Budget ‘Riders’ Seen as Attack on Environment

It’s a common ploy at budget time: Slip controversial measures into big spending bills in hopes they will pass quietly into law.

In the final week of Congress, business lobbyists are working with friendly lawmakers to attach dozens of provisions, or “riders,” that would curb environmental regulations on mining, oil companies and developers.

But if these become law, it won’t happen without a fight.

They have triggered an uproar from environmentalists, the Clinton administration, Democratic lawmakers, even some moderate Republicans. The outcry is illuminating brightly what usually is hidden maneuvering.

Two dozen provisions are involved, including measures to increase timber production in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest and to change Forest Service plans for removing roads from forests.

Last week, House and Senate Democrats rallied outside the Capitol against “anti-environmental riders,” which were denounced by Vice President Al Gore as “stealth tactics.” President Clinton has threatened vetoes of bills carrying the provisions.

Supporters of the riders say they simply seek to pass legislation that would protect jobs and shift decisions back from Washington to local communities.

In the House, moderate Republicans threatened to join with Democrats to block legislation they consider environmentally harmful. So business lobbyists pushing the legislation simply bypassed a House vote and asked senators to attach the items to Senate spending bills.

That puts them on the table when lawmakers meet to negotiate final budget bills necessary to keep the government running.

Of 26 riders to the Interior Department budget bill opposed by environmentalists, 20 are in the Senate version and only six are in the House version.

Moderate Republican Rep. Sherwood L. Boehlert of New York said he has no doubt that lobbyists did an end run around the House.

In the Senate, Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) won approval of a provision delaying by one year new rules that could increase by $66 million the royalties oil companies pay for drilling on federal lands. Oil industry officials say time is needed to work out problems in the proposed rules.

The chairman of the Senate subcommittee that writes the Interior spending bill, Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.), added a provision requiring congressional permission to alter or remove federally regulated dams on the Columbia River after hearing from businesses that depend on the waterway.

Environmentalists worry that the Senate provisions will prevail during negotiations with the House. “We have seen a tendency in conference to pick up the worst in both bills,” said Gregory Wetstone, legislative director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.