FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 16, 2015
DENVER—In response to reports that Congress is prepared to pass a three-year extension of the Land & Water Conservation Fund, the Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from executive director Jennifer Rokala:
“The short-term renewal of America’s most successful parks program is a sign of the ineffectiveness of this Congress and deep dysfunction in Washington. The American people are tired of Congress playing kick-the-can with programs that work. Let’s hope that by the time LWCF is up for renewal again in 2018, regardless of which party is in the majority, the Natural Resources Committee has a chairman who’s more interested in legislating than bloviating.”
The bill authorizing a permanent renewal of LWCF (H.R. 1814) now has 200 bipartisan cosponsors, yet Rep. Rob Bishop, the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, refuses to allow an up-or-down vote on the bill.
Jennifer Rokala is available for video and audio interviews. To speak with an expert about the Land and Water Conservation Fund, contact media director Aaron Weiss at 720-279-0019 or aaron@westernpriorities.org.
LEARN MORE
How the Land & Water Conservation Fund makes our National Parks Whole
INTERACTIVE MAP: How Your Congressional District Has Benefitted From Federal Land Acquisitions
Much More than Wilderness: How LWCF Invests in American Cities
Bishop’s LWCF Proposal Hurts the West by Funding Just 1.9% of Parks and Public Lands Projects