Washington sticks its nose into too many things to the detriment of liberty and the economy, but also to the detriment of things it should be doing, such as taking care of federal property.
Our national parks have fallen into disrepair. Roads are crumbling, pipes are leaking, and human waste is spilling onto the ground. That’s because the federal government, while fighting wars around the world, paying for pork-barrel projects, and bailing out private-sector industries, neglects to pay for basic upkeep.
This past week, though, lawmakers in the House reached a bipartisan deal and introduced the Restore Our Parks and Public Lands Act to address funding shortfalls. The best part is that some of the money will come from oil and gas exploration and other energy projects on national park land. It’s a great balance of providing public service, providing energy, and protecting taxpayers.
Money generated won’t be used to expand President Barack Obama-style land grabs via monument designations. Instead, assuming the bill passes, it will be earmarked for maintenance of existing parkland. Pipes and roads will be fixed, toilets installed, trail safety reinforced, and visitor centers built. These projects are essential to ensure parks function and meet visitor needs, and to prevent damage to land and natural resources.
National parks have been part of the United States since the establishment of Yellowstone, the world’s first national park, in 1872. Since then, America’s parks have not only become part of our national iconography but have also developed as important public amenities.
They provide space and beauty, preserve important historic sites, protect endangered species, and ensure the public can enjoy them for recreation, education, and development.
The national parks in the U.S. are also regarded around the world as symbols of America. They display the wilderness and beauty of our country, capturing the imagination of artists and patriots, and being displayed to great advantage on screen savers around the world. Take a look at your opening computer screen now; chances are, you’re looking at a national park.
Acadia, Grand Teton, Denali, Arches, Everglades, and all the rest represent something uniquely American that is valued by the public. While Washington argues and grandstands over budgets and other necessary processes of government, national parks have been left in desperate need of repair.
For Americans who want to teach their children the history of the revolution at Valley Forge, see a glacier in real life at Glacier National Park, or hike through the Grand Canyon, the federal government, mandated to protect these spaces, has an obligation to do so.
But proper protection doesn’t have to increase the vast federal debt under which the nation staggers. Nor does it have to cut into needed government programs. As the House legislation specifies, some of the money to save parks can come from the parks themselves. This does not conflict with the park service mandate “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”
Parks generate revenue with visitor fees, and federal lands are also sites of energy development projects such as wind, solar, oil, and natural gas, which produce federal revenue. This revenue, generated on public land, should go back to projects to preserve and improve that same land.
This is what the House bill does. Revenues generated from existing onshore, offshore, and renewable energy operations that are not already allocated by law to other programs would go to a dedicated federal fund for park maintenance.
The bill would not source money from further exploration but from existing projects. Energy development does not have to come at the expense of public amenities. Well heads are small, development can take place without destroying nature, and responsible use of resources mean visitors can simultaneously enjoy the scenery as energy is produced.
By narrowly calling for revenues from existing energy development to go back to the parks themselves, the House bill is not only reasonable but laudable.
