Budget Negotiators Settle Environmental Issues

White House and congressional negotiators compromised Monday on a series of disputes over environmental issues, moving closer to a broad-scale budget deal that would enable Congress to adjourn for the year.

According to senior Clinton administration officials, the agreement on environmental issues included $15 million for the purchase of up to 500,000 acres of environmentally sensitive desert land in Southern California, postponing for another year a bid by some lawmakers to link it to expansion of the Ft. Irwin Army training center.

The administration persuaded lawmakers to drop a provision that would have allowed a major expansion of mountaintop mining. And Republicans agreed to impose higher royalty fees on oil and gas companies that drill on public lands beginning March 15. But the administration had to settle for mixed results on controversial provisions affecting mine-waste dumping and cattle-grazing fees on federal lands.

Citing progress on those issues, as well as emerging agreements on international debt relief and on how to offset the cost of increased spending for President Clinton’s priorities, a top White House official voiced optimism that the final budget deal could be sealed today.

“It’s been a pretty good day,” said Jacob Lew, director of the Office of Management and Budget.

White House Defends Abortion Restrictions

The budget negotiations dragged on as the White House defended its decision to give ground to GOP demands for abortion restrictions on international family planning organizations in exchange for an agreement to pay nearly $1 billion in dues owed to the United Nations.

The tentative compromise on the dues, reached late Sunday night, was an important breakthrough on one of the most difficult issues that has stood between Clinton and an agreement with Republicans in Congress on the budget for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Coupled with agreements last week to continue Clinton’s initiative to hire 100,000 new teachers over several years and to provide additional funding that he sought for other programs, the U.N. dues agreement raised hopes that a complete budget deal could clear Congress later this week.

But negotiators labored late Monday on a final, crucial piece of the deal: the terms of spending offsets needed to ensure that the extra money added for Clinton’s priorities does not force the government to dip into the Social Security surplus for other programs.

Environmental Agreements

The negotiations on environmental issues included these results:

* The administration gave ground on a bid by conservative senators to block government regulators from limiting the amount of toxic waste that mining companies may dump in the areas around their mines. The compromise would allow the government to limit dumping by newly opened mines but would permit existing mines to continue dumping at current levels.

* The conferees scrapped a proposal by Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) that would have allowed coal-mining companies to begin blasting new mines near the tops of mountains in that state.

* Negotiators thwarted a move by oil-state senators to block an administration plan to increase royalty fees paid by oil companies that drill on federal land. The higher fees would go into effect on March 15.

* Both sides compromised on a bid by conservatives to prevent the government from refusing to renew cattle-grazing leases on federal lands without environmental impact studies of the areas in question. The compromise would require the Interior Department to roll over existing leases, but officials would be able to cancel them if a study showed the grazing would endanger the land.

Despite the administration’s claims of victory, spokesmen for environmental groups were skeptical. Gregory S. Wetstone, lobbyist for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the mining-waste provision appeared likely to “give a free pass to” mining firms that seek to increase their dumping.

The provision affecting the purchase of land in Southern California involves property--much of it within the Mojave National Preserve and Joshua Tree National Park--owned by the Catellus Development Corp. The Interior Department wants to acquire the property to protect it from further development.

Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) had sought to make the deal contingent on agreement by the Interior Department to make other lands available to the Army for expanding Ft. Irwin. Monday’s agreement calls for providing $15 million for the purchase without any strings. But the issue would be revisited next year, when the department will seek a second $15-million appropriation.

In another area of dispute, budget negotiators late Monday neared agreement on a proposal for financing international debt relief. GOP conservatives were wary of a proposal by the International Monetary Fund to finance the debt relief by revaluing its gold reserves; the emerging compromise would allow such financing within specified limits.

And negotiators also agreed to provide about $500 million in disaster relief for the victims of Hurricane Floyd.

GOP concessions to Clinton last week had increased the prospects that the final budget deal would be approved with bipartisan support. But Clinton’s concession to conservatives to win money for U.N. dues outraged abortion-rights advocates and could cost support among Democrats for the overall budget deal.

“It is a capitulation,” said Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco).

The abortion compromise, details of which were still being nailed down Monday, would prohibit U.S.-subsidized family planning groups abroad from promoting or performing abortions. It would give the president the power to waive the requirement and allow grant recipients to use non-U.S. sources of funding for abortion-related activity. But if the waiver authority was used, the $385 million provided for funding for international family planning would be cut by $10.5 million. Also, the compromise would place a $15-million limit on the total amount grant recipients could use for abortion-related activities.

Abortion-rights advocates were not appeased by the provision allowing the president to waive the anti-abortion rule. They argued that the policy would set a bad precedent. “That precedent is putting the women of the world at risk in order to placate the right-wing Republicans who control Congress,’ said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and other administration officials mobilized to defend the policy.

Underlying all the jockeying are the last five of the 13 appropriations bills needed to keep the government running. Since Oct. 1, the government has been funded through a series of temporary measures.