For Immediate Release

February 5, 2007

Comments from U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks on
Impact of FY 2008 Budget in the Northwest

WASHINGTON, D.C. – {U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks made the following statement in response to the release of the Bush Administration's FY 2008 budget proposal Monday:

"The Bush Administration’s proposed federal budget for the next fiscal year addresses several key Pacific Northwest priorities, but in order to accommodate them the Administration has recycled a number of budget cuts and potential revenue increases that it knows Congress has rejected.

"One of the most encouraging aspects of the FY2008 proposed budget is the 14.3 percent increase in the budget for the National Park Service operations account.  The boost will help the National Park Service recover from several years of constrained budgets, during which only a portion of the ranger, maintenance and interpretative staff who left the service were replaced.  As Chairman of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee I have been urging the Interior Department to cover all of its fixed costs – most importantly personnel – as years of tight budgets have diminished the workforce within the Park Service and consequently diminished the visitor experience at many of our parks.  The proposed FY 2008 budget will finally allow for restoring many of the positions that have been vacant at Olympic, Mount Rainier, North Cascades and other National Parks around the country.

"Unfortunately the encouragement over the Park Service increase comes at the expense of other environmental priorities, including a $508 million reduction of the EPA budget and a $174 million cut in the budget of the U.S. Forest Service.  Congress will not likely be inclined to accept those reductions, and it seems to me that we must realign our priorities so that the Interior and Environmental Appropriations accounts receive a more appropriate share of the federal budget allocation."

Among the aspects of the Bush Administration’s proposed Fiscal Year 2008 that affect the Pacific Northwest area:

• $1 million in the budget of the EPA for the Puget Sound Program.  This was an account that was created two years ago by Rep. Dicks, modeled after the agency’s remedial programs addressing pollution in the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes.
• $7 million in the Bureau of Indian Affairs budget for the Northwest Shellfish Settlement.  This is the first federal contribution toward the $23.5 million (matched by $11 million from Washington State) settlement of tribal claims to shellfish harvesting.  The agreement calls for the establishment of a trust fund that will initiate a tribal commercial shellfish industry.
• $1.8 million in the budget of the National Park Service for the completion of the restoration of the Jackson Visitor Center and Paradise Inn at Mount Rainier National Park.
• A proposal, rejected last year by Congress, to redirect what have been termed 'surplus power sales' by the Bonneville Power Administration in order to accelerate debt repayment to the U.S. Treasury.  BPA has been repaying all of its obligations to the Treasury -- on time -- and forcing an accelerated schedule is unnecessary and it would have an impact on near term rates.  Congress is expected to reject the proposal again this year.
• $20 million – the 8th annual increment of federal funding -- in the construction budget of the National Park Service Elwha River restoration project.
  
• Full funding of the Pacific Northwest Forest Plan was included in the budget request.  The Administration has requested an increase of $5.7 million over the FY 2007 budget, up to $187.4 million, which would allow for a harvest level of 800 million board feet of timber in the region.  [The NW Forest Plan affects the management and administration of 22.1 million acres of Federal land within 19 national forests in western Oregon, western Washington, and northern California administered by the Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. ]
  
• $315 million in the Air Force budget for the refueling tanker replacement program, which is expected to be under contract by late 2007.
• Military Construction Appropriations: A record $464 million is requested for construction projects at Washington State military installations:
  

            NAVY: BREMERTON
            $47.24 million for a Bachelor Enlisted Quarters (2nd Increment)

            $91.07 million for the replacement of Pier B at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard

            ARMY:  FORT LEWIS

            $102 million for another Stryker Brigade complex (2nd of 4 increments)

            $5 million for an indoor range

            $21 million for a Medical/Dental Clinic

            $47 million for a Special Operations Command Battalion Operations Complex

            $30 million for a Special Operations Command Battalion Support Complex

            ARMY:  YAKIMA FIRING CENTER
            $29 million for a Digital Multipurpose Range Complex

            NAVY:  SUBMARINE BASE BANGOR
            $39.75 million for a Limited Area Production & Storage Complex (Increment 4)
            $28.69 million for a Missile Assembly Building

            NAVY:  WHIDBEY ISLAND NAS

            $23.91 million for EA-18G Facility Improvements}

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