NOTE: This hearing was rescheduled for 9.9.2003. AW’s Jason Robertson attended the hearing in Washington, DC. Notably, Lynn Scarlett, the Park Service spokesperson, recommended extending permanent Fee collecting authority to all federal land management agencies.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will be holding a hearing on Thomas’ National Park Fee bill on July 29, 2003. This bill, S. 1107, would make the Park Service portion of fee demo permanent; however the bill is silent on the other agencies including the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.
AW will be submitting testimony on this bill expressing our support for managing fee collection in the National Parks differently and separate from the Forest Service.
AW continues to oppose the arbitrary extension of Fee Demo for the Forest Service. On July 17th the House voted 184 to 241 not to block the extension of Fee Demo for two more years for the Forest Service in the appropriations bill H. 2691. Currently the Senate Interior Appropriation Bill does NOT even contain fee-demo extension language and, with opposition to fee-demo being much greater in the Senate than within the House, fee-demo opponents should today have much reason for optimism.
If you are interested in this subject, this would be a great time to contact your Senator and express that interest.
On Tuesday, you can listen on the internet to Senate hearings in DC on S.1107 to make Park Service Fee Demo permanent. This hearing includes two other bills, and is titled “Miscellaneous Parks Bills” on the homepage of the Energy & Natural Resources Committee.
You can listen to the hearings live at 2:30 pm EST by going to energy.senate.gov.
Scroll down to the section called “Schedule” where you’ll find the link to “Miscellaneous Parks Bills.” You can see the list of people speaking, and click on “Live webcast scheduled” to hear the proceedings. You’ll need to have RealPlayer installed on your computer to hear this.