CA Groups Letter to US Senators and Leader Pelosi on LWCF

November 13, 2018

The Honorable Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Kamala Harris
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Senators Feinstein and Harris and Minority Leader Pelosi:

We appreciate your support for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). Despite the efforts of you and other champions in Washington, D.C., LWCF expired on September 30, 2018 due to Congress’s failure to reauthorize this critical program. As Congress reconvenes this month, we urge you to prioritize the 115th Congress’s passage of legislation that achieves full dedicated funding and permanent reauthorization of LWCF.

As you know, California has received over $2.3 billion from LWCF, including $300 million in State and Local Assistance grants, enabling conservation and recreation projects in every county and nearly every community in our state. This is far more funding than any other state has received from LWCF.

LWCF has enabled literally thousands of projects in California, including those that have helped protect and provide access to the Tahoe and Angeles National Forests, Pacific Crest Trail, Mojave Trails National Monument, Golden Gate and Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Areas, and Redwood National and State Parks. Equally important are the state and local projects to enhance and expand parks and recreation areas that California families use every day.

From state parks to national monuments and forests to local ballfields and swimming pools, LWCF’s contribution to our quality of life and local economies is immeasurable. LWCF has benefitted nearly every Californian.

Unfortunately, an expired LWCF means that revenues from offshore energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf are no longer flowing to cover LWCF program needs at every level—a loss of $75 million every month while the program remains expired. Congress must rectify this broken promise with the American people immediately.

We were pleased that both our Senators are cosponsors of S. 569, which would provide for LWCF’s full dedicated funding and permanent reauthorization and was reported out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on October 2. We support your continued efforts to get this legislation

passed by the full Senate. In the House, H.R. 502 to permanently reauthorize LWCF has over 240 cosponsors and was approved by the House Natural Resources Committee in September. H.R. 6759 was recently introduced to mirror the full and dedicated funding provisions of S. 569 and we hope it will advance in the House as well.

In closing, we reiterate our collective support for LWCF’s full dedicated funding and permanent reauthorization and ask that you do everything in your power to work with others in Congress to achieve this outcome.

Sincerely,

(Signers listed in attached PDF)