ' The Bureau of Reclamation 1983 ! budget is also up over the 1982 ' program, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 1983 civil works budget is cut : only moderately below the Corps' 1982 program. For the second straight year s the government plans to spend more I thana billion dollars just operating and " maintaining Corps of Engineer projects. The Bureau of Indian Affains (BIA) 1983 budget is higher than its 1982 program, even tho there are plans to cut sharply the administrative superstructure of that agency, which has one BIA employee for every 40 Indians living on or near reservations. The Interior Department 1983 budget 1 is higher than its 1982 program based on the functions that it now carries out. . It is also higher based on the new I unctions that it is destined to inherit J from the Department of Energy and J Education. Both Energy and Education are programmed to go out of business as Departments in fiscal 1983. ir pt IMPACTS ON STATES lffc Along with increases in these basic 8 : programs so important to the West, there are some significant cutbacks Set; which Western states will applaud, by intp and large. ;neft Interior plans to turn back by the end :d dir. of 1983 fiscal year the regulation of ista surface mining and mine reclamation 2, 111 in all of the coal-producing states but itt one (Georgia). This means the states ml: will handle the regulation of coal mines al on federal lands within their borders, i coui: most of which are in the West and in the rAppalachia, as well as all other mines, rati:. The Environmental Protection 'Agency also plaris to cut back on some tetoof its programs to control and reduce i tepoMonof air, water and land This, is ithoii due mainly to the decline in the sewage treatment plant construction program, which had become over-extended and partially counter-productive. The 1983 on ii budget provides for increased state and id lr local flexibility in administering loubls pollution control programs. The public land states will not like the tnt $45 million budgeted for payments-in-eaplieu of taxes (PILT) for 1983, a urw reduction of $50.5 million from the $95.5 if wbmillion provided by Congress this fiscal year. But this cut is accompanied by legislation which will provide for a more equitable distribution of PILT money, according to the Adit Ad-it s ministration, by taking into con-aces con-aces sideration other federal payments that alatf states and local governments now get If the ! from mineral development and timber twoccut on public lands. K Largely because the federal ' government is pushing leasing on "federally managed lands, these revenues are expected to increase greatly in 1983. For example, BLM jlllj estimates its fiscal year receipts will , total $19.8 billion, including $18 billion offshore oil and gas leasing. BLM the f Sl?cts in fiscal 1983 t0 snare a record nati million in receipts with state, to ?unty and local governments. The Forest Service estimates its payments to states in 1983 will total $342 million, a 4' 3 percent increase over the $242 Billion that it expects to return to totes this fiscal year for mineral development, timber cut and other SreciPs from use of federal lands managed by USFS. will also be affected by a large rTV l rf closings of weather stations M rrun by the National Oceanic and At-mospheric At-mospheric Administration (NOAA) ml Western Resources Wrap-up vj")was unable to get a rundown on ,7 dadline time, and fish hatcheries f1-facilities run by e us-Fish J Wildlife Service. It's not the first e that these closings have been Hsed, and their fate will be decided H. negotiations between the Ad-Y?'BS Ad-Y?'BS " and Congress, several M emcers observed over the past Tt, DWNBRADINGUSF&WS J 1983 "major themes and ad-Tto ad-Tto h!. get detaiIs" booklet issued ML 0fflce 01 Management and i'mZ fl programs in the U.S. Fish ' H (USF&WS) as W4ngates fr "l0Wer P"01"1 spen" 3 Cu' ',0ver vears- hatcheries teAv not Serve federal or national Jhave been added to the USF&WS. fch K?t of federally funded Pfimarii ' which Produce fish ljtra.( ,y for creation activities in bmd , aters- are scheduled to be - 1583 t. t0 the states or closed" in I IUs- ;. said the International W Sftlon of Fisb and Wildlife . s nrl'.0" represents the states, ? Win iously recommended reduc-- 3atch.0perations of the National Fish 1 lHah "erv System "in the same Au ... magnitude" as the Administration proposes in the 1983 budget. Here are the fish hatcheries in the reclamation West scheduled for closing in 1983, according to the USF&W budget officers, who gave the list to WRW: . Arizona: Williams Creek, Kansas: Cedar Bluff, Montana: Miles City, Nebraska: Crawford, Oklahoma: Tishomingo, South Dakota: Spearfish, Texas: Inks Dam and Uvalde. The rationale given for these closings: that existing facilities are in poor condition at Williams Creek, and there are both water supply problems and rundown facilities at Spearfish. The others mainly serve local needs, hence should not be a part of the federal system, according to USF&WS back-up budget data. The fishery assistance stations that are proposed for closing in 1983 in the reclamation West are as follows: Arizona: Pinetop and Parker, Montana: Mon-tana: Kalispell, North Dakota: Bismarck, New Mexico: Gallup, Nevada: Reno, Utah: Vernal, Wyoming: Lander. USF&WS maintains all of these stations, with assistance from other federal agencies, the BIA in all instances. in-stances. But at Kalispell assistance also comes from the National Park Service as well as BIA. USF&WS research field stations scheduled for closing are all in the West as follows: Hawwaii: Hilo, Oregon: Bend, Washington, Olympia. THE WATER BUDGET The Interior Department budget for 1983 is about $292 million over the 1982 program, and of that amount $179 million, or 62 percent of the increase, went to the Bureau of Reclamation. "We are ecstatic about our new budget," a veteran of the Bureau of Reclamation budget battles told WRW on Feb. 10. "In addition, there is a $28 million contingency fundHo start new projects, and I expect there will be some budget revision to resume construction con-struction on the Garrison project in North Dakota," this senior Bureau of Reclamation official stated. The Bureau's 1983 budget request is $950,320,000. It's for continuing construction con-struction of projects in the construction stage, operation and maintenance, the loan program, general investigations, and administrative costs. The 1983 construction program alone, at $666,585,000, is about 20 percent or $118,080,000 over the 1982 program for on-going construction of Bureau of Rec. projects. And that does not include money for the Garrison project, on which Interior would like to resume work. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Jan. 28 issued an order lifting an injunction on North Dakota's Garrison project. The injunction on Garrison had been entered by U.S. District Judge Charles Richey in May 1981. There are more legal proceedings in the works, but the stay of Richey's injunction means that the Garrison project may proceed without court-imposed court-imposed limitations, Interior and the attorneys on the case agree. Of particular interest is the $61 million that the Bureau budget proposes for continuation of the Colorado River Basin salinity control program, including continued construction con-struction on the Yuma desalting project in Arizona, and other projects to remove point sources at Grand Valley and Paradox Valley in Colorado and at Las Vegas in Nevada. In addition, $2 million is asked for advance planning on 11 projects in 1983, of which five are sought by the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum. This means budget requests are being made for advance planning on projects on which no legislation to authorize the projects has been introduced in-troduced yet. Obviously, there is a close tie-in between the water expert network net-work and this Administration, particularly par-ticularly in the Colorado River Basin. The Corps 1983 budget at $2,263,990,000 is somewhat lower than the 1982 program, but still $2.2 billion allowed in 1983 for construction, operation and maintenance of Corps projects is no small potatoes. The Soil Conservation Service budget for 1983 is also lower, at $517 million, than the 1982 program level of $575 million. Moreover, no new project starts are projected for the Soil Conservation Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture budget spokesmen told the press over the weekend. The budget does allow for a $48 million contingency fund for starting new water projects by the Corps and the Bureau of Reclamation providing local sponsors can "meet the Administration's Ad-ministration's criteria for non-federal financing and cost-sharing" and providing the new starts "are economically and environmentally sound." Such criteria should be developed in the next couple of months,' the press was told at the Interior budget briefing over the weekend. But Corps budget officials told WRW the Corps is already asking local sponsors of new Corps water projects to pick up 100 percent of the cost of hydro projects, 35 percent of flood control projects, 75 percent of navigation projects and 50 percent of recreation projects as up-front money. Navigation project supporters are being asked to pick up the remaining 25 percent of the cost of their projects over time. Robert E. Eiland, special assistant to Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil works W.R. Gianelli has already visited with some local sponsors to determine how much they would be willing to pay up front to start a project. r I v- 1 I . . .. (. 1 v J; I 1 rv -.9sS( 1 L 5 . . . V " DR. ED OSCARSON administers a vaccination to a friendly Springer Spr-inger Spaniel which can be adopted from the Uintah County Animal Shelter by calling 789-5601. Dr. Oscarson, Uintah County Coun-ty and the Humane Society will sponsor a Rabies Clinic this week. |