The top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee wants Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to hit the reset button on his plan to double and triple entrance fees at national parks.
“I urge you to withdraw the proposed fee increases immediately and begin a transparent, public process that takes into account public input and fully analyzes the impact on park visitation and local park economies before seeking to impose any other fee increases,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state in a Thursday letter sent to Zinke.
The letter came just days after news reports said Zinke is looking to roll back the rate hikes after receiving tens of thousands of public comments from citizens protesting the proposal, which was first announced last fall.
The initial plan would see entrance fees raised at 17 national parks. Some parks would see a near tripling of the fees, from $25 to $70.
After the negative public response, however, Interior officials now say Zinke is considering spreading a more modest fee increase all national parks, while considering other options.
But Cantwell is not open to any new ideas, especially when there has not been a thorough and public vetting of them before they are considered. Without doing so, she predicted public opposition will only grow.
“Your October 24 fee increase proposal was announced without providing the public with any analysis of the effect on visitation used to justify the proposed fees,” Cantwell wrote. “Failure to have a transparent process in developing fee policy will result in continued public opposition.”
“And failing to fully analyze the impact of fee increases on visitation and local park economies will result in fees that are arbitrary and unjustifiable.”
Cantwell also took aim at Zinke for what she called “irresponsible” coal mining practices on public lands that have led taxpayers to pay for environmental clean up.
A Government Accountability Office report she requested was issued Thursday on how current federal laws require clean up at abandoned coal mines. It found that the recent spate of coal company bankruptcies requires Congress to eliminate the use of “self-bonding” practices in order to free the government and states from having to pay for environmental clean ups.
Self bonding relies on a company’s own finances for mine clean up and reclamation. But this option has become untenable given the poor economic state of some of the nation’s coal firms, especially in the West.
“GAO’s previous work examining environmental cleanup found that the financial risk to government and the amount of oversight needed for self-bonds are relatively high compared to other forms of financial assurances,” the report said. “GAO also previously reviewed federal financial assurance requirements for various energy and mineral extraction sectors and found that coal mining is the only one where self-bonding was allowed.”
However, “eliminating the risk that self-bonds pose to the federal government and states would require [the current reclamation law] be amended,” according to the report. It is recommending that Congress amend the current law “to eliminate self-bonding,” it said.
It submitted the recommendation to the Interior Department, but the agency “neither agreed nor disagreed with GAO’s recommendation.”
Cantwell sees the recommendation as necessary to hold coal firms accountable for clean up. “I welcome GAO’s recommendation to pass responsible legislation making coal companies clean up pollution,” she said, while also pressing Zinke to act.
“Secretary Zinke should also reverse course and crack down on this irresponsible coal mining practice,” Cantwell added.
