Opening Statement of Senator Lieberman
Environment and Public Works Committee
May 24, 2000

Thank you Mr. Chairman for holding this important hearing. Rarely are we presented with choices that will so profoundly influence the environmental future of this nation as this one, the debate over Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas revenues. Happily, we have already witnessed a tremendous commitment of time and effort to this important subject, both here in the Senate and in the House. Let me begin by recognizing that commitment, particularly on the part of my colleagues who have introduced their own legislation, including Senators Murkowski, Bingaman, Landrieu, Boxer, and Graham.

I am glad to have the opportunity to discuss this subject further and look more closely at S. 25, S. 2123, and S. 2181 here today, because I know that the conservation of land and wildlife is of great concern to the people in my home state of Connecticut and around the country. Last year, Connecticut passed an Open Space and Watershed Land Grant Program with a goal of preserving as open space 21% of the state - roughly half a million acres - by the year 2023. One hundred and fifteen land trusts are now active and growing in Connecticut. Across the United States, similar groups are also working hard to protect and preserve lands in their own backyards.

The stakes are large, and it is clear that these groups cannot do it alone. Local and State efforts need the support of a larger, national vision of conservation and stewardship. The concept behind all three bills we will consider today is straightforward: we should reinvest the proceeds gained by the depletion of federally-owned, non-renewable natural resources such as oil and gas, into a reliable source of funding for State, local, and federal conservation and environmental stewardship efforts. There are differences between how the bills would achieve this goal, some of them significant, but before addressing those differences, I believe it is important to recognize the value of the underlying concept.

A few years ago, the late Senator John Chafee and Senator Jim Jeffords and I also developed legislation on this subject, S. 1573, the Natural Resources Reinvestment Act. We drafted S. 1573 based on four basic principles that I still believe are relevant to crafting an environmentally sound and regionally equitable proposal for reinvesting OCS revenue. First, OCS revenues should be reinvested in the nation's resources - environmental, natural, cultural and historic. Second, this reinvestment must be meaningful and lasting. Third, we should distribute the revenues equitably among all regions of this great nation. Fourth, we should make the funding for our national reinvestment permanent.

The bills before us today address these fore, core principles to varying degrees. There is still time to blend them into a final legislative product. I look forward to hearing our witnesses today and learning from their perspectives on the principles I have described, as well as on other improvements that might yet be made. Finally, I look forward to a constructive dialogue with my colleagues in the coming weeks as we address these remaining challenges and work toward creating a tremendous national environmental legacy that seems increasingly within our reach and our grasp.