A bill introduced in Congress on Wednesday by U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., has the potential to eliminate the backlog of deferred maintenance projects at America's national parks in 10 years.
The National Park Restoration Act is bipartisan and bicameral, meaning it has the support of Republicans and Democrats in both houses. It also has the backing of President Trump, his Interior secretary and the Office of Management and Budget and would be the largest investment in national parks in the nation's history.
The bill would direct that 50 percent of energy production revenue from federal lands that is not already allocated to other purposes be put into a fund that would be used to whittle away at the $11.6 billion in deferred maintenance projects.
We believe the plan sounds ideal, but members of the far left Democratic Party base in Congress have a different solution. They want to roll back some of the tax cuts in the law Congress passed and Trump signed in December to pay for a $1 trillion infrastructure plan that would include less than half the money necessary to erase the backlog.
That's the same tax cut bill that has put money into the pockets of an overwhelming majority of families in the country who pay income taxes and is responsible for many of the raises, bonuses and business expansions that companies have made since the bill's passage.
"The difference," said Alexander, "is [this national parks bill] might actually become law."
Of the $11.6 billion in deferred maintenance, $215 million (80 percent roads) covers projects in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which set a record for visitors in 2017 with more than 11 million people. It also would cover $23 million in projects at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, in both Georgia and Tennessee.
Maintenance projects across the country will cover the 24,000 buildings, 17,000 miles of trails, 5,500 miles of paved roads, 1,800 wastewater systems, 1,700 bridges and tunnels, 1,500 water systems, 1,300 campgrounds, 1,000 miles of water pipelines and 500 electrical systems the National Park Service must maintain.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said oil and gas lease sales on federal properties both onshore and offshore are likely to generate as much as $18 billion over 10 years for the fund, which will be called the National Park Restoration Fund.
The National Park Service received only $2.9 million for deferred maintenance projects in 2017.
Alexander's measure makes sense because even though the funding could vary depending on the energy production, it nevertheless would be sustainable. The aforementioned Democratic alternative has no sustainable factor and doesn't come close to covering the backlog, which grows every year.
We hope enough members of Congress will put aside their partisan leanings to pass this bill and preserve the uniquely American treasures we know as our national parks.